“Oh, you noticed that, huh?”
He finally faced me and hiked an eyebrow up his forehead.
“Well, I figured she’d be better at cheering you up than me.”
“Only somewhat true on that one.” He bent down to grab a bag of chips. When he stood back up, he drew me to his chest with his free hand. “Sometimes a guy just needs his girlfriend to let him know everything’s all right.”
“Okay then,” I whispered. “Everything is all right.”
I stood on my tiptoes for a kiss. Though he kissed me back, he didn’t seem persuaded by my statement. A twinge of doubt simmered in his eyes as he pulled away and walked to the drinks.
“I just can’t figure out why Donovan was with him. Was he just messing with me? Trying to make me feel bad? I don’t know.” He scanned the selection until he got to the energy and coffee drinks. Swinging open the glass door, he grabbed two glass bottles of liquid sugar and coffee with one hand. “I mean, it’s not the first time Donovan has been around my dad, obviously, since he caused him to become all corrupt with his new job and everything. But the whole thing out there was just kind of...unsettling.”
“I’ll tell you what’s unsettling: your dad checking me out. That was just creepy.”
He chuckled nervously and ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I swear he’s not a pedophile, but Donovan has definitely upped the creep factor on my dad since he’s gotten a hold of him. I don’t know what’s worse, though, that or him telling you to stay away from me.”
I didn’t hesitate. “Definitely him checking me out. His warning didn’t even faze me. Sorry, but you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Well, good.” He pulled me in for another kiss, this time much more deliberate and earnest. “Because I have no intentions of ever letting you go.”
Despite the circumstances, my heart melted like butter at his intimate words. That was about as close to saying I love you as he’d ever come. He may as well have asked me to marry him, the thought of which made me lightheaded.
My feelings must have shown because he leaned back and eyed me with feigned concern. “Are you okay? Was that too much? Too possessive sounding? Because I can dial it down a notch.”
I laughed out loud and gripped the back of his neck to pull him closer. “No, don’t. It was just enough.”
The sound of someone clearing her throat made me smile and roll my eyes. I’d recognize that passive aggressive method of interruption anywhere. “We’re coming, Kyra,” I answered her unspoken question without taking my eyes off Patrick.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be in the car.”
As Patrick and I trekked back through the parking lot, I failed to notice something familiar parked a few cars down from ours. I was too busy trying to tear the stubborn wrapper off the neck of my store-bought latte.
I probably wouldn’t have noticed at all had Kyra not propped open her door and popped her head out. “Is that whose car I think it is?”
I whipped my head up and followed Kyra’s gaze. I half-expected to find Patrick’s dad in a car I wouldn’t recognize. Instead, I found a vehicle that flooded my mind with familiar memories. Highly uncomfortable memories given that I was standing next to Patrick. I struggled to breath, let alone answer her.
“Yep,” Patrick answered for me in a clipped tone. He ripped off his bottle’s wrapper in one swipe and threw the plastic in a nearby trashcan.
I didn’t know what to do or say. I felt like darting inside our car and considered telling Patrick to do the same. But my voice died inside my throat as Josh stepped out of his vehicle and halted mid-stride upon seeing us. His opaque fog wavered behind him.
I had to give Josh credit for his boldness because Patrick stood right by my side, obviously unpleased with the situation. And yet Josh beamed at me like we were the only ones standing there. “Hey, Iris. How are you?”
I smiled as genuinely as I could as if this meeting wasn’t completely awkward and uncomfortable. Josh’s hazy leech dissolved into thin air. “I’m fine, thanks. It was good seeing you.”
I figured the “was” in my statement had made it clear that our conversation was over. But as I started to head back towards our car, Josh faltered as though he wanted to say more. My eyes darted to Patrick. I expected my boyfriend to spout off a rude goodbye and drag me away, but to my surprise, he didn’t say anything. In fact, his expression was gentle, almost sympathetic. Had Patrick seen the shadow leave when I talked to Josh?
