“Mmmhmm.”
“Really, I am sorry. How are you anyway? You seemed so down yesterday.”
Not wanting to get into it with her, Ari shrugged. “I’m fine.”
Her friend exhaled wearily. “I’m not stupid, Ari. I know when something is up with you.”
God, how Ari wished she could talk to Rachel about college and how much she was freaking out, but Rachel, despite being her current best friend, was the last person Ari could discuss it with. Rachel had wanted to be a doctor since her cousin died of leukemia when they were eight. That kind of determination and single-minded focus was a huge part of her personality. Unfortunately she tended to think that people that lacked focus were flakes and unworthy of her time.
At her extended silence, Rachel grinned lasciviously. “I know what would help.”
Ari grimaced. “What?”
“You need to trade in your v-card.”
Nearly choking on her pickle, Ari watched as a rice packet flew out of one of the open cupboards and whacked Rachel across the head. She burst out laughing as her friend’s eyes popped open in shock.
“What the hell was that?”
Ari chuckled. “That was Ms. Maggie defending my virtue, you tramp.”
“Your frickin’ poltergeist?”
“Yup.”
“I thought you were kidding about that!”
“No way!” A.J. suddenly loped into the kitchen grinning. “Ms. Maggie totally took me out last time I was here when I cracked a joke about women ‘in the kitchen and in the bedroom’.”
“Good.” Staci strolled in at the back of him, Nick on her tail. Ari’s spirits dipped a little at the sight of Nick and she hoped her expression hadn’t said so when Staci explained, “Nick was in our class. We offered to rescue him.”
“Of course.” Ari forced a smile. “The more the merrier.”
He smiled back. “Thanks. I thought I was going to die of boredom back there.”
Ari nodded, trying her best to fake relaxation. “Can I get anyone a drink?”
“You got any beer?” A.J. asked, pulling the refrigerator open and taking out her dad’s beers before she could respond.
They settled in her living room, eating and joking around as they took turns on the PlayStation 3 . And by took turns Ari meant while the boys hogged the controllers. Hanging out with Nick was a little uncomfortable, but being with the group made it easier and soon he and A.J. were so engrossed in video games there was nothing to be uncomfortable about. Ari laughed as Staci made fun of the look of concentration on her boyfriend’s face.
“Oh God,” she mumbled to her girlfriends. “That’s his sex face.”
The three of them burst into loud laughter drawing the guys’ attention.
“Uh, what’s going on over there?” A.J. asked suddenly, looking worried.
“Nothing,” Staci teased. She tried to sober at his suspicious expression and avoided his gaze by turning to Nick. “So, Nick, you excited about playing college basketball?”
Just like that the conversation switched to college talk and for Ari the temperature in the room abruptly dropped. A cold sweat erupted across her skin and she excused herself, hurrying into the kitchen, thrusting open the window above the sink and gulping in huge wafts of fresh air. She stood in perfect peace for a couple of minutes before she felt the heat of someone’s gaze on her back. Craning her neck around, Ari’s eyes caught on Nick’s as he stood in the doorway.
“You OK?” he asked, his light blue eyes alight with concern.
She turned to face him as he walked further into the room. He lifted a hand, placing his empty beer bottle down on the counter. He had large hands. They reminded her of the invisible ones that had rescued her today from near death and another sheen of cold sweat broke out under her arms. “I’m fine,” she responded softly, clearing her throat as the last syllable came out a cracked whisper.
He smiled shyly, this crazy cute smile that should have made her knees weak but didn’t. “You know we’re only going to be a state away when we go to college. Maybe I could visit you sometime.”
Her heart fluttered in panic at the thought. “You’ll be way too busy to come visit me.”
Nick shook his head adamantly. “Not possible.”
Oh crap.
“I—”
“You looked beautiful at Prom, by the way,” he interrupted, grinning sweetly. “I never got a chance to say it to you that night.”
Ari frowned. “Probably a good thing since you had a date, Nick.”
“She was just a friend.”
Oh this conversation was going downhill fast.
“Ari! We need more chips!” Rachel shouted from the living room.
I love you, Rache . She shrugged, grabbing them up off the counter. “Duty calls.” She brushed past him, hurrying from the conversation as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels rather than a cute guy with a crush on her. What was wrong with her?
For the rest of the day Ari never made the mistake of being in a room unattended again. Nick gave her a hug when he left and she couldn’t stop herself from tensing in his arms. He noticed, shuffling back awkwardly from her and making her feel like the worst person alive. A.J. glared at her, the blow of that look softened by his girlfriend’s sympathetic smile and Rachel’s grimace that said ‘when will that dude take the hint?’ She was never so thankful to be left alone in her empty home. Well… almost empty.
“Ms. Maggie,” she called out, leaning against the front door. “You got a poltergeist friend who’s corporeal but invisible?”
Knowing the poltergeist was unable to answer only added to her frustration because she could not get what happened on that street out of her mind.
“Knock the phone off the side table if you do have a poltergeist friend who can touch me.”
Nothing.
