Cherry Red Summer (Emely and Elyas Book 1) (30 page)

I froze. What should I do? Jump up? Yell? Stand between them? Ideas raced through my head, but my body had turned into a chunk of concrete. Sebastian stayed calm and stepped in. “Hey, take it easy, you two, OK?”

Jan appeared, put his arm around Domenic, and tried to draw him back, but Domenic didn’t want to be touched. Sebastian put his hands on Elyas’s chest and pushed him backward. “Calm down, man,” he said. Elyas snorted as his whole body trembled.

Elyas might be an ass, but this kind of aggression wasn’t at
all
like him. He must like Jessica a lot to snap into such a rage over her.

I nervously drew up my legs and watched. With a lot of back and forth, Jan had managed to get Domenic to back away and was walking with him to the edge of the lake. By the time he was out of view, Elyas had also calmed back down. He and Yvonne then turned to Jessica. Her cheeks were covered in tears, and her hands were shaking. Elyas took her under his arm, hugged her tight, and stroked her hair.

I was feeling queasier and queasier.

But Alex was completely flipping out. Sebastian took her hand and led her a few yards away to calm her down. I couldn’t make out what exactly he was saying.

I looked around. I was the only one still sitting at the fire. But I also couldn’t find any conversation going on that I wouldn’t have been intruding on.

“Don’t cry, Jessica,” I heard Elyas saying. “That idiot isn’t worth one tear.” He hugged her even more tightly.

It felt like my ribs were tightening.

“Do you want to go inside the tent?” Elyas asked. Jessica gave an almost imperceptible nod. “OK, then let’s go,” he said, putting his hand around her waist for support. Yvonne didn’t hesitate long before she followed them.

I was all on my own, watching the jerk go into a tent with another girl. I didn’t want to imagine how he would console he
r . . .
I closed my eyes and shook my head. For the first time, I realized how far gone I was. The exact thing I had wanted to avoid had ended up happening anyway. I had allowed Elyas way too much space, and now he’d hurt me. I hung my head and watched my hand slowly sweep over the tips of the grass.

“It’s not what you think,” came a soft voice, making me wince. Sebastian.

He sat beside me and looked at the tent, which is where I had been looking without thinking. Alex’s stupid attentive boyfriend
. . .

I turned my eyes away from it. “S
o . . .
what exactly just happened here, if it’s not what I think?”

He sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“You don’t need to explain it if you don’t want to.”

“Yes I do,” he said. “I’m just wondering how to put it so Domenic isn’t cast in a completely contemptible light. But I’ll try.”

I nodded hesitantly.

“OK,” he said, gathering his thoughts. “I’m sure you picked up on how Jessica isn’t that into talking to you. She’s upset that you rode here on Domenic’s bike and sat with him in front of the campfire.”

The angry looks had been because of Domenic? I frowned.

“I noticed some stinkeye, yeah,” I said.

“Well, Domenic i
s . . .
how should I say
. . .
” Sebastian opened his hands and closed them again. “He’s not a guy who hangs around waiting for things to happen. So sometimes he won’t say no when the other person has strong feelings but he doesn’t.”

I started to clue in to what he was hinting at, although it didn’t explain what Elyas had to do with any of it.

“Jessica has been in love with Domenic for ages and Domenic knows it, but he doesn’t feel the same way about her. I’m not trying to make him out to be the bad guy—that’s just how things are in life sometimes.

“But I do blame him for how he acts toward her. He plays games with her and gives her hope, only to drop her like a hot potato time and time again.”

I understood what he meant about giving her hope.

“The rest of us are caught in the middle because Domenic is Sophie’s brother, and he’s been a friend of ours for year
s . . .
But at some point, he took things too far. He treated Jessica like shit.” Sebastian sighed. “Jessica, to her credit, sees through it all. But the sad thing is she always runs to him anytime he comes calling.”

