Cherry Red Summer (Emely and Elyas Book 1) (22 page)

“Oh, h
i . . .
Elyas,” she said.

“Hi, Mrs. Winter,” Elyas said, putting his hands back into his front pockets.

My mom studied us, her eyes lingering longer than normal on my flushed cheeks. I silently cursed my mother for walking in just then.

“Emely,” she began after recovering from her surprise. “Could you come
downstairs? We bought some new furniture for the living room, and your father is breaking everything before it’s been screwed together yet.”

I nodded, hoping she would quickly pop back out, but Elyas thwarted my plans.

“I’d be happy to help, too, Mrs. Winter,” he offered.

“Really?” she asked. “That would be such a big help.”

“It’s no problem,” Elyas said.

“And I’ve told you a thousand times to call me Carla. When people call me Mrs. Winter, it makes me feel ancient.”
Which you are,
I grumbled in my head.

Elyas just nodded and flashed me a shy smile before following my mother downstairs. “Gee, thanks a lot, Mom,” I mumbled to myself before picking my chin up off the floor and heading downstairs, my knees still wobbly.

It took a half hour to get all the pieces of furniture into the house. Unsurprisingly, I tripped over various things, but luckily managed a last-minute save each time, thus sparing myself additional embarrassment. Elyas carried the last box into the living room, where I stood with my parents, everyone exhausted and breathing hard.

“Thank you so much, Elyas. You’ve been such a huge help!” my mother said, glancing sideways at my father, who just rolled his eyes.

“Not at all a problem, Mrs. Win—uh, Carla. I was happy to help,” Elyas said, moving his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

“Would you like to stay for dinner so we can repay the favor at least a little?” my mother asked. I looked hopefully at him, his back turned slightly toward me. Such a nice back, well defined even through that T-shirt
. . .

I would have done anything to spend more time with him, even if it meant having my parents around. His mere presence was all I wanted. “Unfortunately I can’t. My grandparents are in town this week. The longer I avoid them, the more they’ll pepper me with questions.” He smiled apologetically.

“Too bad,” Carla said. “Another time?”

“Definitely,” he said.

“We’ll look forward to it,” my mother replied. “Well, we don’t want to get you in trouble for staying too long. Hugs and kisses to your parents from us.”

“I’ll tell them.”

“Emely, will you walk Elyas to the door?” my mother asked. “I’ll start gathering up all the garbage in here so we can get to work.”

Have I mentioned that my mother can be awesome? In this case she was actually facilitating things with the right boy for once.

Elyas looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, u
h . . .
sure,” I said, biting my lower lip.

My eyes were glued to the floor as we left the living room together and walked into the hall. It was only a few steps to the front door, but it felt like miles.

He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch first. I followed him, leaving the door slightly ajar behind me. Elyas turned to face me. He gave me a self-conscious but sweet smile, which made him look as uncertain as I felt. I returned the smile, though mine undoubtedly looked forced, since I was feeling more and more tense by the second.

We stood there, not knowing where to look, and then Elyas took a step toward me. My body immediately started going crazy. I looked at him
and lost myself again in the depths of his eyes, which made me forget who and where I was.

I somehow raised my half-paralyzed hand and stretched it toward him. I’d always wanted to touch him, and now I finally was about to. At the last instant I lost my courage. My hand fell back to my side when it had only been a few inches from his cheek. Elyas’s fingers took hold of my wrist, and he slowly guided my hand back to his face. He cuddled his cheek into my touch, and closed his eyes. His skin was softer than I’d imagined. It felt smooth and tender under my fingers.

Still, I dropped my hand quickly, out of fear. Elyas opened his eyes, and they twinkled in the light. He bent down toward me and pressed his lips to mine.

“See you tomorrow,” he whispered.

I nodded, incapable of responding any other way. I felt light as a feather, dopey from my own happiness, almost as though I were high. He gave me one small, magical smile before turning and walking away.

I don’t know how long I stood looking after him. Long after he was out of view. An eternity.

