“Well, no one asked you to watch, and I think you’re being a hypocrite. You and Rylee kiss, and it doesn’t bother me. So I don’t want to hear that you’re bothered when I kiss someone. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Reese groaned and focused on the windy road before him. “Maybe it doesn’t bother you because you’re naïve. You have no idea what’s going through Nick’s mind, and I do. If you think all he wants to do is kiss your sweet little lips, you’re kidding yourself.”
Rylee tilted her head, raised an eyebrow and asked, “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Reese dragged his fingers across his forehead and massaged his temple. “Nothing can be simple, can it?” He slowly shook his head back and forth. “All I meant was that men are more complicated than women. We don’t romanticize everything. We’re more basic.”
“Hmm,” Rylee huffed, “I think that actually means you’re less complicated than women — if you’re more basic.”
“I think you got him on that one.” I laughed and crossed my arms.
Reese quickly turned to look at Rylee. “Huh… women,” he murmured. “That’s not what I meant. If he wants you, he will say and do whatever it takes to get you.”
“Is that what you do in our relationship?” Rylee administered the death stare. “Are your words meaningless?”
“No, and you can’t even begin to compare the two,” Reese said.
Was Reese even aware of how deep a hole he was in?
“You have no idea what motivates Nick,” Reese said. “I think I’m better qualified to judge Nick’s motives.”
“Wow. Your cynicism is terrifying,” I said. “First of all, Nick and I didn’t even kiss.”
“Oh! What?” Reese scoffed as we pulled onto the interstate. “Your naiveté is incredible. I saw plenty of kissing and touching,” he hissed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
“What!” I shrieked in response. “He never kissed me on the lips, and that’s all that matters.”
“If you think that’s all that matters, you’re missing the point,” he said in disbelief. “Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t come in last night. He was about to do… who knows what? It was a good thing I walked in when I did.”
“You’re right! Nick and I may have had our first kiss. That was definitely a tragedy to avoid.”
“From what I saw, he gave you plenty of kisses. If he was a vampire, you’d be drained of your blood. Plus, get this,” Reese looked at Rylee, “Nick actually said, ‘Katherine, you are more precious than rubies.’ He actually said that! Who says crap like that?”
“Ahhh, he said that,” Rylee cooed and turned around to look at me. “That is so sweet.”
“I know. My heart skipped a beat when he said it.”
Rylee looked at Reese. “I wish you said romantic stuff like that.”
Reese looked at Rylee, shook his head, and exhaled loudly. “Am I the only sane person in this car?”
“No, Reese. You are not the only sane person in the car,” I began. “You are the ‘brilliant’ person in the car who knows that men and women are different. Yet you refuse to adjust your behavior to meet the needs of your woman. Keep it up, and you just might lose your woman.”
“Oh, I see,” Reese said. “I’m the problem.”
“Yes, Reese, you are the problem,” I continued. “Nick, on the other hand, realizes that I like attention and sweet nothings whispered in my ear, so he does it.” I scooted up close to Reese just to annoy him. “It makes the blood course through my body, and I love it.”
“Stop! Please, make it stop!” Reese put his hand up and thrashed his head from side to side. “I can’t take any more. I’ve done my best. There’s nothing more I can do.”
Rylee looked at him. “Well, I hate to do this, but I’m going to ask about the elephant in the room.” She gently massaged the back of Reese’s neck. “What are you going to tell your mom about this weekend?”
“Are you kidding?” He looked at her incredulously.
“No,” she said, her eyes fixed on him. “What are you going to say?”
He looked back at the road. “I’m going to tell her as little as possible. All she needs to know is that we had a great time.”
“So you’re not going to tell her that he put his hands all over me?” I asked.
“No. Walking in on that experience was bad enough the first time. I don’t want to have to relive it again in detail with Mom,” he said. “I already threw up a little in my mouth and had to swallow it last night. If I tell Mom, who knows what will happen? She’ll keep asking for clarification, and it will go on and on.”
