Eternal Beloved

by Bella Abbott

  “That’s fair,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have ordered for you. Can we start over?”

  “A man who apologizes!” I teased. “I like that. It makes you seem more…more human.”

  “Human? Really?” he said, with a glint in his eye.

  “Yes – you know, like ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine.’”

  “That makes you divine, then.”

  I blushed. Was he flirting with me?

  He motioned the waiter over, and when he asked for a menu, I seriously worried the poor man might burst into tears.

  “Is there something wrong with…with…” He couldn’t bring himself to continue.

  I felt mortified. What kind of person refuses what must be a very expensive dinner – and the kind “everybody” likes?

  “Not at all,” said Jared easily. “The lady is simply in the mood for something else.” And with that, the waiter turned and glided off. Clearly dealing with people wasn’t something Jared sucked at.

  Moments later the server was back and handed me a leather-bound menu of stiff cream linen paper, on which the menu items were elegantly handwritten…in Italian. Is this some sort of test?

  I pretended to study the choices as if the matter of incomprehensible sauces and side dishes were deeply important. Then I turned to the waiter and flashed him my sunniest smile.

  “I’m in the mood for pasta, I think. What would you recommend? If you were going to eat here yourself, I mean.”

  He looked like all his Christmases had come at once. “It’s not on the menu, but we have a house special that is truly exquisite: the parmaforiggionoralamentetoreloni.” Or something like that.

  I pretended to ponder this. “It’s not too heavy, is it?”

  “No, miss. But I can ask the chef to use just a little less cream.”

  “That sounds good, then, thank you.”

  Jared grinned at me as the waiter hurried off, though whether at my choice or my performance, I couldn’t tell.

  “Tell me,” he said, “are you a reader?” At my enthusiastic nod, he pressed, “Favorite authors?”

  “How much time do you have?” I paused. “Jane Austen. Charlotte Bronte. Tolstoy. Voltaire.”

  “Really? Which Voltaire?”

  “Candide, of course.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yet you’re not a lit major?”

  “Well, there aren’t exactly a lot of jobs for literature majors. But coding isn’t that far off, actually.” I made a few tentative forays about how I thought coding and language were actually pretty closely related, and when – unlike most people – he didn’t scoff or look confused, I warmed to the topic.

  When he’d finished with academics, he moved on to asking about my background and family, and I told him about my stepmother and growing up in a small town. I grew more relaxed as we chatted, although I noticed he deflected most of my questions while asking more of his own. I was going to call him on it, but every time I steeled myself, his dreamy blue eyes would lock onto mine and my mind would go blank.

  “Any siblings?” he asked.

  “No. It’s just me and my stepmom.” I hesitated, unsure about sharing anything more. “My dad passed away a few years ago.”

  One of his eyebrows rose. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He sat forward. “And your birth mother? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  I shrugged. “It’s OK. I never met her. My dad didn’t like to talk about her, and I always felt… I don’t know. I mean, she died in childbirth.”

  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

  The waiter arrived with our dinners, and I nearly cried out with relief at something that looked not only familiar but delicious. It smelled amazing, too.

  For a few moments, neither of us spoke as I attended to my food, which tasted even better than it looked. The hunger pangs attended to, I looked up at Jared. “What about you? I mean, I know you’re a singer and now an actor. But that’s about all I know. I don’t even know how old you are.”

  “What would you guess?”

  Oh, help. I can never tell men’s ages. I studied his face for any clues. He wasn’t a teenager, that much was obvious, but other than that…his face had an ageless quality, somehow, but wrinkle-free. I couldn’t even decide if I should try to guess low or high. What would flatter him more?

  “Um…twenty-four?” I asked, going for low.

  “Close. Twenty-two.”

  “Oh. You look older, somehow.”

  He shrugged. “The stress of a life on the road, perhaps.”

  “Where did you grow up?”

