Sirens and Scales

by Kellie McAllen

  “My life isn’t exactly perfect, you know. No one’s is,” I whispered. “And I think I should be able to decide for myself what’s good for me.”

  I put my hand to his cheek and turned his head so he was facing me. His brown eyes were so beautiful, I could look into them forever, trying to decipher the secrets in their depths, and there were a lot of them. A boy who kept secrets was a boy I should avoid. But I kept secrets too, and that didn’t make me a bad person.

  The sun was almost down and the last of the day’s light cast a purple tinge to everything, from the land, to the sky, to the water, it all looked the same. I spotted the floating dock that was anchored two hundred yards off of the end of ours and decided a change in mood was needed. It felt too intimate to be next to his naked chest thinking about secrets.

  “Do you want to race?” I asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I saw how fast you were at the meet,” his shoulders relaxed. Making me think he was grateful for a lighter topic of conversation. “I mean, you were almost as fast as I am, not quite but almost.”

  My mouth fell open and he laughed. “You think you’re faster huh?” I said standing up. “Prove it!”

  I ran to the end of the deck and dove into the water, with him hot on my tail. The cool water hit my face in a rush and I swam beneath the surface the entire distance, it was much more fun to swim a straight two with no walls in my way. When I got to the dock, I popped out of the water with my head turned to see when he would surface. Jaron cleared his throat behind me, where he stood tall, glorious, and dripping wet on the dock. The sun was down and the moonlight shimmered across his muscular body.

  “Now you made me wait. Are we even?”

  “How did you–” I started, but he jumped into the water yelling, "Canon ball," cutting me off.

  He surfaced dangerously close to me, and I had to tell myself to keep breathing. “So you want to see where this goes, even if I might not be good for you?” he asked still out of breath from the race.

  “Yes,” I said too quickly and then added, “We could be friends.” It was good to go slow, start out as friends. Everyone said that, even if every fiber of my being was aching with want for him to be anything but just a friend, it was were things should start.

  Jaron shook his head and leaned closer, resting his forehead on mine. When he spoke, his breath tickled my face. “I don’t want to be your friend. You have a lot of friends.”

  The churning water pressed us closer together, his body felt hot in the cool water and it warmed me all over. “What do you want?” I asked in a rush. I couldn’t keep my voice or my pulse even. I had too much energy pumping through me and it took all I had just to control the urge to close the four inches between our lips and have my first kiss right there, floating in the water, with him.

  “Maribel, I want to be with you. I’ve never wanted to be with anyone before. I thought I was broken because of–” He paused and flinched like he was in pain. “My past. But when I saw you, it was like you were all I could see. And now you’re all I think about,” he said stopping short and flicked his eyes to mine.

  “You’re all I think about too, Jaron.” I slid my hand to rest on his chest. “You have been since I—”

  He cut me off as his mouth greedily found mine. I closed my eyes and was lost to sensation. His warm lips set me on fire as the lapping water cooled me. I wound my arms around his neck, and he pulled me closer. He parted my mouth with his tongue, and I dropped my hands down, tracing the contours of his strong chest, a moan escaping my lips. Jaron wrapped his arms around my body and lifted me onto the dock. I opened my eyes, surprised that he didn’t come up with me. I wasn‘t ready to let go of him.

  He swayed in the water looking at me with apologetic eyes. “Sorry about that.” He ran a hand down his face.

  “Don’t be,” I said in a silly daze.

  He laughed hard and pulled himself onto the dock next to me. “No, a gentleman shouldn’t kiss a lady without at least taking her to dinner first.” He slid his arm around me.

  His warm touch made the air feel more frigid than it really was, so I leaned into his shoulder. “Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked, embarrassed at losing control completely. Maybe he was right when he said he wasn’t good for me. After all, good girls didn’t wrap themselves around boys they hardly knew under the moonlight.

  “Yes, I can’t remember, did it need to be in writing?” he asked.

