It's a Love Thing (15 page)

He just stood there staring at me,
never releasing his sturdy grasp on my arm.

“
Please?” I begged. “I just
want to go home.”

“
Alright,” he agreed and
led me back down the sidewalk to where his car was
parked.

We were halfway home before he spoke
again.

“
Are you going to tell me
what happened back there?”

I debated it, but decided he deserved
the truth. He had tried to warn me and in the end he was the one
who had come to my rescue when I needed him.

“
You were right, the club
was a bad idea,” I admitted.

I went on to tell him everything, all
of it, from the drugs to the spiked drinks. Lucas never said a
word, but I couldn’t help noticing that he was gripping the wheel
so hard his knuckles turned white. When I finished spewing the
nights details at him he mumbled something about ‘breaking the
rules’ before flipping on the radio. Classic rock, go figure. A few
songs later when he was no longer strangling the life out of his
steering wheel, he flipped the music off again.

“
Are you okay?” he
asked.

“
I’m fine, just a little
sick, I think. I’m just glad you were there. I don’t know what I
would have done if I hadn’t run into you . . .
literally.”

“
Me, too. Why don’t you
close your eyes and take a nap. I’ll wake you when we get home. It
might make you feel better.”

I never intended to actually fall
asleep, but within seconds I was out cold. When I woke again it was
after one in the morning. I was in my own bed, still fully dressed
minus my high heels, and tucked neatly in under my blanket with the
carnival bear in my arms. Lucas must have carried me in when we got
home. Unbelievable. Not bothering to change, I rolled over and went
back to sleep.

*****

In the morning I was greeted by the
enticing scent of bacon. It was enough to lure me out of bed
and—after a quick shower—downstairs, despite the pounding in my
head. Mom was in the kitchen fighting with a pan spitting grease
everywhere.

“
Turn the heat down,” I
instructed.

“
Thank you very much. I
would do that if I could get close enough to reach the burner
dials.”

“
Here,” I tossed her a set
of tongs and she used them to flip off the stove.

When the pan had finally stopped
splattering hot grease all over, she picked it up and dumped the
slightly charred contents onto a plate.

“
What’s the occasion?” I
asked picking out one of the more well-done slices. I liked my
bacon crunchy.

“
I haven’t been home much
since we moved in here, trying to get the new office all set up and
everything, and my conscience was nagging me.”

“
So guilt equals bacon?
Good to know. I didn’t hear you come in last night,” I said,
testing the waters. I still wasn’t sure if she had been home when
Lucas had carried me in last night. That would be hard to explain,
especially since I
still
hadn’t gotten around to mentioning Jason to her.
Probably a good thing at this point.

“
Oh, it was late. Really
late, like almost three.”

Guess not. There’s one good thing
about having a workaholic mom.

“
Why are you even awake
right now?”

“
Because I have to go out
of town for a couple days. Mr. Stein needs me back in the old
office. Apparently my replacement is not doing a very good job and
he wants me to come back and train her. I’ll only be gone two days,
three max, but I leave tomorrow so I had hoped to spend some time
with you today. You don’t have plans already do you?”

“
No, mom, no plans.” Never
again.

“
Great because I thought we
could go over to the mall and do a little shopping. How does that
sound?”

Another benefit of workaholic mom,
remorse shopping. Score.

“
Sounds good.”

Even if I planned on never leaving the
house again, it didn’t mean I had to be a frumpy hermit. The rest
of the day was spent perusing the mall and visiting fitting rooms.
We even managed to have a family dinner together. Okay, granted it
was burgers at the food court, but still pretty good for us. It was
a nice treat to have my mom all to myself for a while. A few times
I considered telling her everything that had happened since we
moved here but I didn’t want to ruin our day. Instead I munched my
burger and chatted about the purchases we had made. I was
particularly proud of a red sun dress I'd gotten and couldn’t wait
for an excuse to wear it.

*****

The following day things went back to
normal. Mom left according to schedule and it was back to just me
and the empty house. Boring. I still hadn’t heard word one from
Jason so calling him was out, even if I did have my cell, which I
didn’t. Sooner or later I was going to have to fess up to losing it
and get mom to buy me another. Maybe there would be enough guilt
stacked up after this trip to pull it off. The only other option
was Lucas and he did just happen to be right next door, and I did
still owe him a thank you from the other night. Decision made, I
crossed the yard and knocked on his door. I had on my new sundress.
Leaving the house seemed like a good enough excuse to slip it on.
Not like I was trying to impress anyone or anything.

“
Hey.” He answered the door
wearing a pair of sweatpants—
just
a pair a sweatpants.
Seriously
?

“
Hey,” I said, shaking
myself out of whatever fantasy had begun to take root in my
disturbed brain. “I just wanted to thank you for the other night. I
appreciate all your help.”

“
No problem. You wanna come
in or something?”

“
Um, sure.”

His house was nice. Dark wood floors
and brightly lit rooms made the whole place feel cozy and
welcoming. Not at all like our bare bones, stark white, museum
style accommodations next door. Almost every surface here was
covered by some kind of knick knack or decoration or books. There
were hundreds of them all over the place. They must be big readers.
All of it added to the homey ambiance and I found myself very
comfortable there.

“
Are these all yours?” I
asked, indicating the small library scattered around the
room.

“
Yeah.”

“
Like reading?” I
teased.

“
It’s a hobby. So you and
Jason, guess that’s over, huh?”

“
Um, I guess. I haven’t
talked to him since the club. I still can’t find my stupid phone
and it’s not like he’s stopped by to apologize or
anything.”