  He looked out over the river again. “All over the place. My family traveled a lot, so I was never in one place for long. Eventually we wound up in Portland. The rest is history.”

  “How did you get involved in music?”

  “How does anyone? I enjoyed writing songs and eventually figured I would give singing them a try.” Another shrug and crooked grin. “So far, so good.”

  “I’ll say. And the movie?”

  “My record company came up with that idea to leverage my fifteen minutes of fame. Christina made it all happen.”

  “Christina,” I said. In spite of my best effort, my voice sounded frosty.

  “My manager. She’s been with me since the beginning. A big part of my success.”

  “How did you hook up with her?” I asked, and immediately winced inside. Oh, great choice of words there!

  Jared ran his fingers through his chaotic tumble of hair. “We’ve been friends forever.”

  He shifted the discussion back to me, asking when my birthday was, what my classes were like – easy, probing questions that showed a genuine interest in my life. My initial nervousness had vanished completely by now, and I found myself both enthralled with his charm as well as flattered by his single-minded attention.

  When I was practically finished with my food, I suddenly noticed that Jared had really only pushed his choice around his plate but hadn’t eaten much. I was going to comment on it when his cell phone buzzed from his back pocket. Annoyance clouded his perfect features when he eyed the screen.

  A hushed conversation ensued, and he rose and walked to the railing, speaking so softly I couldn’t make out a word. When he ended the call, he was obviously troubled.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice tight. “Emergency. I have to go.”

  “Just like that?” I asked, disappointment obvious in my tone in spite of my best effort not to let it show. I was crestfallen, but he was slipping his jacket on, and his mind already seemed a million miles away.

  “It’s film related,” he said. “I really don’t have any choice.”

  “Was that Christina?” I said, hating how flinty my voice sounded.

  He regarded me quizzically, but didn’t answer as he rose and headed to the doors. When he reached them, he turned to face me. “Thanks for humoring me, Lacey. Please finish your dinner, though, and order something for dessert. Carl will take you home whenever you like.” He hesitated for an instant. “Maybe we can do this again? I’d like that.”

  Before I could respond, he was gone, leaving me feeling unbalanced and shaken, alone in the flickering glow of the tiki torches, with nothing but the remains of my pasta for company. What just happened? I sat staring mutely at the dark interior of the dining room, my appetite gone. After several minutes the server approached from the shadows and asked if I wanted anything else. I shook my head to his offer of dessert and rose unsteadily. The dreamlike quality of the evening had been shattered, and Jared’s abrupt departure and cryptic parting tone left me feeling strangely empty inside.

  Chapter 15

  Everyone was asleep by the time I made it back after a helicopter ride that felt five times longer than the earlier one. I slipped off my boots in the hall and tiptoed between the beds to mine, careful not to disturb my sleeping roommates. I’d have to face the questions sometime, but I was afraid if I did it now, I’d burst into tear
s. Cyrus was curled up on my bed, and I nudged him aside and crawled beneath the covers, my thoughts racing. When I finally drifted off to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I’d replayed the dinner a dozen times, with none of it making any sense.

  Daylight arrived in the blink of an eye, and my alarm sounded moments after I’d fallen asleep. Kate was sitting on the edge of Sarah’s bed, and my roommates were looking at me expectantly.

  “Well?” Kate asked.

  I stood and brushed hair out of my eyes. “It was a really nice dinner.”

  Sarah shook her head. “That’s it? The hottest dude on the planet swoops you away in a helicopter, and the best you’ve got is it was really nice?”

  Serena sat up in her bed. “You have to tell us everything.”

  Kate nodded. “Start with the helicopter. What was that like?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, it was loud inside and a little scary at first. We flew to a restaurant on the coast. I don’t even know what it was called.” I described the restaurant and the piano and the Italian menu. When I finished, Sarah looked like she was in shock.

  “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard,” she whispered. “Like something out of a movie.”

  “It was kind of crazy,” I admitted.

