Darkly Sweet

by Juliann Whicker

  The tea party went in kind of a hazy blur of clinking dishes, hot tea spilled on my skirt, Viney making inappropriate comments that were sometimes almost funny, and the gingerbread house in the middle of the table that I stared at instead of Drake.

  After we’d all eaten until we weren’t hungry and I’d stopped feeling nauseous, Drake gestured towards the house, the movement forcing my eyes up to meet his for a moment before I locked my gaze back down.

  “Who wants to smash it?”

  “No!” I grabbed the house and pulled it to me, protecting it with my body.

  Zach scooted back while Viney rolled her eyes, and Drake, who I glared at grinned at me.

  “It’s for eating, Gretel. Don’t you want to nibble on the roof?”

  I shook my head tightly.

  “You’re so weird,” Viney muttered, standing up. “I’m getting out of this crap. Are we still watching a horror movie?”

  I tried to relax my grip on the house but couldn’t do it even as I turned to look at her. “Horror movie?”

  Drake stood up too. “Good idea. We’ll eat the house while we watch the movie. Zach, is it all set up?”

  Zach nodded and I caught him looking at my legs which were over-exposed in my position leaning on the gingerbread house. I bit my lip and tried to not act crazy. What had changed? Why would they do all this stuff, fix my room and throw me a tea party?

  They couldn’t really like me, not Viney, definitely not Drake. What were they setting me up for?

  I reluctantly pulled away, noticing that I had white frosting on my skull buttons and the chimney looked a little bit crooked from my embrace. I stood there, staring at the house while Viney and Drake left my room, leaving me and Zach.

  “Are you okay?”

  I smiled up at him automatically but as I looked at him it kind of faded. “I’m kind of freaked out, to be honest. I didn’t expect all of this. I didn’t expect any of this. Thank you.” I put my hand out, slowly and kind of patted his arm before I turned back to the house. “It’s perfect. Everything is better than perfect, just strange.”

  He cleared his throat. “If you don’t want to eat the house, you don’t have to.”

  “Yes, you do,” Drake called from outside my room.

  Zach rolled his eyes and I smiled at him.

  “It’s okay. I will let the children gobble up my house and I won’t even cook you in the oven this time, but only because I’m already so full.”

  Chapter 20

  I carried the gingerbread house out of my room carefully, particularly in my platform Mary-Janes. I put it on the elaborately carved coffee table across from the large screen where they played video games opposite a big lilac floral couch. I fiddled with the house, running my fingers over the roof, the swirls of white frosting, the gumdrops along the edge before I finally stood with a sigh.

  Viney came out of her room at that moment wearing black pants, slouchy, comfy looking, and an over-size t-shirt of a skull wrapped in flames beneath a long black sweater. She looked really comfortable. She stared at me dully.

  “Aren’t you getting changed? The tea party is over.”

  I sighed. “I have my school uniform and dirty laundry. I’m still a little short on clothes.

  I’ve never owned a t-shirt and my only pants are my riding ones.”

  Her lips curled in disgust. “You don’t own a t-shirt? Why not?”

  Why didn’t I? They were too loose, caught on things, were flammable and my grandmama disapproved of them? I shrugged. “I don’t know. No one I know wears t-shirts, at least not until now.”

  “What?” That was Zach as he came out of his room wearing a t-shirt and soft pants, like the pants Drake wore the other morning. Where was Drake?

  Viney turned to him with a shake of her small head. “She doesn’t own a t-shirt.”

  “Really?” He pulled out his phone and stared at it, typing in it while I shifted awkwardly beneath Viney’s contemptuous stare. “Drake’s going to bring something.”

  “No. It’s ridiculous. Is there a horror movie rule about wearing t-shirts? I am just fine in this outfit. I’m perfectly comfortable and just great.”

  Viney narrowed her eyes at me. “If I had to wear that skirt and vest, you have to wear a t-shirt and pants. You don’t want someone to accidentally put his hand on your leg during the movie, do you? I’d offer you some of mine, but you’re way too flat and tall.”

  I blinked at her. “Thanks?”

  Zach made a rude sound. “Viney doesn’t let people touch her stuff. If she actually let you wear her clothes, that would mean she was possessed by a demonic force and we should call in a specialist.”

