Shattering Halos (3 page)

Who
is
he?

A warm breath grazed my cheek, chasing goose bumps down my neck. When I opened my eyes, the closet basked in a dim, golden sheen.

“My name is Gabriel,” he said, and the sound of his voice condensed me down to pure instinct. My hands flew to his face and brushed over his chin, cheekbones, into his hair.

Oh God, he sat with me at the accident
until they took me away!

Gratitude flooded me, boosting my impulses.

Confused, I felt my abdomen clench with something else too: need? My mind erased all reason, and suddenly—

Suddenly, I found myself kissing him!

Full, smooth lips. So real, so much more than I could have imagined. I could tell he was shocked, but at the moment I didn’t care. With his mouth warm against mine, I let the tip of my tongue out to taste him, and my heart beat so fast it shivered.

“What are you doing here? How did you get in?” I gasped out against his lips. Gabriel didn’t reply.

I took one breath. Another. Then I was alone in the closet with my racing heart.

Curious glances followed me as I stumbled out. For once, the attention didn’t bother me. I’d assaulted him in there, but strangely I wasn’t ashamed of my behavior. I felt…great!

As I upgraded his status from mirage to somebody tangible, my disappointment over his disappearance evaporated. I couldn’t wrap my head around the way he came and went, a concern I suppressed in a dim corner of my mind. For the first time in ages, I was giddy. I mouthed his name.

Gabriel.

He was real! My imagination ran amok with the possibilities. On my way home from school, I evoked the addictive sensation of kissing him. I thought about how locking eyes with him hadn’t hurt. It should have worried me how all I could think about was him.

Because of its sudden interest in butterflies, my generally routine-bound stomach couldn’t pull me through dinner. The pork chops were particularly dry that night, and Luna’s incessant chattering tested my patience. I was dying for the meal to be over so I could lock myself in my room and execute my plan.

“Gaia, how’s your Computer Arts class? Do you get to work on your portfolio for college?” Mom’s question barely reached me.

“Um, no Mom, it’s Computer
Apps
, not
Arts
. As in Excel and Word.”

“Excel.” Dad hummed approvingly before helping himself to his third disorganized heap of mashed potatoes and gravy. Of course. The man once gave me an advanced calculator for my birthday.

“Really? Are you sure it’s not Computer
Arts
?”

My eyes automatically rolled skyward. I managed to hide it until Luna started giggling.

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s not;
I’d have noticed, I think.”

“Are you being smart with me?”

“Mom, I’m just tired.”

“They’ll teach you PowerPoint though, right?”

“Maybe.”

She huffed, and I knew she wanted more. To her, art was more important than math and science.

“I know I haven’t been working on my portfolio much lately, but don’t worry, Mom. I’m going to Shades Run College of Art next year no matter what. It’s what I want.”

I stowed my plate in the dishwasher, praying they would excuse me without a fight.

“Sorry, guys, I’ve got too much homework. Thanks for dinner.”

With my heart pounding, I glided up the stairs. Excitement made my hands shake as I shut the door to my room and locked it behind me. Too worked up to think straight, I indulged in a little hyperventilation before moving on with my experiment.

Clearly, showing up at random was one of Gabriel’s specialties, but what would happen if I called out for him?

My eyes darted around and landed on the second story, half-open window.
The Houdini skills he’d shown at school and in the hospital had me convinced that he’d be fine with the option—heck, he’d probably used windows more than once. My chest heaved with the adrenaline rush.

Okay, don’t be ridiculous. Relax.

When I first called his name, I held my breath to capture a reply.

“Gabriel? Are you around?”

As the minutes and the hours ticked by, the music from my stereo increased, cloaking the decibel level of my voice. I even stuck my head out the window. But my exertions only confirmed that Gabriel wasn’t exactly loitering around my house.

The loss set in when I finally conceded that the hottest guy alive wasn’t about to climb through a girl’s window. I tucked myself into bed with my head buried deep under the covers. My breathing quickened, exhausting the supply of oxygen, but to me it was an appropriate punishment for my stupidity. After all, nobody runs around freaking
summoning
people.

Chapter 4 — Control

Gaia

The next months passed in a stream of classes, physical therapy, and homework. At school, Marina and I hung out during most breaks. Our only common class was Computer Apps, but we soon ended up studying together in the afternoons as well.

