“Twas brillig and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe
all mimsy were the borogoves
and the mome raths, outgrabe,” he began.
“What?!?” she exclaimed, startled and incredulous.
He gestured with one finger as if giving her a warning.
“Beware the Jabberwock my son,
the claws that catch, the jaws that bite.
Beware the Jub-jub bird
and shun the frumious bandersnatch.”
She stared at him. “What the hell is that?” she asked. He responded by drawing an imaginary sword from his side and walking up and down the beams of the ruined dock, recited loudly,
“He took his vorpal sword in hand,
long time the manxome foe he sought.
Rested he on a Tum Tum tree
and stood a while in thought.
She crossed her arms and stared at him with her lips pursed to one side. An expression of infinite yet strained patience came over her face. Her shoulders rose and fell with a sigh.
“And as in uffish thought he stood.” Xander danced over to the platform and leaned against one of the pillars in a ridiculous Thinker’s pose. Hero swallowed a laugh.
“The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
came whiffling through the tulgey wood
and burbled as it came.”
Xander began to sword fight. Hero was tempted to push him back into the water.
“One-two, one-two and through and through,
the vorpal blade went snicker-snack.
He left it dead and with its head,
he went galumphing back.”
She sighed. “Really?” she asked, amazed that he was still going.
“Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” Xander shouted out into the bay. He wrapped her up in his arms and spun around. Her feet left the ground and came inches from the poles rising out of the water. When he put her down he continued, “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy, he chortled in his joy.”
Xander let go of her, perilously close to the edge of the dock and, shaking her head, Hero gave into temptation. One hand pressed against the center of his chest and shoved. He went in with another huge splash and a loud clap as he hit the water. He sank beneath the waves, then came back up coughing. As he climbed back onto the dock, one arm over the other and pulled himself up, he finished the poem.
“Twas brilling and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe
all mimsy were the borogoves
and the mome raths, outgrabe.”
He finished and leaned in to kiss her. He found his lips pressed against the index finger of her right hand and an amused expression on her face.
“Poetry,” she demanded.
He laughed, and so did she. He nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist and looked down into her eyes.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
“Mmm. . .” Hero said again. “You may kiss me now.” Xander was tempted to say something playful for a moment, but thought better of it. He kissed her and somehow another ten minutes wandered off.
* * *
Xander stripped down to his black boxer-briefs when he made it up to the garden and hung his soaking wet clothes over the bench to dry. He walked around the house to the main entrance and pushed the heavy front door open, then stopped, startled. His dad shouted from another part of the house.
“Xander, is that you? You have a visitor.”
“Yeah, thanks, I see her,” he called back.
Jessica stood in the foyer, starting at Xander with wide, appreciative eyes. He felt awkward for a moment, then weighed the choices of feeling embarrassed versus acting like nothing was out of normal. He chose nonchalance.
“Hey, Jess,” he said though he were not nearly naked. “What’s up?”
“Hold on,” she breathed, her voice husky. “I’m enjoying the view.”
It was not a response Xander found particularly attractive. He wasn’t a piece of meat anymore than she was.
“Did you want something? Otherwise, I’m going to go get dressed.”
“Don’t do that, you look fine just the way you are.” Her tone was suggestive.
“I’m not all that concerned with how I look, thanks though. Nice to see you,” he said a little coolly, heading for the hallway.
She grabbed his hand to stop him. “Wait, I wanted to talk to you.”
He took his hand back, probably a little more forcefully than necessary. “Really? That’s not the impression I was getting.”
Jessica paused. “Ok. That too. Really though, I just came to talk. You weren’t supposed to show up naked.”
“I’m listening,” he said, ignoring the last part. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
“Are you sleeping with Hero?” she blurted out.
His eyebrows raised. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. What gave you that impression?”
Her chest rose and fell with a breath of relief. “You both disappeared last night and never came back. . .”
“We hung out, yes.”
“I saw you drop her off.”
“She fell asleep here, nothing happened,” he said in a matter-of-fact, emotionless tone.
“You like her, don’t you?” Jessica asked.
“Very much.”
The redhead’s face fell. “But you quoted poetry to me. . .” she said softly.
Xander was confused for a moment before he remembered what he had said the day they met. “I’m sorry, Jess, but that was about Hero. It’s from Marlowe’s Hero and. . .”
“You asshole!” she shouted, cutting him off.
She caught him off guard. “Excuse me?” he asked, offended.
“You’re a fucking jerk. I hope she gives you a venereal disease.” In spite of her vehemence, Jessica made no move to leave.
Xander stood up off the wall. “Jess. . .” he warned, irritation beginning to creep into his voice.
“What?” she demanded, livid. “You take me out, you let me think you like me, and you’re what? I knew you were too fucking good to be true.”
