The Stage (Phoenix Rising #1) (29 page)

That’s what I need: Julia Child’s egg-flipping courage. Here I’d tuned in to learn about making eggs and got a life lesson. I reach over and check Kolton’s phone.

K-Royce Private

11:01 PM

Did you mean what you said about me?

11:21 PM

Yes

11:23 PM

I know you were still supposed to be on the grass right now. That’s why I haven’t come over. You have the controls.

11:24

Repeat it in the positive.

11:25 PM

I have the controls. The last time you gave me the controls I almost crashed us into the mountains.

11:29 PM

No you didn’t. You had it. You just got scared. It happens when it’s your first time.

11:32 PM

I am still scared.

11:35 PM

It’s okay to be scared. Scared means you’re really living. But I’ll catch us before we crash. I promise.

11:37 PM

Are you playing with your food before you capture it?

11:39 PM

What does that mean?

11:42

It means that you’re enjoying the chase.

11:44 PM

I enjoy everything about you.

11:45 PM

But will I be enough?

11:48 PM

You already are.

I put the phone down; I don’t know what to say.
I already am
? How can a person change so much for another person? A regular girl like me? Several minutes later, my cell phone buzzes again.

11:57 PM

Goodnight my Phoenix

12:02 PM

Your Phoenix?

12:05 PM

I think we both know the answer to that

I think we do, but I still need time to figure it out. I have the controls and I’m going to hover for a while.

*     *     *

“But it’s Halloween!” Riley yells. “I wanna go trick-or-treating.”

“What if we just go through the building and do it?” I ask, trying to appease her cries.

“No! That’s not fair, Mia. I got my Pikachu costume and everything!” I look at Deloris who nods and makes an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, Mia. I didn’t think to check with you and Kolton about that.”

“Let me see if Manny can take us.” I grab Kolton’s phone and press call on his mystery number. It rings twice and he answers.

“Hello, Mia?”

“I’m sorry to bug you,” I say.

“No, not at all. What’s up?” I hear him shuffle in the background like he’s in bed. Instantly my ears perk up for any signs of a bed mate.

“Riley wants to go trick-or-treating. Can Manny take us out?”

“He asked for the night off,” he says. “But I could take you guys. Devon can drive; I could wear a mask.”

“I could, too.” I say, realizing that Halloween is the perfect night for us, after all. “But how are you going to get into the parking garage without being seen?”

“I’m going to stop and get the masks. We’re going to come over in Devon’s car. We never drive it, so they won’t be looking for it.”

“Okay,” I say. My heart’s pounding. It’s a risk, but Riley’s going to have a blast. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” he says, no doubt in his tone at all.

“Okay. But don’t bring a scary mask, Riley gets nervous. She won’t go to any spooky houses either. She likes plain houses and cute Halloween stuff.”

“Got it,” he says.

“I’m going to tell Riley. Thanks!”

“See you in thirty-five minutes.”

I press end and walk back over to the family room. “So, Riley,” I say, really sad like I’m going to give her bad news. She sticks her bottom lip out and scowls at me. “We’re going trick-or-treating with Kolton!”

“We are!” She starts jumping up and down, squealing and clapping.

“Yep. Go get dressed.” Deloris gives me this look that says,
good job
, and opens the Pikachu costume package for Riley.

Forty minutes later, Kolton comes in the door with a Darth Vader helmet for him and a Batwoman mask for me. It even has black pokey ears.

“That looks like the real thing,” I say when he puts on the helmet.

“It’s from the original molds from the film.”

“They had that when you went in?”

“No, it was my dad’s,” he admits. “It has a stand and everything. But it’s for wearing, too.” His voice muffled by the plastic piece in front of his mouth.

“So your dad was a Star Wars nerd?”

“Yeah, it appears so.”

“What about this?” I ask, wondering if it’s a sexual fetish or something. Darth Vader does Batwoman. Was there actually a bat woman? I can’t remember.

“I just had Devon get it at Costume City. I told him to get you something cute that would cover your face enough that you wouldn’t be recognizable.”

“Is Batwoman even real?” I ask, as we step out of the elevator.

“Of course she is,” his muffled voice says, as Riley in her yellow Pikachu costume hops out toward the car, swinging her plastic pumpkin. I have a little moment where I feel like this is right. This is
exactly
where I’m supposed to be and who I’m supposed to be with—like we’re a family.

“Isn’t it kinda cheating to drive out to the rich people’s houses to get candy?” I ask as all five of us drive toward the houses of Beverly Hills, the big fancy ones.

“Nope. It’s not,” Kolton says.

“Not that one!” Riley exclaims, because it’s got scary stuff out and some zombies.

“How about this one?” Devon asks as he drives up to one that has cute pumpkin and light decorations; it’s tasteful, not gruesome.

“Yes!” She trots up the drive with the three of us, Kolton, as Darth Vader, Deloris, who put on a masquerade mask with feathers, and me, Batwoman. I pull out my phone and take pictures of Riley as she rings the doorbell.

