The Sight Seer (14 page)

At that moment, I hated myself.
I hated myself for being so useless.

Chapter
Twenty-five

A knock on the apartment door interrupted us and I jumped, immediately thinking it was the demon from Rafe’s story come to finish the job. But then Rafe looked up and croaked, “Must be the pizza.”

“I got it,” I said, rising and grabbing my purse.
Rafe didn’t look like he was in any condition to get up, and he’d probably scare the delivery person away with his red-rimmed eyes and the fierce look on his face.

He did protest, wanting to pay for the pizza, but I waved him away, handing the delivery guy some money and taking the pizzas from him.
Rafe quickly scooped them out of my hands, surprising me because I hadn’t even heard him get up and walk over. He carried the boxes over to the kitchen table before rummaging around for plates and napkins.

“I’m sorry, you probably don’t even want to eat after hearing all of that,” he said with his back to me.

“I—I want to help, Rafe, but I don’t know what to say. You’re right, saying ‘I’m sorry’ just doesn’t cut it in a situation like this.” I bit my lip, which had started trembling, and looked away.

“Gabi.”
He set the paper plates on the table and walked over to me. I held my breath as he reached up and wiped away a tear from my cheek that had managed to escape despite my rapid blinking. “You
are
helping. You listened, and now you’re upset for me…” He shook his head. “I never wanted to make you cry, but…thank you. Sorry, I’m not very good at words, but this means a lot to me. Really, it does.”

Despite the sorrow I was feeling, I put my hands on my hips and scowled at him.
“Alright, that’s fine and all, but you need to stop blaming yourself for this! And don’t you dare think you shouldn’t be a hunter! You’re probably the best one there is!”

To my relief, Rafe chuckled at that.
“That’s because you’ve only met two of us, and you really can’t use Evan as an example.”

“Because I haven’t seen him
in action yet?”

“Because it’s
Evan
!”

* * *

Despite the sorrow and pain we had experienced from Rafe’s story, we still managed to eat and enjoy the pizza. At first we chewed in silence, but eventually we started talking again. It was just mundane stuff about school, but I also found out that this apartment had originally been signed in Evan’s uncle’s name, and it had been transferred over to him when he turned eighteen. Evan’s parents, retired hunters, lived on the west coast (I
knew
he was a surfer dude!) and he visited them on occasion. He was perfectly content living here on the east coast, working part-time at his uncle’s business. Rafe never flat out said it, but I had the feeling Evan wasn’t serious when it came to hunting. Well, not serious like Rafe was serious. But now that I knew he was motivated by revenge, it made sense. Evan seemed the sort to coast through life without any worries.

After devouring an entire pie and a half (he ate more than me, I swear!), we had just started to clean up when my phone began ringing.
I hurried to my purse and pulled it out to see Penny’s name across the screen. A quick glance at the clock showed me that school was out; she must have called me the moment the final bell rang. Well, at least she still wanted to talk to me. I figured after last night, we were through.

I made an apologetic face at Rafe before answering.
“Hello?”

“
Holy crap, Gabi, you must be
dying
for your dad to let you stay home from school today! What happened?”

What happened?
You totally blew me off last night, Pen. I took a deep breath and blew it out in a rush. No. I wasn’t going to be nasty. If there was one thing I learned from Rafe’s story, it was that life was way too short to hold stupid grudges. Both Pen and I had made mistakes, and if she was willing to make a fresh start, then so was I. “Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling well today. It’s no big deal, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Okay, good.
Because Harrison and I worried you had the flu or something icky like that and I just felt awful, Gabi. I should have never yelled at you like that, or pressured you to tell me stuff. I was horrible yesterday. Will you forgive me for being such an awful friend?”

I smiled.
Good old Pen, impossible to stay mad at. “Only if you’ll forgive me for lying.”

“Done.
So, what are you doing? Want me to stop by so we could hang out?”

“Actually
…” I trailed off and looked at Rafe, who raised his eyebrows. No more lies, I decided. “I’m with Rafe.”

“WHAT?!”

I had to hold the phone away from my ear, but I still think I managed to lose part of my hearing. And judging by Rafe’s expression, he had heard her as well. Giving me an amused look, he turned to the sink and started washing our glasses as if to give me privacy.

Still, I didn’t start speaking again until after I had taken five giant steps towards the door.
Lowering my voice, I quickly explained what Chloe had done and how Rafe had skipped school to hang out with me.             

Penny, unfortunately, didn’t bother lowering her voice.
I really hoped Rafe couldn’t hear her over the sound of running water, but she was screaming so loudly I’m sure the entire apartment building heard every word. “And now you’re at his house?! OH. MY. GOD. I am so sorry, I probably interrupted something important!”

“No, we were just cleaning up.”

“Cleaning up
what
?!”

I could just see her wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“Pen, you are disgusting. And for your information, we just had pizza. And we were talking. That’s it.”

