Airel (4 page)

I hear ya buddy. I’m looking for it too.
I had to interject. “That is,” I said a little too eagerly, “unless you already have plans. Ya know, like, I don’t know, playing… catch, or… something.” I trailed off,
yet again.
 

Michael Alexander, brutally handsome, answered my plea with a rejection: “No plans.”

“Cool!” said Kim, sealing my fate for the day.

Chapter VI

We pulled into the mall parking lot, cruising for a parking space. I hated walking half a mile just to get to the doors. Michael and James followed us and I saw his big white Chevy disappear from my rearview mirror. I figured Michael had just pitched it into the first open spot or even took up like four spaces way out in the middle of nowhere just so his baby wouldn’t get dented or whatever. Typical guy.

“I can’t believe you just invited them like that. And you think it’s funny! Sure, laugh it up,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Airel, they are like the hottest guys in school.” She busted out the baby talk: “Come on, lighten up!” 

I really, truly, and honestly wanted to harm her right then and there, but I knew I had to drop it or the teasing would only get worse. She’d start in on how short I was soon enough, so I brought up James. Yeah that worked well. She began talking without breathing.
James, James, James.

They had built the Boise Towne Square Mall in stages over the last twenty years, with the last renovation finishing up not too long ago. It had a much cooler entryway–new towers, skylights, and all the old-looking wooden handrails had been replaced by sleek metal and glass. It felt like we finally had a mall I didn’t need to be embarrassed by. 

By the time we found our space and parked, the guys had walked up to my car. Kim was rattling on and on about James’ massively gorgeous arms. Michael opened my door for me, scaring me nearly half to death. The poor guy was just trying to be a gentleman, but here I was, nearly blasting him with the pepper spray keychain my dad had forced me to carry around with me.

Kim was in full-on flirt mode now, talking at—not with—James.

Michael was making me nervous, walking by my side as we headed toward the front entrance. James and Kim lagged behind a few feet.We went to the new Borders bookstore—my favorite place. I loved to sit there by the window, sipping a coconut latte, reading a good book. I preferred a good thriller, and liked to take a weeknight every once in a while just to be by myself.

“So… how long have you lived here?” Michael looked down at me with his big, beautiful eyes. I kept it together and decided that I should make the best of the situation. What choice did I have anyway? Kim had planned out our day now. Michael, clueless to her wily ways, was all agreeable to it.

So I dove in. “I pretty much grew up here. I guess I like it well enough, but I haven’t really lived anywhere else.” I pulled on a strand of hair as I talked. I was very aware that I was doing it and that I only did it when I was nervous. I hated knowing my own habits while being totally unable to stop them.

“Cool. I moved around a lot. My dad’s job takes him all over the country. I hope we stay here for a while.” Michael spoke smoothly and he didn’t seem uncomfortable or out of his element at all. The thought of him not living here, possibly moving away, sent a shock through me.
Why should I care? I only just met the guy and ever since, he has made me sick—literally!
Ah, but he was gorgeous.

“What does your dad do?” I couldn’t emotionally afford to get attached to someone who might move in a year.
Who am I kidding? The chances are slim that he would even remotely think about me as anything other than a friend.
He was angelic, and I was—well, average. One thing I knew was that a guy fell in love with what he saw. This guy could have anyone he wanted, plus he was good looking and kind—the whole package. Yet somewhere below the surface was fire. It kind of scared me, but not in a bad way.

“He’s a private investigator. He handles high-profile cases, so he’s out of town a lot. You remember the kidnapping last year? The Smithson’s? They had a six year old daughter who was taken. He found her after the feds gave up.”

“Wow—that must be a cool
and
bad job, all in one. I think I remember that story on the news.” I kept making small talk. I found out his mother died of cancer when he was a baby. His dad never remarried and the two of them were close. He had lived in Oklahoma, California, Texas, New York, Chicago… and that was the short list. So far, he said, Boise was the nicest town he had ever lived in. 

