Goddess of the Night (15 page)

The music
started again and Morgan swayed to the beat.

"Morgan!"
Vanessa pleaded. "Tell him!"

"Oh,
please." Morgan jerked away from her. "Take care of your
own problems. I've got to go." She left, pushing through the
crowd.

"Morgan is
with Stanton." Vanessa tried

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again. "I
don't know why she wouldn't tell you."

Michael shook
his head. He didn't hide the sadness in his voice. "Have fun,
Vanessa."

She hated the
hurt she saw in his eyes. A fierce pain spread through her as she
watched him disappear in the crowd, but this time she didn't run
after him. How could he think she had come here to be with Stanton?
She glanced back at the entrance where Morgan stood with Stanton now.
She flashed an arrogant smile at Vanessa before she took his hand and
went back inside.

"Thanks,
Morgan," Vanessa said bitterly.

"Hey."
Jimena pushed through the crowd and ran up to her, breathless.
"{Que
ondaT

"We've
been looking for you." Serena was following after her.

"I got a
premonition when you left Maggie's," Jimena said. "I saw
you at Planet Bang. Well, I didn't see you exactly, I saw dust
sliding down the side of the building, but I knew it was you."

"I was
just leaving." Vanessa started to walk away from them.

"Wait,"
Serena called. "As long as we're here, let's check out the
guys."

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"I gotta
get home." Vanessa kept going.

"Not yet."
Jimena smiled. "You have not checked out guys until you've
checked them out with Serena."

Vanessa
reluctantly stopped.

Jimena spread
her hands through her hair. "Smile pretty."

"Why?"
Vanessa asked.

Jimena elbowed
her playfully. "Just do it."

Vanessa tried
to smile, but her eyes kept scanning the crowd for Michael.

"That
one." Jimena pointed to a tall guy with a goatee, dressed in an
edgy mix of swing and hip-hop.

"He thinks
we're hot," Serena said slyly.

"Well, I
could tell you that without reading his mind." Jimena laughed. A
song ended inside and the deejay started another. The new beat was
quicker, louder, and vibrated through them.

"We gotta
jump to this music." Jimena started to move.

Serena leaned
into Jimena, their hips moving together. People in the crowd stopped
what they were doing and watched.

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"Come on."
Serena grabbed Vanessa's hand.

"

"I cant."

"Sure you
can." Jimena put her hands on Vanessa's hips. "Just move
with us. It's like the bunny hop--"

"Yeah,
bunny hop," Serena squealed.

"But
closer."

"My hottie
is looking again." Jimena smiled wickedly. "What's he
thinking now?"

Serena laughed.
It was infectious. "It's Xrated. Definitely."

"Take it
up a notch," Jimena said. "Come on, Vanessa, bend your
knees. Low. Yeah, girl. Now you look like a
nena pachanguera!'

"You can
do it," Serena whooped. "Feel the music."

Vanessa felt
embarrassed and stiff. She concentrated, trying to bend her knees and
move her hips at the same time. It was different from dancing with
guys. The muscles above her knees ached as they danced lower, then
lower still. She glanced up. A crowd had gathered around them. She
blushed.

She stopped
dancing and pushed through the crowd. Serena and Jimena ran after
her.

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"We're
going to make a hot dance crew," Jimena panted when she caught
up to Vanessa.

"You get a
premonition?" Serena asked.

"I don't
need magic to know that." Jimena smiled again. "Any fool
can see. We're
suave!'

Then they both
looked at Vanessa with concern. "We better take Vanessa home,"
Serena said.

"I'll
walk." Vanessa spoke quickly, thinking of the last car ride with
them.

"No, it's
safer if you go with us," Jimena insisted.

Moonlight
glittered through the twisted branches of the jacaranda trees as they
drove Vanessa back to her house.

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Chapter 18

SATURDAY
MORNING the sun burned through the gauzy haze, and gray sunlight fell
across Vanessa's bed. She reached for the phone and punched in
Catty's number. When the answering machine clicked on she hung up and
climbed out of bed. She trundled downstairs in her pajamas. Her
mother was already at work in the kitchen. Plastic beads and sequins
were spread across the table.

