When I arrived at the spot, I looked around again, and ran my fingers along the wood where the boy had knelt. Only a few scratch marks were noticeable. Any other evidence had been washed away by the storm.
I looked down into the water where he and the others had dived in. It was dark and uninviting. The waves splashed me with warning while I investigated.
Defeated, I sat down first and then lay back on the dock, my body swaying with the movement of the water underneath. I closed my eyes and, taking a deep breath, listened to the calming sounds of the ocean.
When I opened my eyes, I thought I saw the sky above me distorted, almost like what a large rain drop looks like when it lands in a puddle. I squinted, using my hand to shade my eyes, but it was gone. Maybe it was a trick of the eye. Maybe I wanted to find something bad enough that I was seeing things.
I stood up again, looking in the same spot, not blinking, hoping I would see it again—nothing. I sighed in irritation, throwing my hands back to my side in defeat. Just then, a loud horn from a fishing boat blared behind me, but before I could respond, a wave hit the dock faster than I could secure myself. The rotted wood shuddered from the impact, and I lost my balance, tripping and smacking my head on the edge of the dock.
I held my head, groaning in pain, my vision foggy, a hollow sound ringing in my ears. The next wave knocked me into the water.
The shock of the frigid ocean made me gasp, forcing me to swallow the saltwater. I wanted to swim but my throat burned, and my limbs were paralyzed in the freezing temperature. I began to sink. In the darkened ocean, I didn’t know which way was up, and the waves were now pushing me relentlessly.
For a moment, I almost surrendered. Maybe the universe was tired of me living. My doctor once told me that all the freckles on my nose represented my many lives. Maybe I was out of freckles.
I had no air left in my lungs and began gasping short quick gulps of water when I felt strong arms wrap themselves around me and pull me to the surface. I slipped in and out of consciousness until my body met the coarse sand.
“Is she breathing?” I heard someone ask.
Warm fingers felt my throat for a pulse. “She’s alive.”
I felt a sharp thumping pain against my chest before I began spitting up copious amounts of water. My eyes shot open when I coughed and took my first breath of air.
It was him.
He had pulled me from the water.
We locked eyes. His were frantic, darker than I remembered. They were shifting back and forth with a slight sheen, and I could see my reflection in them. I was drenched, pale and trembling.
“We need to get out of here,” I heard someone say behind him, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. My throat burned from the regurgitated saltwater, the back of my head pounding from the impact of the dock.
“No, I’m not leaving her,” he responded, his hair dripping water down his lips.
“We don’t even know who or what she is,” a female voice chimed in. “She could be dangerous. We need to leave now.”
I took short breaths, waiting for my lungs to work normally. “Who are you?” I barely choked out before I began seeing two of him. Sudden drowsiness overwhelmed my body. I felt him shaking me, but I fell unwillingly into blackness.
My eyes shot open to find the sun was setting. The loud pounding on the window of the Wagoneer had jolted me up from my slumped position in the driver’s seat. I was parked in front of the café, and I frantically looked around, wondering how I had gotten there. Penelope continued to knock on the window until I sat up and rolled it down.
“Why are you soaking wet?” Her words were rushed with worry.
“I went for a walk and decided I should take one last swim before the snow came,” I answered, trying to be quick on my feet.
“Fully clothed?” she asked skeptically. “The water is freezing right now.”
I shrugged my shoulders, trying not to give anything away.
“Why are you here? It’s Friday. Shouldn’t you be at school?” I asked confused.
“Swayzi, it’s almost 6 o’clock,” she said, looking even more concerned.
“It is...? Yes, of course it is,” I stammered, looking at the setting sun and clearing my raspy throat. There was a blanket draped over me, and I tugged at my damp clothes that were fused to me and shivered. I rubbed the back of my head. I had a good size bump there.
“What is going on with you lately?” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“What do you mean?”
“You seem”—she squinted—“distracted.”
“I’m fine. I promise. I have to go. Me and Linda have dinner with Tyler and his parents tonight. I don’t want to be late.”