Lunchtime turned into quite the social event once Marina’s cousin, Lucio, and his minions began to join us. His posse consisted of Kyle and Cody, a pair of identical twins who looked, dressed, and acted so alike I wondered if even their mother could tell them apart.

The terrible threesome was built the same and always seemed to enter the cafeteria in a subtle V-formation with the dark-haired, brown-eyed Lucio in the middle.

“Guess what?” Cody said, a chunk of his wheat-colored mop sliding into his eyes.

“I give up.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah, man, tough one.”

He ignored us and looked straight at Marina. “I’m going to the Winter Formal. Not only that, but I will be dancing my ass off. What do you think?”

Kyle didn’t acknowledge his brother’s comment. His olive-green stare, the clone of Cody’s, also landed on Marina. “Dude, I hope I’ve got enough money to rent a suit. Jeans aren’t an option, right?”

“Nope, hence the whole formal part,” Marina said.

Lucio jumped in. “Well, let’s all go to Mickey’s before they run out of the cool ones. The entire school’s probably renting, so we should get them ASAP.”

On the way out of the cafeteria, Lucio held me back. “Gaia, do you want to go with me?”

“To the dance, you mean?”

“Uh, yeah.”

I wanted to go. Lucio hadn’t shown any interest in me beyond the friend zone, so the arrangement should be fine. “Sure, sounds good. Just so you’re aware, though…”

“What?”

“I’ll suck on the dance floor. Big time.”

“Bah, you can’t be worse than me.”

“No, I mean, I get to take the neck brace off the day before Winter Formal. Since it’s my security blanket, I’ll be pretty damn careful out there.”

“Wow. You can keep it on if you want to, right?”

I sent him a withering look. “Lucio.
I get to take my neck brace off
. Obviously, I’m not going to wear it; I’ll be swapping it out for my pearls.”

The twins both asked Marina out, and my poor, popular friend had no idea how to handle the situation.

“Gaia, they’re both so cute! Who do you think is cutest?”

“Well, I think they look pretty similar…”

The understatement of the century.

“Kyle or Cody?” she insisted.

“Kyle is definitely the cutest,” I threw out to shut her up.

“Really? So Cody’s not that cute to you? There’s something about him.”

Unfortunately, eye-rolling—a compensation for my stiff neck—had become a signature move during my recovery. The habit was hard to shake.

“Here’s an idea. Why don’t you say ‘yes’ to both of them?”

Her eyes widened.

“That’s brilliant! You’re so freaking clever, Gaia!”

“Hey, no, I was kidding…”

The twins found the solution as clever as Marina did, which made me laugh out loud for the first time in months.

****

Despite school drama, I never forgot about Gabriel. At night, I dreamed of him. At daytime, I mulled over what could’ve triggered his visits.

Soon, I came to terms with the irrational crush I had on this person who’d uttered all of one sentence to me, and my obsession with him grew to a steady burn.

I chuckled whenever I pondered how to make him disappear. If he came and outlived his welcome, the go-to faux pas were simple. I could kiss him, call attention to him, or acknowledge his presence. Not exactly perfect boyfriend material.

Marina and I couldn’t wait for Winter Formal. I bought a pretty sea foam green, silk look-alike dress with matching sling-backs, while Marina fell for a deep pink number in real silk. The gown clung to her body like a glove, accentuating her curves and turning her into a dark-haired version of Marilyn Monroe.

Thursday afternoon, hours before the dance, we went to the hair salon. Acutely aware of the source of my inspiration, I asked Ricardo to give me amber lowlights. When he twisted and curled my hair just so and I squinted into the mirror, he’d almost captured a longer version of Gabriel’s mane. It made me smirk.

Marina’s eyes narrowed as she focused in on me. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh, nothing…”

“Right.”

“Well, I guess this hairdo and color reminds me of someone…”

“Somebody from school? Do I know her?”

“Honestly, Marina, no, and I’m starting to think nobody else does either.”

“Dude, you’re totally wrong if you mean the freshman girl who’s all over Lucio, because hers is shorter and pretty straight compared to yours. I like your hair this way—”

Her babbling went on, but I lost track as the loneliness of my secret reared inside me. Would it make a difference if I told her? Somehow I didn’t think Gabriel would give his approval, but then again, he wasn’t around to cast a vote.

