The Princes of Tangleforest (6 page)

As he stood under Poppi’s window, he began to doubt what she had meant by the note.
Grandma sleeps at midnight.
Surely it had meant for him to come back at midnight. He looked down at his phone. 12:05. A bit ambitious? A tiny bit too enthusiastic? He stood there, feeling like a fool, wondering what he should do, where he should stand, and if he should throw acorns and pinecones at her window like he did before, when he heard her.

“Boy? Are you there?”

He stepped out of the shadows. “Tanner,” he whispered up. “My name is Tanner.”

She smiled. “Tanner. I’m glad you came back. I don’t get to talk to anyone except for grandma.”

“Really?” The rumor that she was held prisoner by her grandmother once again entered his mind. “Why not?”

“Shhh,” she said. “You’ll wake her.”

“Can you come down here so we can talk?” he whispered.

She shook her, looking away from his stare.

He thought for a moment before saying, “Can I come up there?”

“No!” she said quickly. “I don’t know.”  She tilted her head to the side. “How?”

“Can you unlock the front door?”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

An oak tree stood tall beside him. The obvious choice, but he wasn’t much of a climber. He jumped several times before he reached the shortest branch. Putting his feet on the trunk of the tree, he walked up the side until he could maneuver his ankles around the branch he held onto. He hung there, knowing he needed to be on top of the branch. He felt nervous. Mostly because she was watching him, probably ready to shut the window by now.

He walked his feet a little past the branch, pulling, grunting, and twisting until he was on top of it and faced Poppi. She had her hand over her mouth, and her eyes were wide. “Hi,” he said and sat up. He scooted backwards until his back hit the trunk of the tree. Sliding up the tree with his hands over his head, he grabbed the branch above him and walked to Poppi’s window.

He held his breath as he let go of the branch and balanced the two steps to the side of the house. With one foot on the branch and the other on the gutter, his hands and face were plastered against the top part of the window. Poppi backed slowly away, but at least she wasn’t rolling on the floor laughing.  He walked his hands down until he could safely squat. He tumbled in the window, landing inside Poppi’s room.

He leaned over with his hands on his knees and inhaled and exhaled and then stood straight in the window-shaped moonlight. The room was gloomy dark, only flickers of light from different corners. Candles?
He tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling the room caused: the shadow of the canopy bed loomed up and crawled halfway across the ceiling. A large doll house sat in the middle of the floor, and clusters of stuffed animals seemed to glare at him from every direction. “Poppi? Where are you?” he whispered.

“I’m here,” she said softly.

He turned toward her voice. She stepped into the soft light wearing a white gown that went down to her knees and covered her arms to the wrists. Her blonde hair flowed over her shoulders and down the front of her gown all the way to the hem.

 “Your… uhh… grandma,” he stammered. “You’re sure she’s asleep?”

“Uh-huh.”

As she took tiny steps toward him, the first thing he noticed were her pale blue eyes dotted with large black pupils that demanded attention against her fairness. Her face had a clean shine, perfect skin, and sharp features. When she smiled, Tanner found himself absorbed in the peaks of her lips, until he realized she stood mere inches away.

Poppi examined Tanner’s forehead to his nose to his chin. Her blonde eyelashes fluttered as she giggled. Poppi’s breath smelled of sweet peppermints and her hair tickled Tanner’s face. His already excited heart sped so fast it seemed to be flipping around in his chest. She kissed him on the lips, staying long enough for him to start to pucker, and then it was over.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” she said, twirling slowing around, swaying her arms out to her side, dancing them through the air.

 He watched her for a moment, his heart making an effort to calm down. He had never had a girl kiss him so fast. Except for the one time when Stacy Miller laid one on him at Chris’s party, but she had been dared. “How long have you lived here?”

She came to an abrupt halt. “I don’t know.”

“You’re homeschooled, right?”

“Do you go to a real school?” She began to make her way back toward him.

His heart remembered the kiss and began to loudly pump. “Yeah. Tangleforest. It’s a real trip. You’re better off not going.” He nodded more than he wanted to. “There has to be a way we can talk during the day or before midnight. You don’t have a computer? A phone?”

“Not in my room,” she said.

“I guess I’ll just have to come here after midnight.”

“I’m your girlfriend, right?”

He stepped  back. “Girlfriend?”

“I had a boyfriend before. His name was Marky. Do you know him?”

“No, I’m kinda new here at the—”

“So now you’re my
new
boyfriend.”

“I… uh…”

“Boyfriends and girlfriends kiss, right?”

“Yes they do!” he said with a little more enthusiasm than he had planned.

When she kissed him again, he kissed her back, thinking that if he didn’t force himself to stand with firm legs, he would melt onto the floor.

She pulled away, her energized expression from before completely transformed into worry. “You better go. Will you come again?”

He nodded. Even though in the back of his mind he knew she wasn’t like the other girls, really strange and immature, she was intriguing. A beautiful mystery. He definitely didn’t want to ruin his chances of getting to come back.  “Yeah.  Of course. All right. You want me to leave?” He walked the short distance to her bedroom door, figuring he could quietly sneak out the front. But when he put his hand on the knob, Poppi yelled, “Wait!”

He had already begun to try and turn the knob. It didn’t move, and there wasn’t a visible lock. “She locks you in from the outside? Are you kidding me right now?”

She put her finger up to her mouth. “Shhh.”

“Poppi, this isn’t right. She can’t lock you in here. There are laws.”

She started shaking her head. “Shhh,” she said again, clearly frightened.

“All right, all right. I’ll go out the window, this time. We’ll talk about this… next time.”

She smiled at him. “Tomorrow, right? My grandma will be asleep at midnight.”