His brow narrowed in confusion. “I didn’t do any of that. We were just hanging out.”
“Oh, yeah, hanging out. Just like you were ‘hanging out’ with Hero.” She made air quotes with her fingers.
He took a deep breath and let it calm him. “Look, Jess, you’re a great person, but,”
“Don’t,” she hissed. “Don’t you dare. Fuck you. Go away.”
“Jess,” he began.
“What?” she snapped.
“You’re in my house,” Xander pointed out. She slapped him. Then she turned and stormed out. He stood still for a moment, uncertain what had just happened. His cheek hurt, and he was not very excited about the penchant women in this town had for slapping people. It was starting to seem like a hobby. He wondered if they got together and practiced on dummies on weekends.
Xander was still standing in the foyer when his dad walked in from the hallway. He raised his eyebrows but otherwise seemed oblivious to his son’s state of undress.
“Well, that was interesting,” Zach said to his son.
“I’
m not entirely certain what just happened.”
“Woman scorned,” Zach said, as if it explained everything.
“Not intentionally,” Xander replied.
“The road to hell. . .” Zach suggested with a shrug.
“Needs to be repaved,” Xander stated, both amused and frustrated.
Zach noticed his son’s hair was wet and looked around to see if he needed a mop. There was no puddle, so it hadn’t been a result of the argument.
“Go swimming?” he asked, wondering how his son had found the time to make it to the beach and back. He hadn’t been gone that long.
“Yeah. We have a dock, by the way.”
“We do?”
“What’s left of one. Hero showed me.” Xander’s mouth turned up in a ridiculous grin.
Zach looked suspicious. “The pretty young firecracker who just left was Jessica, right?”
“Yeah, Hero brought her boat over to the dock and climbed up the cliff.”
“Climbed the cliff?” His dad sounded surprised.
“There’s a staircase carved into the side.”
“Huh. I guess you learn something new every day. How’s Hero doing?” Zach asked. From the look on his son’s face, he gathered she was doing well.
“So far, so good. Really good.” Xander grinned like an idiot.
“Kiss her?”
“Yep.”
“Ah. Any good?”
“Heinleinian.”
“Must have been, if you’re coining words.” Zach changed the subject. “Are you going to apologize to Jess?”
Xander’s head pulled back and his expression changed to disbelief. “For what? I didn’t do anything.”
“She thinks you did.”
“And for that I should apologize?”
“She obviously likes you, or you’d never have had the privilege of withstanding her fire. I’d say she feels like you lead her on. Your life will be a lot easier if you say you’re sorry.”
“I don’t feel the same way about her and never suggested I did.”
“Pride or peace. Your choice.” Zach shrugged. “You apologized to Hero when she was angry with you, didn’t you?”
“That was different.” Xander started pacing. “She thought I called her something I hadn’t.”
“So, you apologized to someone for a misunderstanding on her part that you were actually innocent of.” Zach pointed out.
Xander stopped pacing. “Umm. Yeah.”
“So are you going to apologize to Jess?”
Xander gave in. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Now go put on some clothes and help me do what we actually planned to do today.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Xander?”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“I love you, Son.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
Aftermath
The Coven sat in Ambrosia, drinking coffee and talking about nothing in particular. Hero was daydreaming, reliving her first kiss with Xander. She swore the taste of salt lingered on her lips and her body seemed to float as though still buoyed by the water. Jaimie and Evan were bickering about who should or should not have been kicked off Dancing With the Stars, occasionally interrupted by stupid comments from Jeremy. Leana was smiling at him non-stop and he kept giving her suspicious looks, as if he were afraid she was going to eat him. Brian sat back, drinking his coffee and pretending to eat popcorn as he watched them all.
“Have a good morning?” he asked Hero, breaking her reverie.
“Huh?” she responded. She blinked as she brought her attention back to her surroundings.
“You had a good morning, didn’t you?” Brian repeated.
“Uh, yeah, it was fine. Why?” she asked.
“You’re somewhere very, very far from here. And if I were smiling as much as you are, I think my face would break.” He grinned, teasing her.
“I smile all the time, Brian. Maybe you just need more practice.”
“Not like that, you don’t. I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like that since John Dinkerman asked you to Homecoming freshman year.” John Dinkerman had been team captain for the Vista Bay High School junior varsity football team at the time. Looking back and comparing him to Xander, Hero didn’t think he was very interesting.
“What about John Dinkerman?” Jaimie butted in, abandoning her argument.
“Nothing,” Hero said too quickly.
“I think she’s found a new Dinkerman,” Brian teased.
“Traitor,” Hero accused.
Brian shrugged and smiled. Everyone’s attention turned to Hero.
