Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (22 page)

“You
know,
the scene of your accident in the
woods has always been very special to me.” She took his hand in
hers. “That oak tree near the place where you slipped with your
motorcycle… it used to be my refuge. I’d take shelter under the
branches of that tree. Not from the rain, but from life.
It was my hugging tree.”

Michael squeezed her
hand.
“Why the past tense?” he inquired.
“Do you feel different about the place now?”

Julia gave a
tiny shrug. “I think my tree is sick. The leaves look kind of
yellow. And besides, I don’t really
want
to run off into the woods
whenever I feel sad. I just…” She bit her lip and paused for a
second. “I want to live a
real
life, and I don’t want to
lose myself in all kinds of fantasies anymore.”

Michael
looked at her sideways
, and just for a
moment, he looked wistful. “Fantasies can be a part of real life,”
he objected. “They make life more beautiful, don’t
they?”

Julia shook her head. “Of
course they can.
But that’s not what I
meant.”

“So what do you mean?”

“Well, for
instance, I looked at you quite differently because I was hiding
away in my own daydreams.”

Michael said nothing, the curious look in his
eyes urging her on.

She
t
ook a deep breath. “You know what it is?
For two years, I believed I was in love with you. In my mind, I
cast you as the lead in some magical fairytale. But that’s just it:
it wasn’t you I was infatuated with. You were just a character in
my play.” As the words tumbled out, she trembled. Was she actually
telling him this? Was she brave enough to reveal her emotions like
this? It would seem so. Doing this whole exposé should scare her to
death, but it didn’t. In fact, it felt like the right thing to
do.

“I had no
idea who you were,” she concluded timidly. “And when I found out
you were not the Prince Charming I imagined you to be, I
blamed
you
for it.”

Michael flushed with
embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I know he... I... it must
have been painful for you.”

She scooted
closer,
her hands sliding up his chest.
“It’s all right,” she whispered. Right in that moment, the last
remnants of her anger and insecurity vanished.
She no
longer blamed him. “This whole situation is so new for me.
To be completely honest, I am in love
with
you
for the first time. You make it so easy.
You’ve become gentler, and friendlier. Because of the
accident. Or, I don’t know...”

She
faltered. His irises were greener than ever
before, his gaze filled with a zest for life that had never shown
in his eyes in all the years she had known him. And all of a
sudden, she was certain she wasn’t talking to Michael – she was
sitting here with someone else. It wasn’t
him
.

But that
didn’t make sense
. Why was she having
such strange thoughts? It was bad enough she’d more or less
attributed his current, pleasant personality to an accident with
near-fatal consequences. If she shared this crazy idea with him, he
would probably think she was nuts.

Michael
interrupted her thoughts
by pulling her into his embrace, kissing her softly. “You
have
no
idea how much your words mean to me,” he whispered against
her lips.

She dazedly
kissed him back.
“Seriously?” she mumbled.

He nodded.
“You woke me up, Julia.” He closed his eyes.
“From that slumber we call death.”

The way he
described it, he made it sound as though she hadn’t just
sav
ed him from an untimely death – she’d
awoken him so he could become more like himself. Who would ever
have guessed Michael could be so poetic about life?

“Where do you
want to meet up tomorrow?” he asked,
as
they walked to the exit of the park just before dinner time. Julia
didn’t work on Wednesdays, but Michael would be busy all
day.

“Could you be
at my place at six o’clock?”
Julia suggested.
“If you take bus five and get off at the last
stop, you should give me a call so I can meet you
there.”

“Sounds good to me. I don’t know the way to
your house yet, so…” Michael gave her one final hug, whispering in
her ear: “I’ll miss you tonight.”

“Likewise. Have fun at
your aunt and uncle’s.”
Michael was
having dinner with them together with his parents. He’d invited
Julia to join them, but she wasn’t ready to meet his family yet, so
she declined.

Once she’d
lost sight of Michael, Julia sat down in the bus
shelter opposite the park. The bus would show up soon. Her
cell phone showed one missed call from Gaby, so she called back but
it went through to voicemail. A blissful smile spread across her
face when she clicked off and looked at her phone display – her new
background picture was a photo of Michael. She should drop by
Gran’s later so she could tell her about everything that had
happened in her life since their last chat.

As she got on
the bus, her phone d
inged: ‘can you go
and pick up anne in eichet? i finish at 9!’
Her mom.
Well, that was a lucky coincidence.
She’d
be able to talk to her grandmother sooner than she thought. She’d
warm up some leftovers when she got home and take a bus down to the
next village to pick up her sister and tell Gran all about her new
boyfriend.

Just as Julia
finished her
reply to her mom, Gaby
called her back. “Heya Jules,” she trilled. “Axel invited us over
to watch a movie at his place tonight.
Are you
free?”

Julia chuckled.
“Are you sure Axel meant to invite us both?” she
teased.

“Of course!” Gaby retorted
with disdain.
“You don’t
honestly
think I’m asking you along because I’m afraid to go alone,
do you?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.
So are you coming?”

“What kind of
movie are we watching?”

“One of those really creepy ones, he said.
You know, some re-make of an Asian horror movie.”

“Ah, yes, that makes sense. He’s probably
hoping for you to hold his hand. Or crawl into his arms in sheer
terror.”

Julia
alighted from the bus and patiently listened
to Gaby objecting to her comments. “What time is he
expecting us?” she cut in before her friend could go into another
round of outraged hysterics.

“Half past eight.”