“—So who do you mean, Gaia?”

I could keep things simple. Details from the closet incident, for instance…I stared out the window until my cheeks had cooled. “Long story. You don’t want to go there.”

“Yeah, right. Try me!”

“Maybe I’ll tell you later. At home.”

“Great. Make me wait, why don’t you?”

By the time we got to my house, Marina was bursting with curiosity. I still took my time patting shimmery tan lotion over my face, chest, and arms. Once the lotion had dried, I applied the makeup. Glistening greens and gold for the eyes, pouty cherry for the lips.

Aware of how nuts I looked, I stared into the mirror and found what I wanted in the final result—a pale resemblance to Gabriel’s skin and hair. Idly I wondered if I’d ever forget him. It had been so long since I last saw him.

“Pretty, Gaia. Now, spit it out. Who’s in the mirror when you squint that way, funny girl?”

I smiled. “Well, I guess I’m kind of obsessed with this guy. He’s unbelievably gorgeous, and he’s got this way about him. I swear I’ve never laid eyes upon anybody like him in my whole life. Maybe I’m going crazy.”

Marina grimaced. “‘Laid eyes upon?’ Clearly, you’re already crazy, Miss Shakespeare, so no worries there. Where did you meet him?”

“He was with me at the accident.”

“Oh—hot—like a firefighter or something? Firefighters are flipping sexy!”

As always, she made me grin. “Not even close, Marina. He hung out next to me for a while before the paramedics and everybody came rushing over. He sat there watching me. He didn’t wear a uniform, and he was barefoot.”

“What? Somebody took his shoes? Was he hurt?”

“Geez, how am I supposed to know about his shoes? He wasn’t injured; I know that’s for sure. He didn’t do anything, really. He just kept me company. Strange, but so sweet…”

Marina rolled her eyes, stealing my move. “Okay, so why are you crushing on this anti-hero right now? Your knight in not-so-shining armor. Am I right, or am I right?”

It hadn’t crossed my mind, but I understood. My explanation didn’t cover how important his presence had been at the collision site.

With fading confidence, I tried again. “I don’t know what to say, Marina. He sat there way before anybody else came over. Like he’d been through what I had but wasn’t upset or anything. Strange. He comforted me, without saying a single word!”

Gabriel’s case seemed too fragile already, so I didn’t mention how I’d worried about a connection between my pain and our eye contact.

“Whatever. So was he firefighter-hot?”

I laughed helplessly. Marina’s eyes grew wider and wider as I tangled myself deeper and deeper into labyrinths of nouns and flourishing adjectives. Unsuspectingly, she had opened the floodgates, and I couldn’t stop talking. In the end, I even blurted out an incoherent description of the way his skin seemed to shine. When I finally finished, Marina’s jaw hung open.

“And exactly how long did you have to observe all of this, Gaia? Don’t get me wrong, he sounds like one heck of a guy, but are we talking minutes by the roadside, or hours, for crying out loud?”

“He’s been around afterward too, kind of,” I admitted sheepishly.

“What do you mean ‘kind of?’ When?”

“In my hospital room when I woke up one night. Oh, and at school a couple of months ago.”

“No, at
school
? Where was I? Why didn’t you say anything? I so want to—” All of a sudden, Marina’s interrogation came to a taut halt.

Her little body tensed up as she broke the silence in an altogether different voice. “What was he doing in your hospital room at night?” The question rang out as a statement. A doomsday one.

****

A rented minivan in the dreary shape and color of a fridge from the fifties hobbled up my driveway. Lucio, Kyle, and Cody poured out of it, proud of their ingenuity. Not that we’d expected a limo, but still. A rented minivan? And where did they find this particular piece of junk anyway—at the thrift store? Even my old Subaru would have been better.

“Idiots!” Marina said.

“No shit.”

Reluctantly we headed to our proud dates. With chins held high, we did a pretty good job of ignoring Dad’s gleeful chortle as we entered the monstrosity.

“Your dad’s still smirking on the porch. What a smarty-pants,” Marina whispered as we drove off.

The committee had done an excellent job transforming the Spring Hills High cafeteria into a different scene. The lunch tables lined the dance floor in half circles, and the DJ was already playing on a platform when we arrived.