It's a Love Thing (13 page)

“
What’s up?” I asked. “I’m
all out of sugar so if you’re looking to borrow a cup . .
.”

“
Listen, I’m sorry about
the other day. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“
Yeah, you could say
that.”

“
I was having a . . . bad
day.”

“
Well, I guess everyone’s
entitled to a bad day now and then,” I agreed, still not sure what
it was he wanted.

“
Let me make it up to you.
You wanna go for a walk? There are some decent trails in the woods
near here.”

Okay, weird. But sort of nice too.
Unfortunately, after all the warnings I had just received to stay
away from the guy, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of going off
into the woods alone with him.

“
I don’t know. My mom . .
.”

“
We won’t be gone long.
Come on, help me ease my conscience.”

“
Cause easing your
conscience is the number one priority on my to-do list
today.”

Wow, bratty much? I could probably
stand to reign in the ‘tude a bit.

“
Fair enough. Can we at
least talk for a minute?”

“
Fine,” I agreed, mostly
out of guilt.

Slipping out onto the
porch, I pulled the door shut behind me. I wasn’t ready to be alone
inside my house with him just yet either. I eased into one of the
wicker porch chairs, while he took the other. For a minute he
didn’t say anything, just sat there staring out over the
yard.
Hello? Earth to Lucas.

“
So . . . you and Jason,”
he finally asked, “are you two together or something?”

“
I don’t see how that is
any of your business.”

Clear failure to reign it
in.

“
Sorry,” I sighed, wanting
to smack myself in the head. “Yes, Jason and I are sorta
together.”

At least that’s the conclusion I had
drawn from the good night kiss he gave me when he dropped me off
after the movie last night.

“
Sorta?”

“
It’s not official or
anything, but yeah. Why?”

“
No reason. I just . . .
You don’t know what he’s really like.”

“
He seems like a pretty
decent guy to me, even offered to help me out when I was
struggling, unlike
some
people.”

Sheesh, there I go again. This guy
clearly brought out the best in me.

“
Yeah, sorry about that.
Bad day,” he reiterated. “I had sort of just lost something
important. Not my finest moment.”

“
No, it wasn’t,” I
agreed.

Maybe I should just staple my mouth
shut when he’s around. Lucas only laughed, though. It was a nice
sound.

“
You’re not gonna let me
live that down are you?”

“
No, apparently
not.”

“
Well then, you owe it to
me to at least have the chance to prove that I’m a decent guy,
too—
most of the time
.”

I considered his
proposition for a minute before deciding,
What the hell?

“
Alright, deal.”

“
Tomorrow night, then.
There’s a carnival rolling into town. You and I are
going.”

“
That didn’t sound like a
question.”

“
It wasn’t. I’ll be here at
six so be ready.”

With that he excused
himself and headed across my lawn back toward his house.
What
was
his
problem? Looked like I had plans yet again tomorrow night, with
Lucas. Weird. I wondered how Jason would take the news. The least I
could do was let him know about it. It’s not like it was a date or
anything so it shouldn’t have been a big deal, but I knew how Jason
felt about Lucas in particular. Reaching into my pocket to pull out
my cell, I found it empty. I tried the other but same problem. Huh.
I checked every conceivable place it could have fallen on the deck
and came up blank. I knew I had had it out there. My fingers had
been fiddling with the key pad while I waited for Lucas to explain
what he was doing here. So where could it have possibly
gone?

Half an hour later, frustration had me
ready to pull my hair out and I had completely given up the search.
There was always the house phone, but I didn’t actually know
Jason’s number without the stupid cell phone. Apparently there is
something to be said for contact books. Even though I would
probably just lose that too.

*****

Monday night I started getting ready
for the carnival around five thirty, and unfortunately mom was
actually home for a change. The last thing I needed was for her to
meet the ‘hot guy’ next door, especially when I hadn’t even told
her about Jason yet.

When the doorbell rang—it was becoming
a regular thing—promptly at six, mom didn’t miss a beat rushing to
answer it before I could stop her.

“
Hello. I’m Mel’s mom,
Doreen,” she said, offering a hand like he was a business associate
or something.

“
Hi. I’m Lucas.”

“
You live next door I
understand?”

“
Yes, ma’am.”

“
That’s
lovely,”—
insert groan
here
—“we will have to have your parents
over for dinner sometime to get to know them.”

“
Well . . . they’re away on
business pretty often. I’m not really sure when they’ll be back,”
Lucas explained awkwardly.

“
And they just leave you
home alone?”

“
Mom,” I tried to
interject, but she was having none of it. Once she was on a roll
there was no stopping the woman.

“
You must be a very mature
young man to be trusted with such responsibility.”

“
I try,” he
offered.

“
I expect that you will be
the same kind of responsible with my daughter tonight,
then.”

Annnd . . . there went the
line.

“
Okay, mom, time to go. See
you later,” I called over my shoulder as I pulled Lucas toward the
door with me.

“
Your mom seems—” he
started as we crossed the lawn toward his driveway.

“
Don’t,” I interrupted.
“Don’t even go there.”

Lucas laughed and then did the
strangest thing. He opened the car door for me. I think maybe I saw
that in an old movie somewhere once, but I had definitely never
experienced it before. It was nice.

The roads were crowded and slow going
thanks to a three car pileup further ahead. I hoped everyone was
alright. Lucas seemed more agitated than anything. As we finally
started moving again a dark blue sports car whipped into our lane,
cutting us off. Lucas had to slam on his breaks and I slapped the
dash to steady myself.

