by Megan Curd
“I can’t compete with you. Why do you get to have two pining over you? It’s so disgusting,” she laughed, but we both knew she was only half joking.
Maybe losing a toe or two wasn’t such a bad thing. Today was going from ugly to institutionalize-worthy. “I don’t want Reese. Take Reese. He’s all yours.”
Mary caught onto my mood and parked in the driveway silently.
We walked in through the garage, going directly into the kitchen. Mom was already working on dinner, while Chris was sitting at the bar doing homework.
I tossed my book bag against the bar, the thump causing Chris to jump. “Hey punk, do you have much homework tonight, or are you willing to get whipped in Rock Band?”
Chris looked jumpy. Eyes latching onto anything but me, he started texting furiously on his phone. “Uh, I dunno, Ash. I might have plans.”
“That would mean you have friends. We both know Mom stopped paying for that a long time ago.”
It was like a light switch was flipped. Chris slammed his phone on the counter, then stood up. “You know what, Ash? Maybe someone might enjoy my company. You ever think of that? That someone might think I have a lot of good stuff to say?”
I was flabbergasted. This was a new side of Chris. We always joked. He scooped up his belongings and stormed away before anyone could say anything more.
Mary broke the silence. “Well, seems like Chris has finally reached his teen angst years.”
She was leaning against the sink, drying off an apple she'd found. Mom seemed shocked, but stayed out of it. The doorbell rang. Sighing, I went to see who it was.
Liam. Of course it was Liam. My heart skipped a beat, but not from excitement. He was alone. “Please tell me you didn’t drive over here.”
“Sure did. Wrong side of the road and all. Did a couple laps around the neighborhood before I came here and only caused two minor pile-ups on North Enon.” There was no trace of a smile on his face.
“You didn’t.”
His face broke out into an apologetic grin. “Of course not, goof. It’s weird driving on the opposite side, though. No wonder they want me to take a driver’s exam before driving over here.”
I looked out to see Reese’s Jeep parked haphazardly across the driveway, blocking all coming and going until it was moved. “I know Reese didn’t let you take his baby.”
“You’d be surprised how kind he can be with some persuasion.”
Persuasion was probably putting it lightly. I could see the kicking and screaming that probably came along with Liam driving the Jeep out of the Williams’s driveway. Liam broke through my reverie. “You know, I haven’t seen your room.”
“It’s pretty boring. You’re not missing out on anything,” Mary called from the kitchen. “But I’ve spruced it up by putting a twin mattress on the floor, complete with the Little Mermaid sheets Ash had lying around.”
“Little Mermaid? What’s that?”
I grabbed Liam’s hand and dragged him out of the house before Mary could say anything more. I put my hand out expectantly in front of Liam. “Keys, please?”
He smiled. “What, you don’t trust me?”
“You don’t know the way around town.”
“You don’t trust me!”
I laughed. “You’re right. You’re an accident waiting to happen.”
He sighed and fished in his pocket for the keys to the Jeep. “You’re going to have to let me drive some day.”
His expression made me grin. “That day is not today, sir.”
We hopped in the car and headed off. I still hadn’t told him where we were going, but he hadn’t asked, either. We rode in silence for a moment before he put his hand on my leg. “So where are we going, chauffeur?”
“I was thinking Clifton Mill.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a really neat place not too far away. During the holidays they put up thousands and thousands of Christmas lights, making the whole place really neat. I figured with the sun going down, we could go see it.”
He smiled in silence, looking out the window. “The snow is gorgeous. It’s a bit cold for my taste, but it’s pretty. Do you go to this Clifton Mill much?”
“No, but I always really enjoy it when I do,” I pulled the digital camera out of my coat pocket. “I thought we could send some pictures to your mom.”
“Sounds good to me.”
When we got there, I took him into the big, red, barn-like restaurant. I heard him sigh. “You hungry?”
He smiled. “Kind of.”
We found an attendant and got a booth that overlooked the waterfall lit up by blue Christmas lights. As we waited on our food, he took in the sights. His eyes twinkled with the colors of the lights. As amazing as it was that we were here, his actions from earlier were eating away at me. He must have noticed. “Ash, what’s wrong? You look like something’s bothering you.”
I didn’t want to ruin the moment. He was enjoying himself and I knew Reese had made a dumb move today. “Look, it’s about Reese. I know he can be a serious idiot sometimes, but –”
“He was hitting on you.”
“I know.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
He had a good point. I could totally understand why Liam felt the way he did. I would probably feel the same way if the shoe were on the other foot. Still, I couldn’t explain the need I had to defend Reese. “It’s not that I think it’s okay, Liam. It’s just, I don’t know, that’s how things have always been between us. He’s not doing it intentionally.”
Liam laughed. “He’s very much doing it intentionally,” I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hands. “But if you know him – if you trust him – I trust you. I just have one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you love him?”
My mouth must have hit the floor. While I was busy reeling my tongue back in, our food arrived. The waitress didn’t seem to pay much attention to us, because Liam was saying thank you to the air as I finally regained enough sense to respond. “Why would you think I loved him?”