I fired the engine and shifted the Wagoneer into reverse.
Penelope was right to have questions. What had happened? How did I end up back at the café? Where did the blanket come from? Each time I saw him, I just grew more confused.
I remembered his beautiful worried face when I opened my eyes on the beach, how when he touched me, I felt warm even after the freezing cold ocean.
I had to see him again.
After running home and changing, I met Linda at Olive, our local fancy restaurant. Silvia, Tyler’s mom, had made reservations there after she and Tom had returned that same morning. The restaurant was a cheap knock off of The Olive Garden, but as far as a nice night out, it was our only option.
While we waited for the Cobi’s to arrive, I shifted uncomfortably, tapping my black combat boots anxiously on the wooden floor and pulling at the pale pink dress I had picked up at the thrift store the week before. It was sheer with a liner underneath and small sleeves buttoned to the neck with a peter pan collar. The dress cinched at the waist giving the illusion I had hips. I didn’t have time to shower, so my salt and sand hair was tied back in a bun. I remembered to put on mascara and pinched my cheeks to look more alert.
Linda looked beautiful. Her dark auburn hair was curled, and she wore contacts instead of her usual dark rimmed glasses, making her hazel eyes pop. Her dress was black with long sleeves but was deep in the front showing a large amount of cleavage. I instinctively lifted my shoulders pushing my chest out. When I looked down to find my still small boobs, I hunched back over in defeat.
Linda and I both stood up when the Cobi’s arrived, warmly embracing Tom and Silvia. They were both in their late sixties. Tom was taller than Tyler, and he looked very dapper in his suit and tie. He gave me a bear hug, squeezing me too tightly. His skin was tanned from his travels, and his hair was almost completely grey with only a few peppered flecks of brown. Tyler had his green eyes.
Silvia’s short white hair was curled perfectly, and I could barely see her wrinkles under her makeup. She was shorter than me, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed her until she hugged me. I almost cried. Silvia was a homemaker her entire adult life. In the early days of the café, she helped Linda by taking me into her home. I missed her calming nature. She and Tom were like the grandparents I never had.
“I missed you dear,” she whispered in my ear during our embrace. Tyler waited nearby with his hands in the pockets of his dark denim jeans. He wore a blue collared shirt. The top button was undone, and his tie was loose. His hair was slicked back, but it kept falling in front of his eyes anyway. With that and his careless stubble, I was sure Silvia would make him get a haircut and a shave.
When Silvia and I finished our hugging, Tyler pulled my chair out for me, and we politely smiled at one another.
“Swayzi, you look well, my dear,” Silvia said as she and everyone else sat down for dinner.
“Oh, it’s just the new dress.”
“You do, actually—look good I mean,” Tyler reiterated, his voice quietly sincere.
My eyes lingered on his for a moment. “Thank you. I feel good.”
“I’ve been telling Swayzi every day she looks better and better,” Linda chimed in. “Maybe hearing it from you guys, she’ll finally believe me!”
&n
bsp; Tom smiled. “Maybe you should join Tyler and me tomorrow for our hunt. Leaving at five a.m. We’re going to get ourselves a white tale, maybe a moose if we’re lucky. Right, my boy?”
“That’s right.” Tyler nodded.
I cleared my throat, still burning from the ocean. “I think I’ll pass Tom.” I smiled awkwardly. I had only been hunting with them once before and I was still traumatized.
“How was the Bahamas?” I asked Silvia.
“It was wonderful! We had beautiful weather for most of it with only a few rainy days. Not like the rain here! Did you know the name ‘Bahamas’ comes from the Spanish ‘baja mar’ which means shallow water?”
Silvia was always full of random information she learned on bus tours. “No, I didn’t know that,” I said, distracted by the hostess walking by our table with Mellie and her parents in tow. Mellie smiled at Tyler and batted her eyelashes. My cheeks flared with anger and embarrassment. I instantly wanted to slap the grin off her fake tanned face.
