“What happened?” The mixture of anger and fear on her face softened when she saw my mouth droop.
I started to cry and shook my head. Stupid. It was only one night, and I was safe now. Not lost in the middle of nowhere. I hadn’t needed a werewolf to find me—I’d saved myself. And yet here I was, sitting here, bawling.
Mom handed me a pack of tissues from her purse and started to drive home.
“Can we stop by a store and get something for bug bites?” I asked as we passed a Walgreens. She pulled in, patted my leg, and went inside without a word.
“The clerk inside said this is her favorite for bug bites. Got you a Dr. Pepper too,” she said, handing me my favorite drink and a candy bar.
I think the candy bar was gone before we had passed another block.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Tyler thought he heard something, so he left to check it out.”
“So it was Tyler. I called Melissa when you weren’t home by last night, and she said you hadn’t talked to her.”
“Yeah, he went to check on it and didn’t come back. So I followed the string back and got about halfway there, and it was cut, gone. It was dark, and I was cold, and I couldn’t see anything, and I was so tired,” I stopped as tears started leaking again.
My mom patted my back again. Just her touch felt soothing.
“I bet that was scary. So you were still tired from Melissa’s friends?” she asked, pulling into a drive-thru. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” I said. My stomach growled at this point as if to punctuate my words. We both laughed.
“Tyler thought maybe we could take out Caitlyn’s original sorrow and give it back. Maybe if we give it back, things would get back on track. It was a good thought, but it was hard to separate it from the other stuff. It took all day.”
“It’s an astute thought, though I don’t know if Caitlyn will be wise enough to see it.” She rolled the window up and started for home again. “Want to call Tyler?”
“My phone is dead. I keep telling myself something must have happened. He’s not like that, but he could have left the string or something.”
“Well let’s get you home and have you shower. I’ll give you a pass on school so you can get some sleep, and when you wake up, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
I nodded, letting her take the lead on this.
“And Lilly.”
“Yes?”
“Stop scratching.”
A bath and then another thirty minutes of Mom helping me smother the cream all over put me in a much better state of mind. I shoved the water bottle at the back of my closet, plugged my phone in to charge, and grabbed a book to keep my mind distracted. If I remembered right, the princess was just about to jump on her noble steed and challenge the no-good prince to a duel.
Chapter Twenty
A few hours later the door creaked open and the smell of freshly baked pumpkin bread drifted in. The thought of the warm chocolate chunks melted into the pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting made it tempting to put the book down and get back to much less fun reality.
Mom stood at the door with a warm frosted slice. “Someone’s waiting for you at the door.”
I got out of bed and took a bite before asking “Tyler?”
“I think he’s one of the football players.” She smiled and tossed me a shirt. I caught it, barely keeping it from landing in the frosting. “And honey?”
“Yes?”
“Might want to brush your hair. When you’re done, they’re at the back door.”
I walked into the bathroom and balked. My hair was making a fair imitation of a wild bramble bush. I ran a brush through it as fast as I could, removing my overnight souvenirs, and changed.
Garret lounged against the door, texting. “Hey, Garrett. What brings you here?” I waved him inside and pointed to the kitchen table.
My mom sliced him a large chunk of chocolate chip pumpkin bread. He settled on a chair and watched her slather it in cream cheese frosting.
“So?” I asked again, trying to direct his attention away from the forthcoming food. Once the piece was in his mouth, he wouldn’t be able to get a word out.
“Oh, Tyler sent me here. Said he got stopped by someone on the way back. Said they cut the string and he’s sorry. Said you’d know what he meant.”
“Thanks, Garrett.”
My mom handed it over and started pouring him a glass of milk.
He took a large bite and munched on it awhile before asking, “So what happened?”
“We went for a hike off the trail. The string was supposed to get us back.” I avoided telling him the other details by cutting myself a second piece.
“And someone cut the string so you couldn’t find your way back.”
He clenched his hands, effectively squishing the bread, then looked sheepish as a piece broke off and fell to the floor. Mom tossed me a couple of wet paper towels. A smile twitched at the corner of her lips as she cut him another piece. “You want us to take care of them?” He met my eyes. It seemed like he was volunteering the whole football team. I’d like to see them take on the government guys. For just a moment, I wanted to let it happen.
“Thanks, but they’re the government. I wouldn’t want anything on your records, and with the game the other night, it’s already going to be hard to get recruiters out here as it is.”
“We were cleared. Coach made sure to send that out. Said something about us all having food poisoning.” He shook his head while taking another slice from my mom.
“Good. I was worried about that.” I patted his shoulder.
“So, that’s all I have to say. I guess the lawmen are still watching Tyler, so that’s why he had me come. Can I maybe have another slice?” he asked as he stood and looked longingly at the bread. Mom was already wrapping what was left of the loaf in plastic wrap for him.
After he was gone, I sank down on the empty chair.
“Well, at least that explains it,” she said, pulling another loaf out of the oven.
“Dad’s going to be mad there’s only one,” I said, changing the subject.
“I’ll tell him it went to a good cause. Do you think we should jailbreak Tyler?”
