by Nate Johnson
Chapter Two
When the final bell rang, Nolan raced from the room having to get away from the weight pushing him down. He hurried to the parking lot to get his old pick-up truck.
He’d mowed yards for two years when he lived at Mrs. Simpson’s to buy the truck. He’d thought for sure they would take it away from him when he had to move, but Carter hadn’t made a big deal about it.
Nolan was stuck in the afternoon crush of vehicles leaving the student parking lot. It was easier to block things out when he was in his truck. It was his. One of the few things he owned in this world. Shifting into second gear he pulled away from the school. He hadn’t even gotten to third gear when he saw Marla Jackson walking down the sidewalk holding a textbook up to her chest.
His eyes flashed to the rearview mirror to see if she noticed him. A black blur, twenty feet behind her made his heart jump. Billy Carp was following her, and his mind was singularly focused on the girl in front of him.
Nolan turned the wheel to pull into the 7/11 at the corner and jumped out of the truck, leaning up against the fender like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Marla had just come into view when Billy reached for her and grabbed her arm. Nolan reacted like he had been shot out of a cannon. Striding across the parking lot he reached them within a few seconds.
Marla seemed upset about this Billy character and wrenched her arm from his grasp and placed both hands on her hips. Nolan didn’t have to scan her to tell him she was pissed off. He was glad it wasn’t directed at him. Billy seemed confused, entirely focused on the young girl.
“Hi Marla,” Nolan said, interrupting them, being sure to keep his barriers up against her.
He didn’t have the same scruples when it came to Billy, the kid’s mind was a sewer and he looked like he wanted to kill a cat with his bare hands.
“Oh, hi Nolan,” Marla said with a palpable sense of relief.
“I was wondering if you wanted a ride home,” Nolan asked.
She glanced back at Billy then back to Nolan, a look of concern on her face. She started to shake her head when Billy stuck his foot into his mouth.
“She’s busy, I’m going to walk her home,” Billy said with a smirk.
Marla gasped at the presumptive little twit. “Billy, I’ve told you to please leave me alone,” she said her hands on her hips, again.
Nolan looked on, trying to keep a smirk off his face and failed miserably. When Marla looked at him in exasperation, he nodded towards his truck. She hesitated before shrugging her shoulders as if to say why not.
He opened the passenger side door for her, then gently closed it and looked back at Billy. The scrawny boy stood there like a lost puppy, looking around trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Nolan didn’t bother scanning him, he could see the hate in his eyes. But the evil thoughts overflowed the barriers and Nolan got a brief picture of a gun being held to his head and Billy laughing as he pulled the trigger. Shaking off the shiver, Nolan smiled at Marla and said, “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
She looked at him with a concerned frown then nodded.
He walked up to Billy. The boy looked at him as if he wanted to stuff him into a deep hole. Nolan didn’t need to read his thoughts to know what he was thinking.
Studying the weird boy for a moment. Nolan tried to come up with something that would end this all right now. He didn’t want this kid popping back up like some slasher movie.
“You need to back off,” Nolan said. His voice hard and sharp.
Billy sneered, “Or, what?”
Nolan shook his head. “Or, I tell everyone what you did to your dog.”
Billy’s eyes grew wide before he could hide his shock.
“What’s more,” Nolan continued. “I’ll tell them what your mom did to you. Then, if that isn’t enough. Maybe I’ll mention who started the fire behind the gas station. Hell boy, your internet surfing history alone is enough to get you put away for twenty years.”
Billy’s face blanched, and his hands curled into fists. Nolan read the shock in the boy’s thoughts. How was it possible? No one could know all of that. His mom, she would never tell.
“If anything happens to Marla,” Nolan continued, “then it all comes out. Every sordid detail. Got me? I won’t beat you into a pulp. I won’t have to. Once everyone learns about you. I won’t get the chance.”
He didn’t wait for the kid to respond. He could hear it in his mind.
“Thank you, that was getting awkward,” Marla said as he climbed into the truck.
“No problem, so which way?” he asked as he prepared to pull out of the convenience store parking lot.
Marla gave him directions.
“It’s only a couple of miles. I should have taken the bus,” she said with a hesitant hitch in her voice.
The two rode in silence for a moment. Nolan didn’t know what to say or how to say it. He was tempted to delve into her thoughts, but it felt so wrong for some reason. This was the first time in his life he had ever felt concerned about violating something so personal. Instead, he glanced over and studied his passenger. She’s so damn gorgeous, he thought. His heart skipped a beat, and he had to force a swallow down.
“So, why isn’t your boyfriend giving you a ride home?”
She blushed and smiled a little, it was obvious she saw through his lame attempt to find out her status.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she answered looking down at her hands.
Nolan had to fight not to smile but kept focused on the road. “The guys around here must be dumber than I thought,” he said.
They turned onto her road. He was disappointed to have gotten there so quickly. Pulling into her driveway, he turned and asked, “Maybe you could show me around sometime, you know? Being new to town and all.”
