About Last Summer

by Patricia B Tighe

  I made myself sound pleading. “I have tracked the most beautiful creature with eyes the color—”

  “Oh, him,” Kenzie said. “This way.”

  I followed her to where Geoff sat, rocking contentedly. “Excellent,” he said. “Are you here to take me to the facilities?”

  I fell on my knees beside his chair. “I have tracked you—”

  “Yeah, heard that part,” he said. “Sounds creepy. Who are you anyway?”

  I’d forgotten what the next new line was, but that didn’t matter. I’d already decided to wing it from here on out. “I am the Hunter. Your hunter. The one who has been decreed to follow you all of your days.”

  “Sweet. I have my very own hunter. Not so sure I like that whole follow part, though.” He squinted at me. “Who exactly sent out that decree?”

  I jumped to my feet and raised one arm forward. “The Lady of the Lake, dressed in shimmering—”

  Geoff barked out a laugh and one came from behind me too. Noah. It had to be.

  “Enough of this!” Kenzie said. She turned her back on the audience, sucked her cheeks in to make her fish-face, let the expression go, and then swung back to face the audience. I bit my upper lip to hold in a laugh. “I hate messy love triangles,” she went on. “Decree or no decree, follow or don’t, the most beautiful creature is mine.”

  I pressed my cap to my chest. “But my heart says—”

  “That it’s time to go to the facilities?” Geoff asked, his brows raised in a hopeful look.

  Man, they really weren’t letting me finish my lines. “No. That your heart is mine forever.” I leaned closer to him and blinked rapidly.

  He frowned. “I think you have something in your eye. But seriously, um, Beast and My Very Own Hunter, I should’ve told you earlier, but I gave my heart away long ago.”

  I gasped.

  He nodded. “You’re right to gasp. All I have left is this.” He pressed a button on a red heart pinned to his chest, and it started blinking. Obnoxiously. A few audience chuckles sounded. “She is a lovely artist from a land beyond the seas. I left my heart in her good keeping.”

  “Why the heck would you do that?” Kenzie asked.

  He gave her an exasperated look. “So she could draw it, obviously.”

  We were nearing the part where Kenzie was supposed to rage and pace, and Noah was supposed to clean behind her as she went, but we were so far from the script that I wasn’t surprised when Noah strode up. “There is something you don’t know, O Beauty.”

  Geoff tilted his head. “Enlighten me, Maid-boy.”

  Amanda appeared between them. “You’re not supposed to speak without permission,” she said to Noah.

  Geoff and Noah looked at each other and then out to the audience. As though they’d choreographed it. A dry, raspy chuckle sounded from beyond the stage. Neither of them responded to Amanda.

  “When your artist finished drawing your heart, she gave it to me,” Noah said. He pulled a small plush heart from the pocket of his apron. “Not knowing when she could return to you, she wanted me to keep it close by.”

  “Hmpf,” Geoff said. “I wish she’d told me. I’ve been blinking unnecessarily.” He motioned to the button on his chest.

  “If you wish, I can now give your heart to the Beast or Your Very Own Hunter,” Noah said, his lips twitching when he caught my eye.

  “Yes!” Kenzie said.

  But Geoff raised both hands. “Let’s not be hasty.”

  Before anyone else could speak, Haley and Dylan strolled onto the scene. He was pushing a squeaky wheelbarrow filled with junk. Haley banged a pot with a wooden spoon. What a great noise maker she’d become.

  “Hello, the house!” Dylan called out.

  “Now what?” Amanda grumbled. She stomped to the fake entry and leaned out.

  “We are traveling merchants,” Dylan called. “Here to show you our wares.”

  “Fine. You don’t have to yell.”

  “Oh,” he yelled.

  Haley giggled. “That’s just how he talks.”

  “Right,” Amanda said. “I’ll get the Beast.”

  Dylan dropped the wheelbarrow handles. “The Beast? The Beast lives here?”

  Amanda set her hands on her hips. “Uh, ye-ah.” She turned toward us. “Sorry to interrupt the love fest, but there are some merchants outside.” She motioned over her shoulder.