Sebastian had been playing with a little piece of wood, which he now tossed into the fire. “We have tried and tried,” he continued, “to talk her out of him and make her see how she’s degrading herself and how self-destructive she’s being, not just with Domenic but in other ways, too. But it’s been no use. She keeps going back to him.”

I wrapped my arms around my drawn-up knees. “What about Domenic, though? Have you tried talking sense into him?”

“More than a few times.” Sebastian exhaled. “But you can’t talk to him about things like this. He doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with how he’s acting. ‘It’s her own fault if some bitch is that dumb and gets into it,’ he said. That’s a quote, actually. Verbatim.”

My eyes grew wide. “Did you tell Jessica that?”

“No,” he replied, rubbing his neck. “We didn’t need to. She was there and heard it herself.”

My lips formed an O shape, and Sebastian nodded. He looked into the flames for a moment before continuing. “It hit her incredibly hard. She shut down and ran off. We tried calling her, but she wouldn’t answer. We got more and more worried. After two hours, Elyas and I drove over to her place
. . .
” Given how thin he had pressed his lips, the memories were difficult to relive. “When we got there,” he continued, “she was downing a cocktail of prescription medications.”

I was shocked.

“Mostly painkillers,” he said. “It wasn’t a real suicide attempt; it was more an act of desperation, a cry for help. She would have survived even if we hadn’t gone over. But you take it just as seriously. Before that, we had been preoccupied with who had done what to whom. None of us had noticed how badly Jessica was actually doing.”

I fingered the hem of my pants. Everything was starting to make sense.

“From then on, Domenic stayed away from Jessica. He finally understood he had gone too far. He’s been leaving her alone—until tonight.” Sebastian exhaled. “It’s so frustrating, you know?” he continued. “This was about six months ago, and we’d been thinking it was all behind us. Jessica has sworn up and down she’s over him.” He shrugged.

“She lied,” I said.

“Yeah, she di
d . . .
but it’s much worse that Domenic didn’t learn anything.”

“Elyas just lost it with him
. . . ,
” I mumbled, putting the puzzle pieces together in my head.

“Yeah, that’s how it is,” he said. “I can’t hold it against him.”

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand,” I said. “Why is Domenic acting that way? I don’t know him that well, but I’ve never had the impression he would act like that.”

Sebastian gave a melancholy smile. “We don’t know why, either. He’s a nice guy and a good friend. But when it comes to women
. . .
” He shook his head. “Domenic has never had a girlfriend. He’s never been in lov
e . . .
Something’s off with him, but I’ve never gotten to the bottom of it.”

I didn’t say anything for a while. “Maybe he just has two sides. A lot of people do.” Sebastian looked at me, and I turned my face from the fire. I could feel his eyes on me, studying me.

“And some people,” he finally said, “hide behind a mask because they’re afraid of being hurt.”

What—or
whom
—did he mean by that? Jessica? Domenic? Me? Elyas? Some random girl I’d never heard of?

I couldn’t be sure. But I suddenly felt ill at ease.

“Sebaaastian!” a high voice called across the meadow. We both winced.

There was no mistaking Alex.

“Come help me! Should I wear the red or blue sweater?” she yelled.

Sebastian and I grinned at each other as he got up.

“Have I ever told you how grateful I am that you’re her go-to person for these things now, instead of me?” I asked.

“No, but you owe me.” He laughed.

“Well, I
did
warn you.”

“Yes, and you were right,” he said with a shrug. “I still like her all the same.”

“I know what you mean,” I sighed. “You can’t help loving her.”

He nodded. “Please excuse me. Apparently, I’m
urgently
needed elsewhere.”

I grinned. “Of course.”

He winked at me, gave my shoulder a friendly pat, and stood up. I watched him walk off, then looked back at the fire. His words replayed in my mind, like an old, scratchy LP.