Her eyes grew wider, and her face turned a little pink at his obvious effort at flirting.
“Maybe,” was all she said, as she got out of the truck.
His face locked into a stone look at the disappointing response. It had taken everything he had to utter those simple words. He slammed the gear shift into reverse and was preparing to back out of the driveway when she came back to the truck and opened the door.
“Maybe we could hang out at the mall sometime. It’s about the only thing in this town that has anything interesting going on.”
His heart raced, and he couldn’t keep the smile from exploding on his face. “That would be great, Could we go there after school tomorrow?” he asked, holding his breath.
She smiled and said, “I’ll have to check. My mom’s kind of strict, I’ll let you know tomorrow, okay?”
“Sure, tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning, Marla,” Nolan said with a huge grin on his face. He watched her walk to her doorway hugging her books, her ponytail swinging from side to side. He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, it would be so easy, and she’d never know. But he held back and simply watched.
Chapter Three
Marla couldn’t wait to get to Mr. Davis’ Trigonometry class the next morning. She walked through the door as calmly as she could muster, trying for all the world to look like nothing of any importance was going on.
Nolan was already there sitting in the same seat as yesterday. She’d spent the night obsessing about him. The way he looked. The sound of his voice. How he towered over her, making her feel slight and feminine. The way his truck smelled like old leather and motor oil. It was a man’s smell.
It was strange having these feelings about someone she hardly knew. All she knew for sure was that she wanted to find out more.
“So, we on for this afternoon?” he asked as soon as she sat down.
She laughed and nodded her head, yes, not trusting herself to speak at the moment. That was fun to think that he might be as excited as she was. She knew it was only going to the Mall to hang out, but still, this would be her first actual date sort of, at least if you thought about it like that.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. She spent the lunch period quietly lost in thought while her two friends playfully argued about everything. She swore that if one said the sky was blue, the other would insist it was red.
They were almost done, when Jess asked, “So, you guys want to get together this afternoon, maybe do some homework together?”
Marla almost burst, she had been keeping quiet about it all day but couldn’t hold it back any longer.
“I can’t,” she said, waiting for them to urge her to elaborate.
“Okay, I’ll bite, why can’t you?” Cindy asked, her forehead creased in curiosity.
Marla hid a smile and looked down at her food.
“Because Nolan and I are going to the Mall to hang out,” she said, hunching her shoulder in preparation for the squeals.
“WHAT!” Jess said. “You’re just now telling us this?”
“What are you doing Marla? This isn’t like you,” Cindy said with a look of confusion on her face. “When did this all come about?” she asked, shaking her head.
“He gave me a ride home yesterday,” Marla said.
“WHAT! You didn’t tell us,” Jess said, her lips pouting.
“I’m sorry guys, I really didn’t know what to say,” Marla said.
“You say, - Nolan and I are going to the Mall to hang out - I mean, are you excited about it? Or is this some kind of weird sick way to drive us crazy. I mean, we don’t even know the guy. He might be an ax murderer, or worse – a Republican.”
“He’s not an ax murderer,” Marla said to Jess, Her friend had a habit of categorizing people into two categories. Either they were a tree hugger and faithful members of PETA, or they were evil. There were no gray zones. Jess shook her head at her friend’s naivety.
The first bell rung, warning that lunch was almost over. Marla gathered her trash and threw it away, smiling at her friends’ disbelief.
As she walked home that afternoon, she kept looking around to see if Nolan would show up and offer her a ride. She’d barely been able to talk to him before class, and he had disappeared right after. She wondered if he was avoiding her.
Sighing, she stopped looking over her shoulder and walked home. She was surprised to see her mom there already. As a nurse at the hospital, her mom’s schedule was constantly changing, but she’d thought today was supposed to be a late running shift.
.o0o.
Marla’s heart skipped a beat when she heard his truck pull into the driveway. She’d been on pins and needles all afternoon as she’d prepared for her sort of date. Racing down the stairs, she yelled goodbye to her mom promising to be home by ten, praying inside that she could get outside without being stopped.
“Marla Jean Jackson, you stop right there. If you think you’re going out of this house without me meeting this boy, you are out of your mind. I will answer the door. You wait right there.” Marla’s mom said.
“Yes ma’am,” Marla said. She always used ma’am when she wanted to get on the better side of her mom. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she felt like she was going to explode into a million pieces. The last thing she wanted was her mom ruining everything by talking to Nolan.
What if he thought she had a crazy family, or her mom scared him away? A thousand different scenarios ran through her mind, and none of them were good.
The door bell ringing made her jump and kicked her heart into overdrive. Her mom turned and smiled at her, then opened the front door.
Marla breathed a small sigh of relief, at least he wasn’t wearing his camouflage jacket. He was dressed in a plaid shirt and relatively new jeans. His black boots didn’t seem too out of place. His hair was combed, and the scrapes on his face weren’t as prominent in the porch light. Maybe she could get through this.
He smiled and said, “Hello Mrs. Jackson, I’m Nolan Reed, is Marla here?”