“OK. Is there a poltergeist out there that can touch me who isn’t a friend?”
The phone clattered to the ground with a sickening thump. Ari’s stomach roiled, her heart racing hard and fast inside her chest. “Oh God,” she whispered. “Way to scare the crap out of me.”
The door reverberated against her back with three loud bangs and Ari yelped in horrified surprise.
“Ari!” Charlie’s concerned voice shouted from outside.
“Holy macaroons!” she yelled, pulling the door open. “You scared the bejesus out of me!”
A frown wrinkled the skin between his brows and his eyes washed over her looking for injury. He shoved past her, glancing around the hallway. “You OK? What’s going on?”
She slumped, suddenly feeling exhausted. It was too crazy to explain. He’d probably think she’d finally lost the plot. “I was just talking to Ms. Maggie. I wasn’t expecting anyone at the door.”
Charlie’s shoulders seemed to drop, relaxing as he shut the door. “I thought you were being murdered or something.”
“No. Ms. Maggie wouldn’t let that happen.”
“Yeah.” He curled his lip teasingly. “Thank God for Ms. Maggie.”
Now that her heart was returning to its normal rate it suddenly occurred to her that Charlie was here. At her house. Of his own accord. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, heading towards the living room, eyeing the empty beer bottles and chip packets. “Thought maybe we could watch a movie.” When he turned back around his dark eyes blazed, goading her to ask him why. There were two paths in front of her here. She could ask him and he’d start an argument and leave. Or she could just watch a damn movie with him. Easy answer.
“What do you want to watch?” she asked nonchalantly, heading over to her collection.
He seemed to let go a sigh of relief behind her, the couch groaning as he thumped himself down into it. “Action.”
“ Universal Soldier ?”
“Sounds good.”
Taking the classic Jean-Claude Van Damme movie her dad loved out of its case, Ari tried not to smile, the stone that had been in her stomach all day completely dissipating. Forcing herself to remain casual, she flopped down on the couch next to him and handed him the remote.
They watched the movie in perfect silence, the heat of Charlie next to her so unbelievably relaxing Ari had to fight not to curl into him and fall asleep.
At the end, as the credits rolled up, Charlie muted the television and stood up. He looked down at her, his dark eyes enigmatic and so deep Ari could feel herself falling into them as they locked onto her own. “Ari?”
“Yeah?” she whispered, not wanting him to leave.
“If you don’t want to go to college, then don’t go. It’s a lot of money and you should know what you want to do with your life first. Talk to your dad, OK. Make him understand.”
She nodded slowly, her heart hammering as she listened to his footsteps fade, the door opening and shutting behind him with a click that told her he’d put the lock on.
Before, when she’d thought Charlie wasn’t Charlie anymore, the pain had been hard and deep.
Somehow, it was worse knowing Charlie was still in there behind this iron cast wall no one could get through. Today was just one of those lucky days when he slid back a little window to talk to her. But when her front door closed, she knew that window had closed with it.
~4~
Solace is Looking For You, Stop Hiding
It was divine providence that’s what it was, Ari thought, looking down at the cell in her hands. Charlie’s cell. Clearly it had slipped from his pocket while he was watching the movie last night all so Ari would have an excuse to see him today. She clutched it tightly in her hand, tempted to scroll through the numbers and see how many girls his contact list had accumulated over the last two years. But that would be wrong. She shook her head. She wasn’t that far gone yet. Smiling, Ari dropped the cell into her bag and set off outside, texting Rachel again to let her know she didn’t need a ride to school. Her stomach growled from lack of breakfast and Ari grimaced. The sacrifices she was making for love.
Feeling lighter than she had in some time (and all because she’d clocked more Charlie time this week than she’d had in the last two months), Ari turned up the volume on her iPhone, letting Metric sweep her through the suburban streets. Her neighborhood was quiet and neat. Very neat. The houses were pretty big but modest in appearance with lush lawns and white fences and lots of space between each one. The street curved around in a huge bend until it split off into two directions. To the left the town stretched out from the moderately well-off, to the rich, to the wealthy, to the even wealthier, and then to a couple of farms on the outskirts of town, like A.J.’s parents’ grain farm. As for the center of Sandford Ridge it was literally that. The center. Stores, two ‘malls’, small businesses, a large car manufacturer factory… the usual. And best of all The Smoothie Place on Main Street, Ari’s favorite place to chill out.
Ari took the right towards Charlie’s house and the school. The Creaghs lived three blocks away in a noisier neighborhood that seemed much more real to Ari. She’d loved hanging out there. Unlike her street, where the only activity consisted of people jogging by quietly alone or with their dogs, Charlie’s street was abuzz with the sounds of children’s laughter and shouts as they played in one another’s yards. Lawnmowers growled, dogs barked, music blared from car radios. It was like walking out of Stepford into Sandford. Charlie’s neighborhood was still considered the west side, as was their high school, but only four blocks over from the high school was all the low income housing and two well-kept trailer parks. Overall Sandford Ridge wasn’t a bad place to live. It just… wasn’t great either.