“Well, believe it or not,” Rylee said, “I’m proud of you. I know it’s hard to see someone put the moves on your little sister.”
“I’m not happy about this.” Reese wagged his finger. “This is happening too fast, and he’s way too smooth. I’m going on the record right now. I don’t trust him. He’s not normal.”
“Fine. We’ll just have to agree to disagree,” I said. “I like him, and he’s done nothing wrong. He was a perfect gentleman all weekend. He even responded with grace to your rudeness, so he obviously has more class than you.”
“Fine. He’s classier than I am.” Reese rolled his eyes and huffed.
“Just give him a chance,” I said. “I want you to be polite and reasonable. Don’t ruin this for me.”
Reese inhaled and held it for a moment, his cheeks full of hot air. “Okay, I’ll give him a chance. He’s new in town, and I may have overreacted to his super-fast advances towards my sister.”
“Thanks. That means a lot to me.” I wondered how long his attempt at good behavior would last.
Rylee turned sideways in her seat to look back at me. “I think he’s amazing. It’ll be fun to see what happens between you two.”
“That’s what I think,” I said, my eyes trained on Reese. He remained motionless and silent. “It’s not like we have to spend the rest of our lives together. We’re young. We can enjoy this stage, right?”
“Right.” Rylee turned on the radio.
Music filled the car and began dissolving the tension. I stared out the window as we twisted and curved back down the mountain towards home. The scintillating snow and ice clung to the trees. Every once in a while, large patches of snow crashed down and left dents in the perfect powder.
I rested my head against the window and listened to the music as we drove. Between the quiet hum of the engine and my lack of sleep, I soon fell asleep.
“Hey, wake up Sleeping Beauty!” Reese said as cold air flowed in from the rear door.
“We’re home already?” I rubbed my eyes.
“Yep, now we just have to avoid the hundred questions game from Mom. That should be interesting.” Reese began to unload our bags.
I knew he was right. Mom would ask a ton of questions, and they would start the second we entered the house.
“Hey there,” Mom said as she came down the stairs to greet us. “How are my two favorite kids?”
“Great,” we replied in unison.
“Did you have fun?” She wrapped her arms around me. “I missed you so much.”
“Yes, I had a blast. This was the best weekend of my life.”
Mom placed her hands on my shoulders. “Look at you. You’re practically glowing, but what’s this on your face?” Creases of worry marred her eyes, and she pursed her lips.
“I fell in the ice and got some scratches. They aren’t bad.” I knew I needed to allay Mom’s fears. She loved to play doctor, and who knows what she’d do if she thought I needed medical attention.
“Hmm,” her probing eyes examined my face. “They’re hardly noticeable under all that makeup. I don’t think they’ll scar.”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“Reese, what about you?” She turned to him. “Did you have a good time?”
Reese rocked back and forth on his feet. “Yes, it was one adventure after another.”
“
Great!” Mom clapped her hands. “I hope neither of you did anything you shouldn’t. There’s nothing to ‘snitch’?” she asked using air quotes.
I rolled my eyes. “No, Mom. Reese was his perfect self all weekend.” I picked up my bags and headed up the stairs.
“You worry too much,” Reese said. “When have you ever needed to worry about Kate?”
We were halfway up the stairs when Dad came out of his office. “Hi, kids. I’m glad you had fun.”
I turned to look down at him from the stairs. “Hi, Dad. Yeah, I had lots of fun.”
“Hey, Dad.” Reese gave a quick wave.
We continued up the stairs. A formal interrogation by Dad was never good. He’s much more thorough than Mom, which makes him much more dangerous. I stopped outside my door to listen to him talk to Mom.
“Something’s up,” Dad mumbled. “It was the best weekend of Kate’s life, and you said she was glowing. Then she said Reese was perfect. When has she ever described Reese as perfect?”
I realized my description of Reese as perfect was definitely over the top. Mom might not catch it, but Dad certainly would.
“Then Reese said it was one adventure after another,” Dad continued. “They’re hiding something.”
