01 Untouchable - Untouchable (7 page)

“
And English, psych, and
P.E. together,” he finished.

I gave a little sigh of relief; he was
talking about our schedules.

Evan was already in motion, standing up
and reaching out toward Ryan.

“
And this is Evan Lewis,”
Jewels finished, apparently relieved that it was going to be a hand
shake and not a punch.

“
Oh, so you’re Evan,” Ryan
said, as he accepted the hand shake. “Annalisa mentioned you during
English.”

“
Really?” Evan got a strange
expression, and then glanced at me.

I was waiting for the rest of it.
Surely Ryan was going to say that Evan’s name was mentioned in the
same sentence as ‘not my boyfriend,’ but to my disbelief he left
that tidbit out.

“
I’m going to get something
to eat,” Ryan said as he motioned toward the line.
“Jewels?”

“
No, I’m just going to grab
a diet coke from the machine.” She turned loose of his arm, but let
her fingers trail down his colorful tattoo. “You go
ahead.”

Ryan was still waiting in line by the
time Jewels settled beside me on the bench. “Can you believe it?”
she asked, but didn’t wait for anyone to respond. “It’s like the
gods are dropping good looking guys from the sky! First Evan and
now Ryan—who’s going to enroll tomorrow? Brad Pitt?”

I almost choked on my sandwich, “Jewels
he’s like in his forties.”

“
Closer to fifty,” Kevin
added.

“
Who cares!” was Jewels’
response. “He could be ninety as long as he still looks
twentyish.”

“
That’s gross, Jewels.” I
looked at Evan and he had this funny smirk on his face. I knew it
had to be because Jewels had just classed him in a league with Brad
Pitt.

Ryan was tolerable through lunch
although he kept looking over at me. Every time he did, Evan would
stare at him until he looked away. Finally, Jewels started asking
him about his tattoos and that seemed to stop the ‘look, stare,
glare,’ competition.

“
I really want to get a
tattoo,” Jewels was saying. “But Daddy would kill me.”

“
Don’t do that, Jewels,”
Kevin began. “They aren’t safe.”

“
Yes they are,” Ryan
countered.

“
No,” Kevin went on,
undeterred. “Some of the inks have metals in them. You can’t have
MRI’s or…”

“
Wrong, little guy,” Ryan
cut him off. “I’ve had an MRI and there was no problem over my
tattoos.”

I watched Carlie’s face darken with
anger; she didn’t like him belittling Kevin.

Oops. I realized some of his
gorgeousness just dimmed in her eyes. Good, maybe Kevin wouldn’t
have anything to worry about in a while. Well, that was as long as
Ryan kept making stupid remarks like the last one.

Kevin adjusted his glasses and sat up
straighter and taller. I knew what was coming when Kev did that; he
was getting ready to unleash that brain that Carlie loved so much.
“There are lawsuits in the courts right now over tattoo ink
companies exposing their customers to chemicals that cause cancer
and birth defects.”

Ryan waved him off like Kevin had no
idea what he was talking about. Kevin grew taller for the moment as
he continued, “Lead is one of the biggest problems. Then you have
elements that make up the colored inks, like on your forearm. Let’s
see, you’ll find traces of titanium, aluminum, antimony, selenium,
beryllium chromium, cobalt, nickel and, oh yeah, my personal
favorite, arsenic. Tell me who’d want that under their
skin!”

“
What do you do, dude, like
read encyclopedias all day or something?” Ryan was directing his
question to Kevin, but he looked at Carlie and gave her a wink and
a smile.

I was right. His charm hit her like an
arrow against a steel shield as it bounced off
harmlessly.

“
I was going to get a small
tattoo,” Carlie began. “Just a rose on my lower back, so Kevin did
some research for me. Besides finding out that a lot of the inks
aren’t safe, he also discovered that about a fourth of the people
tattooed later regret that they did it.”

