Miss Taken (7 page)

But what the heck? Why didn’t it move out of
the way?

I was even more shocked to discover that I
recognized the body: Kyle. His point on my graph keeps getting
bigger and bigger, like a big blot of ink spilled on an extra
absorbent paper towel.

At first, I was relieved it was someone I
recognized. But then it freaked me out a little. Was he stalking
me? What were the chances that he just happened to be at the
reservoir at the same time as me on a freezing cold winter day? And
why is he still wearing his sunglasses? It’s practically
nighttime.

“Hey Jane,” he said. “You run here
often?”

I stared at him in wonder, and not just
because I was wearing my mouton fur coat and dress boots. “What are
you doing here?”

He ignored my question. “You want to go get
some hot chocolate or something? It’s freezing.”

Kyle was acting like it was completely normal
that we had run into each other in a totally remote location, so I
decided that I was the one being weird. “Ah, sure. Do you know of a
place?”

Kyle smirked ironically. “No, I was hoping
you would.”

“Oh, right.” To cover my embarrassment, I
said, “Well, we’ve only been living here since August, so...”

He listened patiently.

“I can’t think of any place walkable.” Pause.
“Do you want to come to my house?” I knew this was a bad idea
before I even said it. But like the sacrificial lamb, I went
inexorably forward.

It irked me a little when Kyle didn’t answer
right away. Here I was, opening my home up to him and risking the
wrath of my boyfriend and he has to think about it?

Just as I was about to retract my invitation,
he said, “Sure. Sounds great. Thanks.”

It was a chilly fifteen minute walk back to
my house and it felt even longer and colder due to a sudden dearth
of conversation. I was a little bit glad that Kyle had shown up
without a car. If he had had a warm vehicle for me to step into, I
would have been lost to Ned forever. It moved Ned a few rungs back
up the ladder of comparison.

Then again, Kyle wasn’t sixteen yet, so I
could hardly hold it against him.

I was so cold by the time we got home, I
wouldn’t have said no to an offer of a lift from a creepy stranger
in a conversion van with all the windows blacked out.

When I made the proposal to Kyle to come to
my house, I hadn’t reckoned on a few things; namely, my mother
being in the kitchen and especially not Trey being there too.

Even weirder was the way they welcomed Kyle
like he was family. Trey asked him if he wanted to watch the game
on TV. And the way Mom started bustling about making the hot
chocolate, it was like she had been just waiting for him to appear
because for sure she never cares if I come home chilled and in need
of a hot beverage.

I was more than slightly irritated at her
interference. I had wanted to make it. It’s bad enough we only have
skim milk, but then she ruins it completely by putting in
Circletine because it supposedly has vitamins or something. I had
been planning on melting a few chocolate bars from the secret stash
into it to give it some flavor.

So we ended up with a thin, ersatz version of
hot chocolate. Nothing like what Ned makes, my second loyal thought
in less than twenty minutes toward my boyfriend I almost never get
to see on weekends. I smiled apologetically at Kyle and rolled my
eyes in Mom’s direction.

Kyle said, “This is great Ms. Hewitt-Grey. My
mum always makes me that junk with way too much sugar.”

My mother acted even more annoyingly
hospitable after the double compliment about her rational position
on sugar and calling her Miz and not Missus.

Kyle asked if I wanted to watch the game, to
which I replied with a firm No. So he diplomatically told Trey he
would go down to the basement later. Mom continued to twitter
around us for a while, in spite my shooting killer eye darts at
her. Then she completely bowled me over by asking him to stay to
dinner.

“Mom,” I began to protest and then had to
think. Did I not want him to stay out of allegiance to Ned or
because I was afraid of scaring him off with my mother’s awful
cooking? I wasn’t sure, but either way, I didn’t want him to
stay.

“I’m sure Kyle wasn’t planning on sticking
around so long. He probably has much more interesting things to do
on Saturday night.” I looked at him to back me up. “Don’t you?”
Very softly I added, “My mother is a terrible cook.”

Kyle smiled very charmingly I’m sure but when
he said he’d love to stay for dinner, I didn’t know what to think.
Mom pranced happily out of the room after offering to call his
mother for him.

That set off the warning bells. How in the
heck did she already know his phone number? “What does your mom do
for a living?”