  I smiled at our remembered conversation. “No, it doesn’t need to be in writing—”

  “Maribel?” Dylan called from the deck.

  “Shoot!” I froze in place. “I have to go,” I whispered.

  “Wait,” he said, grabbing my hand before I could slip into the water. “So, dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Maribel, are you out there?” Dylan persisted.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said letting myself down into the water.

  “Really?” he asked.

  “It’s your turn to wait,” I said before plunging into the lake. I popped up halfway back and looked behind me. It was dark and I could barely see the dock, but I was pretty sure that Jaron was gone. “Coming!” I yelled to Dylan before he decided to call nine one one.

  7

  THE NEXT MORNING I woke up to what I thought was a severe earthquake, but as my eyes adjusted, I realized that Clarissa was jumping on my bed. “Go away!” I said and rolled back over hoping that my amazing dreams would find me again.

  “No way. Do you know how early I had to wake up to drive here this morning?” She said in a huff. “And I’m bored! We are supposed to be shopping already.”

  What, already? I sat up quickly, knocking her off of the bed by accident and looked at the clock. It was ten thirty. “Holy cow, I can’t believe I’m still sleeping,” I said, looking at her apologetically. This was supposed to be her day. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”

  I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth, glad that I had washed off the lake water the night before in the shower. I hadn’t wanted to clean away the evidence of me and Jaron’s rendezvous so quickly, but I had been paranoid that if I didn’t hop into a shower to cool down, my aunt would notice the blush on my cheek and suspect. Which was insane, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn‘t used to being a bad girl. I looked in the mirror and noticed that my hair needed to be cut pretty badly with Clarissa here to notice. “Make that ten minutes!” I shouted around a mouthful of spit. I heard a groan from my bedroom and laughed.

  When I was finished in the bathroom, I ran back into my room and paused halfway to my closet. Clarissa was in a totally different outfit. She had helped herself to my healthy wardrobe while I was gone. “You look nice…”

  “What, this old thing? It’s really last season, but I had to wear something.” She smiled and sat down on my bed.

  I walked into my closet.

  “By the way, I call the red Jimmy Choo’s,” she announced, so I grabbed them off the top of the shelf for her.

  We would be going from shop to shop trying on big ridiculous dresses for Clarissa’s debutant ball and I wanted to wear something that was easy to get in and out of, so I pulled a mustard yellow bandage dress with a side zipper off of its hanger. Slipping it on quickly, I snagged a pair of nude pumps for myself and Clarissa’s red stilettos and headed back to the room just as the doorbell rang.

  “Who’s that?” Clarissa asked as I handed her the shoes.

  “I don’t know,” I said while looking in the mirror and tying my hair into a bun.

  Clarissa walked up behind me and glared into the mirror. “No one but you could look good with no makeup on and rocking a knot on top of their head,” she said flicking her bleach blond pixie cut to the left side of her face, her natural red roots had grown out since the last time I saw her and I wondered if we should make a stop by the salon while we were in town as well.

  “I can’t tell if you’re insulting me or giving me a compliment,” I slipped my shoes on and grinned at her.

&
nbsp; “Definitely giving a compliment,” she said with a wink. “Now what colors do you think look good on me, I‘ve got to be like Ka-Pow at my debutant ball—”

  “Maribel!” Sylvia called from downstairs.

  “Hold that thought,” I said to Clarissa. I walked to my door and called out. “Yes.”

  “Come down here, it’s for you.” She said sounding confused.

  My heart jumped to my throat and I turned to Clarissa in panic. She raised her eyebrow questioningly and I remembered that I was the only one that knew Jaron was at the neighboring lake house…I took a deep breath and walked downstairs with Clarissa behind me. When I rounded the corner I saw Sylvia standing in the travertine covered entryway next to a stack of about twenty boxes. My shoulders dropped when I realized it wasn’t Jaron. “What’s all this?” I asked.

