No One's Watching

by Sandy Green

  They laughed. Was I wrong?

  Dira patted my arm. “JK. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

  “Mint chocolate chip.” Chocolate moose munchies. Vanilla with pralines. Cookies and cream. Did we have to pick one? I lost myself in a dream of ice cream, and the awful day fell away like veils. Drifting down fifteen floors and disappearing.

  Nicki, who wore a cami and a broken-stripe print skirt tied at the waist, hopped off her desk. “We’re going to the ice cream place first. Who knows where we’ll end up?”

  “Oh, snap.” Dira raised her arms above her head and spun.

  Candace giggled. “This is fun.” She fluffed the lace on her cap sleeves.

  “Let’s go.” Dira adjusted the buckle on her blue, strappy sandals. They matched the ruffle on her halter dress.

  Nicki poked her head out the door. She faced us, pressing her finger to her lips. “Shh. We’re to take the elevator to the first floor then the stairs to the lobby level. We’ll sneak into the kitchen and go out the delivery door.”

  Or we could walk out the front door. I did it earlier today. Should I tell them?

  After we got to the dark kitchen, we pushed though the swinging doors and groped along the cold, metal prep tables until we reached the back. Somewhere in this room, Jupiter found the rice for his unsuccessful experiment.

  Nicki snorted, and Candace choked back a giggle. We burst through the door into the bay where the kitchen got its food deliveries.

  “Stinky garbage.” Dira pinched her nose.

  A fence blocked off access to the bay from the back of the building I visited earlier.

  “It’s muggy here.” Nicki held the door. “Hold this open while I find something to keep it from closing.”

  Candace leaned against the door while Nicki searched the ground. She wedged a broken brick in the doorway and kicked it for good measure. We maneuvered around the bay and down the steps to the sidewalk on the free side of the building.

  “What’s that?” Candace pointed to the hole in the ground that once was a city block.

  “They’re building a new hotel.” I squinted into the darkness.

  “How do you know?” Dira asked.

  “I went for a walk outside this afternoon.” Mrs. Ricardo’s kind reprieve and warning replayed in my head. Did I want to chance leaving our building again? Was I completely insane? Somehow I felt safe with my friends. Nothing bad could happen.

  “Right.”

  “Sure.” Everybody laughed again, and we continued up the street. The city on this side of our building was intact. No broken sidewalk. No bombed-out ground. We waited midway up the street for the light to change as cars swished by.

  “Where’s the ice cream parlor?” Candace searched the street as we crossed.

  Nicki pointed. “Sweet Hearth is down another block.”

  “Sweet Hearth? What a cute name.” Candace fanned her neck. “It sure is hot out here.”

  “We have to share their famous, gigantic sundae called the Avalanche. It’s made of a bunch of scoops and whatever you want for toppings. It’s the best thing on the planet.” Nicki rubbed her hands together. “Then up one block from Sweet Hearth’s is the club we went to last year.”

  Club? As in bar? As in illegal for so many reasons including we were all underage? I pushed my luck getting ice cream. I checked behind us for anyone from the dance camp.

  By the time we’d walked around the block from the main campus building, my dress clung to me like the plastic wrap girls used to bind their thighs before class to lose water weight.

  “It feels like a dance studio after a hundred dancers have been sweating and breathing in it.” Nicki pumped her cami, trying to fan her body.

  At the end of the block, across the street, Sweet Hearth’s neon pink and green lights winked and promised air-conditioning. We went inside the cool restaurant and stood by a candy counter crammed into a huge, red-brick fireplace.

  “Welcome to Sweet Hearth’s. Table for four?” the hostess asked.

  We nodded, and she led us to a round parlor table in the middle of the dining area, leaving menus. All the tables had pink gingham tablecloths. Green gingham covered the seats. So cute.

  I couldn’t help gulping the ice water our server brought.

  Nicki closed her menu. “Do we know what we want?”

  “We’re going to share this thing, right?” Candace stared at the picture in the menu.

  “I want it all for myself.” Dira cackled evilly.

  I scanned the other tables for any other illegals from the camp.