“Pardon?”

I could just picture Mrs. Kyle - This was
ridiculous. I didn’t even know his last name yet! - owning a show
boat or a bank, something Mom could use to exploit for her
not-for-profit organization.

I repeated my question and he said, “Oh,
Mum’s a solicitor. Or a lawyer, I suppose you’d say.” I thought,
poor Kyle’s mum. Once my own “mum” got her hooks into the woman,
she’d be finished.

On the other hand, she was a lawyer. If she
was anything like my lawyer-mother, she could probably fend for
herself.

We finished with the lame hot chocolate.
Conversation was lagging a little when an idea popped into my head.
“Was it just a coincidence that I ran into you at the rez?”

“The rez?”

“The reservoir.”

“Oh, the rez.”

I waited for an answer. None was forthcoming.
“So, was it?”

“Hm?” said Kyle, pretending he didn’t know
what I was talking about.

I spoke slowly. “How did it happen that you
found me at the rez?”

“Oh,” said Kyle, fiddling with his
sunglasses. “Your mum told me you went there.”

Anticipating my question, Kyle added, “I
stopped by and your mum told me where you went. So I walked down
there.”

“You stopped by? For what?”

“To see if you wanted to do something. You
know, with my ‘exciting Saturday night.’” He smiled at me
shyly.

My heart did a little skip. “Why?”

“Why?” He leaned back and flung his arms wide
as if it was the most elementary question in the world. “Because
you’re nice, Jane.” With that, he leaned over and put one of his
hands on top of mine.

The next two things that happened seemed to
go in slow motion: Mom bustled back in one door singing out the
okay from Kyle’s mum. At the same time, Ned burst through the other
door and shouted, “What the hell is going on here?”

I yanked my hand out from under Kyle’s.
“Ned!” I was stumped as to what to say next. What are you doing
here or You made it just didn’t seem to fit the bill.

Kyle stood up. “Hey,” he clacked his
invisigum casually in Ned’s direction. “I’ll be downstairs watching
the game if you change your mind.” I couldn’t tell if it was light
glinting off his ear stud or his eye, but one or the other winked
at me as he sauntered out of the room.

Even though there were more pressing matters
at hand, the question of how Kyle already knew how to get into my
basement popped into my mind. Did a time warp happen while I was
out on my walk during which Kyle was taken on as a member of my
family as a replacement for me?

I wisely kept these mysterious matters to
myself.

My mother said formally, “Hello, Ned.” And
then, for once in her life, she was tactful and silently
withdrew.

“Ned!” I said again. “Hi!” I was sure Mom was
still lurking somewhere nearby so I kissed him on the cheek. “So,
you escaped?” I gave a phony little laugh.

He was not in a joking mood. “You invited me
over so I could watch you and that jerk hold hands?”

“We weren’t holding hands. It was a mistake.
He just put his hand down on top of mine...to show me how hot it
was from the chocolate.”

Ned was unconvinced.

I thought a combination put-down/compliment
might do the trick. “My mom makes the worst hot chocolate, nothing
like yours...”

Ned cut me off. “I don’t know what’s up with
you Jane. But I know it sucks I’m grounded all the time. If you
want to go out with someone else, why don’t you just say so?”

“What? No!” I practically yelled. I wished it
weren’t so cold outside. I would really prefer to be having this
conversation out of earshot of my mother, amongst other people.
“No, that’s not it at all. Do you have your car?”

“Yeah,” he grunted.

“Can we go sit in it, please?”

Ned’s jaw was still set in a hard line but he
agreed.

I pulled him out the door sans coat. We got
into the car, but it wasn’t much warmer than outside.

“Do you mind turning on the heat?” I asked
timidly.

Ned complied. “Talk fast. I don’t have much
time.”

“Okay. So. Kyle just showed up here, or at
the rez, but my mom told him I was there...”

“You went with him to the rez?” Another
dagger in Ned’s heart.