“
You okay?” Lucas
asked.

“
Fine,” I assured
him

“
Some people just don’t
know how to drive. They think they can just . . .” he grumbled, but
it was beginning to sound like the start of a tirade.

“
Maybe it’s an emergency,”
I cut him off.

“
What?”

“
Maybe his pregnant wife
was in the backseat going into labor and he’s trying to get her to
the hospital,” I offered.

“
Do you really believe
that?” he asked, incredulously.

“
What’s real doesn’t
matter. Doesn’t it just make you feel better to assume
it?”

Lucas considered that for a minute and
then glanced over at me. One corner of his mouth was quirked in
this adorable little half smile.

“
Yeah, it kind of does,” he
agreed. “Ya know, you’re really something else.”

The remainder of the trip passed
quickly, without any more grumbling from Lucas. When we pulled into
the parking lot I was surprised to see he was still smiling. Once
we managed to find a spot to park, he was out of the car and around
my side so fast I didn’t even have a chance to reach for the door
handle before he had it open. Okay then. I took his offered hand
and he helped me out of the car, promptly letting go once I was on
my feet. It was all very proper, and weird, and . . . nice. I
couldn’t help smiling at him and when he returned it I was even
more stunned. Cheese and crackers! I'd known he was good-looking,
but when he smiled it reached a whole new level entirely. Suddenly
the phrase ‘weak in the knees’ started to make sense. I had to
remind myself that this wasn’t a date. In fact, I was dating
someone else, kinda, maybe . . . I think.

The carnival was precisely the mental
image you conjure up at the word ‘carnival.' Dinky rides with
bright flashing lights which are likely to make you puke, rows of
rigged games with carnies hocking their impossible-to-claim prizes,
and people everywhere. Every age group, from toddler on up to
grandparents, was represented in the shuffling masses that filled
the small spaces between stands, rides, and ticket booths. Lucas
reached for my hand and I let him take it . . . just so I wouldn’t
lose him, of course.

“
Where to first?” he
asked.

“
I don’t know.”

“
Are you more of a ride
girl or a game girl?”

“
I just ate,” I
explained.

“
Ah, games it is
then.”

Apparently he wasn’t eager to see my
meal come back up either. A man in a blue jumpsuit stood just
inside the booth for a water gun game.

“
Here, son, why don’t you
take a chance and win something nice for your girlfriend there?” he
called to Lucas. I thought about correcting his assumption but what
was the point? “I’m sure she would love this cute little
bear.”

“
What do you say?
You
love
that
bear?” Lucas asked, with another one of those devastating
smiles.

What bear? Forcing myself to get a
grip, I nodded without thinking.

“
Alright, then,” Lucas told
the man, pulling a couple dollars from his pocket.

The carnie handed Lucas a water pistol
and pointed to a clown face with a target in its mouth.

“
The more water you get
into the target, the bigger the prize.”

Lucas took aim and as soon as the
water started flowing the target jerked into motion. No one had
warned us about that little complication, but it didn’t seem to
matter to Lucas in the least. He nailed the target the entire time
and filled the plastic tube all the way to the top. I had my choice
of any prize in the booth. Apparently they were not as impossible
as I had come to believe. I chose the small stuffed bear the man
had hassled us about earlier; easier to carry than one of those
oversized things that would just end up taking up space in my
already cramped bedroom.

I was teasing Lucas about his inhuman
skills as we turned away from the booth and ran smack into Jason,
Jenna, and Kyle.

“
Mel, what are you doing
here? With him?” Jason asked, as surprise flashed in his eyes and
then something else, but it was gone so fast I couldn’t identify
it.

“
Lucas invited me, so I
agreed to check it out with him . . . as friends,” I added quickly,
noting how awkward the situation was.

Jason did not look happy. “I tried to
call to invite you myself actually.”

“
I lost my phone,” I
explained. “I can’t find it anywhere.”

“
Then let’s make plans for
tomorrow right now so you won’t have to worry about finding it.
We’re going to this club in the city. You should check it out with
us.”

“
I don’t think the club is
really her style,” Lucas interjected.

Cripes, Lucas, like it wasn’t already
uncomfortable enough. What was he trying to do?

“
Are you saying you know my
girlfriend better than I do?” asked Jason with a definite sharp
edge to his voice I hadn’t heard before.

Note to self, Jason called me his
girlfriend. Guess it's official now.

“
I’m just saying I don’t
think the club is a good idea. You won’t enjoy it,” Lucas said,
turning to me.

He just heard Jason call me his
girlfriend, I told him already that we were together, so why was he
being this way? I should have known. Once a jerk…

“
I’d love to go, Jason.
Pick me up at eight?”

“
Sure thing, babe. I guess
I’ll let you two lovebirds get back to your game. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

Jason stuck around long enough to
plant a quick kiss on my lips before retreating into the crowd with
Kyle and Jenna on his heels. They were like lost little puppies
around Jason. I overheard Lucas mumbling something about ‘a bad
idea’ as he headed back towards the parking lot.

“
What the hell was that all
about?” I shouted when I was sure Jason was out of
earshot.

“
What?”

“
You know what. Why are you
always such a PITA around Jason?”

Lucas stared at me strangely and I
realized that my PG lingo must be below him as well, so I decided
to clarify.