Patrick leaned in to speak softly into my ear, “I’ll give you two a minute.”
I gawked at him. “Seriously?”
He smiled and took my face in his hands to kiss me on the forehead. “Seriously.” He pulled out the keys in his pocket and strutted off towards his car, adding a tad too much swagger as he passed my ex.
I suppressed a smirk and rolled my eyes. Then I focused on Josh, who was still shadowless. He was already walking towards me, so I met him halfway.
It felt good to see him free like that. Really good. But I fought the urge to embrace him. There were too many unresolved emotions still swimming around inside me.
Josh grinned to break the ice. “So.”
“So,” I answered. “Long time, no see.”
“Yeah, I know. I actually stopped by your house to say hi last night, but your mom told me you stayed the night at Kyra’s.” He threw a half-suspicious, half-amused glance at Patrick’s car.
“Kyra’s in there too,” I blurted defensively and then stammered out an impromptu shadow-hunt lie. “He just came by and picked us both up for some…uh…breakfast.” I held up my latte. Coffee alone wasn’t much of a breakfast, but that lie was the best I could come up with.
After five excruciatingly long seconds of Josh working his mouth around to hold in his laughter, he responded with a nod. “Okay.”
I didn’t know what else to say that was safe, so I changed the subject. “What are you doing here?”
“Picking up an application. I heard they were hiring.”
“Oh, well good luck.”
Josh smiled but then the crinkles around his eyes dissolved into a frown. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I stopped by your house last night?” He took a step towards me. I leaned back an inch but stood my ground. He was clearly waiting on me to respond.
“Okay. Why?”
He hesitated, but only for a second. “I miss you, Iris. I mean, I know that sounds weird, but I miss hanging out together.” He moved his arm forward to take my hand in his, but I withdrew it. I dropped my eyes to the ground to avoid seeing his reaction.
“Josh,” I breathed. “You know why we can’t.”
“I know, Iris. I know you’re with Patrick now. Trust me, I wouldn’t want to ruin that. As stupid as he was before…You’re happy with him. I can see that. And I know he must have changed because you chose to be with him. And you don’t choose to be with losers.”
He lowered his head and my heart broke. I wanted to reach out and tell him exactly what I thought of him. How much I cared about him. But I held back.
“I just...” Josh shook his head. He sighed heavily as if what he was thinking was crazy but he’d given up sanity a long time ago. “There’s something different about you too. When I’m around you... I don’t know. It sounds crazy.” He inspected the pavement and resorted to shaking his head again.
“No. Josh, what is it?” Against my better judgment, I extended my hand to touch his arm.
He straightened at the unexpected contact and searched my eyes. “When I’m around you, I just feel...free.”
Immediately, my aura erupted and surged through my body. Light flooded from my hand to Josh’s arm as though the light knew what Josh needed and reacted on its own to give it to him. My arm grew pleasantly warm from the transfer.
Josh’s eyes lit up, and we simply gazed at each other. I didn’t know what to say next, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable this time.
After several seconds,
I let my arm drop. Maybe everything could all work out somehow. “We’ll play it by ear, okay?”
He smiled hopefully and gave me a quick nod like that was all he’d wanted to hear. “All right. See ya, Iris.” He walked off towards the convenience store, but I didn’t move until he’d disappeared inside the door.
I sighed and finally peeled my eyes away. Maybe now his shadow would finally leave him alone. Maybe.
Chapter 21
School the next morning started off rocky. I mean, it was the Monday after spring break, so of course school was going to suck. But the suck factor became ten times worse when I trudged into first hour to see that Lexi’s murky friend had reappeared...again. Not only that, but she acted distant and made lame excuses for avoiding my texts the last few days. I guess that’s how she felt when we gave her excuses. Maybe she was acting that way on purpose. Who knew. Either way, it sucked.