“Suuuure.”

“I swear, that’s all. Come on Pen, you know me.” I was worried she was going to start accusing me of lying to her again, but to my relief she laughed.

“I know.
I’m just busting your balls. Harrison told me to stop, the big meanie.”

“Tell Harrison
, ‘thank you’.”

“Anyway,” she said, completely ignoring me, “you’re coming to the party on Friday, right?
You should invite him.”

I had forgotten all about that stupid house party.
I don’t know why Penny loved those things; I had gone to a few and discovered they weren’t my thing. Mostly I sat in the corner and watched Penny and Harrison make out. A few times I had gone with a guy, but that had never progressed anywhere because they either had bad breath, sweaty hands, or the personality of a goldfish. Most of the time, it was all of the above.

Now I wondered if I would have had a better time if I was in good company.
My eyes traveled back to the kitchen where Rafe was very slowly wiping a sponge over the table, his back to me. He was going to great lengths to give me extra privacy as Pen talked my ear off. How sweet of him.

“Hang on,” I told Pen, covering the phone with my hand as she started squealing again.
“Rafe?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you go to parties and things like that?”

He turned around to give me another amused look.
“I am a normal
human
teenage boy, Gabi.”

I really hoped Penny didn’t hear that, because she would totally take that the wrong way.
Scowling, I said, “Do you want to come to some house party on Friday night? It’ll be totally lame, and if you have other plans, I understand…”

He laughed.
“Do you want me to go or not?”

“I do,” I said, realizing I meant it.
I held my breath in anticipation.

“Sure, why not?
Even if it’s supposed to suck and I’ll be bored out of my mind, right?”

“I didn’t say that!”
And it definitely wouldn’t suck with him there,
I thought, very pleased. Putting the phone back to my ear, I said, “We’re in.”

“Yay!
That’s so awesome. Okay, I’m definitely coming over tomorrow to help pick out your outfit.”

“It’s just a stupid party!
I’ll wear jeans and a regular shirt—”

“NO.
YOU. WILL. NOT.” I could practically see the flames coming out of Penny’s eyes. “Like I said, I’m coming over tomorrow. No excuses. Now go have fun with Rafe doing naughty things, alright? Bye!”

She hung up before I could respond with something snarky.
Rolling my eyes, I tossed the phone back into my bag. “Sorry,” I told Rafe.

His g
reen eyes were dancing with amusement as he joined me in the living room. “Not a problem. And hey, now I have something to look forward to!”

“Don’t get too excited.
I’m sure it’ll be dumb.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said.
“I have a feeling it might turn out better than you expect it to.” He glanced at the clock. “Hey, what time do you need to be home?”

“Probably now,” I said reluctantly.
And was it just me, or was that a flash of disappointment that just flickered across his face? I resisted the urge to jump up and down like a lovesick teenager. Because I’m much more mature than that, of course. “I
am
sick and all. I don’t think Dad would be too happy if he came home from work and didn’t find me there.”

Rafe grabbed his car keys with one hand and scooped the kitten up with the other.
“Alright, then I’ll take you home. Sorry I sort of ruined your day of relaxation.”

Ruined?
Far from it. “
Rafe, if I had to do it all over, I’d do it exactly the same.” Then I picked up my jacket and saw the dried blood stains. “Well, I would have worn my older jacket.” Shaking my head, I added forlornly, “You are killing my wardrobe, slowly but surely.”

“Welcome to my world, Gabi.
I can almost never wear the same shirt twice.”

“Yeah, but you’re a guy.
You don’t care about clothes.”

He snorted.
“That’s not sexist at all.”

“It’s not sexist when it’s true!”

Chapter Twenty-six

“We need to go shopping, stat,” Penny declared the next afternoon as she browsed through my closet wardrobe.

“No!”
I grabbed a pair of jeans and one of my nicer shirts. “This is fine!”

“Gabi, put that away before I kill you.”

Sighing, I hung the clothes back up. “What do you want me to wear, Pen, a freaking ball gown?”

“A dress would be nice.”

“A dress is not appropriate for a party at Pierce Whitman’s house!” I exclaimed. “He used to flick boogers at us in the third grade!”

Penny made a face at the memory.
“But you’re not dressing up for Pierce, you’re dressing up for Rafe!” She made a noise of discovery and pulled out my black skirt with three tiers of ruffles, complete with sequins on each ruffle. I had loved it from the moment I spotted it in the mall with Chloe, but so far my sister was the only one who had gotten any use out of it. “Hey, this is cute.” She shoved it into my arms and pulled out a lilac blouse. “Pair it with this and these shoes and you’re golden.”

“I am not wearing heels,” I said automatically when I saw what she was holding.

“You are.”

I grabbed my black flats.
“I’m wearing these.”

