by Joy Elbel
“Why? You can change a tire can’t you?” He was good at everything else, why not car repairs too?
“Of course I can. But that isn’t going to help us one bit.”
What was I missing here? “Why not?”
“Because I don’t have a spare, Ruby.” Huh? Didn’t all cars come with a spare tire in the trunk? Mine did. “What do you mean? There’s one in my Neon. It should be in the trunk—go check.” Duh.
“That’s because your dad bought one for you when he got you that car. They don’t magically appear in the trunk— you have to pay extra to get one.”
Well now he was just treating me like I was stupid. Or like I was a spoiled little rich girl. Either way I didn’t like it. I was going down that slide so fast now that my hands were burning from the friction as I continued to foolishly hang onto the side.
“So now what?” I asked angrily. “Now I call Dad and ask him to bring me the spare out of Mom’s car—and listen to his lecture about why I should have gotten my own a long time ago. I can’t afford to buy anything until next week so I have to keep my fingers crossed that she doesn’t get a flat in the meantime.” Zach pulled out his phone and let out another parade of obscenities.
“What’s wrong now?” Seriously, could this night get any worse? “No service.” He got out of the car and walked around holding his phone in the air like he thought it would change the outcome. “Nothing,” he said as he climbed back in.
“Now what are we going to do?” I saw the irony in the fact that Zach taunted Lucas when he had car trouble by asking why he didn’t just use his phone to call his dad. But I held my tongue.
“The only thing I can do—walk back to the rink and see if someone will give me a ride home.” Zach pulled his winter jacket out of the backseat and put it on. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
Wait just one minute! “I am not staying out here alone—this road is creepy! Who knows what’s lurking out there in the shadows!” I threw my jacket on and opened my door. I didn’t survive two near fatal paranormal attacks just to get killed by some toothless hick who wanted to peel my face off and use it as a mask. No way, no how.
I planted my feet on what I thought was stable ground but the second I stood up, I slipped on a hidden patch of ice and landed face first in a snow bank.
“Ruby, are you okay?” Zach locked his arms around my waist and lifted me up. I was covered in snow—my face, my sweater, my pants. Everything. Well, if I wasn’t at the bottom of the Ladder now, I didn’t want to see what the bottom looked like. Zach worked on brushing the snow off of my pants while I took care of my face and sweater.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather wait in the car? Now that you’re all wet, you’re gonna freeze out here.” Like I hadn’t already figured that one out on my own. Thank you, Captain Obvious. It wasn’t exactly windy out but what breeze there was had already begun to bite at me. And then came the ultimate insult—a chunk of snow fell down through the neckline of my sweater and slid directly into my bra.
“I’m positive,” I insisted. Without hesitation, I pulled down the front of my sweater until my bra was showing and dug around until I found the quickly melting intruder. It was a move I never would have dreamed of making in front of anyone else.
Zach, who had been the very definition of serious since the tire went flat, suddenly lost his composure and burst into laughter. “Wow, Ruby! You make me want to get a flat tire every day!”
I don’t know if the Midol finally kicked in or what but my bad mood was melting as fast as the snow in my cleavage. “Since you enjoyed it so much, why don’t you have a souvenir?” I flung the chunk of snow at him, aiming for his chest but nailing him right in the crotch instead.
“Is that your way of saying I need to cool off?” he teased. “No—this is!” I shouted, grabbing a handful of snow from the ground and stuffing it down the front of his jeans. Weird. I felt like I just took a step back up the Ladder for a change.
Zach sucked in his breath and yanked his pants open. “Holy shit, that’s cold!” he said as he stuck his hand inside to get it out. He got a weird look on his face and then shook his leg until the snow plopped out of the bottom of his jeans.
So I didn’t see anything good but I did get an eyeful of his underwear. Boxer briefs, nice. Briefs are just creepy, something only pedophiles and foreigners wear. I couldn’t stop staring though—I’d almost had sex with him but never even got to see him in his underwear.