  Kenzie let out an exaggerated sigh. “Very well.”

  “Will you untie me so I can shop too?” Geoff asked.

  Ignoring him, Kenzie strode to the doorway and hopped off the stage. “Well?”

  “We are traveling merchants,” Haley said. “Would you like to buy something?”

  “It’s you,” Dylan said, his voice somewhere between shouting and normal talking.

  Kenzie looked at him, but I couldn’t see her face. I could see Dylan’s though. There was so much love there that I shivered. “The Beast,” he said, actual yearning in his voice. What was going on? Were we through being silly? From Dylan’s gaze, I would say the play had turned serious.

  Geoff touched my hand. “Untie me,” he whispered. “Like you’re doing it secretly.”

  I eased around to the back of the rocking chair, removed the little bow from my shoulder, and pulled the yarn until it slipped away.

  “I don’t see any items I need today,” Kenzie said gruffly and then strode back onto the stage.

  Dylan followed her. “Wait!”

  When Kenzie got to us, she whipped to face the audience. “How did you get loose, Beauty?” she asked Geoff.

  He smirked, but if Kenzie noticed she didn’t react.

  Dylan stood five feet away, his too-short pants making him seem taller than ever. “It’s been many years since I’ve seen you, my Beast, but I’d know you anywhere.”

  “Oh, she’s your Beast?” Geoff asked. “Good to know, because I’ve already got a Hunter, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with a Beast.” He turned toward Amanda and Noah. “Butler-girl and Maid-boy, you should bring refreshments to our guests.”

  “So you’re playing host now?” Amanda snapped.

  “Obviously. Haven’t you been paying—”

  “We need no refreshment,” Dylan said. “I have found my Beast again. All is right with the world.”

  Amanda pointed Noah in the direction of a teapot, but I stopped watching. I sensed something happening between Dylan and Kenzie, and I needed to pay attention.

  Kenzie scowled and stepped back. “I’m not your Beast. I’m supposed to be in love with him, remember?” She pointed to Geoff.

  Dylan stepped closer to her. “But you are not.”

  “She isn’t?” Geoff asked and then let out a huge sigh. “One less for me, I guess.”

  Noah set the teapot on the end table. “I still love you, O Beauty,” he said.

  Geoff clasped his hands under his jaw. “Aww.”

  “And I love you too,” Amanda said to Geoff, though not in a happy voice. In fact, she sounded totally irritated.

  But Kenzie and Dylan stood frozen, staring at each other. “I know who you really are deep inside,” Dylan said. “You’re no beast.”

  Kenzie lifted her chin so fast her Viking hat fell off. “Oh, yes I am.”

  In an unexpectedly swift move, Dylan bent and lifted her like he was going to carry her over a threshold.

  She punched him once in the chest, but because of her position, it didn’t have much force behind it. “What’re you doing? Put me down.”

  “I need time to convince you,” he said with a grin.

  “Dylan! I mean, Merchant! This isn’t how the story goes.” He jiggled her, so she hung on to the back of his neck.

  “She’s right,” Amanda said, stopping next to Noah. “And speaking of knowing who people really are, I think Gabriela has something she wants to tell us.” She practically shouted the name Gabriela.

  “Seriously, Butler-girl?” Geoff asked, scorn heavy in his voice. “Now?”

  Amanda sai
d nothing. Just set her jaw and glared at me.

  My skin prickled. Every gaze turned my way. All the people on the makeshift stage with me. All the people in the folding chairs. Heat raced up my neck and across my cheeks, but it wasn’t due to stage fright. The lies of the past week had finally caught up with me.

  My thoughts turned muddled. For several seconds I seriously considered jumping the two feet to the floor and marching out of the garage and into the night without saying anything to anybody.

  Right. That would go over well.

  I stared down at the lines of dialogue hidden in the Robin Hood hat. It was too late for those. I needed to come up with my own words. But I wasn’t even sure where to start. Or how it had come to this.

  Or maybe I did.

  It was time to give up Gabriela. I’d almost made it to the end of the week. Almost completed the challenge. At least I hadn’t given up halfway and quit. I would’ve finished it. And despite everyone staring, a sense of satisfaction washed over me. I absolutely could finish things.

