Just Friends (11 page)

Two of the boys planted themselves in front
of her, arms folded, and blocked her progress. Alannah skidded to a
halt. Eyes on the ground, she turned slowly back toward the
building. She’d read inside today.

The biggest boy, the main bully, knocked the
books from her arms. “You don’t belong here.”

Her belly quivered with fear. He’d never done
that before.

His actions emboldened the other two to
circle.

“Why are you here, four eyes? You’re
poor.”

“Are you on
welfare
?” one taunted.

“Did you see the car her father drives?” The
main bully laughed loud and mean. “It’s a
Toyota
. And it’s
old.”

The other two joined in the laughter, and
Alannah’s cheeks burned red.

She didn’t understand much, but her parents
had explained that because of her good grades and the test she’d
taken, the school had given her a full tuition scholarship.
“Otherwise, we couldn’t have afforded to send you to such a
prestigious school,” her mother had said, her voice filled with
pride. So the kids were right—she didn’t belong there.

“Cat got your tongue, freckle face?” one of
the boys asked.

Alannah kept her eyes on the books strewn
open on the grass. The colorful images of a rainbow and ponies
stared up at the blue sky from one of them. The other two had
fallen open and specks of dirt marred the words on the stark white
pages.

She didn’t know what to do. Should she stay
quiet? Should she speak? There were three of them and only one of
her.

Someone shoved her from behind, and the blow
knocked her to her hands and knees and ripped off her glasses.
Other kids approached, boys and girls. They giggled and pointed at
her.

“What’s she doing down there?”

More giggles.

This incident was the last straw in a string
of incidents that finally broke her young spirit. Head hanging low,
Alannah felt her face get mottled and redden. Tears filled her
eyes.

“Aw, look at her, she’s gonna cry.”

Even more laughter.

“Leave her alone!” A loud voice broke through
the jeers and laughter with authority.

An immediate hush fell over the small group
of tormenters, and Alannah looked up to see her savior, just a kid
himself. His green eyes were so vivid, she could see them clearly
even through the curtain of tears. The kids all stared at him in
shock, eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

“He’s talking,” a girl whispered. What a
weird thing to say. Why wouldn’t he be talking?

Her hero stomped toward the leader of the
bullies and shoved him hard. The boy stumbled back into his
friends.

“What are you looking at? Get out of here! If
you ever pick on a girl again, I’ll kick your ass.”

The children gasped, and the bullies
scattered, one of them calling out for a teacher. “Miss Brown! Miss
Brown! Trenton Johnson said a bad word.”

A hand came down into Alannah’s line of
vision. Gratefully, she took it and was pulled to her feet.

The boy handed her the glasses, and she
brushed dirt off the lenses. Luckily they weren’t scratched, so she
slipped them on.

“Are you okay?” the boy asked. He was really
cute, but his hair was long, with thick, loose curls that attacked
his ears and neck, as if his parents hadn’t taken him for a haircut
in at least a year.

Alannah nodded. “Yes, I’m okay,” she answered
in a quivering voice, still a bit shaken and unsure of what exactly
had happened or what to do next. It still amazed her that someone
had come to her defense.

“You need to go to the nurse.” He eyed her
skinned knee.

She hadn’t even realized she’d been hurt, but
the sight of the bruising and blood sent a signal of stinging pain
to her brain. She winced.

“I’m Trenton, but you can call me Trent.”

“I’m Alannah,” she said softly.

A few of the kids still hovered nearby,
staring, but he didn’t seem to notice. Since he ignored them, so
did she.

“Come on,” he said. “And don’t worry, I won’t
let anybody mess with you again.”

Holding her books in one arm, he took her
hand in his. Then he led the way across the playground, and she
followed.

****

Alannah sighed into the quiet darkness of her
room. Since then, she and Trenton had been almost inseparable. Mr.
and Mrs. Johnson, thrilled she had accomplished what the best
therapists hadn’t been able to—get Trenton to talk again—invited
her family to parties and on vacations to exotic locations. By the
time she finished middle school, her parents allowed her to go
without them on trips overseas with the Johnsons, and she more or
less became a part of their mega-wealthy family.

