The Den (5 page)

In truth, it had not taken Skyla long to notice Alex’s toned arms or the six-pack that he had casually patted after they finished off a pizza with Brooke.  Good thing Brooke had taken to making Skyla work out with her in the mornings before work.  Skyla’s scrawny body was starting to turn just slightly shapelier.  During times of stress, Skyla would often tend to forget about mealtimes.  Since the psychic reading and subsequent Craig fiasco had happened, food held little interest.  After settling into New York, Brooke had delicately pointed out Skyla’s boylike hips and less-than-filled-out bra when she was getting dressed one night.  Skyla had had to confess, when she turned and looked at herself in the mirror, that Brooke was right.  Since then Skyla began eating bigger and better meals and taking three-mile runs every other morning. 

Now she stood staring into the mirror in the middle of the tiny bedroom.  Brooke sat on her twin bed, pretending to answer e-mails on the laptop.  Skyla could feel scrutinizing eyes on her back, though.  Had the last few months made a bit of a difference?  Not much.  Skyla looked into the full-length mirror that hung on the inside of the shared closet door.  Her favorite black bra no longer added that pleasant plumpness one wanted to see over the top of the cups.  The lacy black underwear hung awkwardly in the back.  Skyla realized that these undergarments were screaming “date” when really she and Alex were just getting together to discuss last-minute travel plans.  Skyla quickly flung those panties off and opted for a basic white cotton pair.  Better to wear something less tempting.  If she were wearing cotton, certainly she would not allow him to see under her dress.  If he did try, Skyla would say “no,” pretending it was because she was shy or proper even.  Not that she planned on going home with him anyway. 

Skyla could feel Brooke’s eyes burning a hole into the back of her.  Skyla knew she was looking her up and down during the entire process.  Skyla first tried on the black skirt, but when she bent over you could see just the slightest bit of cheek and she heard Brooke giggle.  Skyla knew what Brooke would say, so off that came.  Then Skyla sneakily took Brooke’s skinny jeans off the hanger and out of the closet and slipped them on a bit too easily; she couldn’t fill them out like Brooke.  Brooke had those ballerina legs and tight tush that were made for skinny jeans.  Skyla’s boy hips—not so much.  Skyla felt Brooke’s disapproving eyes, so she shimmied out of those.  Skyla threw them at Brooke over her shoulder.  Brooke gave another little giggle.  Maybe she was having too much fun with Skyla’s obvious distress.  There had been quite a lot of dressing and undressing for the planned, casual conversation.  Skyla tried to remember that she was committed to being platonic.  She finally slipped into a red wrap dress, thus ending the fashion show.

“Nothing wrong with looking good, right?” she said.  

Just because Skyla didn’t want him didn’t mean she shouldn’t want him to want her.  Maybe he would be more attentive during the trip.  He would watch out for her more if he couldn’t take his eyes off her.  Brooke laughed out loud now.  Could she read Skyla’s mind?  Or was Skyla that predictable?

“Brooke Leigh, you stop it!”  Skyla couldn’t help laughing either. 

Skyla jumped on top of Brooke and tried to smother her with a pillow, but she slipped off the tiny bed and wound up on the floor.  Skyla lay on her back looking up at Brooke, who wore the most amused smile.  Brooke’s stick-straight blond hair flopped forward as she hung upside down over Skyla.  Skyla wished her own hair were a pretty color, too.  Her reddish-colored hair looked orange in the sunlight.  Brooke always called it strawberry blond, but it wasn’t.

“Sky?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll miss you.”  Brooke sighed. 

“I know,” Skyla said. 

Really, Skyla felt a wave of excitement flow through her.  She could see Brooke fighting back tears, and Brooke saw how ready Skyla was to leave.

“I know you aren’t coming back,” Brooke said.  “I know you are going to use that poor innocent Alex to drive you down to that dangerous city.  Then you will inevitably fall in love and never come back.   This one is different, you know.  He won’t leave you.  Of course, ultimately, it is doomed.  Alex is just utterly normal, and you and I know that you are positively abnormal.”

Skyla looked up at Brooke and gave her hair a playful tug but didn’t say anything.  Skyla rolled over, stood up, and finished getting ready. 

“You know,” Brooke said, “I was reading about New Orleans and they say there is an entire population of new-age vampires that live there.  I e-mailed the link to you.  Did you bother reading it?”