  She folded her arms and looked at me. “You tell me,” she said handing me a large square manila envelope that had my name scrawled across the top.

  I looked up at her in surprise. Pulling my finger across the fold, I tore it open and pulled out a crisp legal document that read:

  * * *

  Dear Maribel,

  * * *

  I am still anticipating your answer regarding our meal tonight; please get back to me right away. Accept the delivery, as it is what I owe you and Clarissa plus interest.

  * * *

  Thinking of last night,

  -Jaron

  * * *

  I blushed as I read the words ‘thinking of last night’ and laughed out loud when I saw the stamp and signature of a public notary. He remembered everything we had talked about that night. His phone number was scrawled across the bottom in long elegant script, apparently he thought I might want to call him. I still didn’t know what was in the boxes though, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I opened a box on top of one of the stacks. Packed tightly inside was row after row of Junior Mint boxes. He even remembered what candy I asked him for.

  “No effing way,” Clarissa’s voice sounded from behind me. “This is from Jaron, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I said with a smile stretched across my face, Clarissa took the knife from me and started opening boxes.

  “Who’s Jaron?” Sylvia asked.

  Me and Clarissa stared at each other for a few seconds before I tried to answer. “He’s that boy that I like, that Clarissa inadvertently told you about.” I glared at her and she grinned, opening another box of Junior Mints.

  “I thought he didn’t like you,” she said with worry creasing her forehead.

  “Well, I guess he does. He wants me to go out to dinner with him tonight,” I said flinching under her studying gaze.

  “What?” Sylvia squealed. “Is he here in town?” Clarissa looked over like she was as interested in the answer as Sylvia.

  “Yes, and I’d like to go, I mean you and Dylan are going out with Johnny anyway.”

  Sylvia looked torn for a second before her eyes lit up. “Well you can’t go out with him, I mean Clarissa’s here, it would be rude to leave her behind,” she said in a chastising voice that should only be used on three year olds.

  “Come on Sylvia,” I pleaded.

  Clarissa tore open the last of the twenty boxes and found it stacked with boxes of Dots. “I don’t mind staying behind, although he did get you nineteen boxes to my one…”

  “No, you can’t go,” Sylvia said as Dylan came down stairs.

  “What’s all this,” he asked.

  “Jaron is trying to get Maribel to go out with him,” Clarissa said around a mouthful of dots.

  Dylan froze on the last step. “What?” he asked.

  “Listen, I don’t understand why both of you are so surprised. Is it surprising that a guy would actually want to go out with me?” I asked in exasperation.

  “No, it just is surprising that you want to go out with him. We have grown used to boys chasing you around, we just aren’t used to you wanting to be chased.” Dylan said.

  “So, can I go out with him tonight, please?” I asked looking between my aunt and uncle.

  “As long as we meet him first and Clarissa goes with you and stays with you the whole night, it will be okay.” Dylan said before walking over to Sylvia and giving her a hug. “This is part of raising her up, she’s eighteen now. Do you remember you at eighteen?” he asked her, and then turned back to me. “Sylvia went out with about four guys every week!”

  “Hush!” Sylvia said shoving him back.

  “Just telling the truth,” he laughed. “And reminding you,” he said taking Sylvia’s face between his hand and gazing into her eyes. “Maribel is growing up, and as long as she’s safe. We need to let her do what is going to make her happy, even if it means…dating.” He spit the last word out like it was a curse.

  “So, as long as Clarissa comes, I can go?” I asked putting on the biggest smile I could muster.

  Dylan shook his head. “No, me and Sylvia need to meet him and then you can go as long as Clarissa goes,” he corrected.

  “So why is he sending Junior Mints instead of roses?” Sylvia asked as she peered into a box.

  “Well, he had said he was going to get me and Clarissa some candy, I asked for Junior Mints, she asked for Dots, but a family emergency came up,” I said looking at Clarissa communicating the fact that the movie night as it went down wasn’t to be told to them. “So he says this is what he owes us plus interest.”