  “Starting with sending a helicopter for you,” Serena said. “That’s like… I don’t even know. For me the height of romance was once when the guy paid for my Uber.”

  I blushed at the memory. “He did admit it was a little over the top.”

  “A little,” Sarah echoed.

  “So then what?” Kate asked.

  I shrugged. “We ordered dinner and talked,” I said, like it was no big deal. The sense of unreality of the prior night returned. It wasn’t that I was trying to be cagey – I honestly didn’t know how I felt about it all. After an awkward start, we had found our rhythm – I thought – and then…what? Was it really a call about work? Wasn’t the “I have to go, it’s an emergency” call what people used to try to get away from boring dates? Had I been boring? Am I boring?

  “Talked about what?”

  “Just…you know. Where I grew up. My favorite color, what books I like. That kind of thing.”

  “Did he put the moves on you first?” Sarah asked. “Or did you jump him?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I protested.

  “So then how was it?” Serena pressed.

  I thought about the question. “It was…dreamy. I mean, torches everywhere, and Jared three feet away, music, pasta… After I got rid of the lobster, I mean.

  Sarah looked to Kate. “She sent the lobster back. For some noodles.”

  “Skip ahead,” Kate said, returning to me. “You ate. And then what? Did he do a striptease for you? Sing you a lullaby? What happened?”

  I looked down. “He…he got a call and had to go. Some emergency with the movie.”

  Kate’s eyes narrowed. “So you didn’t even get to…dessert?”

  “Didn’t even try?” Sarah demanded. “I would have been across the table and on top of him before the salad arrived.”

  “I keep trying to tell you, it wasn’t like that. He’s not like that.” I hesitated. “He’s…he’s kind of old-fashioned. More of a gentleman, you know?”

  “Guys don’t fly you off to exotic restaurants to hear about what you want to be when you grow up,” Kate said. “There has to have been more to it than that.”

  “Well, he apologized for leaving abruptly, and he did ask if we could do it again.”

  Sarah fist-pumped the air. “Bingo. Game on! Bring it, baby! See, I bet he’s just playing hard to get. Upping the excitement level a bit. Anti…cipation, you know what I mean?”

  I didn’t. I didn’t feel excited; I felt confused.

  Kate laughed, and Serena sat forward. “Did he say when?”

  “Um, not really. Just that we should.”

  Sarah grinned ear to ear. “Lacey’s dating a rock star! And to think we knew her way back when.”

  I sighed. “We’re not dating, Sarah. We had dinner, and it got cut short. That’s it. Don’t make this more than it is.”

  Kate stared at me in disbelief. “Lacey, he sent his helicopter to take you to a fancy dinner on the coast. If it gets more date-y than that, I don’t know how. You’re dating.”

  “We’re…we’re just getting to know each other. That’s all it felt like. Like he was curious about me, or trying to figure me out.”

  “Trying to figure out if you wear underwear on dates,” Sarah said. “My advice is, don’t.”

  I headed to the bathroom. “Don’t you ever think about anything else?”

  Sarah made a face. “Not when the words Jared and date are used in the same sentence.” She glanced at the poster. “Or just the word Jared, come to think of it.”

  I wanted to say he was even better in person, but I held my tongue. Instead, I checked the time. “Guys, I’ve got to get ready for class. Not trying to blow you off, but I can’t be late.”

  “You have to know word about this is all over campus,” Serena warned. “You’re not going to be able to pretend nothing happened.”

  My face fell. “How…?”

  “Everyone saw a frigging helicopter pick you up, Lacey. Get real,” Sarah said.

  I pushed the bathroom door open and slammed it behind me, borderline hyperventilating. Of course the news would have spread like wildfire. The movie was the biggest thing to hit the school in decades, and now one of its stars was dating an academy first year…

  Only we aren’t dating. Not really. Maybe there had been one aborted date, but that was it.