“I am not letting you leave the house in this hot outfit and flats, Gabi!” Penny said, exasperated.
“First of all, the heels would look hot with this skirt. Second of all, Rafe is about a million feet taller than you.”

“He is not!”
God, I wasn’t that short! It wasn’t my fault Rafe was so freakishly tall!

“He is, and if he wants to kiss you, he’ll have to like, bend in half just to reach your mouth!”

The image struck me as so ridiculous that I just started laughing, and Penny quickly joined in. Over our laughter I heard my phone ringing and grabbed it, my heart skipping a beat when I saw it was Rafe. Had he heard us talking about him?

“Hello?”

“Who is it?” Penny asked, nearly pouncing on me. I pushed her away and she yelled in response.

“Hello?” Rafe said, sounding really confused.
“Am I, uh, interrupting something?”

Now Penny was making kissy noises.
Hurling one of my heels at her, I escaped to the relative safety of the bathroom and locked the door behind me. Penny continued to make all sorts of noises from the other side and I prayed that Rafe couldn’t hear her as I sank down on the edge of the tub.

“Sorry,” I told him.
“Penny is being an idiot.”

“I heard that!” she yelled.

Rafe laughed. “I’m glad things are better between you two.”

“Me too.”
I smiled. “So, what’s up?”

“I was just calling to see if you were alright.
I know you weren’t feeling good yesterday, and then I made things worse by telling you about—”

“Rafe.
Stop.” I held up my hand, like he could actually see that through the phone. “I already told you I didn’t mind what happened yesterday.
Any
of it. And I’m fine. School sucked, but it’s supposed to, right? And now Penny and I are hanging out, and yeah, I’m good. Real good. How about you?” Dammit, I was babbling. Next I was going to start talking about the weather.

“I’m alright.
I wanted to play some ball, but the weather sucks so I’m stuck inside with Evan playing video games.”

I felt slightly better that he was the one who ended up mentioning the weather.
“Oh! How’s the cat doing? Did you talk to the vet?”

“The cat, who is a boy, by the way, is fine, and is currently curled up in Evan’s lap, the damn traitor.”

“Wait, you kept him?!”

“Yep.
He stayed at the vet overnight for observation, and then they were going to send him to the local pound to see if anyone wanted to adopt him, but I said I’d take him. What can I say? The little guy grew on me. And Evan always wanted a pet.”

“Yeah, I remember he wanted to adopt me.”
We both laughed at that. “No, but that’s great! He was so cute, I really want to see him again.” Crap, did I just invite myself over? Maybe he didn’t want me to visit again—

“You can come see him whenever you want,” Rafe interrupted smoothly and I mentally cheered.
And maybe I triumphantly shook my fist in the air as well. “You also have to help me name him. Evan wants to name him after himself and that’s not happening. His ego is big enough as it is.” In the background I could hear Evan curse him out and I laughed again.

“Name him after one of your favorite baseball players.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea!”

I beamed.
“Thank you.” Then I paused, my smile slipping away as an awful thought came to mind. “Are we still, um, you know, on for Friday?” Maybe he was calling to cancel? I don’t know what I would do if that was the case. Probably cry on Penny’s shoulder or become a nun or something equally drastic.

“Of course!” he said, sounding surprised.
“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“Oh, I thought maybe something came up—”

“Gabi, unless a huge nest of demons is discovered between now and then, I’ll be there. What time do you want me to pick you up?”

After making plans we talked for another
ten minutes before taking pity on the ignored Penny and Evan and hanging up. When I opened the bathroom door, Penny looked up from my bed where she was flipping through a magazine. Taking one look at the stupid grin on my face, she groaned and said, “Gabs, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

“Oh, Pen,” I sighed, sitting down next to here.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

I blinked, realizing it was true.
My beaming smile and the fluttery feeling in my chest all but proved it. I
did
like Rafe. But then I sobered almost immediately, my happiness gone in a flash. “He only wants to be friends, Pen.”

She shoved the magazine aside and sat up.
“He said that? Word for word?”

“Err, no
…” I thought back to the conversation. Mainly it had been me asking him what was going on between us, and he had seemed taken aback by my questions. Like I should
know
that we were friends.

“Then maybe you’re overreacting,” she said.
“He’s probably shy and afraid he’ll chase you away if he says the wrong thing.” Pen gave me a shrug. “There’s nothing wrong with taking it slow, right?”

“Excuse me, you’re the one who accused us of getting down and dirty yesterday when you called!”

She blinked innocently. “Gabi, you were at his
apartment
. What did you expect me to think?”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” I said, playfully shoving her with my shoulder.

She shoved me back. “And you should allow yours to visit the gutter every now and then! You were at his apartment; you should have jumped him!”

“W
hat happened to taking it slow?”

“Well,” she said coyly, glancing at the outfit she had already laid out for me, complete with those damn heels, “when he sees you in that Friday night, he’ll forget
all
about being ‘just friends’.”