He smiled. “It’s the way he looks at you. He loves you. If you don’t know that, then you’re blind.”
“We’re just friends. I don’t love him.”
“Then I trust you. One more question.”
I didn’t know if I could handle any more questions, but I nodded. “Okay?”
“Do you love me?”
He grinned devilishly at the response I must have given on my face. He shook his head. “I’ll wait for an answer to that after I’ve wooed you a little more.” With that, he went to eating his cheeseburger, leaving me in stunned silence.
Yes, I knew I really liked Liam. But love him? We’d only known each other a couple weeks! That seemed a bit quick. It seemed like if I answered the question with a yes, maybe next week he’d be proposing. That definitely wasn’t in the cards.
As he finished, he pulled his wallet out and threw a wad of twenties onto the table. He smiled as he took my hand. “Will that cover the bill?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled about the tip. You do know you probably left as much in the tip as the bill was?”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my neck. “It was worth it.”
My stomach curled in excitement. Feeling his warm breath on my skin was amazing. We went through the double glass doors and into the area covered in twinkling lights, his embrace never weakening. I could get used to this.
As we neared the bridge, I pulled out my camera. “Do you mind taking a couple pictures?”
He grinned. “Not at all!”
I gave the camera to a couple walking past that was nice enough to snap a couple photos. After taking three, the woman smiled at us and asked, “Now why don’t we have one of you kissing?”
Liam lit up and squeezed me tighter. “That’s a good question. Can we, Ash?” His eyes were pleading in a playful way.
“Do I have a choice?”
He grinned. “Nope.”
With that, he leaned in and put his hands on either side of my face. His breath was visible through the cold air. He smiled as he closed in. “I promise it won’t be painful.”
I closed the gap a little to excitedly. When our lips met, it felt like sparks shot through my entire body. There weren’t fireworks, but there was the flash of the camera in the dark.
Liam wound his fingers through my hair near my neck and pulled me closer to him. I willingly pushed closer to his body. Wasn’t it thirty degrees outside right now? It felt like the world had caught fire.
A twitter of coughs broke our concentration. Apparently when the couple had asked us to kiss, they weren’t expecting that. “Sorry, ma’am,” Liam said as he inclined his head. “She’s just too irresistible at times.”
“Hear, hear!” the man said as he chuckled.
As they left, Liam pulled me close once more and whispered in my ear. “Am I allowed another one?”
I allowed more than just one.
* * *
When we got back to the house, it was close to eleven. As I shut off the car, Liam bounded around the car and opened my door. He was ridiculously excited about how the night had turned out. I was excited, too. My stomach curled in knots as I thought about him kissing me again.
We walked up the pathway to the front door together, my back to the door as I playfully tossed snow in Liam’s face. His expression caught me off guard. He looked angry. “What did I do?”
He didn’t have to answer. He simply turned me around, to find Reese sitting on the steps up to the door, bundled in a fleece blanket emblazoned with the school’s mascot. It was the one I had made him before the football season started. He was making a point. He stood up and put his hand out. “My keys, please?”
I felt bad. “Reese, I’m sorry, we hadn’t planned on being gone so long.”
“It’s whatever, Ash,” he shivered in the cold. I wondered how long he’d been waiting, and why he’d done it outside. “I was just coming by to ask you what your locker combination was.”
“You waited outside the house in a blanket to ask me what my locker combo was?”
He shrugged. “You gonna give it to me, or not?”
I rolled my eyes. “You have a place to write it down?”
Reese pulled out his phone. “Go for it.”
I felt Liam shuffle behind me. I didn’t turn to see what he was doing. “It’s eighteen, twenty-seven, six. What do you need it for?”
Reese smiled. “That’s for me to know, and you to find out, beautiful.”
He walked forward and wrapped me up in the blanket for a hug before Liam even had a chance to argue. As he walked away, he shouted behind his back, “Liam, you’re walking home, chief.”
Liam laughed, then leaned in to kiss me. “I’m okay with that since I get to kiss Ashlyn.”
The sound of Reese throttling the engine was quickly drowned out by my beating heart. Liam was amazing.
NINETEEN
I opened my locker in the morning to find a white rose with a four-leaf clover resting in the petals. Beside it there was a card. Meet me in the commons, it read. I sighed and grabbed the books I needed for first and second hour, then headed upstairs to meet Reese in the commons.
The commons was packed, but I scanned the room for Reese. Finding him shouldn’t be too hard. He was always the center of attention. When I found him on the far end, hands covered my eyes, causing me to jump.
“Take it easy there, killer,” murmured Liam, his voice close to my ear. He kissed my cheek as he uncovered my eyes. “I was wondering if you’d ever show up.”
“Wait, it was you who put the rose in my locker?”
He smiled. “Who else would it be? I thought the four leaf clover would give it away. You know, Ireland token and all.”
I shook my head. “Where’d you find a clover right now, anyway? It’s the middle of winter.”