Vanessa poured
a cup of coffee, grabbed a croissant, and stared at the pottery on
the window ledge.

The doorbell
rang.

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"Who could
it be this early?" her mother said.

But Vanessa was
already at the front door, pulling it open and hoping to see Catty on
the other side.

Michael stood
on the porch.

"Michael!"
She took a step back, feeling foolish in pink poodle pajamas; then
she remembered last night. What was he doing here?

"I didn't
want to call," he apologized. "I was afraid you wouldn't
talk to me on the phone, so I drove over."

"What is
it?" she asked, feeling her stomach clench. Was he going to
continue their fight?

He smiled
shyly. "I was driving away last night and I saw you dancing with
your friends."

She thought of
the dancing she had done with Jimena and Serena and felt a blush rise
to her cheeks.

He seemed to
read her mind. "You looked good."

"I looked
silly, you mean."

"No,
really." He paused. "I watched you leave with them and then
I realized you weren't there with Stanton."

203

She felt a wave
of relief wash through her.

"But then
I still can't understand why you went to Planet Bang without me. You
told me you were grounded."

Vanessa looked
down. How could she explain to Michael what had happened? She
desperately wanted to say the words that would make it right. She
chewed on her bottom lip. Why did he keep staring at her?

"I was
grounded. I never planned to go there." She chanced a look into
his brown eyes. "That's just where I ended up."

"Because
you were still looking for Catty," he said.

"Well . .
." she started, but before she could finish he interrupted.

"It's
okay. I understand. I should have figured it out last night. You and
Catty were really close. But you should have told me. I would have
understood." He looked into her eyes and smiled again.

She hadn't
realized how bad she had felt about last night until this moment.
Suddenly, she was happy again. Maybe things were going to work out.
Her stomach muscles tightened in

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pleasure and
she felt a distinct lightness in her chest and arms as her molecules
swarmed in joy. How could he awaken so many feelings inside her?

"I thought
maybe you'd want to drive around Hollywood this morning and see if we
can find Catty. Lots of runaways hang out there."

She heard her
mother's quick intake of breath. Had she been standing behind them
the entire time, listening?

"Mo-ther!"

"Catty's
run away?" her mother said, shocked. "No wonder you've been
acting so strange. Why didn't you tell me? Oh, for goodness sake,
Vanessa, you really should have. We'll all go look for her."

"We'd
probably get a lot more area covered," Michael offered, "if
Vanessa and I take Hollywood Boulevard and you look on Sunset."

"Good
idea." Her mother rummaged through her purse. "I can't
believe you didn't tell me, Vanessa. Why didn't Catty's mother call
me? Of course she didn't call. What am I thinking? Does she even know
Catty is gone?"

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"Mom,
please don't start." Vanessa rolled her eyes upward. "Please."

"I'll meet
you at Musso and Frank's at noon for lunch. You should have told me,
Vanessa. I just can't believe that Catty's living like a street rat.
You know she can always live with us."

Then her mother
was gone.

"I'll
change and be right back." Vanessa hurried upstairs. How could
she tell Michael or her mother that Catty was lost in time? They
wouldn't find her where they were looking. She slipped into a
funnel-neck sweater and spandex pants and ran back downstairs.

She and Michael
walked up and down the streets in Hollywood, threading through thick
crowds of tourists, gutter punks, homeless kids, and runaways. They
stopped by the homeless shelter on Hollywood Boulevard and checked
the bulletin board, then went to a drop-in kitchen and back out to
the street.

After they had
walked a few blocks, Michael stopped in front of the lines of people
waiting to go inside Mann's Chinese Theater and turned Vanessa to
face him.

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"I'm sorry
we can't find Catty," Michael said, and kissed the top of her
head. His tenderness awakened a yearning inside her.