To make matters worse, Lila, the shadows’ puppet, was sitting in my seat next to Patrick when I arrived to third hour. I had gone a whole heavenly week without having my eyes and ears assaulted by Lila’s evilness. Now, not only was she sitting in my seat, but her face was also distorted into the most malicious, spiteful, hostile look I had ever seen on her, which is saying a lot. Their conversation must not have been pleasant. She stood up seconds after I walked in and scowled at me before waltzing off.
She returned to her own seat and continued to scowl, but her hostility seemed like a facade. Some other emotion was lurking underneath her hardened exterior. If I wasn’t mistaken, she actually appeared genuinely crushed and dejected. I would’ve felt sorry for her was she not my greatest enemy. Well…my greatest human enemy.
I did my best to ignore her, though I half expected the heat from her eye lasers to set my hair on fire at any moment.
“So what was that all about?” I dusted off my seat as if to get rid of Lila’s invisible filth and sat down beside Patrick.
“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. She wants me. I told her to get lost. She begged. I said I was for real this time and I wasn’t leaving you guys. She now hates us all even more. You know. The usual.”
I laughed. “Well, I don’t know if she’ll ever truly hate you. But her determination to smite me today proves she’s taken hatred for me to a whole new level.”
He stole a quick peek at Lila and then rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” I looped my arm through his and snuggled up to his shoulder. “As long as I have you and she doesn’t, I don’t care. She can stare all she wants.”
He smiled and kissed me on my forehead but then cleared his throat. “Speaking of other people liking one of us...”
I sat up in my seat, already sensing the direction our conversation was headed.
“I was thinking,” he continued. “I know you would never leave me for Josh. You told me that before, and I believe you. And I know you being around him makes his shadow go away. I saw that for myself yesterday. I’m just trying to figure out how we could make something work without it being completely awkward for all of us.”
I had a suggestion, but I wanted the idea to be his. I simply nodded for encouragement.
“I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with you guys just hanging out by yourselves,” he added and then paused as if working through the situation in his head as he talked.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t either.” Based on my last experience alone with Josh and his confession of his feelings, I’d already counted that idea out.
“But I guess we could invite him next time we all go out together. Hey maybe Lexi wouldn’t feel like the odd man out as much then.”
That was the suggestion I’d been thinking of, but his mention of Lexi stole away my longing to celebrate. “Yeah.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “If Lexi doesn’t decide she hates us by then.”
Patrick frowned sympathetically. “Was it that bad this morning?”
“Getting there. I’m doing my best to be her friend, but it’s like she knows we’re keeping stuff from her. So me trying to spend time with her doesn’t matter. Those lies that are supposed to be protecting her are only keeping us apart.” I huffed and crossed my arms.
“That sucks. I’m sorry.” He eyed me sympathetically. “We’ll figure something out. I promise.”
“I hope so,” I muttered. “Because I don’t know how much time we have left before she ditches us for good.”
The bell rang and Mrs. Bauder moved to the front of the classroom to start her lecture. To my surprise she had a prop with her today. A hard, plastic baby.
“Hey, everybody,” she announced cheerfully as she cradled the fake baby in her arms like it was real. “Today is the day you’ve all been waiting for, I’m sure. Today I’m going to introduce you to the baby simulator that you’ll all eventually take home and carry with you for a week. I’ll send the sign-up sheet around tomorrow so you can pick your week to have one.”
Groans escaped from several students around the room, including me.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “It’ll be fun if you let it, and this is a big project grade. You can even dress them up in cute clothes if you want. I’ve got several boxes of stuff you can pick from.”
Some of the girls perked up at the mention of baby clothes, but I continued to frown. I was not happy with this assignment one bit. Why did Gregory have to torture us like this?
“What?” Patrick asked in response to my grim countenance. He grinned as he poked me in the ribs. “Don’t you like babies?”
I scoffed. “Not fake plastic ones that aren’t mine. They’re not even cute. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It’s a little plastic doll that cries obnoxiously.”
