Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (21 page)

Michael shook his head.
“No, not yet.
I’ve just figured out what
I want to do right now.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and
pulled her closer. “This,” he added with a twinkle in his green
eyes, pressing his lips to hers.

Julia closed
her eyes and slipped her arms around his waist, kissing him like
there was no tomorrow. Who cared if their colleagues
caught them making out? She had longed for his
touch since yesterday afternoon. “Can we go to the forest after
work?” she mumbled against his lips between kisses.
“I’d like that.”

Michael took a step backward.
“We could,” he replied.

Julia cocked
her head.
He didn’t sound too eager.

He saw her
puzzlement and sighed. “You know, I was looking forward to
experiencing the city and the park together with you. I want to
…
put the accident behind me. Stay away
from the woods for a while.”

“Of course!” Julia nodded
in understanding. “So let’s go to the park.
Shall we have a picnic there?”

“Sounds good.
Let’s prepare a basket at my place. While I’m busy making our
sandwiches, you can use the time to play the grand piano, because
you promised you’d come and do that some day.”

“I will.
As it so happens, I wrote a song yesterday,
using
your
poem as lyrics.” Maybe she should tell Michael about
Thorsten and her jam session on his lawn. Somehow, it felt like the
right thing to do. Then again, it was best to leave that unexpected
kiss out of her confession – there was such a thing as too
much
honesty. “The boy from across the street was playing his
guitar in the yard and invited me to join him and contribute some
lyrics. So I used your poem. Who knows, I might be able to figure
out how to play it on the piano.”

Michael
beamed at her. “That
would be amazing. I’m happy you liked it so much.”

Just then,
Martin showed up with a few rolled-up posters tucked under one arm.
“Wow! Can I say early birds?” he greeted them. “Will you do me the
honor of helping me by putting up the sale posters in the
window?”

It didn’t
take long for the rest of the team to arrive at the store. Donna
sidled up to the ladder
on which Julia
was balancing precariously, trying to affix a banner to the parapet
above the checkout counter. “Hey there, Julia,” she called up. “So
what are your plans this afternoon?”

“Buzz off,” Julia squeaked. “If I look down,
I’ll get vertigo.”

She heard
Donna laugh out loud. “Fortunately, Michael is
not
afraid of heights.
He’s been looking at you doing your thing up there for a while now,
you know.”

In a bout of
curiosity, Julia risked glancing down to see what Donna was talking
about. Michael stood next to the checkout gawking up at her legs,
looking caught out when she blinked and shook her head at him
incredulously. Donna’s mouth twitched as she cast Michael a
sidelong glance.

“Why don’t
you all just leave me alone?” Julia cried out indignantly, holding
the top rung of the ladder in a death grip.
Despite her words, she still shot Michael a playful smile.
She was going to spend the entire afternoon with this wonderful,
gorgeous guy, who was in love with her and couldn’t keep his eyes
off her. It suddenly dawned on her just how lucky she was. Her legs
felt like rubber when he gave her a winsome smile back.

To her
happiness, Martin sent her over to the stockroom again to fetch
some books – a perfect opportunity to text Gaby about their plans
for today, and to check whether her friend had sent
her
anything about last night’s date with Axel.

She had.
‘dinner was gr8! axel = kinda sweet :$ jules,
whaddya think he thinks of me?!’

Julia
scoffed, shaking
her head in disbelief.
‘u know what axel thinks of u ;) don’t ask 4 the sake of asking.
mick & me r going 2 the park & will make a picnic @ his
place 1
^st
. so nervous!! x’

Of course, no
one else would be at Michael’s house this afternoon, but somehow,
Julia was certain this wouldn’t be a rinse-repeat of that other
time in Michael’s empty house. She still couldn’t wrap her head
around his bizarre personality change, but it had rocked her
world.

How could she
have even been in love with him before this? Maybe it hadn’t been
love – maybe she had just looked up to him and admired the
confidence he exuded in high school. He’d been so handsome,
desirable and completely out of her league, but that was all
different now. He was trying really hard to get to know her
better.

She started
when Silke entered the stockroom. “Time to fess up,” she announced
bluntly. “What’s going on between you and Michael? Don’t think I’ve
missed all those sly glances between the two of you.”

Julia felt
herself redden, and she gave a shy shrug. “He asked me out again,
and I said yes.”

“Well, doesn’t that bother you?” Silke
crossed her arms. “I mean, it wasn’t pretty, the way he chucked you
before.”

Silke
couldn’t be more right, so how could she ever explain why things
were different now?
She didn’t even fully understand
it herself.

“He’
s – changed,” she hazarded.
“I mean,
really
. He’s nothing like
before.”

Silke nodded
mindfully. “Yeah. I get what you mean. When he walked into the
store on his first day here, he was being kind of a show-off. He
didn’t fool me, though – quite frankly, I thought he was very
insecure, deep down. But he’s no longer wearing the Mask of Fake
Self-Confidence, if you get my drift.”

“Who knows,
maybe it fell off because of the accident.”
Julia smiled.

“Yeah, you
might be onto something
there. Have you
looked up stuff about people experiencing character changes due to
head trauma?”

She hadn’t,
but actually,
it didn’t sound unlikely.
Silke had just given her the perfect explanation for Michael’s
changed behavior. Philosophizing about Celts, Midsummer and
lightning bolts was more her style, but a concussion causing
behavioral change was much more logical.

“His doctor
probably warned him about the short-term effects,”
Julia dodged the question.
“I’ll
ask him at some point. So, shall I help you with those?”
She pointed at the pile of books at Silke’s
feet.