“Are you and Adonis, er, Xander dating?” Leana bubbled.
“No, not exactly. Can we not talk about this?” Hero asked helplessly.
“Ahem.” Jaimie cleared her throat loud enough that customers at neighboring tables looked her way, which seemed a little melodramatic to Hero, but that was Jaimie. “I’m sorry. Not exactly?”
“We kissed, ok? End of story.”
“Oh god, could this get more boring?” Jeremy said. “I thought you were going to say you had sex with him or something.”
Leana kissed her index finger, then placed it on Jeremy’s lips. “Shh. . .” she said.
He obeyed, eyes a little wild.
Before Hero was forced to say more, Brian interrupted. “Speaking of Dinkerman. . .”
Jessica stalked past the Coven, hissing at Hero as she went by, “Slut.”
“You DID slee. . .” Jeremy began.
Leana put her finger back. “Shh.”
Jaimie stood quickly and started after Jessica, but Hero and Evan grabbed her.
“Let her be, Jaimie,” they said together.
“No one calls my friend a slut,” she protested, struggling a little. “Let me go!” she demanded.
When they wouldn’t release her, she yelled after Jessica. “Takes one to know one!”
Jessica wheeled on her, striding back across the room.
“I’m not the one who steals other people’s boyfriends, unlike your friend here.”
“Xander is not your boyfriend,” Hero stated with a little uncertainty.
“He could have been, if you hadn’t gotten your nasty posh-zombie claws into him. How long did you wait before you dropped your panties from under that precious vintage dress you were wearing? If you were wearing any at all,” the angry redhead said nastily.
“I haven’t slept with anyone, Jessica.”
“Yeah, like you didn’t sleep with John.”
“I didn’t sleep with John. I didn’t sleep with Xander either.”
“I saw Xander drop you off at Jaimie’s this morning, you lying bitch.”
Hero was standing with her back to the door and didn’t see it open to admit a high-society woman in a belted dress with a wide-brimmed hat. The woman listened with interest as Hero’s temper exploded.
“Fine! I slept with him. But that’s all we did! Sleep! He didn’t even kiss me until this afternoon. Even then, I kissed him!”
Everyone in the coffee shop, including the barista and customers in the back, stared at her.
“Slept with whom, Hero?” her mother said from behind her.
Hero clapped her hand over her mouth and turned around slowly. She met her mother’s cold, angry eyes and swallowed.
“Why don’t we go home, dear,” her mother suggested in a steel voice with a saccharine coating. It was not a suggestion. Anna DiBenedetto opened the door and gestured for her daughter to go through. Hero nodded and walked through the door in shock. Ambrosia remained silent but for the whir of the air conditioning, locked in the awkward scene. The Coven looked at each other with concern. Even Jessica looked uncomfortable.
Hero and Anna walked to the boat in silence. Hero had never felt so small or embarrassed in her life. Bad enough that the whole café had heard her, but to have her mother walk in at precisely the wrong moment was impossibly horrible. She couldn’t believe Jessica had gone off like that, and worse
, couldn’t believe she had lost her temper and given herself away in public. She wanted to die.
When they reached the boat, Anna stopped and with inhumanely rigid posture, nodded for Hero to get in. The sun beat down, warm on Hero’s face, and the skies were impossibly blue. It reminded her of Xander’s eyes. It seemed impossible that one day could be so good and so bad at the same time. She dreaded what her mother would say when she finally spoke. The silence was making it worse, and Hero knew her mother well. It wasn’t going to get any better until they made it home.
Hero sat down in the back of the boat and pulled out her phone as Anna maneuvered the boat out into the bay. She typed a quick text to Xander.
Hero: Mom found out about last night. I am so dead. She hit send.
She looked up to see her mother holding out her hand for the phone. Hero handed it over.
“Xander,” Anna read. “Is that him?”
Hero nodded. Her mother threw the phone overboard.
“Mom!” Hero protested angrily.
“We’ll get you a new one,” her mother said matter-of-factly, as if it made no difference. Hero curled up in a ball in her seat and muttered darkly. Anna ignored her.
Her father, Jared DiBenedetto, was sitting in the living room when they got home. He stood, obviously pleased to see his wife and daughter. He had just returned from a business trip to Europe. His excitement faded quickly when he took in Anna’s serious expression and Hero’s fierce glare. Normally Hero would cry out, “Daddy!” and fling herself into his arms for a hug. Today it came out as a question that sounded as though by allowing him to be present the universe had somehow betrayed her.
“Daddy?” she asked the world at large in disbelief. Her whole body tensed and she stood still in shock for a moment before fleeing up the stairs to her room without another word. The door slamming behind her could be felt throughout the house. Jared moved quickly to his wife.
The West Wind Page 8