“Oh, Honey, you just need to be a little more trusting. We’ve raised two great kids. You need to have some confidence in them.”
“Hmm, we’ll see. Something’s up,” he said. “Be on your guard.”
I rolled my eyes and walked into my room. Now I had Reese and Dad breathing down my neck. Why did they have to be so overprotective? Mom was already a busybody. If she became overprotective, my social life would really be kaput.
As I plotted how I could allay Dad’s concerns, it came to me: misdirection. I would only tell him what I wanted him to know. As long as I controlled the information, I had the power.
Misdirection
“Time for dinner,” Mom called from the bottom of the stairs. Reese and I scurried out of our rooms and down the steps.
“I’m starved,” I said.
“Please tell me you ordered plenty of pizza,” Reese moaned as he gripped his stomach.
“Yes, we may even have leftovers. Your dad told me to order plenty, so I think I may have gone overboard. I even got breadsticks.” Three large pizzas and an order of garlic breadsticks sat on the island.
Reese smiled deviously at me. “I think that was a brilliant idea, Mom. We don’t want any vampires around, do we?”
I chuckled and picked up my plate. “Reese, don’t worry. There’s no suck thing as vampires. Get it, suck. Vampires suck.” I grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza and dropped a breadstick onto my plate.
“Kate, you know it’s really pathetic when you have to explain your own joke,” Reese mocked.
“Oh, come on, that was good. I just had to explain it because I wasn’t sure you’d get it with your limited sense of humor.” I smirked at Reese and sat down at the table.
Dad walked in and picked up his plate. “Dinner looks great.” He loaded some slices onto his plate. “What’s this about vampires?”
“Kate thinks vampires suck,” Reese said.
“That has been their modus operandi,” Dad said as he sat at the table.
“Of course vampires suck. That’s what makes them fun.” I flipped my hand dismissively and tried to end this ridiculous conversation. “Anyway, we should tell you more about our weekend.”
“Yes, I would love to hear about your weekend.” Dad lifted his pizza to his mouth.
Reese and I began explaining our adventures. I carefully crafted my part to explain the highlights without revealing any of the bizarre incidents. I also left out the Nick and Kate cuddle time tidbits.
Reese droned on as he talked about sledding. In order to escape the boredom, I relived the fun day of sledding. Even tumbling through the snow had a happy ending. When I landed on top of Nick, and his strong arms embraced me, I’d felt so safe.
“Earth to Kate,” Dad said.
“Hmm, what?” I asked and lifted my head from my hand.
“I asked you what you were thinking about. You were staring off into space,” Dad said.
“Oh,” I chuckled, “I was just thinking about how much fun sledding was.”
“Really,” Dad said suspiciously, “from what Reese said it sounded a little dangerous. You almost crashed.”
I looked over at Reese and wondered how much he’d said. “Well, we went really fast down that hill, but we rolled off in plenty of time. No big deal.” I shrugged my shoulders and bit off a chunk of my breadstick.
“Yeah, I noticed the sled didn’t come home. Where is it?” Dad asked. His eyes ricocheted between us.
“Well… it sort of crashed into some trees and got ruined. We threw it away up there,” Reese said.
“Wow,” Mom said, “you could have gotten hurt.”
“That’s unusual. Those sleds are tough.” Dad leaned forward, his eyes narrowed until they looked like the edges of finely sharpened knives. “They don’t fall apart just because they hit a tree.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Dad,” Reese shrugged. “That’s what happened. It crashed into a tree and broke in two.”
Dad’s eyes widened as he sat back against the chair. “I knew you two were hiding something when you came home. I’m glad you finally came clean and told the truth.” Dad’s elbows rested on the table, and his fists were under his chin. “I’m proud of you for being honest.”
“Sure, we had a blast, and there’s nothing to hide. We just didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily,” I said. Then I bit my bottom lip and dragged my teeth across it. My heart sank as I realized I just executed my infamous tell. As my lip broke free from my teeth, a broad smile spread across Dad’s face.