C
HAPTER
20

. . .
S
TILL
C
AMPING

I
sat by the campfire, lost in thought. Sophie and Andy were keeping me company, but there wasn’t a trace of anyone else. How long could it take for someone to decide on a sweater? Sebastian and Alex had disappeared more than half an hour ago. I was sure they weren’t choosing clothes anymore and had moved on to other activities. Maybe they were even experiencing their first time with each other.

Jan and Domenic had reappeared, silently grabbed a couple of beers, and then withdrawn somewhere far away again. I was still processing what Sebastian had told me. Although I hadn’t ever considered Domenic to be the guy for me, I hadn’t found him anything but nice. Now I was wondering how I could have been so deceived. It didn’t help that I wasn’t the only one, either.

By contrast, nothing should have surprised me about Elyas anymore—as proved once again tonight. I was seeing a very strong protective instinct in him. That would explain why he had shown such kindness and taken such good care of me after my parents’ accident.

I pulled out a blade of grass and ran my fingers over its smooth surface. Elyas was so full of contradictions. I couldn’t fit all the pieces of him together. He was like a book that raised more questions than it provided answers.

As I went to pull out another blade of grass, I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye. In the darkness I made out a tall, slim form approaching the fire. The movements were so fluid and lithe that it could be only one person. I looked away.

“Well?” Sophie asked as Elyas made it within earshot of us.

“She’s asleep. Yvonne is staying with her.” His voice sounded muted, although as familiar as always.

Sophie slowly shook her head. “God, I thought that whole thing was behind us.”

“We all did,” Elyas said. “Apparently she’s a very good actor.”

We were silent. I looked down at the grass at my feet. Elyas’s body cast a long shadow across the meadow in the firelight, and I could tell he was moving toward me. His shadow grew smaller and smaller as he came to stand next to me. Elyas squatted down.

“Hey
. . . ,
” he whispered, close to me.

My heartbeat sped up when I turned to look at him. The light of the fire reflected in his eyes, turning them into a turbulent, turquoise sea.

“Would you take a little walk with me, Emely?”

Would I take a walk with Elyas? In other words, walk with him, defenseless, into the darkness? I shook my head.

He sighed. “I won’t do anything,” he said. “I just want to talk about before.”

“You don’t need to, Elyas.”

“I kno
w . . .
But I’d like to explain why
I . . .
Why that happened.”

Elyas had no idea Sebastian had already filled me in. The way he was looking at me, it seemed like he was afraid I had drawn some hasty conclusions about him.

I was about to take a breath and tell him, but a kind of mean idea popped into my head.

No.

I couldn’t do that to him.

Or could I?

Bad Emely.

Very bad Emely!

“Please,” he said.

“All right,” I mumbled, struggling to my feet.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile.

“We’ll be back in a little while,” he called out to Andy and Sophie.

He strolled next to me in silence. After a while we reached the edge of the lake, the moon reflecting beautifully on its surface. We walked around the lake until we reached a little dock, where I stopped.

“You could have just told me you’re more interested in Jessica,” I said.

“What?” His eyes grew wide. “No, no! You’ve misunderstood.”

“Elyas.” I looked at the ground. “You don’t need to talk your way out of this one with some silly story—”

“No, it’s not what you think. Really!”

“Please, Elyas. I know the speech all too well.”

He stared at me then pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “This time it’s true!” he said. “Jessica is going through a really rough time. I’m trying to be there for her and help her—
as a friend.”

“Rough time? You’re helping?” I repeated. “Let me guess. Jessica is in a nymphomaniac phase and urgently needs you to help her with that, right?”

Oh boy, was I mean!

“G-God, no, Emely!” he stammered. “There’s nothing going on between me and Jessic
a . . .
It’s because of Domenic. She’s unhappily in love with him and—”

“You’re blaming all this on Domenic?” I interrupted. “You’re the one who’s meddling out of jealous rage!”

“No!” he said, shaking his head.

“You’re not meddling?”

“Well, sort of, ye
s . . .
but not out of jealousy. It’s because Domenic is only using her.”

He was so darned cute whenever he tried to talk his way out of something.