He shrugged and leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. It could be fun.”
A guy in front of us spoke up loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I’m pretty sure the only fun part about babies is making them.”
Laughter erupted everywhere and Mrs. Bauder frowned. She opened her mouth but a girl across the room responded for her. “Which is something I’m pretty sure you know nothing about.”
The laughter grew louder and Mrs. Bauder fought to suppress a grin. Finally, she scratched her head as she pressed her lips together. “Well, on that note, let’s move on and talk about how this baby simulator works, shall we?”
I smiled at Patrick as Mrs. Bauder began to explain the different parts of the baby. He grinned in return, and for some reason, I couldn’t peel my eyes away from his gorgeous eyes and lips. Staring at my boyfriend was way more interesting than listening to our teacher drone on.
But before long an abrupt, ear-splitting cry shattered my trance. I sat up straight and faced forward. Stupid baby.
Mrs. Bauder continued. “Now whenever you hear this cry, that means the baby needs something. She might need to be fed or rocked or changed. You won’t know until you stick in your care key and then try each one. And before you think you’re just going to shove the baby in a closet somewhere to avoid the crying, know that they have built-in electronics that record what you do—how quickly your care was given and if the baby’s been mishandled in any way. Like proper head support and positioning and so on.” She turned to set the baby on the table. “Oh, and by the way, the replacement cost for one of these babies is around three hundred dollars. Just in case any of you decide to use it for target practice or feel the urge to run over yours with your car.”
She smirked and walked to her computer to start a video clip and I grumbled as I sank down in my seat.
“Hey,” Patrick nudged me. “It won’t be that bad. We can help each other when the other one gets the baby, okay? Deal?” He extended his hand.
I raised one eyebrow at his optimism but took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Deal.”
Chapter 22
Trying to get back into the normal swing of things with school was exhausting enough without the awkwardness of seeing both Nicole and Josh in science. I hadn’t talked to Nicole since I�
�d walked in on her and Tyler. I gave her a polite smile on my way to my desk, hoping she would see the implied white flag there. She smiled uncomfortably in return and then withdrew her eyes as she adjusted herself in her seat. It could’ve been worse.
Josh was a different story. His eyes gleamed with more hope than ever since, in our last conversation, I hadn’t completely shut him down. I didn’t want to avoid him, but I kept our brief conversation before class light and unspecific.
Luckily, I was able to avoid both Josh and Nicole on my way out the door and to my car. All I could think about all the way home was plopping down on my bed with a book and relaxing.
After homework, doing dishes for my mom, and an early dinner of leftover pizza, I finally got to that book. Only ten minutes into reading, though, my phone blared Patrick’s ringtone from my nightstand. I set my book aside and picked up my phone, smiling. I could think of worse interruptions than my boyfriend calling me.
I sprawled out on my pillow with my free hand behind my head as I answered. “Hey, what’s up? You wanna come over?”
He hesitated on the other line. “Do I want to? Yes. Can I. Not exactly. Technically, you can’t either. We’re needed at the Circle K down the road from Kyra’s house. I guess Gregory’s angel friend, Zane, heard about a robbery that’s supposed to go down there some time tonight.”
I sat up straight in my bed. “Wait. Angel friend? Why have I not heard about this guy until now?”
“Oh, you haven’t met Zane yet, have you?” Patrick laughed. “You’ll like him. He’s um...well, he’s interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“Let’s just say he enjoys his job very much.”
“Okay...” That could’ve meant a number of things. “So when are you picking me up?”
“We don’t actually need to be there until around ten because Gregory’s pretty certain he won’t try this until late.”
“Patrick, there’s no way my mom’s going to let me leave the house that late on a Monday night.”
“I know, I know. That’s why Robert’s coming over.”
“Oh really?” I lit up at that piece of news. I hadn’t seen Robert in a while, but my mom hadn’t stopped talking about him. They’d been spending a lot of time together lately, just not at our house.
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