That night as I lay in bed, I felt like the happiest girl on earth. I kept running my tongue over and over the spot where our lips had first met, replaying in my head, again and again, everything I had experienced.

I lay awake half the night, unable to close my eyes. I was just too happy to sleep. It was almost morning when I finally dozed off, a smile on my face. The next day started with a shock: I had totally overslept! My parents both left for
work every morning before I went to school, so getting up and ready was my own responsibility.

I jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth. It was well into my first period at school. I raced around putting on clothes and combing my hair at the same time. How could I have slept in on this of all days? I cursed myself.

Once I was dressed, I glanced in the mirror to make sure I looked good enough to run into Elyas. But I knew even before looking that it was hopeless: I looked like crap.

Well, that couldn’t be helped now. I grabbed my backpack and stormed out of the house. I ran all the way to school, I’m sure with the world’s stupidest grin on my face. I couldn’t help it, though. The second I thought about the kiss, the corners of my mouth pulled up automatically.

After apologizing to my teacher, who acknowledged my tardiness with a sigh, I sat down at my desk, totally out of breath.

I had made it to class, but my brain didn’t absorb a single word. I was too busy counting the seconds until the first break, when I would see Elyas.

But whenever you’re eagerly anticipating something, Father Time is brutal. It felt like half a century before the bell rang. I raced out of the room while the bell was still ringing, and ran down the hallway, deciding to go outside first, where Elyas often sat with his friends near the sports courts. But he wasn’t there.

I searched the entire building, but there was no trace of Elyas. I dropped my head. Was he avoiding me? Was he sick and hadn’t come to school? German students don’t all start school at the same time, and Alex’s first class wasn’t until later, so she couldn’t fill me in, either.

Once the first break was over, I gave up my search and leaned on the wall outside my next class. It didn’t take long for Sören to materialize next to me.

“Hi, Emely!” he said, grinning.

“Hello,” I mumbled as I scanned the hallway in hopes I might still see Elyas.

“Emely?”

“Yes?”

“I asked how you are,” he said.

“Um, oh yea
h . . .
fine. And you?”

“Thanks, I’m—” he started, but I stopped listening. The bell rang at that instant, and suddenly I saw him.

Elyas turned into the hallway, accompanied by Kevin. They stood in front of their next class, a few yards down from mine. The mere sight of him rattled me.

I had decided in advance to just walk up to him and say hi, but now my legs didn’t want to budge. Elyas seemed distracted. He turned his head slightly in my direction, scanned the crowded hallway until he caught sight of me, and froze.

But no smile.

No warmth.

His face was ice cold.

I raised my hand to wave, but he looked away before I could.

I didn’t know what was going on. Before I had a chance to ask him, my teacher arrived and held the door open for the mass waiting to go in. I tried to catch one last, fleeting glimpse of Elyas through the surging mass of students, but I couldn’t find him among all the faces anymore.

If I thought waiting for the first break was bad, waiting for lunch was worse.

Sören blathered on, but I didn’t catch one syllable of what he or the teacher said. I just sat, blinking into space, unable to understand why Elyas had looked at me so coldly. I tried to convince myself that maybe he hadn’t seen me, or maybe he had confused me with someone else, or maybe there was some logical reason for the way he’d acted. But deep down I suspected the worst.

After the two torturous hours of class were finally over, I resolved to find Elyas. I even managed to ditch Sören, so I was alone as I stepped out into the courtyard. This time I did find him.

Elyas stood with his back to me, facing Kevin, who sat on one of the rec tables used for Ping-Pong and the like. It took me a while to summon my courage and walk over to them.

Kevin noticed me first, nodding at Elyas to signal he had a visitor.

I stood behind Elyas, who turned around. At first he looked at me, surprised, and for a fraction of a second his eyes were as warm as they had been yesterday. But they darkened again within a blink, and I tensed under his glare.

My voice trembled. “H-h
i . . .
Elyas
. . .
”

“Yes?” he asked in a tone as cold as a bucket of ice water.

“U
m . . .
I
. . . ,
” I whispered, but I couldn’t get any more sound out.

“U
m . . .
can’t yo
u . . .
speak?” he said.

