The Guardians (22 page)

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you, and he could really hurt you.”

Abby cocked her head. “Are you sure this is about him hurting me or about me finding someone new to date?”

My face burned with embarrassment. “No, I, uh, it’s not that. It’s just—”

Her laughter interrupted me. “It’s okay, Elijah. I was just kidding you.”

I sighed with relief. “Oh, I see.”

“And you don’t have to worry. I’m not interested in Lucius or any other guy for that matter.”

Her words pierced my heart. She wasn’t interested any guy meant she wasn’t interested in me. Just when there might be a chance or I might be making headway, I was shot down. “Oh, uh, well, that‘s good, I guess.”

I glanced up to find her staring at me. “Elijah, what I meant to say is I’m not interested in dating right now.”

“No, I understand--”

She held up her hand. “But if I was, you would be the first person I thought of.”

I jolted back like I’d been slapped. “I would?”

“Of course.”

“Okay,” I replied, with a small smile.

We stood in awkward silence. Finally, Abby cleared her throat. “So I promise I won’t be a flyer anymore this season, okay?”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I’ll pretend that falling scared me out of doing it for a while.”

I laughed. “Sounds good to me.”

“I’m glad.” She nudged me. “Come on, the kids are waiting.”

Happiness surged through me, completely erasing any fear about Lucius.

Chapter Nineteen: CASSIE

Friday night found me at a football game for the first time in my existence. It was like nothing I could have ever imagined, especially since as Lauren informed me, football in the South was like a religion. I realized that the moment we started into the stadium when five shirtless guys with their chests painted in blue and gold ran past us. They were chanting “Let’s go Eagles!” at the top of their lungs.

Gabriel watched them jog past and murmured, “Well, that was interesting.”

“I have a feeling we’re going to see much worse,” Sophie replied.

At the sight of the enormous crowd, outfitted in gold and blue, and packed into the metal bleachers, I gasped.

Lauren snorted at my side. “What did I tell you? Complete and total hero worship for a bunch of jocks throwing around some pigskin.”

To say that Lauren hated football was a mild understatement. I’d dragged her against her will to the football game even though she protested that she didn’t do school sports. She was more interested in the fact that
Zach
had promised Rafe he’d come to the first home game. Well, that was after she’d given me the silent treatment for a day or two after the disastrous night at the bowling alley. Fortunately, Zach didn’t act like anything had happened, which I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. He turned out to be a man of his word because he met up with us as soon as we got settled in the bleachers.

When I looked down at the field, I noticed Abby with the cheerleaders. She caught sight of Elijah and waved. He smiled broadly and waved in return.

Rafe took the field, and I cheered and clapped my hands wildly. “Go Rafe!” I shouted over the noise of the crowd and the brass band.

The teams lined up for the kickoff, and a hush fell over the stands. After the kickoff, the other team made a pass, and Rafe intercepted it. As he started streaking down the field, the crowd was on their feet, cheering loudly. No one on the other team could stop him. He was a blue blur until he scored, causing the fans to go wild. Down in the end zone, Rafe threw the ball down and did a little dance.

Play after play, Rafe was a force to be reckoned with. His arm was unbeatable, and he was like lightning on his feet. Chaz was almost as good as Rafe, and between the two of them, they ensured that Harrison would win its first home game.

I cheered and screamed until I was almost hoarse. Even Lauren got a little excited and managed to root for Rafe. “So what do you have planned for after the game?” I asked her.

She wrinkled her nose. “I promised my mom I’d come straight home and help her set up for this yard sale thing tomorrow.”

“Well, maybe we can get together sometime over the weekend then.”

Lauren nodded. “Yeah, we’ll see.” She waited to say good-bye to Zach who was talking to some guy I didn’t know. Words like “guitar” and “jam sessions” floated back to me, and I knew he was in Heaven. Lauren chewed her lip as she waited.

Without her noticing, I nudged Zach. “Oh, you have to go?” he asked.

“Yeah, I gotta get home. See you tomorrow night at work, right?”

He grinned. “Yep, see ya at Joe’s.”

Lauren’s face lit up as he gave her a quick good-bye hug. I waved as she headed to her car. I followed the others as we wove our way through the massive crowds. Zach remained close at my heels. When we got to the car, Gabriel unlocked it. “We need to wait on Rafe and see what he’s doing after the game,” Sophie said.

Gabriel chuckled. “I’m sure whatever he’s doing will involve food!”

We all laughed in agreement. It was then that Rafe and Chaz came trotting up with their hair soaked with sweat. “So what did you think of the game?” Rafe asked, anxiously surveying mine and Zach’s expressions.

“Awesome!” I exclaimed.

Zach nodded. “Yeah, I don’t usually do the football thing. But you were great, Rafe.”

I looked over at Chaz. “Hey, you were great too.”

He grinned in spite of the glare Zach gave him. “Thanks. Course, I didn’t do much. Your brother is the star.”

“Yeah, I can’t help that I’m the King of the Field,” Rafe responded, playfully punching Chaz’s arm.

“Dude, I’ll so take you!” he shouted before they both sprinted off to Chaz’s car in a cloud of testosterone. Zach shook his head at me.

“What is it?”

“I don’t like you talking to him,” he said, in a low voice.

My brows furrowed in confusion. “To Chaz? But you know he apologized for the other night.”

“To you.”

I sighed. “Yes, and he would like to apologize to you if you would give him the time of day.”

“It’s the drinking, Cassie. He can apologize until Hell freezes over, but unless he does something, then it doesn’t mean anything.”