“Mum gave me some before I left. A family thing.”
I smiled and curled up in his arms, completely forgetting about anything else. That is, until I saw Reese watching us from across the commons. I turned and smiled at Liam. “Want to go for a walk?”
We went out of the commons to the snow covered basketball courts that were outside. Liam dragged his feet through the snow, leaving a path for me to walk through behind him. “How do you deal with all the supernatural stuff? I mean, don’t you think it’s a little insane that Memaw can shift, that my ex best friend is a nut, and we’ve got the Grim Reaper trying to kill us?”
Liam laughed. “He’s not trying to kill me, love. He’s just after you. You’re special.”
I balled up some snow and pelted the back of his head with it. “You’re a jerk.”
His grin was infectious. “No, I’m your Protector. Get it right,” He ran toward me and pulled me into a tight embrace, spinning me around. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”
His eyes made me believe it. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”
The bell began to ring to sound the warning for first hour. He sighed as he put me back on the ground. “And so the mundane begins.”
“At least I have you with me for a couple hours of it.”
* * *
It was so nice to get through the day with no life threatening issues cropping up. By the time P.E. arrived, I thought I’d won the lottery to get through the day with no drama.
Liam walked with me to our lockers at the end of the day, holding my hand. People watched, of course. Liam was still new meat. Krista’s wandering eye irritated me the most. Of course her locker was only a few down from mine.
Liam put his back to her and leaned against the lockers as I twirled the combination to my lock. “She gets under your skin, doesn’t she?”
“How do you figure?” I grumbled.
He laughed and put his hand on my waist. “Ash, I don’t just fall in love with anyone.”
“What’s up with you and love?”
“You still don’t love me?”
I laughed. “You don’t even know me yet.”
“Then why don’t you let me?”
Internally I think my stomach fell into my butt. The idea of telling Liam everything - to tell him why exactly Ankou was after me – was so enticing. I battled with myself, and finally my heart won out. “Listen, Memaw didn’t want me to tell you this but – ”
At that moment my locker exploded with silly string and fake rubber snakes. Screaming, I jumped back about five feet to dodge the line of fire. When everything calmed down, a group of other students had begun to create a ring around my locker. I inched toward it. “Reese…”
In the back of my locker there was a picture of us both beneath the blanket he had been waiting for me under last night. He had scrawled in silver sharpie on the corner of the picture.
Don’t forget me.
* * *
Liam helped me clean up the massive mess that Reese created. That punk. Of course he had meant it as a joke. How could I ever think that a simple rose would be from Reese? That would be way too mild for his tastes.
When Liam and I pulled up to my house, he looked at me with puppy eyes. “You still haven’t shown me your room.
“It’s really not that exciting. Plus, you’d probably get eaten alive by something under my bed. It’s not the cleanest place.”
Liam laughed and grabbed both our book bags. “Come on, we’ll get some homework done.”
We went inside to find the place empty. I didn’t necessarily like the intimacy that was coming, but there wasn’t a way around it. Plus, my stomach was balling up again from the idea as well. My head and heart were in a constant battle these days, but my head was beginning to agree with my heart more and more. Reaching the foot of the stairs, Liam looked around the room. “You have a lot of posters of bands.”
“There's a lot of good music out.”
He scanned my corner desk, running his hands over the multitude of books stuffed
into the nooks and crannies. “I didn’t know you liked to read.”
I smiled. “Beats playing video games with Reese all day.”
He walked over and took my hand, half-smiling. It looked like he was thinking about something. “Would you play games with me all day?”
There probably wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do with him all day. That was the problem. Of course, he didn’t need to know that. “Maybe. If you were nice.”
“I can be nice.”
His expression was suddenly full of emotion. His train of thought connected with mine about two seconds before he leaned in to kiss me.
This was even better than his kiss at Clifton Mill. He pulled me close, his breath fast. I sighed under his soft touch. His heart was beating against my chest and there was no way he wasn’t aware of mine. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled myself closer to him. He responded by putting one hand in my hair and gently undoing my ponytail, causing my hair to fall around my face. “Ashlyn,” was all he had to say. I leaned in, pushing up onto my toes to eagerly meet his lips halfway.
“Well, I would say get a room, but as you’re already in one, I’ll just say disgusting.”
Of course he would ruin this moment. Liam pulled away, groaning at the entrance of his unwanted host brother. Reese would find some way to crash the party. It was Murphy's Law, as Memaw would say.
“Reese, I’m pretty sure you weren’t invited into our room,” Liam said as civilly as he could.
“Huh. I was under the impression that ‘our’ room was right down the road,” Reese said as he thrust his thumb over his shoulder in the opposite direction, smiling. Striding across the room, he made himself right at home on Mary’s makeshift bed. “Nice sheets, Ash.”
Liam groaned and walked to the door, but then stopped. Turning around, he came back to kiss me on the forehead before walking to the door once more. “Have fun with Reese, Ash. Let me know when he’s done harassing you and I’ll come back.”