I love that he thought to do this. Riley has given up a lot this past year so I can compete. I’d feel horrible if she wasn’t able to celebrate Halloween. Kolton and I haven’t been talking much for the last few months. He’s been giving me space. Right now, he might be enjoying his anonymity enough to relax and be himself. We walk toward the next house, and he brushes his hand against mine.

I don’t move it away, so he puts his pinkie out for me to grab it. I run my hand up his finger and take his hand. He entwines his fingers with mine. I put my head down and feel the sensation of his skin touching my skin.

There’s something sensual about hands touching hands.
Palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss
, as Juliet says to Romeo when they meet for the first time. When you’re allowed nothing more, it can be just as intimate as a real one.

“What’s your middle name?” I ask Kolton.

“What made you think of that?” He squeezes my hand. It’s like a secret, an invigorating one.

“The car guy showed me the paperwork, and your credit card said Kolton J. Royce. Ever since, I’ve been wondering, what’s the J?” I ask.

“James,” he says, and as Darth Vader, it’s kind of weird to have him talking to me at all, let alone touching me and telling me his secrets.

Riley walks to another house and the woman inside hands Riley a king-sized Snickers. “We never got whole candy bars when I was a kid,” I tell her when she comes back to us, flashing the biggest grin.

“You’re in Beverly Hills,” Kolton says. “Plus, they don’t get as many kids as they do in the suburbs.”

“True.” I answer. “How you doing, Riles?”

“It’s a long ways between houses. My feet hurt.”

“How ‘bout one more?” I ask.

“Two,” she counters.

That night we walk around, Kolton and me, like a couple in love. When he takes us home, Riley munching on candy, and Deloris in the front seat fretting over how much sugar she’s consuming, it feels like we’re a family. He doesn’t take off the mask. The windows aren’t tinted enough, I think, so I don’t take off mine either.

“You look happy,” he says.

“I am,” I say, knowing he can see most of my face as I’m looking out the clear glass into the dark night.

It was almost a normal thing to do. Except that Kolton had on a thousand dollar mask and we were walking around million dollar homes.

But I had fun. “I can’t come up,” he says, his voice a little sad and distant.

“I know,” I say, as we pull into the parking garage. Riley climbs over me and hops out with Deloris and walks toward the elevator, leaving Kolton and me inside the car. “Thank you for doing this for Riley.”

“She’s a good kid,” he says taking off his helmet. “I was glad to do it. Plus, I got to hold your hand in public. So, that was a bonus.” His hair’s mussed up and his skin looks a little pale.

“For me, too. Were you alone when I called?” Not like it’s any of my business. He shifts a little in his seat; his eyebrows furrowing as he realizes why I asked it.

“I’ve never brought anyone to my parents’ house but you,” he says, his voice earnest and true, his expression sincere—painful even. I nod and take his hand again. I have to. I feel like it will ease some of his angst.

“Thank you,” I say, and get out before I feel the pull toward him that I had the night we kissed in the car the last time.

As I walk away, he’s not chasing me, but somehow I know he would if he could.

The Phoenix

“M
y name is Mia, and it’s been four weeks since my last confession,” I say into the phone pressed to my cheek.

“You should be glad I answered the phone at all after how you screamed at me,” Kaya responds.

“I am. What do you think of the show?”

“You did really, really good, yesterday. And I’m glad you weren’t in the bottom three today,” Kaya says.

“Did you vote?”

“Uh, yeah, bitch. Of course I did, just maybe not for you.”

“Shut up. I know you love me,” I say.

“The coaches singing tonight were pretty hot!” I smile a little, thinking about Kolton on stage, in his element. I watched from the monitors back stage. I could watch him all day –the way he moves. How he feels the music. The faces he makes, the command he has of the stage. His voice vibrates up and down my spine, he makes me tingle in places I didn’t know I had.

“They did great!” I say, a little late since I was imagining Kolton singing.

“How are things? I’ve been worried about you,” she asks.

“It’s been so busy here. My days are jam packed. I barely see Riley.”

“You like Deloris, though, right?”

“Of course. We love her.”

“How about those jealous people on the show?” she asks.

“Still jealous, but they’ve been keeping their distance once they saw that they were being cast as the rude bitches of the show.”

“They really were. It’s like a look inside bullying. They’ll probably make you the poster child.”

“Hmm. Maybe. I’m not supposed to read the comments online, so I don’t know what people are saying about me. I didn’t watch the interview with that model, Katharina, either, but I’ve heard that she came off—well, bitchy.”

“She did. No one believes her. They think she’s psycho. Denise Chung asked her if she’d popped your tire. She denied it, but the body language interpreters say she was lying.”

“Body language interpreters?”

“Yeah. They did the same thing with you. They replayed your answers on that one show that comes on after
Minute by Minute
—whatever it’s called, and they said you were being honest. Especially when you said you haven’t slept with Kolton.”

“I know, ‘cause I haven’t. He’s a real gentleman with me.” She starts laughing like a hyena in my ear. “What?”

“Kolton. Gentleman. That’s what!”

“He is. You know what he said to me the other day?”

“What?” she asks, like the gossip she is.

“You can’t tell anyone. Promise me. If it shows up in GOS~P, I’ll know it was you.”

“I promise. Have I told any of the other stuff you said?”

“No.”