  Nicki tucked her hair behind her ears. “We each get to pick a flavor and a topping, okay?”

  The server returned to refill my water glass and scribbled our order for an Avalanche. He stooped close to Candace, which only made her speak softer and blush redder.

  Nicki frowned at the waiter. She sectioned off a lock of hair and examined it for split ends.

  “Pretzels? On ice cream? You have weird taste.” Dira laughed.

  Candace ran a hand along her waistline. “I hope I can walk after this.”

  Dira nodded at our waiter. “If you stay until his shift is over, I’m sure Andrew will take you home.”

  “Stop.” Candace hid behind her napkin.

  “I almost forgot.” I pulled a digital camera from my purse. “Picture time.” I slid from my chair and lowered myself in the aisle. “Move closer together.”

  Three sets of hands flew to primp hair.

  I clicked off a couple pictures.

  “We should get our server to take one of all of us.” Candace’s head followed Andrew in his green checked apron as he came by the table.

  I gave him my camera and went around the table, kneeling next to Candace. He snapped two more pictures.

  “Thanks.” I put the camera back in my purse and waited until he’d moved away. “He’s cute.”

  “I dated him last year.” Nicki glanced at Candace. “He’s nothing special.”

  Dira pinched Nicki’s arm. “You wish.”

  Nicki rubbed her arm, her mouth set in a straight line like Mrs. Sykes. I glanced around the room and through the window at the people on the sidewalk. If we were caught, I wouldn’t have to explain why I didn’t get a ballet solo. We’d all be sent home for rules violation. The perfect ending to a perfect beginning at ballet camp.

  A bell clanged, and a siren blasted. I clutched my throat. “What’s going on? Is this a fire drill?”

  “I forgot to tell you guys.” Nick’s head followed the noise. “Whenever a table orders an Avalanche, they make a racket when they bring it to the table.”

  “I’m glad we’re not going to draw attention to ourselves.” Candace pulled her napkin in front of her face. “We Southern girls like to be what you call discreet.”

  Everybody but me laughed. I checked for any dance camp types sitting nearby at the other tables and booths.

  Two servers heaved the platter of ice cream on the table. The extra humidity had caused the billowing heap of whipped cream to slither over the lumps of ice cream.

  “Are you serious?” Candace slapped herself on her forehead.

  Our table went quiet as we dug in. Sweet, cold, and yummy.

  I put my spoon down and leaned back. The ice cream’s creaminess melted the badness of the day away. “Whew, I’m finished.” I sipped my water.

  Candace rolled her eyes and put her spoon down too. “I can’t eat anymore.”

  Dira hummed as she carved away at the ice cream.

  “We’re not staying out too late, are we?” I twisted my napkin in my lap.

  “Don’t worry.” Nicki rummaged in her wallet. “As soon as Dira finishes, we’ll go back. By way of a few bars.” She giggled.

  Was she serious? Hard to tell with Nicki. I pulled my camera out while waiting for Dira to inhale the rest of the ice cream and toggled through my new pictures. “These are great.”

  “Let me see.” Candace held out her hand.

 
“Just a sec. I want to see the tiny sparkles on my barrettes.” I used the zoom feature on the camera to admire the sharp picture. I moved the view to the side. On the screen over my left shoulder, a recognizable face with a halo of frizzy, gray hair peeked around the booth.

  I lifted my eyes to catch the real Mrs. Ricardo talking to someone across her table.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  My mouth, heart and camera dropped at the same time. Lucky for me, the camera fell into my open bag.

  A man in a white shirt faced Mrs. Ricardo in the booth as he leaned toward her across the table. He tenderly grasped Mrs. Ricardo’s hand, covering it with his other hand. I recognized the unmistakable back of Mr. Jarenko’s gleaming head.

  “You okay?” Nicki twisted to follow my gaze.

  I licked my lips. “Don’t look behind you. We need to get out of here. As in now.” My lungs forgot how to breathe on their own. I took short, quick gasps.

  “I’m not finished.” Dira pouted and blotted her mouth on her napkin. She didn’t take her eyes from me.

