Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (20 page)

“I couldn’t
resist,” he whispered. “You were singing so beautifully, and you
looked so innocent and sweet. You were angelic.”

Julia met his
eyes
, her face burning with shame. She
had sounded innocent and sweet because she’d been singing Michael’s
words.
Because she was in love with him.
And yet, she’d let Thorsten kiss her without any
objection. She’d done nothing to stop him. What on earth was she
thinking?!

The silence
was becoming painful. S
he had to say
something to him. “I’m… I don’t mind,” she stuttered, flinching
instantly.
“No, that’s not true. I
do
mind. I mean...”

A playful
smile tugged at
the corner of his mouth.
“Well? What do you mean?”

She bit her lip. “I should have stopped
you.”

“Yeah.
Okay. That didn’t work out so well.” Thorsten grinned
mischievously.

Julia blushed
even harder and swallowed the lump in her throat. “Did I kiss you
back?” she whispered almost inaudibly.

His blue eyes
stared at her, and in the silence that ensued, she could hear the
blood rushing in her ears and feel his hands still holding
hers.

“It felt like that to me,” he replied quietly
and earnestly.

“I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “I shouldn’t
have. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Are you
still in love with him?”
Thorsten asked
with a dull pain in his voice.

Julia
awkwardly stared at her hands in his. “I’m going out with him
tomorrow.
Sorry. I honestly don’t know what my deal
is. Well, I’m sending out mixed signals. And I shouldn’t be doing
that. I...”

She stopped
talking when Thorsten cupped her cheek with one hand.
“It’s okay. I kind of caught you off guard, I guess. Just let
me be your friend, okay?”
He pressed a
kiss to her forehead and struggled to his feet. “Have fun
tomorrow.”

Thorsten
picked up his guitar and hurried inside. Julia cursed inwardly –
she was being such a bitch! It was obvious she’d hurt his feelings,
even if he said he still wanted to be friends. It might be better
to avoid him for a while now that she was dating Michael again. But
how was she supposed to do that with him living across the
street?

Feeling
really fed up with herself, she got up and slogged out of
the
yard. Of course, Gaby would be here
any minute now to hear all about Michael. She wasn’t sure she
should include this episode in the summary of her eventful day,
even though Gaby had recommended hanging out with both guys to
decide who she liked better.

“I’m home,” she called into the direction of
the kitchen when she stepped inside. No reply. Her mom was still at
work, and Anne was most likely at her grandmother’s or with Sabine.
Julia went upstairs to clear away the spare mattress from her room
and write in her diary.

After putting
the mattress back in the hallway closet, she sat down at her desk,
opened her drawer and took out the photo album she used as a
scrapbook, poetry book and diary
all at
once. She wanted to stick Michael’s poem in there. The song she’d
written with Thorsten was playing in her head.

Julia’s gaze
wandered outside and landed on the house across the street.
Thorsten was just stepping out of the shed with a pile of wooden
planks in his arms, which he put down on a bike trailer as directed
by Sabine. She smiled. So he was helping them with their
construction project in the woods again. Maybe she should
ask
him
for inside information about the tree house so she’d have
an idea when Anne would be finished.

While Sabine
was busy hooking up the trailer to her bicycle,
Thorsten looked up at her bedroom window. It was as if he
had felt her eyes on him. He waved at her with a friendly smile.
Julia feebly waved back. His clear, blue eyes didn’t look at her
reproachfully, and yet she felt bad.

From the
corner of her eye she could see Gaby rounding the corner of her
street. Quickly, she stepped away from the window and rushed
downstairs so she could drag her friend inside before Gaby would
strike up a lengthy conversation with Thorsten. As she walked to
the front door, she could hear Ga
by
shouting something to Thorsten, who was still helping his little
sister. In a rush, she opened the door and grabbed Gaby’s upper
arm. “Hey, Gab.
Come inside.”

Gaby chuckled.
“Eager to share your big news, are you?” She
stepped inside and hugged her friend. “Let’s go to the kitchen,
Aphrodite, so you can make us tea, open a pack of cookies and tell
me
everything
from A to Z about what happened
today.”

With a
flushed face, Julia told her best friend everything that had
transpired at the bookstore. Afterwards, she declaimed Michael’s
poem by heart.

“That is so beautiful,”
Gaby whispered.
“So you’re going on a
date tomorrow? Wow, Jules, it sounds like a dream.”

“Yes, it
does. Sometimes, it’s like I
am
dreaming. It all still feels
pretty surreal.” She stared at the teacup in her hands, clearing
her throat before she continued. “Also, I sang a song today.
Together with Thorsten.”

Gaby cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Is it someone’s
birthday?”

Julia coughed
nervously.
“No, he was playing a song on
his guitar when I walked past his house, and since he was actually
composing the song, he asked if I wanted to join him and help him
with lyrics. And at the end, he was so touched by my singing that
he kissed me.”

Her friend
went bug-eyed.
“Say
what
?
For
real?
And what did you do?”

“I… I think I
kissed him ba
ck,” Julia stuttered with a
red face. “I didn’t mean to, but the whole gesture was just so...
so
genuine
.”

A grin split
Gaby’s face in two
as she grabbed another
chocolate chip cookie from the plate. “No way! I was right in
nicknaming you Aphrodite.
Seriously, Jules, kissing
two guys in
one
day?”

“Look, I’m not planning on
making it a habit.
I’m going out with
Michael tomorrow, and I told Thorsten that, too. I don’t want to
put him on the wrong track.”