“He stayed away to protect me. Maybe I should stay away, myself.” My stomach sank as I said it. The hike had been fun, other than the whole getting lost in the woods thing. We’d still never had our dinner and movie. I was getting sick of these nosy men getting in the way of my dating life now that I had one.
“Whatever you think is the best, dear. Let me know. I’m sure we can figure something else out if we need too,” she said, setting the pan on a cooling rack.
“Maybe if things have some time to calm down and nothing else weird happens, they’ll go away. I can hope at least.”
“I’ll hope as well.” She patted my shoulder and headed for the laundry room.
.o0o.
“Missed you yesterday. Why were you out and why do you look so mopey? You look like a kid who’s lost her favorite toy,” Melissa said as she came up beside me at school the next day.
“I’ll explain about yesterday later. And I’m not grumpy.” I yawned and scratched my arm. I wished I hadn’t forgotten to take the soothing lotion with me.
“Sure, whatever you say. Just so you know, Tiffany has told the whole school you are a psychic and you’ll do readings for fifty dollars.” Melissa laughed, then slapped my hand as I went to scratch a big bite on my elbow.
“Wow, I’m steep. With that kind of money, I could get some new hiking boots to replace the other ones I threw away yesterday.”
“You threw those away? Those were good boots.”
“I put them in the charity bin so Mom could give them to some who actually likes hiking. I’ve got to catch you up on all this. I did something stupid over the weekend that has permanently cemented my dislike of all things nature.”
“Your loss. What are you doing tonight?” she asked when we reached my classroom.
“Probably all the homework I’ve been putting off.”
“A few friends and I are going to see that new movie that’s coming out, Psychic Paranoia. The one with the girl that thinks she’s crazy, but it turns out she can just read minds, and everyone really is out to kill her.”
“Are you sure she’s not just crazy?”
“Well, you’ll find out tonight, won’t you? Ticket’s on me after all the psychic readings you did last night.” She left before I could protest. It wasn’t exactly my kind of movie, but she was offering the hand of friendship and I hadn’t been out to a movie, well, since before Caitlyn’s brother had passed away.
.o0o.
By that evening, I was sort of excited. I had been putting my life on hold for all this craziness, and it would be nice to get out and spend a few hours thinking about something besides Tyler. We’d run into each other a few times today. Our hands brushed. But all our conversations had been brief and about the weather. He had asked about my many bites and looked away when I told him about sleeping on the mountain. I didn’t want to make him feel too guilty. More importantly, I wanted to know what had happened to him, more than the few words I’d gotten from Garrett.
Melissa swung around and picked me up for the movie. She was grinning like the cat who swallowed the canary when I got in but she wouldn’t tell me why. I wasn’t quite ready to ask. Maybe she was just amused by what her friends would say when I showed up at a second activity.
She had already bought tickets, so we went right in. “Someone already bought the popcorn and drinks,” she said as we pushed the doors open into the dark theater. “Your seat is on that side.” She pointed to the other side of the theater.
“Where are you sitting?” I whispered.
“This side. Now hurry; it’s going to start—” she glanced down at her phone, “in less than a minute.”
Maybe this wasn’t so fun after all. Why had she invited me to a movie and then given me a seat nowhere near her? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s a movie. It’s not like you’re going to talk or anything. I watched where she stopped and started down the aisle until I hit the spot on the opposite side.
“Here.” Tyler grabbed my hand as I got close.
My heart went berserk at the combination of his voice and touch. “What?”
“Shush. Sit down.” He pulled me into the row. I sat down and couldn’t stop looking at him.
“Hey, Mike, pass down the food,” he said, grinning.
I looked at him suspiciously, wondering what food was about to appear. The word squid was coming back to me and my stomach rolled.
Mike grabbed something from his seatmate and handed me two boxes. I sighed and smiled at him. Popcorn. Good start. It was soon joined by cold drinks and nachos, followed by candy, ice cream, hotdogs, and a pickle.
I glanced back over at Tyler, who grinned mischievously.
“Gee Tyler, did you get the whole menu?”
“Yep.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a plastic container.
“No.” I leaned away from him so far, my head was practically against Mike’s chest. Our group started laughing. The couple behind us shushed us.
“They didn’t have this here, so I had to order it in special.” He popped the lid off the container.
I spotted the round sushi rolls and shook my head. “Not interested, buddy.”
He put the lid back on and leaned closer. “I missed you,” he whispered.
“Be quiet. We’re trying to watch the movie,” Mike rumbled, which caused several people around us to make shushing sounds.
“Why don’t you try this one?” Tyler said, pulling yet another container from his backpack. The smell of muffins quashed what was left of the lingering fish smell.
“From Joe’s Hot Chocolate Bar?” I asked as I tried to make out the label in the darkened theater. I opened the lid. I didn’t see any tasty treats. Instead, it just looked like a piece of paper.
“Is that an I owe you note? Did you eat my cupcake?”
“I arrange a secret rendezvous and you think I’d eat your cupcake—I’m wounded.”