  I opened my purse and slipped a five dollar bill on the table. Everyone did the same.

  “Will you tell us what’s wrong?” Candace put her wallet away.

  “Outside.” I crooked my head to the windows.

  We’d have to walk by Mrs. Ricardo’s table in order to leave. A group of servers clustered around a giant bowl of ice cream by the kitchen. Another table had ordered an Avalanche.

  “As soon as the Avalanche bell rings, we get up and leave by the booths on the far side of the restaurant.” I nodded to the opposite side from where Mrs. Ricardo sat.

  The bell trilled and siren shrieked as the servers marched into the main part of the restaurant, blocking us from Mrs. Ricardo’s table.

  “Go.”

  We raced out of the place, but not before knocking over at least two of our chairs. Hey, we were ballet dancers. Why would anyone expect us to be graceful?

  In all the commotion, the host must’ve thought we were leaving without paying our bill. Andrew and two other waiters bolted out the door after us. They corralled us against the side of the building.

  “What’s going on?” Andrew leaned toward us.

  Since I hadn’t explained to any of the others yet why we’d left, they all expected me to answer. “There was someone in there who shouldn’t see us.”

  A big, weight lifter kind of guy crossed his bulky arms. “Like who?”

  “Yeah, who?” Nicki asked.

  “Someone from camp.”

  “Are you sure?” Candace clasped her hands to her forearms as if she were cold.

  I nodded.

  “That’s no reason to leave without paying.” The girl server, in her pink gingham apron with a frill around her neck, clenched her jaw. She must’ve been the weight lifter’s spotter.

  “We did pay.” Candace tilted her head at Andrew. “We left twenty dollars on the table.”

  He blinked. “Sorry. My bad.” He gave Candace one last look. “Hope you don’t get into any trouble.”

  The other servers slunk up the sidewalk.

  I hooked my arm in Candace’s and pulled her. “Not if we don’t get back.”

  “Let’s go. Meet you guys in the room.” Dira ran to catch Nicki, who’d already crossed the street. “Wait up.”

  Despite the humidity, Candace and I clung to each other.

  “What a day.” She squeezed my hand.

  “You don’t know the half of it.” My eyes darted around as we hurried down the sidewalk to a sputtering streetlight.

  “Kitty.”

  I stopped, yanking Candace’s arm and pulling her close to me.

  “What?” Candace’s eyes shone in the half-lit sidewalk.

  “Either someone was just calling his cat, or…” I swallowed.

  Footsteps tapped on the sidewalk and stopped behind us. Hot air blew across my neck. It could’ve been someone’s breath or a warm breeze. Instead Mrs. Ricardo spoke. “Not a word you saw us, either of you, and I won’t say anything about this. For the last time.”

  Candace and I stared at each other and nodded.

  The footsteps clicked away.

  When two guys walked past, one smacked me in the shoulder. “Sorry, little lady.” He eyed us. “You gals want to have some fun?”

  Candace tugged my arm, and we bolted down the street. It wasn’t until we’d crossed to the other side Candace asked me who had been behind us.

  “Mrs. Ricardo and Mr. Jarenko.” My heart thumped.

  “Did you see them in the restaurant?”

  “She was in the photo the waiter took of us.”

  We climbed the steps to the loading dock behind the kitchen.

  “She also caught me when I came in from going to the post office this afternoon.” I bolted up the stairs.

  “You’re joking.”

  I groped along a wall to the door. “She was going to send me home, and I begged her to let me stay.”

  “You’re so lucky.” She clung to my arm.

  I reached for the door. “I can’t believe I was so stupid to go out tonight. I’ll never do that again.” I groped for the handle.

  “What are you waiting for?” Candace’s voice was like a thin wire.

  As I yanked the door, it rocked in its frame. “I can’t open the door. It’s locked.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Despite the heat and humidity clinging to me, I shivered.

  “Locked?” Candace brushed away my hand and pulled on the handle with both hands. Her voice rose. “It can’t be.”

  I stepped backward and tripped over the chunk of brick. “The brick’s been removed.” I kicked it to the wall. “The one Nicki propped the door open with.”