The remainder
of the morning shift was uneventful. Julia stayed up in the
stockroom and Michael manned the checkout. When the store closed
for lunch break at noon, Julia and Michael left Höllrigl and walked
to Michael’s house on the Giselakai.

“The weather
is lovely,” he said, looking around with a big smile on his face.
“Perfect to bum around in the park.”

“Well, we could also do some light exercise,”
Julia proposed. “Don’t you have badminton rackets lying around at
your place?”

“I think so,
yeah
. You really like sports, don’t
you?”

“Always gives me energy.”

“Funny.
That’s what I’ve always found so charming about you. You
can be quiet and introverted whenever you’re busy writing or
composing, but at the same time, you can be so full of life and
energy when you do sports.”

Julia felt
hersel
f lighting up like a light bulb.
Michael talked about her as if she was the most fascinating person
on earth. She walked closer to him and took his hand. It was only
after they had crossed the bridge to his street that she wondered
how he actually knew so much about her. Had he been more attentive
to her at school than she’d given him credit for?

“Is there
anything you absolutely hate as a sandwich topping?” Michael
inq
uired once they were inside, dragging
her to the kitchen. When he opened the fridge, Julia observed just
how many different kinds of food the Kolbe family stocked. Her
little family was quite simple and poor compared to this household.
Would she even feel comfortable taking him home to
her
place
and introducing him to her mother?

She absently picked up an avocado from the
fruit bowl on the kitchen table. “I’m not a fussy eater. I like all
kinds of food,” she mumbled.

A smile
spread across his face. “Including that?” he pointed at the
avocado. “How about
wheat rolls with
lettuce, chicken and avocado?”

She nodded
slightly. When Michael walked up to her and put his arms around
her, Julia rested her head on his shoulder and sighed deeply. “I
just have to get used to things in your world,” she
whispered.
“Sorry I’m being so awkward.”

He kissed her
forehead.
“You’re not being awkward. And
I have to get used to this situation, too.”

Julia blinked
at him in confusion.
“You?”

“Yes. To being in love, I mean.”

Her face
turned pink with joy. He made it sound like he’d never been in love
before. And for all she knew, it was true. He’d always dated
some
girl
in high school, but he’d never been steady with any of them for
long. This felt like it was more serious for him, and with all her
heart she wanted to open the door to her life and let him in, even
if she was insecure about certain parts of it.

“Would you like to come over to my place
tomorrow?” she blurted out. “After work?”

He smiled
warmly, his eyes looking fondly down at her. “Of course I would.
I’m secretly hoping you’ll make me pizza.”

“Amy’s Kitchen
pizza?”

“Yes, please. You know how I feel about Amy
and her pizzas.”

They both
started to chuckle. Julia exhaled, feeling more at ease. “Let’s get
on with those rolls, shall we?” she suggested.

“No, we shall not.
I
will do it.
You promised you’d play the piano!” Michael shoved her out
of the kitchen despite Julia’s protest, escorting her to the
Steinway in the corner of their gigantic living room. He opened the
fall board and pulled out the bench for her. “There you go. Have
fun.”

Sm
iling shyly, Julia sat down,
letting out her breath when Michael walked back to the kitchen at
once. At least he didn’t hover. It would give her the peace of mind
to figure out Thorsten’s song on the piano. Humming the tune to
herself, she picked her way through a few scales on the keyboard
before settling on a pitch that would suit her voice.

When Michael
returned to the living room after ten minutes carrying a picnic
cooler filled with drinks and food, she was singing Thorsten’s
melody with her – or, actually, Michael’s – lyrics. He stood next
to the grand piano and gazed at her completely
mesmerized.

When the song
had ended, Julia
looked up bashfully.
“I’m happy you’re still here,” she said timidly.

Michael gave her a quizzical look. “Why
wouldn’t I be here?”

“You walked away during my performance at the
twin’s party.”

He looked ashamed. “I’m so
sorry. I was...”
He faltered, and in the
silence that stretched between them, Julia remembered how intensely
he’d been staring at her while she was playing her own song. How
Gaby had insisted to her he’d had tears in his eyes. And all of a
sudden, she couldn’t care less why Michael had changed so much.
Whether it was thanks to lightning, head trauma or supernatural
powers, he was a person she could genuinely fall in love with. She
got up from the bench and impulsively flung her arms around
him.

“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “I was
happy you were listening at the beginning.”

“Of course I
was listening,” he replied quietly. “That was the song you wrote
yourself.
For the exam.”

She gawked at him.
So he
had
been in the school’s
auditorium during her Music Ed examination. Her frayed nerves had
probably made her overlook him in the audience. A warm feeling
flooded her when she looked up at him. She’d always felt invisible
to him, but now it turned out he had noticed her after
all.

“So, shall we?” she proposed, tilting her
head at the picnic cooler.

Michael put an arm around her shoulders.
“Let’s go.”

They picked a
spot under a big chestnut tree and spent all afternoon lying in the
grass chatting, kissing
, cuddling up and
reading poems from Julia’s new poetry collections. Michael had
packed the badminton rackets, but it was a bit too windy to play a
game. Michael was the first one to throw in the towel.

“This is more
strenuous than it looks!” he puffed after playing for five minutes
with the wind blowing against him. “I thought this was an easy
game
. You know, because of the
shuttlecock being so light.”

“Which is why
you were the one who needed to hit it really hard,” Julia
snickered. “Poor guy.” She wiped the sweat off her forehead as she
sagged down against the chestnut tree, Michael following suit. The
breeze touched the leaves above their heads.