“
Well, that and what
Carlie’s mom calls a girl’s tattoo…” Kevin let his statement fade
as he looked to Carlie to see if it was okay to finish or
not.

“
A tramp stamp?” Ryan
inserted.

Carlie rolled her eyes, but glumly
nodded to confirm the remark.

All this time, I’d been looking to see
what exactly was on Ryan’s large tattoo. I could make out a skull
and a sword, something that looked like wings, but I couldn’t make
out the small inscription. I reached over without much thought and
rotated his arm by the wrist to get a better view. The tattoo was
extremely intricate, but as I was studying it, he rolled his arm
back before I could read the inscription.

“
What does it say?” I asked,
realizing that I was still holding his arm and he seemed to be
enjoying the touch of my hand. I withdrew when I looked up into the
disconcerting blue gaze.

“
Come sit over here by me
and I’ll show you.”

Now there was no way I was going to go
sit beside ‘oh-yeah-I’m-a-hot-guy,’ and I think Evan knew that, but
I had the distinct feeling that Ryan was getting ready to meet the
angry side of Evan in a few seconds. I could feel his body begin to
stiffen beside me and I remembered the way he looked yesterday as
his anger reached a boiling point.

“
Born to kill,” Evan said
rather calmly for someone who was about to turn into the incredible
hulk. “Am I right?” he asked. “I’ve seen one similar.”

“
Yeah, that’s right.” But
the way Ryan said it, it was more like a challenge than an
answer.

Evan just laughed. But then he looked
at Ryan and their eyes seemed to lock on each other; all the joking
dropped from his face, “So how many have you killed?”

Ryan, as was the whole table, was
silent for a few seconds. “Ask me that after I get out of the Air
Force,” he finally replied.

Again the whole group was silent as the
reality of what he was saying sunk in, the only exception being
Evan who was chuckling to himself.

“
Well,” I said, trying to
break the tension at the table, “I’m getting a big tattoo this
weekend; a cross on each arm and one right in the middle of my
chest,” I said looking down at my tee-shirt as I drew a giant cross
with my fingers. They all still looked so serious. “I’m kidding
guys! Come on lighten up.” I bumped my shoulder into Evan’s arm and
giggled.

“
No, you don’t need any
tattoos, Leese,” he smiled. “They are permanent, but if you do have
them removed, it’s really painful and leaves a scar.”

“
Really?” I asked, “How many
have you had removed?”

“
None,” he answered with a
serious tone.

I could see Ryan looking him over, “You
don’t have a tattoo, do you?”

I was positive that there were no
tattoos on Evan’s very hunky body, but to my utter shock he
replied, one.

“
Where,” I demanded a little
too forcefully.

“
You can’t see it.” He
sounded like he regretted having mentioned it.

“
But where is it?” I asked a
little nicer than my previous demand.

Ryan was snickering. “I bet I can guess
where it’s at.” He paid no attention to the peril he was putting
himself in by pissing off Evan. “Across your heart, am I
right?”

Evan broke into an unusual smile; it
was purely sadistic like he would derive a lot of pleasure out of
snapping Ryan’s neck.

“
I bet you have a girl’s
name tattooed on it,” Ryan continued his suicide speech.

At this Evan lost the killer façade and
started to genuinely laugh.

“
What’s so funny? Is he
right?” I asked.

“
Yeah, sure, he’s right,”
Evan shook his head and went back to eating his lunch.

“
That,” Kevin spoke up
quickly, “Is why a quarter of the people regret getting a tattoo!
They put someone’s name in it and then they break up.” He was being
dead serious, but it was just so completely funny the way he
blurted it out that everyone began to laugh.

I was glad the tension had finally
broken, but I was still curious. I turned my face toward Evan,
letting my hair provide a curtain from the other prying eyes at the
table. “What was her name?” I whispered dolefully. Just as I
finished getting the words out, the bell rang. Everyone else was
getting up, but I was still looking at him for a reply.

“
You’re serious? You really
want to know?”