  Someone in the audience coughed. Right. Confession time. I came out from behind the rocking chair and moved to the front of the platform. I squinted into the spotlight. “Um, hi. My name is Gabby Vega.”

  Kenzie squirmed out of Dylan’s arms and came up beside me.

  “I’m Kenzie’s best friend,” I said, “and yeah, I’m not really from Spain.”

  There was a shifting noise of people moving on the folding chairs. Kenzie shielded her eyes with her hand. “Could somebody turn on the garage light? And kill the spot.”

  The florescent lights above the shop table blinked on behind the set, followed by the main overhead fixture. The spotlight shut off with a heavy clunking sound. I decided to focus on the darkness of the front driveway outside instead of the faces staring up at me. If I looked at them and saw disappointment or anger, I might not be able to finish. “I owe everyone an apology. I’m sorry for deceiving you. We just wanted to see if I could—”

  Kenzie touched my forearm. “It was my idea. Gabby had been having some trouble—” We looked at each other. Surely she wasn’t going to get into all the personal stuff. “—following through on some things,” she said.

  Behind us, somebody made a scoffing noise. I could just bet who that was.

  “I came up with a challenge that would help her work on that and test her acting skills,” Kenzie continued. “So Gabriela was born.”

  “Anyway,” I jumped in. I did not want her taking all the blame. “I know this wasn’t fair to everyone, and I’m sorry. We were going to tell you tomorrow. When I’d made it through the whole week as Gabriela.”

  “A remarkable challenge,” Gamma’s voice warbled into the silence.

  “You were very persuasive,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. One of Dylan’s parents maybe?

  “Sneaky girls,” Mr. Bryson said, laughter in his voice. “Excellent work. I was thoroughly convinced and concerned we were making Gabriela do too much in the play.”

  Okay, good. Everyone seemed to be taking the news well. I relaxed my hold on my tunic.

  “I don’t believe this,” Amanda said, pushing through to the front of the stage. “How can you all just sit there like this is no big deal?” She flicked a hand toward me. “She’s a liar.”

  “Don’t,” Kenzie said.

  I held my breath. This could only be bad.

  “She’s lied to all of us. And worse, she’s been messing around with Noah when she already has a boyfriend named Alejandro.”

  Noah

  What the heck was wrong with Amanda? Apparently, it was bad idea time. So bad, that several of us spoke at once.

  “Wait,” I said.

  “Amanda,” Mrs. Bryson said.

  “Not here,” Kenzie said.

  Geoff raised his arms in the air. “Please, everybody, quiet. The Beauty must hear what his Hunter has to say.”

  “Give it a rest, Geoff,” Dylan said.

  “Why?” Geoff asked. “We’re going to find out anyway. She might as well tell everyone all at once.”

  Gabby cleared her throat. She had a weird half-laughing, half-confused look on her face. “Okay,” she said, drawing out the word. “Not that I think everybody needs to know this, but Noah and I had a relationship last summer.”

  That shut people up. Amanda looked wildly from me to Gabby. I tried to keep my face blank. Not exactly easy, because I really, really wanted to hear all this in private. But I couldn’t exactly drag Gabby off the stage and into another room.

  “And now we’re involved again,” she said, turning to look at me.

  That was good, right? She was saying we were in a relationship. Right? Then why was I having so much trouble breathing?

  Amanda sputtered. “But, but Alejandro. You said you were in love with him.”

  I clenched my teeth. Why couldn’t she just shut up?

  “I am,” Gabby said. She smiled her big, beautiful smile at me. The one I’d been dying to see. But in that instant, my mind and heart were too frozen to react. She strolled my direction. “Because Alejandro is Noah.”

  What? A relieved laugh bubbled up inside, but I held it in.

  “Holy crap!” Geoff said.

  “It’s a code name,” Kenzie said. “We couldn’t risk being overheard talking about Noah. Gabriela wasn’t supposed to know him.”

  Geoff erupted in laughter. “Kenz, you’re such an evil genius.”