  “What? Why? Dira and Nicki knew we were right behind them. Why didn’t they make sure we could get in?”

  I remembered Nicki’s face as our waiter gave Candace extra attention. Would she be mean enough not to care if we got locked out?

  Even though the light was dim with a lonely light high on the building, Candace’s eyes mirrored the same panic I was sure shone in mine as she surveyed the loading dock. “It’s sketchy out here.”

  “I know. We’re at the edge of sketchiness.” I was drained from the day and floated in a dream. Nothing was real.

  “How are we getting back in?”

  In my head, I was already inside our room, snuggled in bed and snoozing. The endless traffic noise and darkness made everything more dreamlike.

  Candace shook my shoulder. “We need to figure out how to get back inside.”

  The stench of garbage filled my nose. Something tripped over boxes in the dark. I didn’t think it was human and clutched Candace’s wrist.

  Ice cream rose in my throat from my stomach. “First, let’s get out of here.” We clattered down the steps and out to the sidewalk. Heat radiated on my arm from the memory of the sun’s rays stored in the building’s walls.

  “You’re not thinking of going in the front door?”

  “I don’t know what to think. Maybe we can get back in the same way I did through the psychology building.”

  “Psychology building?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later.” How could I have been so stupid as to jeopardize my dreams? Loud college kids lurched down the sidewalk, and we pressed against the side of the building. Didn’t this city ever sleep? People paraded up and down the sidewalk like they were moving from party to party.

  “Can we sneak in the front door?”

  “Past the security desk? I don’t know. Wait a minute. Do you remember a parking garage? Like where your parents parked when you first checked in?”

  “Yes.” Her face brightened. “It’s way on up ahead. Toward Main Street.”

  A single car disappeared into the side of the building. We followed it and ducked inside. A sign to the elevator hung next to the tiny cashier’s booth and pointed into the empty darkness. As we passed the booth, tires squealed in the distance. Candace slip
ped, and I caught her elbow. She winced and limped as I led her away.

  “You okay?”

  Her eyes darted around the darkness, and she nodded. “I’m scared. Let’s get out of here.”

  Cigarette smoke wafted through the air. I coughed as Candace pressed the elevator button and ran her hand over her forehead.

  “I’ll be okay.” She rotated her ankle. “What a day.”

  I slumped against the wall and licked my dry lips. “What a week.” I was thirsty.

  “What’s taking so long?”

  “Do you want to take the stairs?” My eyes followed the red dot at the end of the cigarette as it weaved toward us. It was stuck in the mouth a man with sunken cheeks. He narrowed his eyes and rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a lighter and flicking it at us.

  The elevator opened, and we bolted inside. I pressed the lobby button so hard, I was afraid I’d push it inside the panel. The doors closed, cutting off the smoky smell.

  “What’s up with him?” Candace’s hands trembled. Lights flashed above the door.

  “I don’t know, but he sure creeped me out.” I crossed my arms in front of myself. “All we have to do is transfer elevators, and we’re home free. When we get to our floor, I’d like to find out if Nicki and Dira meant to move the brick.”

  “Security might have been checking on things and found the door propped open.”

  “Maybe.” I nodded.

  “Maybe pigs can fly.” Candace giggled. She stuck out her sore foot and rotated it, grimacing.

  “Does it still hurt?”

  “I’ll take a couple of ibuprofen when we get back to the room.” She tested her weight on her foot. “I’ll be okay tomorrow. We don’t have dance class until Monday, anyway.”

  Poor Candace. I hoped her foot would be all right. It was my fault. Being caught outside. For the second time. Getting locked out of the dorm. Candace slipping in the garage.

  Why would Dira and Nicki move the brick? I hadn’t planned on that and had a hard time believing Dira would do it on purpose. Nicki, on the other hand — well, we were friends, too. Maybe it was all a mistake.

  I couldn’t wait for the day to be over, and we were almost there. The elevator glided to a stop. All we had to do was sneak past security. With any luck, this set of elevators would be nowhere near the elevators we needed to take to our rooms.