“The streets are so clean and the buildings are all new. When we were in Oklahoma City, it was like a dump. Dirty rivers and everyone honks their horn when they drive. Chicago’s all right, but it’s dirty too, and then there’s all the gangs and crime. You can’t drive down some of those streets—it’s just not safe. Everything here in the west is much different, much better.” His eyes lit up as he talked, looking at me. I thought that he might be good at making friends just because he always had to make them every time they moved. Different schools, towns, and cities, and having to adapt to it, probably made it easy for him to make friends.

We walked around the mall and I went into American Eagle to look for a new top. I didn’t notice that Kim had dragged James into Vanity. I did, however, notice every time Michael said my name. He would hold up a t-shirt and say, “Airel, this would look great with your eyes...  Airel, this is way cool...  Airel... 
Airel
.”

My head was swimming. Every time he said my name, a small shiver ran its way up my spine. Before I knew it, I was smiling, laughing, and for some reason, completely comfortable around him. He had a way of making me feel like I was the only person in the world. We ditched Kim and James. I sent her a text to let her know we were hungry. After an hour and no reply, Michael and I went up to the food court. I had a craving for Panda Express and their orange chicken… yum.

Michael didn’t care for it, but went to the Great Steak and Potato Company and got a prime rib sandwich. I liked that he didn’t just get what I got to be polite or act like we had
so
much in common. I liked Dr. Pepper and he liked orange soda. I
know,
orange? What was he—a kid?

He looked intently at me, very seriously, and said, “Airel, you are the strangest girl I’ve ever met.” I stopped chewing and looked up at him. I hated, seriously
hated
the idea of some boy just staring at me. That kind of thing just creeped me out. But this was not just any boy or any guy. This was Michael Alexander. For some reason, he was looking at me, almost worshipfully—except, since it was him, I didn’t mind so much. 

Was I about to let him off the hook? Not a chance. “What, did I take too big a bite or something?” He was laughing, which didn’t exactly put my wandering mind at ease. “You never saw a girl eat before?” He just sat and laughed, which settled down comfortably into a smile that was just like my favorite book.
He’s totally flirting with me.
And I liked it. He was funny and could hold a conversation. Most boys my age were boring and couldn’t hold a conversation beyond sports or cars. 

When Michael laughed, it was wonderful. It rang out across the food court, striking the heart of every woman and girl within earshot. His strong jaw made him seem so much older, yet still so young. It was an interesting combination. I could feel myself start to giggle, then he looked at me again and I had a revelation. That was it! It was his eyes! In them was his open soul. He did not waver, didn’t blink. He just held my gaze and locked me in. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. His eyes, blue and calm, like a morning after a terrible storm.

“No, you’re not like other girls I’ve known. I mean, you’re sure of yourself, confident… without being a snob. And… I think you have absolutely no idea… how beautiful you are.” If anyone else would have said that to me, I would have laughed in his face. It would have been cheesy, dumb, overkill. But when
he
said it, when I saw the look in his eyes—I knew that it wasn’t just some dumb line, it was what he believed. 

He thought I was beautiful.

Chapter VII

Okay, I was impressed. Or maybe I was weirded out that Michael spent over four hours shopping with me. 

Kim and James were off somewhere together. I was sure he was going to kill Michael later for leaving him with her. And if Michael was just putting on a good face to make me think he was having a decent time, he was doing a good job.

I got a text from Kim saying that they were ready to go and if I was up to it, James wanted to see a movie. Shocker. He was having fun. One thing about Kim, if you were around her long enough, she was like a drug...  very addicting. Poor James was getting an overdose and after today, he would be a hopeless case. 

“I think your friend has a thing for James,” Michael said under his breath as we walked out of the mall and into the late afternoon sun. 

It was shaping up to be a nice day, with a few lumbering, puffy, clouds just hanging around like ancient gods. 

“You think? She’s liked him ever since she first saw him. But she’s not a cheerleader and he’s the star quarterback. I think if it wasn’t for you dragging him along today, he wouldn’t have ever looked twice at her. It’s funny how things happen.” I saw a hint of something in Michael’s eyes. Was it anger? No. Frustration?