I recited π to the twenty-fifth decimal
place. “No. I did not go with Kyle to the reservoir. I went alone
and he showed up as I was leaving. I was pretty much back on the
sidewalk when he just appeared, I thought, totally coincidentally.
But it turns out, my mother told him I was there during some
time-space warp when they became best buddies and then he came back
to my house and Mom insisted on making him hot chocolate and Trey
asked him to stay to watch the game on TV and then my mom asked him
to stay for dinner because she must have some angle she’s trying to
work on his mum or mom...” I finally ran out of breath, but it was
important to get as much of the story out as possible before Ned
kicked me out of the car.

“Why did he come back to your house?” he
asked.

Funny how Ned is incapable of deciphering the
simplest of algebraic word problems, but was able wade through all
that blather and get right to the crux of the matter.

“Umm, because he said he could go for some
hot chocolate but there was no diner or anything we could walk to?”
I squeaked it out like a question.

“You invited him.” Ned said glumly.

“Well, sort of, but just in a
welcome-to-the-neighborhood kind of gesture.” Definitely not a,
I’d-like-to-date you kind of way, I added silently. I scrunched
myself down into the seat and watched Ned out of the corner of my
eye.

He shook his head. “You may have been being
all friendly and Joanie Cunningham-ish, but you don’t have to be a
math genius to see this guy is into you. And he probably isn’t
grounded 364 days a year either.”

“Oh, Ned!” I cried. “I love you, not him!”
What did I just say? “I mean, you’re the one I care about. I don’t
even know Kyle’s last name. Or care what it is.” I took his warm
hands in my ice-cold ones and squeezed.

Ned softened the teensiest bit. “Your mom
invited him to stay for dinner, huh? She’s never asked me.”

What he said was true, and odd, since she
definitely had an angle on Ned’s mom. “Oh, she’s just trying to get
her hooks in his mom for some charity thing, that’s all it is.” No
need to mention that her wildest dream was to get her hooks into
the famous fashion designer Harley Quinn as well, and she still
hadn’t invited my real boyfriend.

Ned was definitely less angry now. “Well,
okay. But sit as far away from him as you can, you hear me? I don’t
want him testing out the temperature of your knee next.”

I was so happy, I almost cried with relief.
“Oh Ned!” I flung my arms around him, awkward though it was inside
the car. “So can we do something tomorrow, then?”

Now it was Ned’s turn to slump. “I think I’m
going with my mom to the city.” He shook his head. “Sorry, Jane.
I’ll try to figure something out for next weekend. But don’t go
accepting any offers of hot chocolate from Buffalo Bill just
because I’m not available.”

I beamed at him. “No way. No one can hold a
candle to your hot chocolate.”

That wasn’t quite the compliment I meant to
say. I liked Ned chocolate or no chocolate.

But it is true. Ned does make the best hot
chocolate I’ve ever tasted.

“I should be going,” he said. And he did, but
not before some extra-pleasant kissing took place.

I floated back into the house, goofy smile
and probably bright red rub marks from Ned’s stubble all over my
face. Mom was concocting in the kitchen. By the way she was
flinging the spices around, it looked like she was really trying to
outdo herself. But I didn’t care anymore if she served Kyle dirty
laundry (which is what it smelled like). Ned is the only boy for
me.

Strange but true scientific fact: Tarantulas
have fangs which they chop down on their prey like an axe. The
spider injects venom and digestive juices to paralyze and liquify
the victim. If courting, a male will wrap this prize in a silken
bundle and present it to a female as a gift.

Who knew spiders could be so deadly yet so
poetic at the same time?

At dinner, my scheming mother seated Kyle
next to me, but due to my recent activities in Ned’s car, my
emotional armor was strong enough to withstand him,
pleasantly-scented cologne and all. In a way, it actually was
better than sitting across from him because I didn’t have to look
at him as much.

Kyle managed to sound even more knowledgeable
than Trey on the subject of college basketball, a thing I didn’t
know was possible. He also got my dad to set aside the journal he
always reads as we eat to discuss the artificial heart. This I
considered to be nothing short of a miracle, and I do not mean the
mechanical pump.

But Kyle wasn’t finished yet. He really laid
it on thick when he turned his attentions to Mom and told her how
much he enjoyed her cooking, which as we all know had to be a
flat-out lie. Then, after doing an impressive job of seeming deeply
interested in her boring work at the foundation, he asked in a
genuine tone of wonderment how she managed to find the time to work
and be a supermom.