Although—dammit—he was actually telling the truth
. . .

But no matter.

“You aren’t seriously trying to tell me that you almost picked a fight with Domenic because Domenic is using Jessica?” I snorted. “You’ve got to admit that sounds pretty laughable.”

“It’s true,” he pleaded. “Let me tell you the whole story.”

“No, I think I’ve heard enough!” I tried to turn away, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and held me. “No! Wai
t . . .
please! Let me explain!”

I looked down at his hand, which he released from my shoulder.

“Please just listen to me,” he said.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or take him into my arms with compassion.

“No. I don’t want to hear any more.”

“Please, Emely, I’m begging you!”

I looked at my feet. “You know, I had just started trusting yo
u . . .
then I find out you’re just toying with me. Instead of being honest
now
, you’ve shamelessly continued lying to my face.”

Elyas shook his head, his eyes big. “No, you can trust me, Emel
y . . .
really!”

“Letting me drive the Mustang, all your compliments, your text messages—it’s all been a lie!”

“I wasn’t lying. I swear! It’s a gigantic misunderstanding! Let me explain.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore: my mouth formed a grin, and I burst out laughing. Oh, his face! Nothing, and I mean nothing, could surpass his flabbergasted expression. I wiped a tear from my eye.

“W-why are you laughing?”

I mimicked him. “Please, please, please, Emely, let me explain!” I was laughing so hard by the end, no sound was coming out anymore.

His mouth fell agape. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Everything!” I gasped.

“Y-you mean you’re not mad?”

“No.” I sniffled. “Sebastian told me the whole story, before.”

Elyas’s face drained of all expression. He remained frozen, as though his brain were rebooting.

“You knew all along?”

I nodded, laughing and slapping my thigh.

“You were taking me for a ride?”

I nodded again.

“Here I am practically begging on my knees, and you were just toying with me?”

“You should have seen your face!” I said, trying to mimic him again.

“Bah!” he burst out. “Yo
u . . .
yo
u . . .
you turd!”

“Oh, you deserved it!”

“Deserved?”

“Oh my God, yes! That was revenge for pretending you didn’t recognize me the day I helped Alex move in!”

“Now hold on
. . . ,
” he said as he took a step toward me.

“Don’t you come any closer to me!” I said, instantly dead serious, and staggered backward.

His eyes were ablaze, and he clearly had no intention of stopping. As I turned to flee, his arms came from behind and caught hold of me around my middle.

“No!” I protested.

Then he grabbed me around the hollows of my knees and hiked me up.

“Put me down!” I yelled, thrashing about.

“You gambled and you lost,” he said, carrying me over to the dock and holding me out over the water.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Shouldn’t I?” He grinned and eased his grip.

“No!” I clung tightly to him. “Stop fooling around, please! I don’t have any clothes to change into!”

“That doesn’t exactly speak against throwing you in.”

“Please, Elyas. Don’t do it.”

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t throw you into that water right now for playing such a shitty trick on me?”

“Becaus
e . . .
because
. . .
”

Dammit, reasons, where are you?

“Because?” He eased his grip some more.

I screamed and tried to find a way to hold on to him more tightly. “Because I swear you would regret it for the rest of your life!” I finally said.

He looked up into the sky and moaned. “It would have been smarter just to throw you in instead of listening to you first!”

“Please put me down now,” I said as my heart raced faster and faster. Although I wasn’t so sure it was racing for fear of getting wet.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? I thought you weren’t going to throw me in!”

I felt his breath in my hair. “I’m not. But now that I have you in my arms
. . .
”

Warmth spread through my body from my core. If I hadn’t been so charged up from my nearly forced swim, I would have liked to rest my head on his shoulder and let him carry me, holding me in his arms
. . .

I shook my head. No naughty thoughts about Elyas!

“I’m feeling
slightly
uncomfortable here, Elyas. Would you please be so kind as to set me down?”