His arm circled
her waist. When he finally kissed her lips, it felt electric. Her
molecules swirled like a lazy whirlpool but when the quiver reached
her bones the molecules bubbled up and out, faster and faster. She
was dissolving. She opened her eyes. Already her hand was missing.

She yanked away
from Michael's arms and ran.

"Vanessa!"

What had he
seen?

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Chapter 19

VANESSA
CROUCHED behind tourists placing hands and feet in the cement movie
star imprints in front of the theater.

Michael pushed
through the crowd after her. "Vanessa, what is it?" Michael
reached for her hand. It wasn't there.

She gasped and
jumped behind the tourists taking pictures of Marilyn Monroe's
imprints. She focused on making her hand reappear. It didn't.

"Vanessa?"
Michael called, sounding worried. "Are you all right?" He
caught up to her and tried to take her hand again, but she was afraid

208

he'd discover
it was missing. She took a quick step back.

Confusion
gathered on his face. "What's going on?"

"I just
wanted to see Marilyn Monroe's footprints," she lied, and jumped
into the cement prints. Maybe if he looked at her feet he wouldn't
see her missing hand. She risked looking in his eyes. Big mistake.
She could feel her arm dissolving. What was it about him that made
her molecules go so crazy?

He looked down.
"Do they fit?" He reached for her hand again.

"Damn,"
she muttered, and jerked away. She ran back to the street.

"Vanessa?"
Michael ran after her. "What's wrong?" He placed his arm
around her, but she shrugged it away. She couldn't risk his touch.
Not now. She could feel the tremble of the molecules in her shoulder,
pinging in delight, begging for his touch to set them free.

No, she
thought, this can't be happening. Was she going to disappear right
before his eyes? She concentrated,
stay, phase, stay,
and
walked

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quickly, hoping
the physical exertion might calm her molecules.

Michael walked
in silence beside her.

Minutes later,
they stepped over the chain circling the parking lot behind Musso and
Frank's, then crossed the hot asphalt to Michael's van.

He helped her
inside and crawled in after her. She couldn't tell from his face what
he was feeling.

"Vanessa,"
he spoke slowly. "I get the feeling sometimes that you really
like me."

"I do,"
she looked straight into his eyes.

"But then
you do things that make me think you don't. Why did you run off when
I kissed you? And why won't you let me hold your hand?"

"Well,
it's just. . ." She sighed.

"I don't
think you're that shy . . ."

"No,"
she tried again. "I'm sorry I acted that way."

He looked away
from her. "I guess I made a fool of myself coming over this
morning. I should have left things the way they ended last night."

210

"No, I'm
glad you came over," she insisted with rising anxiety. "It's
just that when I get really emotional I start to . . . well, I get
nervous when you kiss me and I guess I do act strange." She
hated the doubtful look she saw in his brown eyes. She could tell him
the truth, but would he even believe her? There was no way.

Her molecules
had settled now and she wanted him to take her hand and say
everything was okay, but that's not what he did.

"Look, I
see your mother coming. Maybe I should go and the two of you can have
lunch alone."

"I'd
really like you to join us."

"Thanks,
but I think I'll go to the beach."

She waited,
hoping he'd ask her to go. When he didn't, she added quickly, "We
could have lunch first."

"Vanessa,"
he said quietly and she could feel the mix of hurt and anger in his
words. "It's just not working."

She felt
suddenly dizzy. "I thought you cared about me, Michael."

"I do,"
he whispered. "But I don't want a

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girlfriend who
runs away from me every time I try to kiss her. All I wanted to do
was hold your hand. Maybe you don't like me the way I like you. It's
okay. We can be friends if that's all you want."

Before she
could say anything, her mother tapped on the window. "Hey, did
you guys have any luck?"

"You
better go."

"But,
Michael--"

"Go on.
We've said enough for today."

She climbed
from the van, an achy throbbing in her chest.

"Isn't
Michael joining us?" her mother said with a look of concern.

"No."
Vanessa shook her head sadly and watched the van drive away.

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