“
If he did, apologize I
mean, would you forgive him?”

“
I don’t know. I just can’t
understand what he was thinking spiking my drink like that. Maybe
he wasn’t thinking, maybe he was already drunk when he did it and
he feels bad about it now.”

“
Or maybe he’s a no good
jerk who knew exactly what he was doing and tried to take the cheap
way out.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Never mind. I just don’t
think you should forgive him so easily. He doesn’t deserve a second
chance.”

“
I kind of believe everyone
deserves a second chance.”

“
Some don’t. Not Jason,
anyway. He’s bad news, trust me. You shouldn’t hang out with him
anymore.”

“
Well, it’s not like I know
many other people around here.”

“
You know
me
.”

“
Right, because you’ve been
oh so social.”

“
What if I was? Would you
stay away from Jason if I hung out more?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Then let’s do it. Whatever
you want just let me know and we’ll do it, alright?”

“
You’re
serious?”

“
Of course I’m
serious.”

I considered him for a minute. He was
so determined to keep me away from Jason that he was willing to put
up with . . . what? Babysitting me?

“
I don’t really need a pity
friend.”

“
Come on, Mel. You should
know I’m not that nice. I wouldn’t offer to spend time with you if
it wasn’t something I wanted to do.”

That sounded more like
Lucas, but I didn’t know what to make of the rest of it. Did he
genuinely want to hang out, or was this just some kind of big screw
you aimed at Jason? Since I wasn’t exactly eager to see Jason again
anytime soon and school didn’t start for another two months, making
any other friends sounded unlikely. Two months was a long time to
spend holed up alone, especially two
summer
months. And he just looked so
damn good leaning against the counter with his ripped arms folded
casually over his bare chest. Mmm. Ri-diculous. So what if I was
only being graced with Lucas’ presence as part of his anti-Jason
campaign? I’d take what I could get for now.

“
Alright, fine. You keep me
from being a complete loner all summer and I’ll avoid spending more
time with Jason . . . for a while.”

“
You’ve got yourself a
deal,” he agreed with a grin.

*****

The next day I was still questioning
the brainpower that went into my decision making process. If I was
being honest, it may not have all come from my brain, but . . .
shirtless? Seriously? How could I be expected to make any rational
decisions in those circumstances? Besides, all I had to do was wait
for Lucas to renege on his end of the deal and then I’d be free to
do as I pleased again. Not that the idea of calling Jason was even
slightly tempting at the moment . . . even if I could find that
freaking phone.

It wouldn’t take long, of
that I was sure. Despite what Lucas had said, I was certain he had
about as little interest in spending time with me as I did with
him. Even if he had been there to save me when I needed him at the
club, and had taken me home and
tucked me
into bed
. He was still Lucas. I was
absolutely sure . . . right up until the doorbell rang at
noon.

Then again if I was really so certain
Lucas would fail, why was I not surprised to find him standing on
my front porch? What did surprise me were the two backpacks he had
over his shoulder.

“
What’s up?” I asked
cautiously. “Isn’t it a bit early to be thinking about back to
school?”

“
It is, but it’s the
perfect time to be thinking about hiking. Come on. Get some boots
on and let’s go.”

“
Hiking?”

“
Yes, it’s this pastime
where you walk, usually in the woods,” he deadpanned.

“
Ha-ha. I know what hiking
is, even if I’ve never done it before.”

“
You’ve never been hiking?”
he asked incredulously.

“
Southern Cali is more
about the beaches than the woods.”

“
We'd better remedy this
situation immediately. You do have boots don’t you?”

“
Do cowboy boots
count?”

“
Um, no.”

“
Alright, hold on. I think
my mom may have a pair that’ll fit me.”

I raced upstairs and dug through her
closet. Towards the back I found a pair of serious all-purpose type
boots that I think she used when she worked in a museum warehouse
for a few weeks doing some kind of inventory. Outside Lucas handed
me one of the packs and tugged the other up higher on his
shoulders. What kind of walk in the woods requires supplies? Lucas
hitched the straps on my pack, until it settled snuggly against my
back.

“
It’s not too heavy, is it?
I can take a few more supplies in mine if . . .”

“
No, it’s fine.”

“
Alright then, let’s get
this show on the road.”

We made our way down the street until
we hit the dead end, continuing into the woods from there. A small,
dirt path carved its way around trees and through the brush. At
least it looked well-trodden, like there may actually be some other
people out there somewhere, besides just the two of us. You know,
just in case. Not that I didn’t trust Lucas, but my brain just
didn’t fire on all cylinders when he was around.

“
So where are we headed
anyway?”

“
Nowhere in particular. I
just thought you could use some fresh air and exercise. This is
definitely a better way to spend a gorgeous day than at the mall or
in some club.”

I had to agree, but I didn’t have to
agree out loud. Like he needed the ego boost.

“
So we’re just gonna
walk?”

“
That’s the
idea.”

He hefted his bag again and headed
deeper into the woods. I rushed to keep up with him at first, but
after a few minutes we settled into a pace that worked for both of
us. For a while we walked in companionable silence. I focused on
where I was stepping and just how scenic the woods really were. I
hadn’t actually spent much time, or any time really, in the woods
before. They were peaceful. The gentle wind blowing through the
leaves and rays of sun dancing through the thick canopy were all
excellent distractions for what was next to me. Not that I failed
entirely to notice the way Lucas’ shirt clung to his sweaty torso,
or the way he was breathing just a little heavier than normal, or
every single time his arm brushed against mine when the trail
narrowed. I was enchanted, not dead.