“He’s a good guy. He’s not like you would think...  not the usual jock.” His blue eyes looked down as if he was losing himself in a nearly forgotten memory that was now rising to the surface. “But yeah, Kim is cool. A little gabby.” He gave me a playful glance. “But overall—cool.”

I laughed and said, “That’s why I love her. She’s her own person. Not like the lifeless drones dragging their black skinny jeans and chains all over school. Nothing says, ‘I’m my own person,’ like dressing all alike, thinking just because you’re weird you’re an individual.” 

“Whoa, easy!” Michael held up both hands in surrender. 

Oops, too deep.
I had a bad habit of over-thinking things. My dad said I was an old soul. Judging from experience, it was not exactly a good way to keep a guy. Most guys wanted to think they were the smart one in the relationship. I was never one to hold back just because the underdeveloped guy couldn’t hang. I had driven away more than one potential boyfriend that way and I cringed.
Hold the phone. Relationship? So we spend a day with the guy and you’re thinking relationship? Stop it Airel.
Over-thinking…

“Sorry, I just get worked up about stuff. I do have my own thoughts and ideas, but in this world that is kind of a turn-off for most guys.”

Michael was silent as I unlocked the car door. He was different in a good way. I mean, a really good way—but nothing seemed to faze or shock him. I bet I could go into talking about the meaning of fear and the hold it has on our society.
Oh yeah, that’s totally hot...  guys dig that.
I could talk about how the media plays on our fear to keep us in line and he would respond with the idea that not everyone could be controlled.
Ha, ha. Yeah.
Then I could maybe throw in how there is still a silent majority that would not hold their peace for much longer.
And then we’d be talkin’, baby… about nothing.

But all of a sudden he broke the silence, picking up the thread I had clumsily dropped on him. “No, you’re right. I call them robots—all trying to be different by being exactly whatever their master made them do. Like a collective consciousness.” He smiled and looked into my eyes. In that moment, I totally forgot what we had been talking about. I even forgot where I was. “So what do you want to see?”

“Uh—what?”
Great, I’m stuttering like an idiot.
“Oh. The movie?”
Yeah, duhhh…

“Yeah, what did you want to see?” He had a small smile on his face as he moved closer to me, into the gap between my open door and the car.

“Hey, Airel!” Kim hollered as she ran toward the car with James in tow. “You aren’t going to believe the deal I got. They had a buy one get the second one half off! I mean, I only needed one, but you have to get the second one if it’s half price...  I mean, come on!” I breathed a deep sigh of relief that she showed up right then. Things were moving pretty quickly.

“So James, you’re still alive.” Michael shot a smile toward James, who just nodded. Kim told us all about the deals and the food and everything else that she had seen and experienced. James even seemed to be enjoying himself. He wasn’t much of a talker, which was fine with Kim.

“Okay, what are we seeing? Are we in the mood for scary, funny, or a boy movie?” I looked at Kim. 

“Boy movie? What’s a boy movie?” Michael asked, tossing the keys to his truck to James. Clearly, he intended to ride with me.

“Glad you asked. It’s an action shoot-em-up with pointless gore and violence. Guys like it because it makes them feel like the dominant male they all wish they could be.” I smiled and looked at him and shoved my hands in my back pockets. 

Michael didn’t even hesitate. “Or, we could see a girl movie. In case you were wondering, that’s a movie with a sappy love story where two people hate each other, fall in love, then one betrays the other—in most cases the guy is the jerk—then they have fifteen minutes of sad time where they reflect on their relationship. Then they get back together in the end. Girls like it because it makes them feel like there’s a dream man out there for them, and one day they’ll fall in love just to be disappointed to find that in reality there is no perfect guy. But who wants to think about that?” Michael smirked with challenging playfulness. 

There was a lengthy silence as we all looked at each other. 

“Comedy!” James and Kim said in unison. 

I laughed, and for the tenth time today I actually felt good. It was nice to be with friends, old and new.

Chapter VIII

We made it to the theater before anything disastrous could happen. After I parked, Michael opened my door for me, and on the way to the ticket booth, he grabbed my hand and held it, and would not let go. I was glad, but terrified. On one side of this shiny new coin, he was not shy about his affection for me, and didn’t feel like he needed to ask permission for anything. On the other side,
what the heck was he doing holding my hand without asking permission?
 