I unfolded the paper and might have squealed. “Yes! I’ll go to prom with you.” The armrest dug into my stomach as I threw my arms around him. This earned some clapping from our friends and a few random audience members and another round of shushes from the couple behind us.
I was grateful for the dim lights. The butterflies in my stomach were having a dance party. I blushed and sat back down, scooting as close to him as I could with the armrest between us.
Each time he squeezed my hand, I forgot about the movie. I jumped at the end when she picked up the baseball bat in gym class and started going after the other students. She’d been so afraid that everyone was against her, she eventually went crazy. I held Tyler’s hand tighter as I thought of Caitlyn. There was no more putting it off. She hadn’t picked up a baseball bat but what she did to the football players wasn’t much better. I needed to fix this, and soon.
Tyler leaned closer when the credits rolled. “Sorry about leaving you up there.”
“Garrett gave me the message. I might have had better luck with the bread. So what ended up happening?”
“They asked me what I was doing, and I said I went back to the mountain to see the scene of the crime and got lost. Then they asked about the red string, and I told them it was so I wouldn’t get lost. Then they asked again if it was just me and when I said yes, they cut the string.”
“I had a brief moment where I wished I knew how to read a compass and then I remembered I’d never going hiking again. Do people realize how dangerous it is?”
Melissa cleared her throat. “Come on, you two. Got to go before they get too suspicious.”
Outside, Gina stepped closer to Garrett and asked, “I didn’t get whether she was psychic or if she was just crazy. Is that how you feel, Lilly?”
The flashing lights of the movie theater cast a shadow on her face as she said crazy.
I shook my head. “I think she was both.”
“You know she’s not actually psychic, Gina.” Melissa stepped closer to Jacob. He leaned in and kissed her. The light flashed out again and their embrace fell into darkness. I shivered as image I’d seen of his hand hitting her while I was removing the sorrow flashed through my mind.
A second later, the lights flashed brightly again. Mike threw his empty popcorn bucket at them. “We’ll go get the cars. You can wait here with Tyler.”
Tyler’s hand moved from around my shoulder to my around my waist and pulled me closer. I grinned. “I don’t know when it will be safe to see you again.”
I met his eyes, and the giddy feeling intensified. I’d been on an emotional roller coaster of worry, and it felt nice to focus on something else, something normal.
The lights flashed as he leaned in and kissed me. His lips were still salty from the popcorn. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the fireworks going off in my head.
“Lilly!” My dad’s voice broke through the flighty high feeling grounding me to earth—fast. He stood across the street with my mom. Both held frozen yogurt in their hands. He crossed the street regardless of traffic while my mom hesitated on the curb.
I blushed and stepped back from Tyler. There was just something weird about my dad seeing us kiss.
“Hey, dad,” I said. “Melissa and I were going to the movies and we ran into Tyler and his friends. We invited them to come watch the movie with us.”
“Really?” he asked his gaze resting on my hand still holding Tyler.
“Yes, Dad.” I reluctantly let go of Tyler’s hand.
The traffic cleared long enough for Mom to cross the street. She looked at Tyler, then me, and winked.
I blushed harder. “I’ll see you later.” It felt weird saying anything more with my mom and dad watching us.
“Yeah, see you in school tomorrow,” Tyler said before heading toward the parking lot. Melissa pulled up and waved at my parents before looking
at me and grinning. I shook my head and hopped in the backseat.
Chapter Twenty-One
The two hard knocks told me it was my dad at my bedroom door. I hugged my pillow to me and said, “Come in.”
My dad walked in and surveyed the room. He looked on the verge of checking under my bed. His eyes rested on the tree outside my window—soon to be sacrificed to the overprotective father.
Mom stood slightly behind him, her arms folded, wearing an excellent poker face.
Dad shoved his hands in his pockets. “If you were going to meet up with boys, you need to let your mom and I know.”
“I didn’t know he was going to be there.” He didn’t know something going on between Tyler and myself was the least of his worries.
“How much do you like Tyler?” he asked sinking on the bed beside me.
“I feel like we’re connected,” I said thinking of the zing in the kiss.
“I feel better that he wasn’t one of those boys that had problems with drugs but please be safe. Be careful.”
“I will. Love you.” He kissed the top of my head, stood up and looked at my mom. She waved him out of the room and sat down on my bed.
“So?” she asked after the door was shut.
“He asked me to prom!”
“That’s wonderful.”
“I think things are finally getting normal.”
“That’s good, honey. I’m happy. And what’s going on with Caitlyn?”
“I’ve got to talk to her. I don’t think she’ll ever be right if I don’t give it back, but she won’t talk to me and I don’t want her to go after anyone with a baseball bat,” I said.
“Well, I don’t know about a baseball bat, but I think it would be worth you and Caitlyn sitting down and talking. How about you go visit her tomorrow?”
“I should. Love you, Mom,” I said, hugging her tightly.
“It’s going to be okay, hon. You’ll figure it out.” She held me a little longer.
I rolled on my side and stared out the window at the stars. I’d figure this out. I had to get my friend back.
A Touch of Water (Touch of Magic Book 1) Page 15