He sulked. “If I set you down now, the first thing you’ll do is take a six-foot jump away from me.”

“I would be justified, wouldn’t I?”

“What justification would you have?”

“Elyas,” I snarled. “Believe me. Enough already. Plus, this is a crappy position to put me in to debate it!”

He uttered a sequence of dissatisfied sounds but finally turned, let loose my knees, and let me slide down onto the dock. I was relieved to be on my own two feet again, but the relief vanished as I noticed Elyas had “forgotten” to take his arms from around my middle and was resting his chin on my shoulder from behind.

“Let go of me!” I said, struggling to break free, but he shook his head and held me tighter. “Elyas!” I felt hot and cold at the same time. I thrashed wildly and after a couple more attempts managed to free myself. I ran away with huge strides and couldn’t breathe again until I had reestablished my safety zone. I turned to him and glared with squinted eyes.

“I hate you,” he mumbled.

“Ditto,” I replied, crossing my arms.

We stood facing each other, as I shot telepathic lightning bolts at him. The look he returned reminded me of a thunderstorm more than anything. At some point, I just trudged past him and returned to the campfire. To my disappointment, he silently followed, a step behind.

When we made it back to the middle of the meadow, we found nothing but couples. Alex and Sebastian had returned. Alex sat in front of Sebastian, their arms and legs intertwined. Sophie rested her head, eyes closed, on Andy’s shoulder.

I didn’t say anything and just sat down on one of the blankets.

“Sebastian, if it occurs to you to explain anything else to Emely, would you please give me a heads-up?” Elyas said.

I smirked, but only until he sat down much too close to me. I scooted away.

Sebastian frowned. “Why?”

“Don’t ask,” Elyas mumbled, grabbing for a bottle of water.

“What have you two been up to?” Alex asked, leaning her head on Sebastian’s upper arm.

“Oh, you know Emely,” Elyas answered, unscrewing the cap to the bottle. “She shamelessly came on to me, as always. When will she finally understand she has no chance with me?” He smirked at me and took a drink.

“That’d be nice,” I grumbled. He looked me in the eye so intensely that I forgot who I was.

Emely Schwarz?

No! Emely
Winter!
Winter!

“Do I have spinach in my teeth or something?” I muttered, looking away.

“No,” he said. “But there’s a spider in your hair.”

I leaped up and shook out my hair. “Is it gone?” I yelled.

All I heard was soft laughing. I peered through my hair and saw that same unabashedly mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“No spider then, huh?”

The five other people smiled and shook their heads.

I turned red and sat back down. What a jerk!

“Sorry,” he said. His smile was as sweet as hone
y . . .
I almost couldn’t be mad.
Almost.
I gave him a push and glared at him for the next ten minutes straight.

After that, the longer I ignored him, the more it seemed to draw him in. He bombarded me with stupid comments, and Andy laughed loudly at each of them. We played a scooting game: he scooted toward me five times, and I scooted away five times.

“Emely,” Elyas said, pestering me again. “I urgently need your help.”

“All you have to do,” I said, not knowing what he wanted, “is keep moving your hand up and down, and you’ll get there without me.”

Andy and Sebastian burst out laughing, though Elyas only smirked. “First of all, I would not want to get there without you. Second, I was going to discuss something different.”

“Why am I worried you’ll tell me, whether I want to hear it or not?”

“Pay attention,” he said. “I know a girl. And I know she’s totally into me. But she won’t admit it—not at all.”

I looked at the sky and waited.

“So, my question is this: What can I do to make her give in and have the night of her life?”

My fingers flexed, wanting nothing more than to take hold of his neck and squeeze.

“I wonder if it would be the night of
her
life, or the night of someone
else’s
life,” Sebastian said, raising an eyebrow. I nodded my thanks to him before turning back to Elyas.

“Here’s what you do.”

“Yes?” He leaned closer.

“Rent yourself a room at Guantánamo Bay, and don’t come back until I’ve had a chance to change my name and graduate.”