I couldn’t help myself as I nodded. He
looked at me and gave a sigh then he leaned toward my ear. I
inhaled and there was that scintillating scent that I’d smelled in
French class. His mouth was so close to my ear that I could feel
his warm breath. It tickled, but there was no way I was pulling
back until I heard the answer that I didn’t honestly want to
know.

“
Mother,” he
whispered.

“
Ah,” was all I could get
out as I realized he was probably teasing me, but before I could
react, he kissed my cheek and bolted from the table.

There would be no need to dash after
him and smack him for what he had done. He couldn’t escape me; we
both had French class in a few minutes and he’d be cornered. It
would, of course, be difficult to show that I was angry with him,
when I couldn’t get the stupid smile off my face.

By the time I strolled into French, I’d
given up the idea of being mean to him. I was resigning myself to
the idea that he liked me as much as I did him. I just couldn’t
figure how this could possibly work out. I didn’t see any real
danger in revealing a little bit of myself to Evan, but it couldn’t
be a full disclosure until Mom was no longer paranoid. If she began
to come to her senses, she’d want her daughters home. How would I
feel if I had to look into those deep green eyes and explain that I
was leaving? Maybe I could convince Mom and Dad to let me stay in
Pensacola for my senior year. That would only work if they didn’t
realize a boy was involved. Then I would be lying again.

Mrs. Knoosh had decided to give a pop
quiz so there would be no talking for the first half hour. The test
was more difficult than I expected. I think what made it more
disconcerting was that I could hear Evan’s pencil marking the paper
at a rapid pace while I felt like I was trudging through beach
sand.

The final forty-five minutes were spent
watching a French film. When the lights came up, we had ten minutes
before the bell.

“
I was thinking,” Evan
began. “I know you have to pick up your sister and baby-sit, but
wouldn’t your aunt and uncle be okay with you going out for a
little while in the evening? We could go to the mall or drive the
beach.” He must have thought that no rebuttal over the kiss on the
cheek was going to entitle him to a date.

“
I already have plans for
tonight, but you could join me, if you want.” I realized that I had
taken him by surprise. He was prepared for an argument instead of
an invitation, but I could see the suspicion also.

“
It’s Wednesday,” I added,
but saw no kind of comprehension on his face. “It’s church
tonight.”

“
Oh,” he replied. Using one
syllable and just two letters he was able to convey his discomfort
with the thought of church.

My heart dropped like a rock. I loved
church, especially my Wednesday night youth group. What if he was
against church or even a belief in God for that matter? That could
be a stumbling block even bigger than my reason for being in
Pensacola. “It’s okay,” I offered, trying to give him an easy out.
“You don’t have to…”

“
No, it’s just, well, it’s
been a while since I was in church.”

Relief washed over me. “You’ll probably
like it, if you like music. We have a band and you’ll know a couple
of the kids from here.”

“
I won’t have to sing, will
I?” With that question the discomfort came back to his
face.

“
Not unless you volunteer,”
I teased.

The bell rang and we started for the
parking lot. “So is this like a date-date?” he asked and proceeded
to place his arm around my shoulder.

“
No, it’s church. It’s not a
date.” I removed his arm from my shoulder. “Don’t think, Mr. Lewis,
that I’ve forgotten what you pulled in the cafeteria, and I don’t
let strange boys do that.”

“
Hum—I see. Well, how many
boys that weren’t strange have you let do that?”

“
All
boys are strange,” I countered.

“
Don’t tell me you’ve never
been kissed.” There was a genuine amount of surprise in his
voice.

“
I have,” I said
obstinately. I unlocked my car and climbed inside. He didn’t walk
away, he just stood there.

“
How old were you?” he
asked. “And relatives don’t count.”

I was going to try to answer this
honestly, but I grew up being very sure of myself and didn’t feel
the need to validate my ego by getting male attention. “I got it,”
I finally said. “Jimmy Levito.”