But when puberty hit, Alannah couldn’t help
but notice more and more of Trenton’s physical attributes. His
muscular build. The cute way he smiled, with his mouth tilted up to
the right. Even at that young age, she recognized that the
queasiness in her belly whenever he came around had nothing to do
with friendship. She’d fallen in love with her best friend.

By college, the occasional erotic dream about
him had her waking up in a tangle of sheets with the area between
her legs moist and throbbing. Alarmed though she’d been by the
wetness in her panties, she’d fingered herself to thoughts of him
more times than she could count, imagining that he watched her with
the same lustful eyes the way he did other girls.

She came to love him so much that being with
him made her hurt, but being without him was so much worse. So she
put up with the queasiness in her belly and the ache in chest,
since they were the lesser of two evils.

Because…she simply couldn’t
fathom life without Trenton.

“Terri’s going to meet us at The
Underground,” Alannah said from the bathroom where she was getting
dressed.

Trenton halted his prowl across the floor of
her bedroom. “She’s a bad influence.” He had no doubt Terri was the
driving force behind much of Alannah’s changes and desire to
stand out
.

“You sound like somebody’s grandfather,”
Alannah called. “She’s not a bad influence. She’s my friend, and I
have a mind of my own, thank you very much.”

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his
khakis. “If you say so.”

“While you’re on stage she’ll keep me company
at the table.”

Trenton checked the time. “Are you almost
ready?”

“You’re really in a mood tonight.”

The cause of his bad mood was the sizable
slab of dread in his stomach as he anticipated what Alannah would
wear. The longer she stayed in the bathroom, the more apprehensive
he became.

Finally, she came out, hand at the back
holding the edges of the sleeveless thing—he really couldn’t even
call it a dress—together. The plunging neckline showed hints of her
small, plump breasts, and the hem hugged her thighs several inches
above the knees.

And it was red. Red for fire. Red for sexy.
Red for sultry.

Alannah strutted over in a pair of heels that
made her hips roll when she walked, and she turned around just in
front of him. “Would you zip me up?”

His gaze dropped and he noticed how the
stretchy fabric accentuated her behind. Because of the plunging
neckline, she didn’t have on a bra, and he wondered if she even
wore panties. He couldn’t see any below the zipper line.

He gulped and shifted from one foot to the
other as heat filled his groin. “When did you get this?”

“I saw it in a magazine and ordered it
online. I can’t believe how well it fits.”

Trenton swiped at the beads of sweat that
popped out on his forehead. His funny, mousy friend had turned into
a brazen, shapely sexpot who had his imagination going wild with
all the things he could do to her.

With trembling fingers, he silently closed
the dress and covered the creamy skin of her back.

“What do you think?” She turned in a circle.
“If you were a guy—”

“Would you stop with the ‘if I was a guy’
crap?” Trenton snapped in a flash of anger.

“I’m kidding. Sheesh.” She frowned.
“Seriously, though, would you notice me if you didn’t know me?” She
placed both hands on her hips.

He liked her much better in glasses and the
shapeless grays and beiges she used to wear. Ivy had been right.
The beauty of her eyes was more visible now, but so was every bend
and arc of her body for other men to notice. And they’d notice.
Especially in a place like where they were headed.

“Your dress is ridiculously short and tight.
Everybody
at The Underground is going to notice you.”

“Thank you.” She smiled happily and ran her
fingers through the heavy, silky sheath of hair around her
face.

“It wasn’t a compliment.” Trenton
scowled.

“I know, but I choose to take it as one.
Let’s go, Mr. Grumpy. I hope you get into a better mood or you’re
going to spoil my night.”

She hooked an arm around his and they exited
the room together. Her cheery mood only made him surlier, and on
the way out the front door he recognized why.

She was glowing, and downright
excited
to show her ass tonight.