“But he is sincere. Rafe’s convinced him to go to some AA meetings.”

Zach shrugged. “We’ll see.”

By his tone, I realized it wasn’t worth arguing about. I decided to change the subject. “So are you ready to go work on our Astronomy project?” Zach’s response came in the form of a groan. “Um, what’s wrong now?”

“I can’t believe you still want to work on homework. It’s
Friday
night.”

I rolled my eyes. “With you, it wouldn’t matter what night of the week it was since you never
do
your homework. Besides, the weather report calls for clouds the rest of the week.”

The assignment for our Astronomy class, which I knew Zach was currently failing, called for us to chart the night’s visible stars. So when we got back to my house, we headed out to the back yard armed with our supplies, including one of the school’s telescopes.

Zach held out a multicolored blanket. “Where do you want this?”

“Right over there,” I instructed, pointing to a grassy patch out of the line of trees.

Once he fixed the blanket, I sat down, turning on the lantern beside me so we could see to fill out the papers. Zach worked on adjusting the setting of the telescope. “Okay, first we need to locate the Big and Little Dippers.”

Zach peered into the eyepiece. “I see them.”

“Can I?”

“Sure,” he replied.

As I leaned over, Zach face was only inches from mine. “Okay, yep, there they are,” I said.

I handed him the sheet of paper, and he charted them on the map. We worked through the worksheet at a steady pace, and when we finished, Zach collapsed onto the blanket. “Yes, we’re finally done.”

I laughed. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“I guess not.”

Zach looked so comfortable lying there that I decided to lie back, too. I stared up at the velvet sky encrusted with stars that glittered like diamonds. “It’s so beautiful,” I murmured.

Zach propped up on one elbow and smiled down at me. “You’re beautiful.”

“No, I’m—” I started to protest, but before I could finish, Zach’s lips crushed against mine. Paralyzed with fear, I sat motionless as his arms wrapped around me like an octopus. My heartbeat rattled through my chest like a charging locomotive. I fought to find my breath.
“ NO, NO, NO!”
The voice in my mind screamed. This was wrong, so, so wrong.

Finally, my voice cut through the murky deep of my paralyzed mind body and bellowed like a foghorn.

“STOP!” I tore my lips from his and shoved him off of me. My face burned, and my breath heaved in small pants as I raised myself to a sitting position on the blanket. I heard the grass crunch as Zach rolled over. The intensity of his gaze burned into my back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

I didn’t know what to say. Finally, I whispered, “You.”

“Me?”

“Y-Yes, you. And me. Us.”

He rose up to sit beside me. “I don’t think I understand.”

As he searched my face for answers, I drew in a ragged breath. “Zach, I-, there’s something I need to say.”

“What is it?”

My fingers wound through the ragged ends of the blanket. “Look, I care about you a lot, but only as a friend. We can never be anything more than just friends.”

Zach stared at me in disbelief. “But I don’t understand.”

“It’s just—I…” I fumbled to find the right words—the ones that wouldn’t give away what I was or wound his pride. “You’re very, very special to me, and I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize that. Besides that, Lauren is my friend, and I can’t hurt her.”

“Lauren? What in the hell does
she
have to do with all this?”

I wanted to slap him for being so blind. Couldn’t he see that she was in love with him? Were guys really that clueless? I shook my head at him. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?”

“That Lauren is in love with you.”

Zach jolted back. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not. I know for certain she is.”

“But she’s just a friend…” he trailed off and stared at my knowing expression. “Yeah, we, uh, we’ve, um,
been together
and stuff, but that doesn’t mean she loves me,” he protested.

“Maybe for you it doesn’t, but it sure does for her.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Zach stared at the blanket so long I thought he was trying to memorize the design. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Well, I’m sorry that she’s in love with me because I’m not in love with her.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “But why not? She’s pretty and talented, and she cares so much about you.”

He took my hand in his and feathered his fingertips across my skin. “Because I like someone else.”

I arched my eyebrows in surprise. “Y-You do?”

He nodded, leaning in closer to me. His knee bumped against mine as his breath grew hotter and hotter against my cheek. “I never thought I’d have to spell it out like this. But it’s you, Cassie.”

I dared myself to gaze up into his dark eyes. The look of longing radiating them sent icy fear prickling over my body. This was wrong, all wrong. How had I ever gotten myself into such a mess?

“But I already told you that I don’t like you like that. I can’t or won’t ever let it be anything more.”

Zach narrowed his eyes. “Oh, I get it. It’s not that you don’t want to date or be in a relationship with someone. It’s that you don’t want one with
me.
”

I gasped. “How can you say that? You know how much I care about you. How I’ve been there for you.”

“No, I get it. I’m damaged goods, and I’m screwed up.”

His hurt turned over to anger. Its white-hot electricity echoed through me as his face darkened. “How could you do this to me? I put myself out there for you. I allowed myself to trust someone for the first time and
this
is what I get?”

“Zach-”

He sprang up from the blanket. “I get how you really feel. You’re the worst kind of tease. You toy with emotions.” He shook his head. “Just don’t ever talk to me again!”

“No, Zach. Please wait!”

Without another word, he stalked out of the backyard, slamming the gate behind him. Stunned, I sat frozen on the blanket. The sting of his words reverberated through me. I had hurt him, and in turn, I had hurt Lauren. I was totally messing up at everything the Host had sent me to do. Although my chest caved under the enormity of emotions, the tears didn’t come. They didn’t come until a couple hours later as I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. Once they finally came, they didn’t stop all weekend.