I stared at him. He’d never spoken to me that way before.

In that moment, my world crashed in on itself. “
I . . .
just wante
d . . .
because of yesterday
. . . ,
” I whispered and then stopped talking. His icy eyes froze the blood in my veins.

He suddenly and unexpectedly flashed me a smile, giving me a nanosecond of hope. It took me a second to realize it wasn’t a nice smile. It was a mocking, scornful smile—an infinitely cruel one, too.

“Because of yesterday?” he repeated before a dismissive snort escaped his nose. “Listen closely, little Emely,” he said. “You’re nice and all. But, hey, your boobs are just too small for me.”

I stared into the turquoise-green sneer of his eyes, which seemed frozen. I went rigid and couldn’t react. Everything got quiet around me; the world seemed to stop turning. The only thing I felt was an unbearable, searing pain radiating from the center of my chest.

I always thought it was trite whenever someone talked about a broken heart, but here it was, happening to me. Mine shattered like glass into a thousand pieces, tinkling on the floor in slow motion.

Everything sounded muffled. I was deaf, no longer present, and I couldn’t get my mind to understand what Elyas had just said. There was only the gaping wound that threatened to devour me from the inside, the only proof my imagination wasn’t playing tricks on me. I stumbled backward in a daze, unable to take anything else in. Not even Kevin’s spiteful laughter, which passed through me, and swelled to fill the entire courtyard of people.

The next few months were a blur. I vegetated away, constructing someone completely different for other people to see. I didn’t want anyone noticing what was really going on.

My only salvation was that my love for Elyas eventually grew into hate. But I struggled with the hurt for months and resolved I would never, ever forget. Elyas and I didn’t say a word to each other after that day. Even having to see him at school was hell on earth.

Things started to improve when Elyas spent a year in England with Kevin. Alex had told me they were trying to get into some fancy university there.

Once they had left, I finally started moving through Neustadt again without fear. It took a long time to feel like I was over him, but it did eventually happen.

I only saw him one more time after that. It was when I was at Alex’s house two and a half years later. Elyas came through the front door right as I was leaving. After a second of terror that brought everything back, I walked past
him as though he were made of air.

Now, seven years later, here I was lying in bed next to him. I was actually lying beside the person who had invented mental cruelty. I squinted over at him angrily. He still had his hands behind his head as he looked at the sky, lost in thought.

How could I be so stupid? How could I even consider liking him after everything he did to me in high school? I could kick myself for being so dumb.

Unbridled rage welled up inside me, and I did something that was long,
long
overdue. I raised my elbow, jammed the boney tip into his ribs with incredible force, and yelled “You jerk!”

The breaking sound I had hoped for didn’t happen, but I knew from Elyas’s reaction that my blow hadn’t missed its mark. “Ooowww!” he yelled, grabbing his side, obviously in serious pain. “I didn’t do anything!”

Oh really?

“You’re a jerk! You’re an ass! You made high school hell for me!” I said. His face passed from incomprehension to annoyance. Apparently he didn’t quite follow what I was saying.

“Could you please explain what kind of number you’re pulling here?” he asked.

“I’d love to!” I said, quoting back to him in the same tone what he’d said that day. “Listen closely, little Emely. You’re nice and all. But, hey, your boobs are just too small for me!”

“Oh God
. . . ,
” he moaned, rubbing his ribs. “Why are you bringing
that
up now?”

“Why don’t you start by saying, ‘Sorry I was such a giant freaking jerk’?”

He grumbled in pain, apparently unsure how to respond.

“Oh my God, what are you talking about?” he mumbled. “I’ve just been injured—”

“
You
’ve been injured?” I repeated. “Don’t make me laugh!”

“Seriously! That hurt!” he insisted. “I admit what I said back in high school was wrong. But you don’t need to play the drama queen about it now! I mean, what you did to me back then was way worse!”

Huh?

“What
I
did? What did I do to you?” I stared at him and then continued. “Well, excuse me, but that was my first kiss! If I’d known you were expecting something more professional, I’d have gotten some goddamned coaching first!”