  Dylan laughed. “I like his style,” he said grabbing a box of junior mints. “So, where can I meet this guy? He isn’t hiding in your closet or camping out on the dock right?”

  “Of course not!” I shouted a little too fast. “He’s staying at that gray house over on the east side, the one that is out on the water like ours.”

  “All right, you girls have fun shopping, I’ll go have a chat with Romeo,” Dylan said, looking out the window toward the house in question.

  “What!” I sputtered. I was hoping to be present for the meeting. He would be so embarrassing without me there to reel him in. “Why don’t we just meet up in town right before you two go out with Johnny.”

  Sylvia piped in. “That’s a great idea, Dylan. Us girls will be in town anyway, why don’t you give Jaron a ride, and we’ll meet up there.”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s the plan, let Jaron know that I‘ll be picking him up, Mari. Now, you girls go have fun.”

  I groaned and looked over at Clarissa as my uncle and aunt left to the kitchen for a private conversation. “Do you believe them? I hope they don’t embarrass me too much,” I whispered.

  Clarissa popped a red dot into her mouth and spoke while chomping it down, very un-debutant of her. “I would usually side with you, but after he bailed at the movies—” I opened my mouth to protest, but she glared at me. “Don’t give me the family emergency thing. Even if it was one, he couldn’t come tell us really quick, or told a theater employee to pass on the message?”

  I pursed my lips, she was right, but I wanted to argue. “If something came up and he didn’t think to say anything, that just shows how big of an emergency it really was,” I narrowed my eyes, daring her to argue.

  She raised her hands. “Like I said, I’m on your side. I just think it’s a good thing to be a little cautious after something like that. I’m not telling you to write him off, I think he’s kinda funny, and he almost killed Brad for touching you, which shows he has a protective side. Just don’t throw your heart at him until you know he won’t break it.”

  I hated that everything she was saying made so much sense. But I didn’t know if the advice was given too little too late or if it ever would have mattered. I was about to tell Clarissa what happened last night—after all she was my best friend and I couldn’t wait to tell her about my first kiss—but Sylvia walked into the room.

  “Let’s get going girls! And try not to fill up on candy, I wanted to take you both to brunch,” Sylvia said in a pout. “Honestly what are you supposed to do with all of that?” She rolled her
eyes and opened the front door ushering us out.

  “Better than getting flowers, all they do is die a slowly,” Clarissa said while walking out into the sunshine. “How is that romantic?”

  After brunch and three dress shops, Clarissa finally found a boutique full of dresses that she felt had the Ka-Pow effect, though I didn’t know what batman sounds had to do with anything. The shop was painted and decorated in soft blush tones with gray accents. The waiting room had a clamshell couch stationed in front of three dressing rooms. Clarissa was in the left room trying on a royal blue ball gown that would have been too much for me, but I thought it suited her perfectly. Sylvia was sitting next to me on the couch still looking stressed out. “Are you stressed about the painting, or me dating?” I asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

  She smiled at me. “A little of both I guess, it’s hard for me to know what to do when it comes to this next phase of your life,” she said biting her lip. “I’m responsible for your safety and happiness, but I am unsure as to what that means in regards to boys…I just wish I could talk to your mother. She always knew what the right path was.” She looked at me holding back tears and threw her arms around my neck. “Most of the time, with you around, it’s like I never lost her. You are alike in so many ways. But now, I just feel so lost without her.”

  “It’s okay,” I said hugging her tightly. “I feel that way too sometimes, but we have each other and Dylan, and we should just be thankful for that. So many people don’t even have that much.” She pulled away and I tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

  “Just tell me that you will be careful and won’t do anything stupid, like run off to Vegas with this boy or something equally stupid,” she said straight faced.

  “Are you serious?” I laughed, though the thought of doing anything like that with Jaron was a welcomed fantasy.