By the time the entrees came, Tom was already on his fifth glass of whiskey, excitedly telling us all about the Airline Pilots Association Convention they attended in Vegas.
“You’re home for two weeks?” Linda asked.
“Yes, we wanted to make sure we were home for Tyler’s first swim meet,” Silvia said, proudly patting Tyler’s hand. “Then we plan on visiting Jane and the grandkids in Sitka before we go to Hawaii.”
“I didn’t know you had a meet coming up?” I asked surprised. Linda and I always sat front and center for Tyler’s races, loudly cheering him on.
“You haven’t really been around much. Why would you know?” he responded.
The table fell silent, everyone looking to me for a response.
“Lovers quarrel?” Tom laughed as he took another swig of his whiskey.
“Still just friends, Tom,” I chided him. He was always bugging us on our relationship status.
“I need to use the restroom, excuse me,” Tyler said, pushing his chair from the table and tossing his napkin on his half-eaten meal before leaving.
Linda tried to lighten the mood with anecdotes about some of the characters who came into the café from the cruise ships. I laughed and smiled along with her stories while shooting glances toward the restroom, looking for Tyler. Finally, I excused myself to go look for him.
I didn’t know why he was so upset—if anyone should have been upset, it should have been me. He was the one who didn’t tell me about his swim meet. Also, he had been avoiding me just as much as I had been avoiding him.
I knocked on the men’s restroom before entering. “Tyler?” I called, but no one answered.
I took another look around the restaurant and couldn’t find him anywhere. I decided to check outside, maybe he wanted to get some fresh air. He always got a little weird when his parents returned home. Even though they were loving, he was used to being alone, and they tended to crowd his space more than he liked.
I stepped outside, and the wind hit me, ruffling the hem of my dress. Remembering my jacket was still hanging off my chair in the restaurant, I hugged myself to stay warm. I could see his parents’ car parked next to the Wagoneer. He wasn’t there either. I walked around to the side of the restaurant and was about to go inside when I heard a noise behind the dumpster. I couldn’t make out what it was, so I walked toward it.
Tyler had Mellie pushed up against the dumpster and his lips were pressed against hers. The wet noises that accompanied their kissing made the hair on my forearms stand up in protest. Tyler’s hand was slowly lifting her designer dress, making her moan. They broke apart when I involuntarily gasped.
I clapped my hand over my mouth, walking away as fast as my oversized combat boots would allow. My eyes burned.
“Swayzi, wait!” Tyler called behind me, but I kept walking. “Sway, stop, it’s not what you think,” he said stupidly as he rushed in front of me.
“Oh? Then what is it? Did she choke on her garlic bread and you were using your tongue to get it out?” I shouted sarcastically.
I never found myself wishing ill will on anyone—except for Mellie. She was insecure to the point of overconfident and it turned her into a nasty, awful human being.
“Okay, I guess it is what it looked like,” he wavered, “but it didn’t mean anything.”
“I’m standing right here,” Mellie said, and I looked back long enough to see her smudged lipstick.
Tyler ignored her. “Why do you care anyways?” he argued.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just friends, right? I’m like a brother, right? What’s it matter who I kiss?” His words were cutting.
My heart thudded in regret that he did in fact overhear my conversation with Linda.
“Because…” It was all I could think of to say.
“Because why?”
“Because. I don’t know. Because it’s Mellie, and she’s a terrible person.”
Mellie exaggerated a cough. “If you think Tyler cares what you think—you’re wrong. He told me so the other day at his house,” she smirked. Her eyes were savage.
“That’s not why, and you know it,” Tyler responded, ignoring Mellie’s last comment.
I couldn’t.
“She was at your house the other day when I stopped by, wasn’t she?”
His eyes closed in defeat. I pushed past him, my shoulder hitting his. I stormed into the restaurant. “Linda, we need to go now,” I said, grabbing my coat. She looked at me confused waiting for an explanation. “Linda, now, please.”