“Yes, I read it.  Stop looking that stuff up.  You will be here alone when I am away and you will be too scared to sleep.”

Brooke turned away.  Skyla walked out of the bedroom, through the tiny apartment, and out the door.  She ran down the flights of stairs and flew out the apartment building. She walked out into the night to meet Alex. 

Skyla was early, for a change.  The two had decided to get together at the café where they had first hatched the travel plans.  It had been less than a week ago, but it seemed that so much had changed.   Skyla had been back every day on her own, hoping to see that black-haired guy again.  Hoping to find out about him.  Skyla sipped a spiced chai latte and wondered what had actually happened last Friday night.  That guy had slithered in and out of the café right before Alex had come into her life.  Skyla sighed and took another sip.  As she swallowed, the hair all over her body stood up.  Everything went into slow motion.  It got dark, real dark.   She froze. 

When she gained the courage to look for
him,
it was too late.  
Where was he?
  Skyla started shifting in her seat to look at each of the other dozen or so tables.  She ran to the door. 
Was he outside?
  Nothing.  She sat back down. 
It had to have been him.
 
He had to be near.
  Then in walked Alex. 

“Hi!  Wow, you’re actually early.  Hey?  What’s up?  Have you been waiting long?   Hey, Skyla Jane?”

“Hi, Alex.”

“Are you okay?  I mean, obviously you’re not.  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  Nothing.  Guess I am just nervous about the trip,” she lied as she tried to snap out of her fear.

“Really?  Well, I wrote down this itinerary for us.  I figured we would leave at 5:30 a.m.  That way we miss the morning traffic and have plenty of time to sightsee on the way down.  Check out this map.  I have starred the cities where we should stop.  I also put a star next to the places where we could spend the night.”  He put the map in front of her, ironed it out with his left hand, and pointed with his right pinky to the spots where they could stop.  Skyla didn’t respond. 

“You know, we will have separate beds and everything.  I mean, we could get separate rooms, too.  I guess you might be feeling a bit funny about that.  I didn’t think about it before.  If that is why you are nervous, then ...” Alex shifted in his seat as he folded the map back up.

“Oh.”  Skyla blushed.  She had thought about suggesting separate beds but she had not mentioned it.  She would deal with that issue when they were on the road.  “No.  No!  Alex it is not that.  I am really ready to leave.  I mean, I am looking forward to it.  It’s fine.  I’m fine.” 

Alex just stared at Skyla.  Skyla peeked under the table to see if one of his legs was pointing out the door.  It wasn’t.  She relaxed.  He could see that the tension left her body as she slumped just a bit.  Skyla smiled.  He smiled back but looked down at his folded hands on top of the crumpled map.  He clasped them a bit tighter.  She noticed and silently prayed her request:
Please don’t leave, Alex.
 

Alex reached across the table and put his hands on top of hers.  “I predict that this trip will be great.  I know it,” he said. 

“It will,” she said. 

He gave her hands a shake and he looked down at her with those green-gray eyes.  They seemed to believe each other.

When Skyla got back to the apartment, all the lights were off.  Problem—she needed to pack still.   Skyla turned on the hall light, got down on her belly, and dragged the suitcase out from under her bed. Brooke flipped over to face the window.  She was awake.  Skyla could tell by her breathing.  Brooke wouldn’t sleep tonight.  Neither would Skyla.  Skyla walked back through the hallway and through the living room to the tiny kitchen area.   She put up a pot of coffee.  She listened to the soothing sound of the percolator.  Her mind drifted back to the café. 

Had the dark-haired man been there again?  Why had I felt the shiver? 
 

It was definitely the right time to leave town.  Even if this man were a figment of her imagination, a change of scenery was necessary.  Skyla’s sanity required it. 

The light went on at the bottom of the electric coffee pot.  Skyla took Brooke’s favorite yellow, flowered mug out of the cabinet and poured a piping-hot cup.  Then she poured one for herself in the “I heart NYC” mug.  Skyla walked into the bedroom, flipped the light switch up with her elbow, and held out the mug for Brooke. 

Brooke rolled over and pushed herself up.  She reached out with both hands.  Thanks,” she said.