We bought our tickets and went in to the theater, but not before Kim and I had a conference in the bathroom to compare notes. She insisted on digging for all the dirt on me and Michael from the five minute trip over to the theater and dished me all the dirt that I didn’t really want to know about her and James. 

“Guess what? Guess who his favorite band is? Just guess!” She was giddy. It was cute. They were both crazy about the exact same music. We walked out holding hands and giggling. Luckily, that discouraged any more handholding by Michael as we found our seats. But, of course, I let him sit next to me. I couldn’t be rude. Besides, I wanted to sit by him.

Darkness filled the movie theater as the previews started rolling. It was girl, girl, boy, boy, Kim on my left, Michael on my right and James next to Michael. Kim didn’t seem to mind or maybe she just didn’t care. Michael was making jokes about the different movies that were coming out and leaned over, whispering in my ear, “Do you want anything? Popcorn or a drink?” 

Just the sound of his voice in my ear made the hair on my arms stand up again. Not to mention the goose bumps. “Sure. Diet Pepsi and popcorn. Thanks, Michael.”

“No problem.” He slipped out and James followed.. 

“They went for a junk food run,” I whispered to Kim

“Good, I’m starved.” Then she changed gears again, almost giving me whiplash. “So. I see you and Michael are getting friendly…” She had a glint of sarcasm in her voice. 

“He’s nice, but he’s a little out of my league, if you know what I mean.” I didn’t dare even think about anything more with Michael other than friendship...  even with the handholding. It could have been a fluke.
Or maybe I’m being neurotic.
 

If there’s one thing I’d learned about guys, it was that they can hurt. I was going to be as cautious as possible about all of this. Michael was friendly with everyone, anyway, and I had no reason to believe he was seriously considering me as one of his many, many options.

“Come on, he likes you. Anyone can see that. Don’t worry about anything, just leave it to me.” I gave her that
don’t even think about it
look and hit her in the arm. “Ow, so mean!”

“Ha! You deserved it. Now don’t try anything or I’ll tell James you’re a stalker.”

“So? I am.” Kim laughed, adjusting her purse. She flipped out her phone and left a movie theater check-in on Facebook, moving quickly on to Twitter. I guess a girl’s got to stay in touch with her peeps, but Kim was a little overboard. I was on Facebook too, but that was only because Kim had set it up for me. If I didn’t get on it often enough, she would hack in and post stuff on my behalf—just another reason why I could never lose her.

Michael came back up the stairs and slid in next to me. He handed me a large soda and smiled. “Big enough for ya?”

“Yeah, ya think? Holy BUCKET.” I giggled like an idiot and turned my face away
. What was this guy doing to me?
“Where’s James?”

“He had to go to the bathroom. He should be back soon. Unless he’s running scared from … ahem…” He pointed with his thumb over to Kim who was busy checking her reflection on her phone.

“Ha, she would find him,” I whispered in his ear. I could smell his shampoo and feel the warmth of his skin next to mine. His arm brushed mine and I almost embarrassed myself by screaming. It probably would have come out really weak, given the heart palpitations I was having to deal with.

James came back a few minutes later and took a handful of popcorn.
Sheesh, help yourself, pal.
The movie started and I scrunched down in my seat, wondering what I was doing.
Was I a glutton for pain? Did I just like to have my heart broken?
Just the thought of… 

My thoughts were instantly cut off by something I had never felt before. It was like a splitting headache in the back of my skull. Everything went fuzzy. I closed my eyes and tried to focus and for the second time today, I felt like throwing up. This time it was not as strong, though. I controlled my lunch, breathed in deep three times, then opened my eyes.

The people in front of us, all the way down to the front row, were all a blur—all but two, who sat in the second row. It was a tall man with short blond hair and a shorter man with a ball cap on. They were talking and from where I was sitting, I could tell they were not happy.

The tall blond man leaned over and whispered something to the ball cap man and he stiffened. I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, but I wasn’t sure.
What are they talking about?
 