“Katie Bug, I’m glad you had fun. I want you to know that I trust you completely.” His smile revealed the exact opposite of trust.
Reese looked from Dad to me, He knew that I had betrayed our attempt at misdirection by my all too predictable tell.
Dad sat forward again, lifted his pizza from his plate and said, “I bet Nick had a good time.” He took a bite of pizza and stared at me as he slowly chewed.
I was a deer caught in the headlights with nowhere to run. The problem was that I wasn’t being tracked by a car, but a man, able to change course, to plot, and plan. “Yes, I think he had fun. Everyone got along really well with him.” I took a huge bite of pizza.
“Well that’s just wonderful,” Mom said. “It’s hard being the new kid. It’s great that everyone was so friendly.”
Dad continued to look at me with his penetrating stare and cocky grin. He wasn’t falling for our friendly act. He knew something happened between Nick and me. I’m sure his mind was running in directions far more fanciful than reality — which meant that he would be watching me like a hawk.
Thankfully the phone rang. I sprang up to answer it, and my chair nearly tipped over in the process. “Hello.”
“Hey there,” Maggie said. “I’m dying to know what happened this weekend. Can I come over?”
“Let me ask.” I looked at Mom. “Hey, can Maggie come over?”
“Of course, she’s always welcome,” Mom said.
“Sure, I’m finishing dinner, but you can come over.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up the phone and gobbled down another piece of pizza under the weight of Dad’s smiling glare.
I hopped up to answer the door when the bell rang. “Hey there,” I said as I opened the door.
“So, what happened?” Maggie gripped my arm and walked me towards the stairs.
“Hi, Maggie,” Mom said as we rounded the corner beside the stairs.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Archer. Hi, Reese,” Maggie said. “I hope everyone had a good weekend. I can’t wait to hear what Kate and Nick did this weekend.”
“I’d love to hear that too,” Dad said. “Can I come up and join the gossip session?”
“Dad!”
I scowled. “You’re just fine where you are.”
He faced Mom. “You know, Maggie’s going to hear the truth about what happened this weekend.”
“Oh, Honey,” Mom cooed, “nothing happened. Do you really think Reese would let anything happen to Kate? Just relax.”
It seemed ironic, Mom telling Dad to relax, but I didn’t stop to explain the irony to either of them.
Maggie and I rushed up the stairs and into my bedroom. I closed the door behind us. We hopped onto the bright floral and paisley comforter that covered my bed.
“So, did he kiss you?” Maggie asked, going right for the good stuff.
I crisscrossed my legs and looked up at the ceiling as I thought about my answer. “Well, that’s a hard question to answer.
Maggie scrunched up her face and said, “No… not really. He either kissed you, or he didn’t kiss you. It’s a yes or no answer.” She twirled a black ringlet around her finger.
I held up my hand and looked her squarely in the eyes. “Look, before we begin you have to promise me something. You cannot repeat anything that I say to you. This is private, and if it got out, it could ruin any chances I have with Nick. So you can’t even tell Adam. I will kill you if you repeat this. Okay. Kill you. Do you understand?”
“Well, I think the whole ‘kill you’ is a little dramatic.” Maggie rolled her eyes. “But I won’t tell anyone. So, please continue.”
“Okay.” I folded my hands and rested them in my lap. “This was the best weekend of my life. Nick never kissed me on the lips, but he kissed me all over my face. It was fabulous. I thought my heart was going to explode. He is amazing!” I leaned closer to her for affect. “I think I’m in love.”
“Why didn’t he kiss you on the lips?” Maggie asked amazed. “Did he even try?”
“Yes, he was about to, but Reese walked in and interrupted us.”
“No way!” She laughed. “That’s awesome.”
“No… No, it’s not awesome. It was humiliating. Reese was a jerk the whole weekend. I was so embarrassed, but Nick was so gracious and wonderful. He oozed awesomeness all weekend.” I collapsed onto a pile of pillows at the head of the bed.
Scintillate (Scintillate Series Book 1) Page 14