Lovely (7 page)

I walk toward my BMW and steal one more glimpse of her. She smiles. It’s one of those smiles that make life worth living.

I’m sitting in English, my last class, doodling in my notebook instead of paying attention. I’d like to say I didn’t dream about almond-shaped brown eyes sprinkled with gold flecks all weekend, but I can’t. Cara actually agreed to hang out with me. Aside from the fact that I’m dashingly handsome, it’s pretty shocking. We couldn’t be more different. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to her. My pencil hits the paper for the fifth doodle when I hear a foot tapping and notice Professor Travinski standing beside my desk. He makes a lame attempt at intimidation but with his shiny bald head, peacock spectacles, and rounded belly, he’s not exactly a force to be reckoned with.

“Mr. Taylor,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you going to decide to join us, or would you prefer to honor me with your company in my office later for a one-on-one lecture?”

I put my pencil down and my notebook away. “Now works.”

“Good. Now that we’ve got that cleared up, I want everyone to take out their pen and paper and write three words that come to mind when you think of Shakespeare.”

Then, saved by the bell, the clock indicates that time’s up for Professor Travinski. I grab my shit and walk in long, quick strides toward the front of the building, pushing past the rush of students and clusters of conversation.

When I reach the campus green I don’t see Cara. I’m hoping she didn’t change her mind. I take a seat on the bench and wait … and wait. When I check my watch for the fiftieth time and see it’s almost 4:30, I figure she’s not coming. Grabbing my bag, I’m about to leave when I notice a cute pair of knees in front of me. My eyes shift from the legs to the curvy hips, past the creamy shoulders to the pretty face. Cara. She showed.

“Hey,” I say, somewhat surprised.

Her fingers play nervously with the rim of her glasses. “Sorry about being late; I had a paper to finish up.”

“That’s okay,” I tell her with a broad grin. “I’m just glad you came.” I get another smile for that one. Maybe it’s getting a bit easier for her. I hope so. “So, what should we do?” I ask while getting up from the bench.

She wrings her hands, but says nothing.

“Okay, well, we could just go sit by the big oak tree near the football field and talk or something.” I pause. “Or we could do something else, if that doesn’t sound good.”

“That sounds good,” she replies.

“Great. Here, let me grab your backpack.” I reach out to take hold of it and she latches onto the strap.

“That’s okay. I’ve got it.”

“Cara,” I sputter. “Will you just let me carry your freaking backpack? I’m trying to be a gentleman here.”

She nods and I take her backpack and throw it over my own as we make our way across the parking lot to the back of the Life Sciences building. There’s not much going on today at the field so it’s pretty quiet. There are a couple of students chatting on the bleachers and someone kicking around a soccer ball. We climb up the steep, grassy hill through trails of dandelions until we reach the oak tree. Cara plunks down in the grass, smoothing her dress over her legs, while I take a seat across from her. At first, neither of us says anything and it feels a bit awkward so I know I need to do something to break the ice.

“So … where do you live?” I ask with genuine interest.

“Why do you want to know?” she retorts, her neck taut and her shoulders rigid.

I have no freaking idea what else to say, that’s why
. I put both my hands up. “Whoa, sweetheart, I’m just making conversation is all.”

She drops her head down … again. “Oh. Sorry.”

I shift my feet so I’m sitting cross-legged on the grass. “That’s okay. I’m just messing with you. You don’t have to tell me.”

She fidgets, cinching the fabric of her dress with her fingers. “I live over on Jamison Street. What about you?”

“I’m about five minutes from there. I live on Bentley Lane. Well, it’s not just me. It’s my mom, my sister, Delilah, and my brother, Colt. My dad passed away four years ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” she says, her voice filled with sincerity. “You know, I’ve seen your sister around. I do some tutoring in her creative writing class.”

“Yeah, Delilah mentioned that.”
Shit.

“Oh?” she replies, picking at the gemstones on her nails, a curious smile on her lips.

“So what about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

She centers her gaze to a spot on the grass and begins pulling up green clumps. “I have a sister, Nadine.”

“So it’s just the four of you, then?”

Cara shakes her head but her eyes remain fixed on the ground. “Four? No, it’s just the two of us.”

“What about your mom and dad?” I ask confused.

Her body instantly stiffens and her eyes drift past the oak tree and up at the blue sky, but she remains quiet, somber and still.

I think I may have overstepped.
Nice one
. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

Her eyes return to my face for the briefest of moments, then down again. “They died five years ago in a plane crash,” she whispers.

Now I feel like an ass. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Cara. Jesus.”

She clutches a handful of prickly grass from the ground. “It’s okay. Life happens, you know?” She pauses, almost in an unsure way and scrutinizes me through those giant black rims. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

She studies my face for a minute before she speaks. “Why did you
really
want to hang out with me?”

Now it’s me who’s looking down. “I don’t know … I-I want to get to know you. You’re kind of … mysterious.”

She barks out a laugh. “Mysterious. That’s a first. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never mysterious.”

Now I’m even more curious. “What kinds of things?”

She lets out a nervous sigh and looks off into the distance. “How much time do you have? It’s a long list.”

I angle my body towards her. “Try me.” I knock her shoulder with mine in an attempt to be playful.

A slight giggle leaves her mouth. “Well, boring for one; studious, weird, a loner, even a loser once … but never mysterious. That’s probably the only potential compliment out of the whole group. Though I guess studious isn’t that terrible of a description. At least it’s accurate.”