Then I saw it. The glint of a blade, catching the light from the movie screen, appearing from the blond man’s coat. I saw his arm wrap around the ball cap man’s shoulder, reaching around to cover his mouth.

I tried to yell, but nothing came out. I just opened and closed my mouth like a fish. There was no way this was real. Everyone else seemed not to notice the two men, but I could
feel
what happened.

The tall man jerked his arm, making the ball cap man’s body twitch crookedly. A second time he thrust the knife in and after a few more seconds the ball cap man went limp in his seat. I was speechless. I had just witnessed a cold-blooded murder. I couldn’t breathe, let alone talk. It looked like the ball cap man was napping in the darkness. There was no way anyone would see he was dead until the end of the movie.

Now, just as if I had shouted at him, the tall man with the knife turned and looked dead at me. His piercing dark eyes shot a hole right through me. I jerked my gaze away and tried to act like I was lost in the movie. He stared at me and refused to let me out of his sight. I managed to grunt something like, “I have to go to the restroom.” I stood and slipped by Michael and James.

I hiked down the stairs and past the killer’s row, was and I could feel him watching me hatefully. He sat still as I passed. I didn’t look his way. I could feel his gaze follow me as I turned to go out into the lobby. I was scared and in a panic, not sure what to do. My mind felt like sludge and would not work like I needed it to. 

I hit the lobby quickly and ran full blast to the bathroom where I promptly threw up in the sink. I looked into the mirror. My reflection was the image of a stranger—I wondered at all of this for a split second. Questions came tumbling in, all jumbled up and twisted together with answers that didn’t fit. I fumbled with my phone and dialed 911.
Come on, pick up! 

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

I was just about to answer when I heard the door open. I turned and rushed to an empty stall. I shut the door as quietly as I could and crouched down on top of the toilet. I quickly turned off my phone but it played that irritating jingle that’s always way too loud, giving me away. There was silence then for what felt like eternity. Then I heard heavy footfalls. Someone was walking slowly through the room…toward me.

Like a crazy person, he was whistling some random tune, very low, like a whisper. At first it was unintelligible, total nonsense. But then he came even closer to the stall where I hid, and as he did, I swear I could recognize the tune. It was beyond me to put a name to it, but it filled me with horror. 

I shivered as he came closer, the footfalls like heavy machinery, dropping like lead weights on the tile floor. I saw under the door  the shine of a pair of men’s dress shoes.

Oh God, oh God…! Don’t let him find me…
I was crouched like a jungle cat on the toilet and if I could have pinned my ears back, I would have.

I could see him hunch down on the balls of his feet, his coat touching the floor around him like a tent. He started looking under the stall doors, crouching lower. His hand dropped down and a bloody eight-inch long knife was in his hand. I just about screamed but I clamped my hand down over my mouth, only allowing a frightened gasp to escape.

I watched him through the crack of the door, his body tensed like a vicious predator. He sniffed at the air. Then his hands slowly came down and rested on the floor, balled up on his knuckles with silky elegance. It was more frightening than the anger and violence I was expecting. He seemed to be completely calm and collected. 

Down he sank, and as he did, he slid his feet back away from his hands. Lower and lower to the floor as if doing a push-up, he descended, the knife in the hand nearest to me. 

I could not bear it, but I knew I would see his face... it was inevitable. I dreaded the seconds as they ticked along with me riding inside them, but I also dreaded those that were coming for me.

Then it happened. His face appeared in the small space under the door. He was looking directly at me. I could not bear his gaze. My body twitched and I turned away and trembled in panic.

Then, just as fast as he came in, he was gone. 

I started to sob and shake uncontrollably. I stopped myself when I heard the door open again. “Airel, you in here?”

Kim!
“Oh God,
Kim!
” I burst from the stall crying. As she stood there stunned, I clung to her. 

“Whoa, hold on, girl—what’s going on? Are you okay?” Kim held me up as I cried. “Airel, it’s okay. I’m here. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

I was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. The total panic of what had happened was made complete by the sound of screaming people in the lobby outside.