“Looks like I’m not the only one who needs to cool off,” Zach said, clearly noticing that my eyes were fixated on his crotch. Before I knew it, he had his own handful of snow and was depositing it down the front of my pants.
Instant shock to the system. I liked to think of that part of my anatomy as Area 51—full of mystery, highly guarded, and sought after by many men. And just like that desert compound, only the most trustworthy of men could gain access. Zach definitely earned his clearance pass a long time ago. What was meant to cool me off had the opposite effect. Once the outer layer was melted, my temperature went up instead of down.
I ripped my jeans open and tried to shake it out. It worked for Zach, right? It should work for me too. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing skinny jeans and shaking wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I pulled my pants down until the snowball dropped out.
It was only when I saw the look on his face that I realized I just pulled my pants down in front of him. Unlike the day that he saw me half naked in the shelter restroom, I knew exactly what underwear I was wearing. They were the sexy red ones that matched my bra—the ones I wore the night I tried to seduce him. He never saw anything but the bra, though. Until now.
Quickly, I yanked my jeans up and secured the zipper. Once Lucas entered the picture, my relationship with Zach cooled considerably. We still loved each other—we still kissed—but the flame that once raged like a wildfire had dampened to barely an ember. But here in the middle of a dark, creepy road on a cloudless, freezing cold night that spark turned into an inferno.
My entire body shook as Zach pulled me close and we started to kiss. the passion he
Was I shaking from the freezing cold or from ignited in me? A little of both, I think. Whatever the cause, it only seemed to make the moment more intense. No matter how hard he tried, Lucas could never make me feel this way. Could he? And why was I thinking about him while I was kissing Zach?
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t think about one boy while I was kissing another. Slowly, I peeled my lips away from his without telling him the real reason why. “We really need to go find a ride—it’s getting late.”
Zach sighed and grabbed my hand. “I know. It’s just been awhile since we kissed like that.”
“It has,” I said as we started walking back to the rink.
“We haven’t kissed like that since….” Zach seemed unable to finish his sentence, unable to speak his name. Things were going well between us so I decided to break the news to him, to tell him that I was going to Pittsburgh with Lucas next weekend to look for his adoption records.
“What? Not alone you’re not—not the whole way to Pittsburgh! You’re my girlfriend, not his—I won’t let you!” I knew he wouldn’t be happy but I never expected him to forbid me to go. “You’re my boyfriend, Zach, not my father! It’s not up to you—you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m going and you can’t stop me!” The Ladder of Ultimate Happiness was now hacked to pieces and lying in a splintered pile at my feet.
Zach looked as mad as he did the day he beat up Ryan. “What is it about this guy that makes you willing to throw away everything we have? Is he a better kisser than me?”
That was it—I’d had enough. With a loud smack, the palm of my hand made contact with his cheek. “How dare you insinuate that I’ve kissed Lucas! You encouraged me to look for Lee’s parents so I can put that all behind me—this has nothing to do with Lucas and everything to do with your insane jealousy!”
“How am supposed to feel, Ruby? How am I su
pposed to react when my girlfriend tells me she wants to run off to Pittsburgh with some guy she just met? And you’re wrong, by the way. This has everything to do with Lucas and nothing to do with Lee—not anymore anyway.”
The spotlights shining over the ice became visible through the trees. I refused to fight with him in public especially with perfect Misty in the crowd. “We need to finish this discussion later.” I stopped at the entrance to the rink. “Go find us a ride—I’m waiting here.”
“Fine,” Zach grumbled and walked away. I tried to clear my head by watching the skaters. One skater in particular. Misty left the ice as Zach approached and sat down on an empty bench. I watched her pull out her phone and tap out a text. She sat there smiling as she read the reply, glancing every so often at Zach. Figures. If Zach had just tried his phone again as we walked, he would have probably gotten ahold of his dad before we ended up fighting—again. Instead, I had to stand here cold, wet and miserable while she sat there perfect and gloating as always. Why did my time with Zach always have to end on such a crappy note lately?