  “Why do you assume it was my idea?”

  “Because it was.”

  Time to forget about them, because Gabby stood right in front of me, smiling into my eyes. “Hi,” she whispered.

  “Hi, yourself,” I whispered back. I grinned like an idiot. “So I’m Alejandro?”

  “Yeah.” She slid her arms around my back, pressing against me.

  I didn’t have to be asked twice. I pulled her even closer, avoiding her plastic quiver by lacing my hands at the small of her back. “And you’re in love with me?” I whispered.

  “Yeah.”

  “And we’re in a relationship now? Like dating?”

  She glanced at our smashed-together bodies. “Looks like it.” I laughed, but she cut it off with a quick kiss.

  “Do that again,” I said.

  She raised her eyebrows and slowly shook her head. “Everybody’s watching.”

  Well, crap. The garage had gone dead silent. Every single person in there was staring at us. I rested my forehead on Gabby’s. “What do we do now?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know.”

  I was trying to think of some Geoff-like thing to say when Haley meandered across the platform and stopped beside him. Then she faced the audience. “I shall now escort the Beauty to the facilities.” She held out her arm, and he took it, a surprised look on his face. “The end,” she said and curtsied before walking with him to the pretend door.

  Gamma stood. “Bravo! Mike and Jenny, that was the best play you’ve ever written.” She applauded, and the rest of the audience joined her, Geoff’s dad laughing as he placed an arm around Gamma.

  “Dessert in the kitchen in five minutes,” Mrs. Bryson called out.

  “Wait, Haley, don’t pull me off the stage,” Geoff said. “We need to bow.”

  Gabby and I laughed, and then followed them to the edge of the stage where Geoff made everyone bow over and over. After three times, I took Gabby’s hand and pulled her off the platform to a hidden spot behind the set. People were too busy talking, bowing, or moving toward the kitchen to notice us. And even if they did, I figured they could give us at least a couple of minutes alone.

  “Here?” she asked with a smile.

  “Anywhere with you.”

  She bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears.

  Uh-oh. “Hey, I wasn’t that bad of an actor.”

  “You were great,” she choked out. “You had like, three lines.” She patted my stupid tuxedo shirt. “And I love your ruffles.”

  I took her face in my hands. “Don’t cry.”
/>   “You really think we can make this work?” she asked, clutching my shoulders.

  A million times yes. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. “Of course.”

  She blinked back the tears, went up on her toes, and kissed me. “Good, ’cause I really want to.”

  Those words sank into my heart, filling it, erasing the bruised feeling from all of last year. In its place was something warm and, just like this morning, Christmassy. I wrapped my finger around a curl that had escaped from her braid. “Me too.” Then I pressed my lips to hers, trying to communicate everything I felt. She wrapped her arms around me and sighed into the kiss. A current zipped through my body, and I groaned. I was just about to take the whole thing deeper when Geoff’s voice rang out.

  “Yo! Maid-boy! My Very Own Hunter! I know you’re busy making out, but if you don’t get in here soon, there won’t be any pie left.”

  Gabby

  Noah lifted his head to glare at Geoff, who grinned from the kitchen doorway.

  “Seriously, man,” Noah said.

  “They even bought some kind of chocolate pie just because you like those double-fudge brownies,” Geoff said. “Not to mention that Kenzie’s taking all the credit for creating Gabriela. My Very Own Hunter should do something about that.”

  Kenzie’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “No, I’m not!”

  Noah frowned like he was trying to look stern. “Go away.”

  “I’m gonna eat all of it,” Geoff said, but then he wiggled his eyebrows right before shutting the door.

  I let out a huff of air that was almost a laugh. “You do love double-fudge brownies.”

  “But I love you more,” Noah said, caressing my cheek with his knuckles.

  Warmth raced all over me. “And I love you.” I wrinkled my nose. “But I do kinda want pie.”

  He slid an arm across my shoulders. “Is this how it’s always gonna be? I want to kiss, and you want to eat pie?”

  We strolled slowly toward the door. “I don’t see why we can’t do both,” I said. “Just not at the same time.”