****

When they arrived at The Underground, Trenton
took Alannah’s hand. She held on tight, standing right behind him
and watching the back of his head as he signaled to the guy at the
door. He looked great in a plaid shirt with a solid vest and
khakis. In the Range Rover, he’d donned an English riding cap and
completed the ensemble. No red-blooded heterosexual woman would be
able to resist him tonight.

As soon as the doorman saw Trenton, he waved
them forward and they were immediately admitted entrance, past the
customers waiting outside.

The dark club was already jumping and filled
with people who’d arrived for hip-hop night, which tended to draw
an especially large crowd. For diehard rap fans, this was the only
place to be in Seattle tonight.

Trenton’s mood noticeably improved upon
entrance. His head bounced to the warmup act, a group singing a
cover of a popular R&B hit, and his tense shoulders visibly
relaxed. He walked through like a movie star, shaking hands and
letting people touch him. This was his world.

The venue was designed to look like a
basement, with exposed brick walls and pipes running along the
ceilings. The two bars on either side were packed with customers
placing orders or idling over drinks.

Trenton led her through the crowd, which was
not an easy feat. He constantly stopped to give dap to male
acquaintances and hug women dressed in skimpy attire that made
Alannah’s outfit look like an ensemble fit for the North Pole.

As they moved through the club, Alannah
imagined a situation where Trenton held her hand because he wanted
the men and women there to know they belonged to each other.
Involuntarily, her hand tightened on his and he paused to look back
at her, eyebrows raised in question.

“Nothing,” she said, smiling
reassuringly.

He started forward again. Carving a path
through the throng of bodies, they arrived at his usual table,
which afforded a good view of the stage, and sat in two of the four
seats.

They ordered drinks while they waited for
Terri, and of course women came over to speak to Trenton, like
always, as if Alannah wasn’t even sitting there. To his credit, he
made sure the women acknowledged her, but otherwise, she was as
invisible as a speck of lint on white sheets. They were always
polite, but their tight-lipped smiles made it obvious they’d prefer
if she left.

“Where’s your girl?” Trenton asked when they
were finally alone. He sipped from a bottle of Full Moon beer, the
only beer served in the venue. She’d have one alcoholic beverage,
maybe two, because she couldn’t hold her liquor. A shortcoming he
loved to tease her about. “I don’t want to leave you until she gets
here.”

“Don’t know.” Alannah took a peek at her
phone but didn’t see any missed calls from Terri. “She should have
been here by now. I hope she’s okay.” This was late, even for
Terri.

A few minutes later she spotted her friend at
the far end, having just walked in the door. She saw Alannah and
hurried toward them in a pair of skintight jeans and an equally
tight halter top. She’d removed the braids and now wore her hair in
a layered blond bob. Just about every man she passed on the way to
the table ogled her as she walked by. A couple even grabbed her
hand and whispered in her ear, but she didn’t detour from her
destination.

When Terri arrived at the table, Alannah
stood and gave her a tight squeeze, relieved. “I thought you
weren’t coming.”

“Would you believe I got a flat tire?”
Terri’s red lips flattened in annoyance. “Luckily I know how to
change one, but it messed up my brand new manicure.” She pouted and
examined her chipped nails.

“Hey, Terri.” Trenton came around the table
to give her a hug, too.

At one time Alannah had worried that Trenton
had been attracted to her friend. But either he wasn’t attracted to
her or he hid it extremely well, because he treated her exactly the
way he treated Alannah—like a platonic friend. For that she was
grateful. It would have been devastating if her two friends had
hooked up.

“Hi, Trent. Can’t wait to see your
performance tonight.”

“Thanks. You’re in for a treat.” It wasn’t
vanity. He really was good. “I’ll leave you ladies alone. See you
later.” He strolled off toward one of the bars.

Alannah sat down and Terri took the seat
beside her. Leaning in, her friend asked, “Is he still acting like
a jerk?”

“He’s calmed down, thank goodness. Although
he had a couple of moments earlier tonight.”

“Well, you look fabulous.” Terri’s gaze
flicked over Alannah. “That dress is like…pow!”

Alannah smiled. She pulled on the hem, a
little self-conscious. “You really think so?”