It was probably obvious that he and I were fighting so she just had to inform the rest of her coven of the details. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse. Was she ever going to give up and leave us alone?
A few minutes later, Zach returned with Chloe in tow. “Come on, Ruby, Chloe’s giving us a ride.” I hadn’t seen Chloe much recently and I wanted nothing more than to have some serious girl talk with her. But I couldn’t very well talk about Zach with him sitting grumpily in the backseat so I kept my mouth shut and he did, too. Chloe made a few attempts at conversation but gave up when neither of us could manage more than a few grunts in response.
As we approached Rosewood, I decided I’d had enough. “You can drop me off here, Chloe.” She gave me a stunned look and then nodded her head. Zach remained quiet until I opened the door without telling him goodbye.
“Ruby! Wait!” Zach shouted, flinging open his own door and following me to the house. I hesitated at the front door, my hand on the knob and my back to him. “What?” After what he said to me earlier, I wanted to stay mad at him. The only way I could do that was to not look at him.
“I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier—I’m just so scared that I’m losing you.” When he placed his hand gently on my shoulder, I melted. I turned around and looked into his eyes. What I saw there was fear. “I’m sorry, too—I shouldn’t have slapped you. I hate it when we fight.”
“Me too, sweetie,” he said as he put his arms around my waist. “We’re okay though, right? If your feelings for me changed, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you? I mean, if you chose him, I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way.”
“Of course not, Zach! I still love you—you just need to let me do what I need to do. If you want a future with me, you have to let me bury my past. And you have to let me do it my way.”
Zach reached for my left hand and pointed to the promise ring he gave me. “Just remember what this ring means, remember everything it stands for. And if at any point you decide that it’s not what you want anymore, do me the courtesy of telling me to my face. If I ever just saw you kissing him without breaking it to me first,” Zach said sadly, “well, it would just destroy me.”
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I clung to him like it was the last time I’d ever see him. “I love you, Zach! That will never happen—I promise you that!”
Zach held me a little tighter than usual and whispered in my ear. “I’ll love you forever—no matter what.” No matter what. For some odd reason, I felt like he knew something I didn’t. What that something was, I had no idea but I knew I didn’t want to find out.
9. Chasing Allison
Work seemed never ending because I was looking forward to spending time with Rachel. Yeah, our main reason for getting together was to see if we could track down Allison’s ghost but I wanted to talk to her about the Zach/Lucas situation, too. Her relationship with Boone was rock solid—if anyone knew how to keep friends and boyfriends in a harmonious balance, it was her. I closed up Something Wick-ed in record time and took off toward the cemetery to meet her.
Heaven’s Gate Cemetery looked even more forlorn covered in snow than it did when I was there only a few weeks earlier. There was something about the broken headstones etched against the backdrop of white that evoked a sense of immeasurable sadness. It was a place that seemed forgotten by even time itself.
Thanks to the snow, finding Allison’s grave would have been quite a chore if it weren’t for my excellent memory. I remembered passing a stone marked “Cornell” just before I found Garnet’s that day. Lining myself up in the same direction I was in when I found it, I pulled on my glove and started brushing away the snow until it became visible.
“Ruby! How did you know she was there?” Rachel asked, in obvious awe of my powers. “Could you feel her presence?”
So I did what any friend would do—I played along and let her think she was right. “I feel something,” I said, placing my hand on my forehead like some cheesy carnival fortuneteller. “I feel….” I trailed off to build the suspense. It worked, too. Rachel stood there wide eyed and entranced by my every word.
“What? What do you feel?” Rachel stomped her foot in the snow impatiently. When I felt satisfied that I’d tortured her for long enough, I let her off the hook. “I feel,” I said with one last dramatic pause, “that you’re totally gullible!”
I cracked up laughing and explained how I found her gravesite so quickly. Rachel responded by smashing a handful of snow on the top of my head. “That was sooo not funny!” she said but started laughing, too.
“I know—but I couldn’t resist! Sorry!”