“Okay, sure.” She stood up. “I’m so sorry Silvia, Tom, it was good seeing you both. I’m sure we will see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, dear, of course, I’ll come by the café for breakfast.” Silvia looked shocked but tried to force a smile.
Linda was digging through her purse, looking for cash to pay our part of the bill while I waited impatiently, trying not to cry.
“I got it, don’t worry. It’s on us,” Tom said, waving her off.
“Are you sure?” Linda asked.
Tom waved her off again.
Tyler joined the table, Silvia looking to him. “Where were you Tyler?”
“He’s been fondling the trash outside,” I spat.
“Isn’t that what good brother’s do? Take out the trash?” His eyes held me in contempt.
There was a long pause as the table waited for me to respond.
“Sorry to leave so abruptly,” I said, kissing Silvia on the cheek.
“It’s fine, dear.” Sylvia patted my arm. It took everything I had not to cry.
Without looking at Tyler, I grabbed Linda’s hand and pulled her towards the door.
Silvia came to the café for breakfast the next morning and, after a restless night of sleep, I was glad to sit with her and listen to more of her stories of their travels. When she questioned me about Tyler, though, I avoided answering by excusing myself to help take orders at the register during the lunch rush.
I kept having vivid flashbacks of Tyler kissing Mellie. My mind replayed it on a soul crushing loop. Why was I so angry? I had seen him kiss many girls over the years, but this was different. This one really bothered me.
He was my friend, the person I trusted the most, but now he had let me down. It seemed as if my physical health was inversely related to my relationship with Tyler. The healthier I got, the more strained our relationship became.
It must have started when Tyler asked me to kiss him. But was that really the moment? Or was it when my eyes locked with the boy on the dock. When that sword was drawn to kill him, I screamed, and Tyler picked me up and dragged me away like I was a crazy person. Did he think I had screamed because of him? I kept blaming him for crossing that invisible friendship line, but maybe I was to blame for keeping all of this from him. Maybe I was the one who had changed—who had complicated things. A familiar voice at the café register interrupted my daydreaming.
“Nonfat cappuccino, hold the whip.”
&nb
sp; Mellie.
Her voice sent shivers down my spine. I looked up to see Thing One and Thing Two flanking her as they waited for me to respond.
“Is that everything?” I asked, forcing my own fake smile.
“A turkey wrap, but, make it a lettuce wrap…” she continued but I had already stopped listening.
I examined her, trying to find one redeeming quality. What did Tyler see in her? How could anyone find such an ugly person attractive? Sure, from far away, I could see how her skinny body and her long, curly blonde hair might draw a person’s eye, but up close, she was hideous.
She always wore too much makeup, but not in a good way like Penelope. For Penelope, it was a part of her personal style and what helped make her eccentric. Mellie, on the other hand, looked like she was trying to hide something. I cringed, wondering how she obtained that tangerine tint to her skin.
But all of that wasn’t what made her awful. It was her soul…her heart. How could anyone look past the fact that she tortured and bullied people for pure amusement? When I was younger, I thought maybe it was me—that there was something about me specifically that she hated, but then I opened my eyes. I watched girl after girl sell her soul just to sit at Mellie’s lunch table. It wasn’t because they wanted to be friends with her, it was so they didn’t have to be bullied by her and her minions.
That’s why I was so angry at Tyler—that he let his mouth touch the lips of someone who used those same lips to be cruel to me and so many others.
“Oh, and one more thing,” she said after finishing her long order. “An iced coffee. I promised Tyler I would bring him one after swim practice.”
My face flushed with anger. I knew she was lying. Tyler was hunting with Tom, but she had obviously gone out of her way to come to COFFEE just to make me angry. It was working.
I made her cappuccino extra fat with extra whip and handed it to her. “I’ll be right back with the rest of your order.” I smiled.
I shook the iced coffee while making sure it was nice and cold, then I returned to the counter.
Empress Unveiled Page 6