Skyla packed everything.  Luckily, it all fit into the big duffel bag that she had bought when she imagined herself becoming a snowboarder.  It was large and had wheels.  Perfect for such a trip.  It would easily fit in the back of the Jeep Cherokee they were renting.  Skyla rolled it into the living room and grabbed her pocketbook as she passed the little table.  She dropped both of them by the door.  She sat on top of the duffel for a moment, wiping the sweat off her forehead.  It was a warm night, even for August.  The summer was relentless this year.  The one little air conditioner did not move the air much, and the room was thick and sticky.  It suddenly felt as if there weren’t enough oxygen in the apartment.  Skyla walked back through the bedroom and flung the window open all the way to the top.  She crawled onto the fire escape, sat, and waited. Brooke climbed out after her.  She waited, too.  They sat together, chins on knees and arms wrapped tightly around legs.  They could feel the slightly cooler metal bars underneath them, and it helped to calm their nerves.

The sun came up.  Skyla went back through the window and into the kitchen to make another pot of coffee.  She showered and dressed.  Brooke crawled into bed to catch a few hours’ sleep before work. 

When Alex rang the buzzer from downstairs, Skyla bent down and kissed Brooke on the cheek.  Brooke threw her arms around Skyla’s neck and hugged her hard.  Skyla turned and walked away.  She picked up her pocketbook, and then with the same hand, she grabbed the handle of the snowboarding bag.  She opened the door with the other hand and rolled it right out.  She turned to lock Brooke in and then dragged the bag down the three flights and out onto the sidewalk.  Alex was leaning on a rented black Jeep Cherokee.  He pushed off and grabbed her bag.  He chucked it into the back.  He came back and opened the passenger door for Skyla.  She looked up at him, threw her pocketbook onto the floor, and jumped in.  He jogged around to the driver’s side, hopped into the Jeep, slammed the door, clicked his seat belt, and said, “We are off!”

Skyla smiled.  She gave one look back at the third-story apartment window and then looked straight ahead.  “Goodbye,” she whispered to no one.

-Seven-

The 13
th
Floor

It was a smooth start.  They crossed town on Houston Street.  The city was starting to wake up.  A few people were out jogging.  A few were holding cups of coffee and shuffling their way to work.  A man held a leash that was attached to five dogs.  He was trying to cross at Broadway.  Not an easy feat.  Alex and Skyla drove straight out to the West Side Highway and made a right.  They drove alongside a cruise ship just making its way back to port.  Skyla stared past Alex and watched the immense ship eclipse a tiny water taxi. 
What a great day to start a journey
.  She felt a sudden sadness for those who were returning home on the ship.

The next thought brought an overwhelming sense of happiness.  Skyla felt exhilarated!  She felt as if she had total freedom for the first time.  She rolled down the window and breathed in the hot and sticky city air.  She felt it fill her lungs and even let out a little whoop.  Alex laughed as he looked over at her.  His eyes were so green right now that they looked like the color of the Hudson River behind him.  

They made it out of the city in no time at all.  They left the Lincoln Tunnel in the rearview mirror and were waved at by the cranes and cargo that occupied Bayonne.  Planes roared out of Newark and left a trail of sound behind them.  Alex’s smile was a bit crooked as he shook his head slightly and gave her a sly glance.  Skyla wondered what was going through his head anyway.  She wished she had not forgotten how to read minds.  It had gradually stopped sometime after her eighteenth birthday.  What could he really think of her?  A strange girl in a cafe invites him to take an impromptu trip.   A girl willing to quit her job, pack all her belongings, and leave her apartment without any significant planning.  Come to think of it, what did she think of herself?  She would ponder the question … later.

They sat silently for a while listening to Credence Clearwater Revival, their greatest hits or something.  Alex thought it was great traveling music.  Skyla had to agree.   Several times, Skyla spotted Alex sneaking looks at her.  When she peered over to catch him, he would always give that cute little grin and shake his head.  It was while Credence’s “Bad Moon Rising” was playing that Skyla remembered she didn’t know much about Alex and his childhood.  She would be meeting his twin sister, Lucy, and had no idea what to expect.  Alex said that Lucy didn’t really have much of a memory of places before New Orleans either.  No ties to his past were going to be revealed through her.  “Melted in the heat,” she recalled him saying.  Skyla suddenly became gloomy.  It swept over her quickly and completely.  She looked over at Alex.  He saw her out of the corner of his eye and smiled again.   He grasped the steering wheel and gave it a playful shift back and forth to the beat.