“I know, and I’ll be here,” Tanner said. He sat down on the window sill, letting his feet dangle. “It’s not that far.” He gave Poppi a final glance before turning and shifting his body down the side of the house until he dangled by his elbows. He dropped to the ground, grateful that skateboarding had given him such strong ankles and legs. He looked up at her, and she looked down at him, smiling.

“Tomorrow,” she said and closed the window.

After he ran home and climbed into bed, he stared at his window. He tried not to think about the locked door. He wondered why her grandmother would lock her in her room. And if he should tell someone. No, not yet. If he told his mom, that would be the end of him sneaking into Poppi’s room. Might even be the end of him ever seeing her again. He didn’t want to think about all that; all he wanted to think about the way her kiss made him feel.
My girlfriend?
  He had to admit that the entire visit had been odd—the darkness, the candles, that she did kiss him, and the locked room—but her unspoiled natural beauty, the secrecy, and the excitement of having her all to himself easily controlled his mind… and his judgment.

Chapter 11

Tanner gazed out the car window, watching for Julia’s house. He had been surprised to receive the text from her inviting him over for food; he never declined a food invite. He hitched a ride with his Mom and Bonnie who were on their way to visit a new church in the neighborhood. He had to promise he would go with them next time.

 He saw Julia sitting on a front porch of a yellow trimmed two-story.  “This is it. Stop here.”

“That’s her?” Joanne said. “She’s… pretty.”

“Don’t worry. She’s not my girlfriend. She invited me over to eat. No big deal.”

“Did I say anything about girlfriend? I’m only saying she has such pretty
blue
hair.”

“Who?” Bonnie said from the back seat. “I wanna see. I wanna see...”

“Do you want me to pick you up after church?”

“Nah. I can walk,” he said wishing he had grabbed his board. He turned to Bonnie, who was stretching her neck up to see out her window. “See you later, Squirt.”

She dropped back into her booster seat with an exaggerated frown. “My name’s Bonnie.”

 “What was I thinking? I’ll see you later, Bonnie.”

“Bye,” she said and waved.

“Hey,” Julia said walking up to him. “I um… figured I’d wait out here so you could find my house.”

“Thanks. Yeah. Most of the houses do look the same.” Confused by the unexpected awkward tension between them, Tanner suddenly didn’t know how to use his arms. He put them on his hips, crossed them over his chest… 

“Come on in. My dad’s not up yet. He had a late night,” she said as they walked into the front door. “We celebrated his forty-fifth birthday last night.”

  Tanner could see beyond the foyer and into the party-littered living room. “Sure looks like he had a great time.”

“Yeah, I hope.” Julia sighed as she shut the door behind them. She gave him a quick smile, but her eyes reflected what she was about to say. “It’s been hard on him since my mom died.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“No… I…” She shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, I’m glad you came over.”

He nodded and looked away when the silence between them became uneasy.   

“Let’s go to the kitchen,” she said quickly. “There is soooo much food. I hope you’re hungry.”

“Yeah, starving.” He followed her through the living room, kicking a balloon lolling in his path, and into a spacious bright yellow and white kitchen. “I actually had a late night, too.”

She opened the refrigerator door. “Really,” she said with her head inside. She brought out bowls of food and set them on the counter and opened a cabinet above her and reached inside.

“Well, yesterday after Poppi’s grandma—who by the way, actually does look like witch—wouldn’t even let me talk to her, I got Poppi’s attention by throwing stuff at her window.  She then actually dropped a note that said to come over after midnight when her grandma was asleep. So I did.”  The loud bang of the cabinet door distracted him for half a second before he continued. “Umm, anyway, she’s really different… strange, even.”

Julia said, “Oh, she’s really weird, huh. Figures if what they—”

“No, no not weird, just quiet and kind of helpless, I guess. You know.” He followed Julia to the small breakfast table. “Kind of lonely and sad. I feel sorry for her but at the same time I kind of like her. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. About the way she kissed me.”

 “Oh. Uh huh.”

“And wow. That second kiss...”

Julia started shoveling food onto the plate. A lot of food.

“Woah! I’m not
that
hungry.” That’s when he noticed only one plate. “Aren’t you going to eat with me?”

“I’ll be right back.” She walked out of the kitchen.

Tanner scratched his head, stared at the food on the table and then to where Julia had walked out. Obviously, he had said something to upset her. He sat down on one of the chairs at the table and waited. When he thought perhaps he should go look for her, she walked back in the kitchen. She grabbed the plate off the table, stuck it in the microwave and pushed a couple of buttons, all without glancing at Tanner and without saying a word.

“Something wrong?” he asked as he stood up. “Did I say something? Julia?” An odd thought hit him. Perhaps what he had said about Poppi affected her.  But that couldn’t be right. Julia hadn’t shown any interest in him. Quite the opposite. He wasn’t even her type. Whatever that might be… was he? He tried to hold back the smile that ached at the sides of his mouth. “Hey, we’re just friends, right? What I said about Poppi… you’re not… jealous are you?”

“Yeah right!” she snapped and swung her gaze to the microwave. “I’m… worried about my dad, you know. He acted all like he was happy last night, but I know him, so I had to go check on him… and you know… he’s not doing all that great after all.”  The microwave beeped. “Can I put this in some Tupperware and send it with you?”

“What? Really? Sure. I guess.”

Julia retrieved the food from the microwave and put in on the opposite counter. With her back to Tanner, she grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet. Tanner shook his head feeling really self-centered for thinking Julia got upset because she had the hots for him or something. He couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been losing her mom. Even though Tanner didn’t live with his dad, he could call him anytime he wanted. He didn’t want to even think about life without his mom.

Julia turned and handed him the bowl without looking at him, but he could tell she had been crying. “I’m sorry,” she said.