At that
moment
, they heard keys in the front
door.
“Hello!” Julia’s mother announced herself. “I’m
home.” She popped her head around the kitchen door.
“
Servus
, Gaby. Are you
staying for dinner?”

Gaby shook her head. “No,
I, uhm... I’m going out to dinner with Axel tonight.
He asked me whether I wanted to try out that new
Mexican restaurant in town, and he doesn’t really know anyone else
who loves spicy food and jalapeño and that kind of stuff, so he
asked me… and I didn’t have anything better to do, so I thought,
what the hell, you know. And besides, they’ve got this introduction
deal going on where you get two entrees for the price of one, so
that’s why it made sense for him to ask me, too.”

“Right.”
Ms. Gunther slowly
nodded, looking slightly bewildered. She disappeared into the
hallway, leaving the two girls behind in awkward
silence.

Gaby
stared down at the table top, a pink blush on
her cheeks, until Julia burst out giggling. “Wow, thanks for
the
very clear
explanation. What’s next, you reading out the
entire menu?”

Gaby’s blush
reddened.
“Oh, come on, you get me,
right? I didn’t want to give you the wrong impression.”

“Ah. What wrong impression might that
be?”

“Well, just, you thinking it’s a date or
something,” Gaby mumbled.

“No, because
going on a date with Axel would be downright
idiotic
.”

“No!
I don’t mean it like that. But he’s your cousin, you know.
And a good friend of mine.” Gaby picked up another cookie from the
big plate and started chewing like her life depended on
it.

Julia chuckled.
“Don’t go and ruin your appetite now. After all,
you still have an entire menu to look forward to.”

Gaby glowered at her. “Stop
harassing me! I’m just...”

“Nervous? Tense? Happy?
Excited?”

“Never mind.
I’m never telling you anything ever
again.”

They stared
each other down for a moment, then both erupted in fits of
laughter.
By the time Julia’s mother
returned to the kitchen, the air had been cleared. Gaby had even
promised Julia to text her tomorrow and let her know how The
Mexican Job had worked out.

After
tea, Julia walked Gaby to the front door. “Can
you tell Anne to come home?” her mom called out after them. “She’s
probably still with the neighbors across the street.”

“I don’t
know
about that,” Julia called back as
she waved Gaby goodbye. “I believe Sabine and Anne are busy in the
woods again. Before Gaby got here, I saw Thorsten lugging around
big piles of wood that would put The Home Depot to
shame.”

“Well, go find out. We’re
having dinner in a few minutes.
Thorsten
might know where the girls are.”

Dragging her
feet, Julia crossed the street to do what her mother had asked. Now
she had to talk to Thorsten
again
. Ignoring him turned out to
be an impossible task.

Much to her
relief, she saw Sabine getting off her bike and unhooking the now
empty trailer in the yard. “Hey, Sabine,” she said.
“Is Anne with you?”

The little girl shook her
head.
“I just dropped off some planks at
the spot where we’re busy building our tree house, but she was
already gone. Didn’t she come home?”

“No.” Julia
frowned in dismay
. It was all very nice
that Anne loved nature and solitude, but it was irresponsible of
her to take off like this. She was probably just trying to get
inspiration for her book, but this would surely put her mom on edge
again.

Julia dug up
her phone. Anne should have her cell phone on her too, so it was
worth trying to give her a call. After three rings, the phone
switched to voice mail, but it didn’t take long for Anne to call
her back.

“Hey,” Anne’s tinny voice sounded through the
speaker. “I’m coming home now.”

“Whereabouts are you?”

“Oh, nowhere in particular. I was making some
sketches for my story. I’ll be there soon.”

After ten
minutes, Anne
cycled into the yard. Julia
was waiting for her at the door. “I’m glad you had your phone with
you,” she said sternly. “You shouldn’t do that again – staying out
for too long without telling anyone where you are.”

Anne shrugged. “I’m not supposed to tell
anyone where I am.”

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind,”
her sister muttered. Anne pushed Julia aside and quickly ran down
the hallway.
Julia threw an angry glare after her. She
couldn’t believe her ears.
Of course,
Sabine and Anne wanted to keep the house a secret and only show it
to their families once it was completely finished, but this was
nonsense. From now on, she’d make sure Anne told them exactly where
she was going, or her trips to the woods would be history. Mom was
always bogged down with work and didn’t keep enough of an eye on
Anne anymore – her little sister could practically get away with
everything. When
she
was little, she wouldn’t have dreamed of pulling
tricks like these. Of course, Dad had still been around to share
responsibility. In general, the youngest child in a family was
notorious for being allowed more than the older children, but
still. This didn’t sit well with her.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Julia went into the
kitchen to start cooking. It was her turn tonight.

9
.

T
he next morning, Julia arrived
at the bookstore too early, but Michael had still managed to beat
her – he was already waiting at the entrance.

“Good morning!” She
gingerly raised her hand in greeting.
Did
he expect her to kiss him, or was that too soon? Would she make a
complete fool of herself if she did?
“Wow, you’re
early today.”

Michael shrugged.
“Yeah, I woke up early and couldn’t go back to
sleep anymore.
I was restless.” He smiled at her. “You
kept running through my mind.”

“Oh.” Julia
smiled back shyly. “You kept running through mine, too. All
evening, actually.” Lost in thought, she’d
managed to burn two pans of rice while cooking before her mom had
sent her away from the stove in despair.

His smile
widened
.
“Really?”

Julia nodded.
“Uh-huh. So, have you figured out what you want
to do this afternoon?”