Rachel was still smiling but gave me a stern mom look and replied, “Are you done playing around now?” I did my best to stifle the laughter. “I am. I am.” I scrunched my face up in a cartoonish attempt to look anything but amused. “See this?” I pointed out, “This is my serious face.”
“Whatever,” she said laughing. “Do you see Allison anywhere?” Rachel scanned the cemetery like she thought she would see her, too.
I saw something—or rather someone—but it wasn’t Allison. It was Clay. He was dressed in the same clothes I always saw him in. Even though I knew he couldn’t feel the cold, I was tempted to offer him my jacket. As he stepped up next to Rachel, I was surprised at just how alive he looked.
Looking back now, Garnet looked and acted so strangely that I should have known she was a ghost. But Clay—Clay was a different story altogether. Now that I knew he was dead, it explained the odd feeling I got when he was around. Once I got used to that sensation, I could look past it and see that he wasn’t so creepy after all. In fact, all I really got from him now was a sense of loss.
“Congratulations, Ruby!” he said with a smile. “You’ve figured out my secret!” “Yeah, I guess you’ve figured out mine then, too.” Weird. I felt like I was talking to an old friend yet I hardly knew him.
“What did you say?” Rachel stopped scanning the horizon and turned her attention back to me. He felt so alive to me by now that I actually forgot she couldn’t see him. Now came the awkward part. How do you introduce your friend to someone invisible, someone dead? “It’s not Allison but we’re not alone.”
Rachel, startled, took a step backward. “Where is it?” Her eyes darted back and forth in search of something she would never be able to see.
“It? She called me it!” Clay exclaimed with mock tones of offense. I wished I’d known Clay while he was still alive. He had a good sense of humor despite the whole being dead thing. “Rachel, this is Clay Roseman—he’s standing about two feet to your left.”
Rachel took about two more steps to her right and squinted in his general direction. “Clay Roseman? The Clay Roseman I went to elementary school with? The Clay Roseman who drowned in Silver Lake last spring?”
I looked at Clay and he answered her question. “How many Clay Rosemans does she think there are? Of course it�
��s me.” Again, I liked his style. Laughing, I told Rachel, “Yes— that Clay Roseman.” “What does he look like? Does he look all dead and gross and stuff?” She wasn’t trying to be disrespectful but any other ghost would have probably been offended. But not this one.
“Go ahead, Ruby—tell her how hot I look!” he said running his hand through his shoulder length dirty blond hair. “Ask her if she remembers me kissing her by the monkey bars in third grade?”
You know, he actually was pretty cute—in a bad boy biker kind of way. He was no Norse god, of course, but enough to turn any girl’s head if she was in the mood for a little rebellious fun. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. “He looks normal, he looks alive. And he wants to know if you remember when he kissed you.”
She looked confused at first but that look turned to complete recognition within seconds. “I do—he was my first kiss! Boone liked me even way back then. He got sooo pissed at Clay!”
Clay smiled and whispered to me, “I took a good punch to the stomach over that kiss but it was worth it.” “Why are you whispering? It’s not like she can hear you or anything.” I reminded him. Sometimes boys made absolutely no sense—not even dead ones.
“What did he say, Ruby?” Rachel asked excitedly, moving closer to where Clay stood. “Where exactly is he?” She extended her arm in his general direction, just missing his chest by less than an inch. “Can I touch him?”
“Wow! If death was all it took to get Rachel Mason to want to touch me, I might have been tempted to off myself a long time ago!” Clay inched closer to her until her hand was touching his chest.
“OMG—he’s so cold!”
“Damn girl—you’re burning up!” I stood there watching them and couldn’t help but laugh. Why couldn’t all ghosts be like Clay? I mean, he talked to me instead of torturing me. He had a sense of humor not a vengeful streak—I would even go so far as to say he was fun to be around. And he might even be able to help us.
“So, Clay, do you ever see any other ghosts around here?” I asked casually. “Ghost is such a harsh word—I prefer to think of myself as living impaired, he said as he backed away from Rachel’s hand. “But, no, I don’t know anyone else like me. Why do you ask?”