  I twisted the shower on and stood beneath needles of tepid water, thinking furiously. Jared hadn’t actually answered why he’d singled me out. He’d done a charming deflection, but now that I thought about it, he’d never told me why; just turned it around on me and asked, “Why not?”

  Which left me with no more information than I’d started with.

  So why had Jared decided that I, out of all the girls on campus, much less in the US, was the one who would get the helicopter ride?

  The question nagged at me as I finished the shower and toweled off, because without knowing the answer, I couldn’t predict what, if anything, would happen next. And that bugged the control-freak part of me that went to great pains to avoid unpleasant surprises. What was he after?

  By the time I was dressed, hair in place, and feeling reasonably collected, I barely had time to dash to the cafeteria for coffee and get to class. When I walked into the lecture hall, I felt as though everyone was staring at me, which might not have been my imagination, given the hushed whispers that greeted my passing. Kate showed up right after I sat down, and I waved to her in relief, a familiar face more than welcome in a sea of gawkers.

  Robert was seated at the front of the room, as usual. He threw Kate and me a smile and returned to his notes in anticipation of the professor’s arrival. Kate leaned over and spoke in a low voice.

  “You’re on everyone’s radar now, girl. No way to play this one low key,” she advised.

  “I figure if I ignore it, they’ll lose interest.”

  Kate winked. “Let me know how that works.”

  The lecture was interesting, and I was able to get lost in the professor’s words and forget about my mini-drama until the class let out. I darted to the door, leaving Robert to Kate, and hurried to my next class, books held tight to my chest, avoiding any eye contact that might invite conversation.

  Alex was waiting at the classroom door, and I groaned inwardly. His face was composed, but his eyes looked hurt.

  “Hey, Lacey,” he said.

  “Morning, Alex,” I said, pretending to be texting on my phone.

  “Big night last night, huh?” he said, an edge to his voice.

  “Wild,” I agreed, hoping the single-syllable response would clue him in on my lack of interest in discussing it.

  Subtlety apparently wasn’t Alex’s strong suit, though. �
��I heard about your adventure from at least a half dozen people,” he said.

  “Sounds like they need lives,” I said with a shrug, ending the discussion and marching to the back of the room.

  I spent half the next period daydreaming about Jared – the way the torchlight danced in his eyes, the flash of his impish crooked grin, the way his flawless skin pulled tight over his strong jaw and pronounced cheekbones when he looked out over the water’s rush.

  The next hours were the longest of my life. I fought to pay attention as my mind insisted on replaying my time with the most intriguing guy I’d ever met. By the end of my last class, I was no closer to a coherent answer to why he’d picked me than when I’d awakened, which frustrated me no end. I ignored the students talking among themselves as I passed, resigned to being the center of attention for at least a little while, and was grateful that I would be able to disappear into the dorm and leave the gossips empty-handed.

  Of course, that still left my roommates, who insisted on making the remainder of my day all about Jared – especially when I received a text message from an unknown number just before dinner, and it turned out to be Jared apologizing for not having any time tonight because of his shooting schedule, but asking if I’d like to go for a drive with him the following evening at eight p.m., on his night off.

  Great. Here comes another sleepless night…

  Chapter 16

  The next day I knew I was spacing out in my classes, my mind a million miles away, but I couldn’t help it. My roommates were no help in keeping me grounded; their excitement over Jared’s interest was almost greater than my own. Easy for them – all of the excitement, but none of the risk. When I agreed to have lunch with them in the cafeteria, they were a tag team of hyper-speculation over what would happen tonight and advice over how to react if he did this, or that, or something else.

  I tried to take a nap after school, but that proved useless; all I managed to do was keep Cyrus awake as I tossed and turned. The cat had taken up residence on my bed and had staked his claim for the bottom third, whether I was on it or not. His presence was calming for me, so I let him stay, but he eventually leapt from the bed and stalked off toward the closet when I couldn’t lie still.