I watch her for a minute and wonder how anyone could think any of those other things about her. “Can I ask
you
something now?”

Her hesitancy returns and she lifts her head, taking a deep breath. “I … I guess it’s only fair.”

I edge a bit closer to her on the grass and stretch my legs out. “Why do you wear those gargantuan glasses? I mean, I get why you wear glasses, but they’re like, seven times too big for your face.”

Nervous laughter causes her voice to crack and she adjusts her glasses. “I like them.”

I jostle her foot with my own, not wanting to invade her space. “Yeah, but they hide your face, and it’s such a pretty one.”

Her cheeks flush pink. As she peeks up from the glow, I notice her eyes again, but this time they’re shy. She’s obviously not used to receiving compliments.

She shakes it off quickly and brushes some grass away from her dress. “Thanks. So, I should probably get going. I have some studying I need to do.”

Disappointment settles over me but I attempt to hide it. “Oh, okay. Can I give you a lift home? Oh wait, you’ve got your car, right?”

“Yeah.”

She stands and her dress bunches around her knees. Her long legs are smooth and creamy and just begging to be wrapped around me. For a second I can picture them straddled around my waist while I’m pushing her against a wall, attacking her neck with my mouth.
Chill, Ash.
My eyes snap back up.

“So, thanks for spending time with me,” I say genuinely.

We amble down the hill and I fight back the urge to grab her hand, my fingers itching to touch her. She turns her head in my direction, squinting from the bright sun.

“Sure. Any resolution to the mystery?” she asks with a straight face.

I grin with amusement. “Hmph…I don’t think so. This one’s a real enigma. I think I need a lot more time to solve it,” I say, giving her a lighthearted shove.

She blinks a few times and spins her ponytail. “Bye, Ash.”

“Bye, Cara.” I watch her walk away, almost dashing through the grass like a gazelle. So graceful. So beautiful.

I finally pull myself out of the daze that is Cara and wander toward my car. I start the engine and am about to back out when the passenger door suddenly opens and Shelby plants herself on the tan leather of my BMW, her chest pounding from heavy breaths.

“Hey. I was trying to catch up with you as you walked down the hill,” she says, stroking my cheek with her finger. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

“No.”

Her breathy voice, the cleavage spilling over her top, and the skirt riding up her thighs is a sight for my eyes; eyes that are now sore and tainted because they’ve actually been looking at something perfect for the last half hour. After being with Cara, somehow Shelby’s cleavage doesn’t have the same appeal. Go figure.

She runs her nail down my arm slowly and drops her eyelids in a flutter. “Well … I … wanted … to see … if we could get together tonight.”

“I can’t tonight, Shelby. I’ve got some things to do.”

She pouts in response. It’s so unattractive. “Like what?”

A smile breaks out across my face. “I have to read a mystery.”

“Since when do you read mysteries?” she asks, digging her nail a bit deeper into my arm.

A mischievous glint fills my eyes. “I’ve recently become very interested in them.”

She grunts and moves her hand away. “Alright, well, I guess I’ll have to otherwise occupy myself.”

“Oh, Shelby,” I patronize, patting her thigh, “I’m sure you can figure something out.”

She clutches my face with two fingers, both covered in shiny silver rings, leans forward and licks the outer edges of my lips. “Later, hot stuff,” she says, slithering off like a snake.

I suddenly have a very bad taste in my mouth. “Later, Shelby.”

I open the front door to find Colt on Dad’s favorite brown leather couch with his legs crossed on the coffee table and a game controller in his hand. “Bro, I’ve been waiting for you. Are you ready for me to kick your ass in Halo?” he challenges with a confident smile.

I gesture over my shoulder and drop my bag with a thunk. “Are you talking to me? Because there’s only one ass that’s gonna get whipped here and that’s yours.” I grab the other controller from the TV cabinet and am about to sit down when I notice Mom in the kitchen. She’s bent over the counter, her head in her hands. I back up until I can see her. “Mom? What’s going on?”

She gasps, runs straight past me up the stairs and I hear a door slam.

My head snaps back to Colt. “What the hell’s going on? What’s wrong with Mom?”

He throws the controller on the couch and places his hands in his lap, his sandy brown hair falling over his light green eyes. His smile disappears. “So, because of all those headaches I’ve been having lately they did an MRI and I guess they saw something there that they want to ‘explore further,’” he says quickly, complete with air quotes. “They have to do some tests in a week or so to see if it’s a tumor. That’s all.”

My stomach bottoms out like an elevator traveling at top speed.
That’s all
. Just like Dad. No fucking way. “Okay. So … they’ll do the tests and find out it’s nothing, or at least something they can treat, right? You’ll be fine.”

Colt lowers his eyes and stares down at the tan carpet. “Yeah, sure,” he mutters, his snarky attitude nowhere to be found.

I walk over to the couch and collapse onto the worn leather, bumping his shoulder lightly with my own. “You’re going to be fine.”

Colt has always been the invincible one. The rebel. He’s a take chances kind of a kid. Between skydiving, parasailing, hot air ballooning, and bungee jumping, about the only thing he hasn’t done is walk a tightrope. Although, I wouldn’t put it past him.

I hang my arm over his shoulder and pull him to my side. The thought of anything happening to Colt terrifies me. It was hard enough watching a disease eat away at Dad’s body one piece at a time until there was nothing left. That can’t happen to Colt.