“Okay, I’ll be
there.
I don’t have to work tomorrow
anyway.”

“Cool!”
Gaby sounded unmistakably relieved. “See you
there!”

Julia hung
up, sporting a wide grin. She turned the corner onto her street and
felt her stomach rumble when she caught a whiff of grilled sausages
in the air. Someone on their street had fired up the barbecue. The
trail of smoke spiraling up to the sky seemed to be coming from the
neighbors’ yard.

“Hey, girl
next door,” a familiar voice called out to her. Thorsten appeared
at the gate, waving at her with a pair of barbecue tongs.
“You hungry?”

Julia nodded
tentatively.
“A little,” she
admitted.

“Well, would you like to join us for dinner?
Sabine went to the pool with my dad, so it’s just me and my
mom.”

Her heart
skipped a beat.
She should say no – after
all, she’d promised herself to keep away from Thorsten. On the
other hand, what harm would it do to join him for a little while?
His mom would be there as their chaperone. Plus, this would be the
perfect opportunity to tell him all about her romantic afternoon
with Michael so it would be clear to him where she stood. It was a
bit lame to go home and microwave leftovers if she could have fresh
food and a good time with the neighbors.

“I’d love to,” she replied. “Hold on, I’ll
just dump my bag and come right back.”

Julia went
inside and walked up to her room to put her bag on her desk and
quickly brush her hair.
She looked at herself in the
mirror. Wow, she looked so much in love.
Her eyes sparkled and there was a glow to her
cheeks.

Tomorrow, her
mother would meet Michael for the first time. She’d have to play it
tactically. It might be a bad idea to mention she had already been
on a date with him– and an even worse idea to disclose that she’d
spent the night. Her mom was still under the illusion that her
daughter had crashed at Florian’s place that night because they had
been to some party.

Julia headed
out to the hallway and saw the door to Anne’s room was open. Her
little sister had
n’t properly closed her
window. The wind had caused some of her sketches to fall off her
desk. They lay scattered around the room. Julia quickly dashed
inside to pick them up and put them back.

The drawings
were quite amazing. Anne had made two sketches of trees in the
forest, and a portrait of a boy with long, blond hair like Legolas
and blue eyes like Thorsten. Anne was
engrossed in her own fairytale – that much was clear. Julia
forced herself not to steal a curious glance at the other
sketchbooks on the desk. She put the papers on the seat of Anne’s
desk chair, closed the window and left the bedroom.

When she stepped into the Ebner family’s
front yard, Thorsten’s mother was sitting on the deck, sipping from
a glass of wine. “So you’re Anne’s sister,” she said pleasantly.
“Nice to meet you.”

Julia picked
another deck chair and gratefully took the
can of Coke Mrs. Ebner handed to her. “Thanks for inviting
me.”

“Of course.
It’s nice to finally meet face to face! Thorsten has told me a lot
about you, actually. Aren’t you the girl who loves going for runs
in torrential downpours?”

Julia
laughed. “Well, I can hear
I’ve made a
nice impression on you.”

Thorsten
stepped onto the deck with a plate of sausages, catching her last
wo
rds. “I told my mom I admired you a
lot.”
He grinned playfully.

Julia blushed. “You did,
huh?”

Thorsten caught her
gaze.
“Yup,” he simply replied, no longer
playful.

Quickly, she
looked away, almost choking
on the large
swig of Coke she chugged down. Why was he still able to make her
nervous? Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Anyway, I’m
starving,” she announced in the silence that had fallen. “I don’t
know why, really. I mean, I’ve been on
a
picnic with Michael in the park all afternoon, so I should be
stuffed.”

Thorsten smiled.
“Did you have a good time?” he asked
serenely.

Julia cringed
a bit. Even though he didn’t sound at all jealous, it was still
obvious her remark had stung him. “Ye
s,
we did,” she replied. “He’s coming over for dinner at my place
tomorrow night.”

While
enjoying the food
, Julia told them a bit
more about her afternoon in the park and her new job at the
bookstore. She actually felt comfortable around Thorsten and his
mother. When she got up at seven in order to get Anne, she was
almost sorry to leave.

“Thanks again
for inviting me,” she said when Thorsten walked her to the gate.
“It was nice to meet your mother.”

He looked at
her and unexpectedly took her hand in his. “It was nice to see you
so radiant and happy,” he said earnestly. “That Michael is a really
lucky guy, you know.”

Before she
had time to react, he bent forw
ard and
kissed her on the cheek before swiveling around and walking back to
the table.

On her way to
the bus stop
Julia felt a dull headache
setting in. It could be due to sitting in the sun all day, but then
again, it could also be all of today’s impressions. By the time she
rang her grandmother’s doorbell, the pain hadn’t subsided. It had
only gotten worse.

“My sweet
girl, you look like you’ve been put through a wringer,” Gran
exclaimed
when opening the door. “Do you
need something for that headache?”

Of course, Psychic Gran knew exactly what was
wrong with her the moment she set eyes on her.

“Some
paracetamol would be nice,” Julia moaned. “Or something else to
patch me up. I’m still going out tonight.”

Gran looked
at her doubtfully. “
Are you sure? If I
were you, I’d make it an early night.”

Anne appeared
in the hallway, holding a half-eaten
Popsicle in her hand. “Are we going soon? I still want to
go to the woods when we get back.”

“No, you’ll stay in until mom gets home,”
Julia said in a strict voice.

“But…” her sister started.

“No buts.
You can go tomorrow. Those trees aren’t going
anywhere.”