Her mom stood in the entryway with her hand on the door as if she was contemplating slamming it in his face. Marla held her breath as her mom looked him up and down, finally coming to rest to stare into his deep blue eyes. She seemed to hesitate for a second.
“Yes, she is, please come in.”
“That’s okay mom, we’ve got to go,” Marla said as she scooted by her mother and out the door before any more damage could be done. She was so embarrassed. Why couldn’t things go smoothly?
She caught Nolan throwing her mom a smile. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘what can I do?’ Then he turned and followed her to his truck, hustling to open the door for her.
Marla got in and waited for him to walk around the front and get in himself.
“I’m sorry about all that.”
Nolan shrugged his shoulders and started up his truck.
“Don’t worry about it. Mothers should be like a protective lioness. I don’t blame her at all. In fact, I’m just glad it wasn’t your dad. I had visions of him cleaning his sawed-off shotgun while he grilled me for twenty minutes.”
“My dad died when I was three,” Marla said.
Nolan dropped his head a little, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s alright. I don’t even remember, and Mom almost never talks about him.”
They both sat there for several minutes as he pulled up to a red light, the tension building. Was she supposed to talk? They looked at each other, and both grinned at the strained ridiculousness of it all.
He focused back on the road as they proceeded on, but she continued to look at him in the fading light of the oncoming night. He wasn’t gorgeous, definitely not a pretty boy. His face was too strong, but there was something about him, a depth of soul that drew her in.
A shiver crossed her shoulders, and she tried to look away, but she couldn’t pull her eyes aside until he glanced in her direction. She quickly looked away and started to turn red, embarrassed to have been caught staring.
What was he thinking, she wished she could read his mind to find out what he thought about her, find out all his secrets. Her curiosity was driving her mad.
“So where do you want to start?” he asked.
She jumped at the sudden question.
“What?” she said and then mentally kicked herself for the smart comeback.
Why was she so nervous? He seemed so confident, then he probably did this all the time. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and decided to reboot. Smiling she said, “It’s the Oak Valley Mall. There’s not a lot of exciting stuff to do. Usually, we just hang out.”
Nolan nodded his head and turned into the giant parking lot. He was able to park close to the food court, probably figuring it was a nice central starting point. Marla got out before he could get around to open her door.
A disappointed look crossed his face before he could hide it. She kicked herself again for not letting him get the door. Couldn’t she do anything right tonight?
A tight tension settled over her as they walked into the mall. Marla reminded herself to let him get the front door and smiled her thanks as he held it for her. The two of them walked side by side through the Mall, both of them taking secret looks at each other.
Marla kept fiddling with her purse strap over her shoulder, she wasn’t used to wearing a purse and found it disconcerting.
Nolan stopped walking and reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Come on, I’ve got an idea,” he said.
An electric shock traveled up her arm from where their hands joined. She wondered if he felt it.
They entered the Arcade. The tangs and bangs of electronic games and the rolling thunder of the skittle machines washed over them as they entered the dark room. Nolan stopped and looked around.
“Any preference?” he asked.
Marla smiled and shrugged her shoulders, not trusting herself to speak, the electric shock was still twitching on her arm. Then, an idea popped into her head, a way to get what she wanted.
“How about air hockey? The loser has to tell a secret about themselves,” Marla said.
She decided not to tell him that she was an expert air hockey player. Hours and hours playing with Jess in her basement one summer had made her the unofficial champion of the neighborhood.
Nolan seemed to hesitate, but finally nodded his head and led her to the table. It only took a few minutes to find out that he was good, very good.
She had to fight hard to stay even. The orange puck flew back and forth across the table, both of them focused on the game, the score crept up until Marla slammed another one home. The yellow numbers on the counter read 9/9.
“You’re good,” Nolan said with a hint of surprise. Shaking his head and gathering himself as he retrieved the puck once again.
“Two months in Jess’s basement, it became a bit of an obsession,” Marla said, returning his serve with a slam off the side. “You’re pretty good yourself.”
Nolan trapped her shot in his corner.
“Thanks, three months in juvie, there wasn’t anything else to do,” he said, his arm shooting forward firing the orange puck home for a goal.
Marla stood there, with her mouth open, she didn’t know what was more surprising, the fact that she had lost, or the fact that he had spent time in juvenile hall. She looked up, he was smiling, not in a smug way but in a relaxed, broke the ice way.
They moved over to some legacy pinball machines. “I’ve always preferred these to the electronic games,” he said. “They have a sense of randomness I like. Do you want to go again?”
“Same stakes?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“How about Skittle Ball instead,” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay, why do I think I’m getting hustled?” Nolan said.
“What, they didn’t have Skittle Ball in juvenile hall?” she said with a laugh.
They had to wait a moment for a couple of machines to open up. But then it was full combat skittle as they rolled the wooden balls like their lives hung in the balance.
Nolan was in the middle of a roll when Marla playfully hip checked him and then laughed at the mock look of betrayal on his face. He laughed and nodded his head, “Okay, this means war,” Nolan said with a grin.