  Viney sneered at him. “As if I’m not already possessed by a demonic force.”

  I giggled and they both looked at me. “You guys are cute. Are you sure you’re not dating?”

  Zach shook his head decidedly while Viney scowled at me. “Zach and I have no chemistry. None. I could kiss him for five hours and only notice how chapped my lips are. He’s like a piece of broccoli to me.” She shrugged.

  I glanced at Zach waiting for him to chime in on it. He shrugged. “I’ve only been attracted to one female before.”

  “One? Really?”

  Zach smiled slightly, blue eyes crinkling sweetly.

  “Are we talking about who we like, because I do not want to miss this conversation?”

  Drake came in wearing a soft looking dark green long sleeved t-shirt with a v-neckline low enough I could see his clavicles. Not that I was looking. He threw a bundle of clothing at me that I caught, dark clothes soft in my hands.

  Viney glared at me. “Don’t argue, just change. I’m making popcorn and I don’t want it to be cold when we start the movie.” Viney gave me a scowl just in case I thought I should argue, but I didn’t, instead I went into my room, my temporary one, fed Señor Mort, and changed into the knit top and pants that were rather large on me. The v-neck dipped much lower than my clavicles and smelled like black cherry when I pulled it over my head, not that I noticed or buried my face in it for a second while I thought about gingerbread houses.

  “Señor Mort, he is not being nice to me, he’s just messing with me. That’s what he does. He gave me the gingerbread house just so that we could smash it, and helped fix my room just because…”

  What was I supposed to do with the weird feeling in my stomach, like butterflies? I came out of my room, tugging on the hem of the shirt. I felt strangely indecent in such soft fabric. I felt much less naked in my lace robe. Maybe I just wasn’t used to it.

  “Sit down.” Viney gestured over where she sat on the couch.

  Zach sat down beside her and then I sat by him while I ignored Drake where he stood by the screen, fiddling with cords for a second before he turned off the lights. The screen glowed green as he came over to the couch, but there wasn’t enough room for anyone else. He sat down anyway. On me.

  “What are you doing?” I gasped as his weight pressed me down into the lilac floral couch. I was going to die smothered in the most ugly upholstery known to man. Death by couch. It would be a good epitaph.

  I put my hands on his waist, trying to get him off me, but instead of pushing him off, my hands slid around his stomach, over the soft fabric that barely hid his hard muscles.

  He shifted and I could breathe a little bit better, but his weight on me still made me dizzy, the scent of black cherry making my mouth water.

  Drake hit Zach lightly on the shoulder. “Move over, Zach. Viney won’t bite, probably, and if she does, you might like it. If I sit on Penny much longer, I think she’s going to take advantage of me.”

  He put his hand over mine where they rested on his stomach, right above the waistband of his pants.

  My heart pounded against his back where he pressed me into the couch. “I’m going to bite you if you don’t move. You weigh too much. You need to go on a diet.”

  Viney snorted. “Drake is always going on diets to try and gain weight. He’s the l
ightest guy in his weight class.”

  I groaned and tightened my arms around him before I heaved and ended up falling over with Drake onto Zach’s lap.

  Zach jumped, his thigh under my cheek. “Hey! Are we wrestling or watching a movie?”

  “Sorry,” I muttered while Drake finally got off me, but instead of him going and sitting in a chair like a normal human, he sat down in my place and pulled me off Zach and onto his lap.

  I stared at him in the green flickering light of the TV, my heart pounding in my chest.

  I swallowed hard. “I’m heavy.”

  He slid his hands around my waist, like I’d done just a moment earlier. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t blame it on his weight. He pulled me back against him, lifted his chin and whispered in my ear, “You smell like black cherries. Do I really smell that good?

  How can you possibly resist me?”

  Zach yanked on Drake’s arm and I escaped making my way to the chair beside the couch with trembling hands. I pulled up my knees and frowned at the TV. “Now I can’t reach the popcorn.”

  Viney passed it over, her gaze on the screen which I also focused on instead of looking at Drake. Stupid teenagers were drinking and laughing loudly while they walked along a dark country road. The music built up kind of horribly, and a truck was coming along, faster and faster as it got to the teens. I flinched and gasped even though the teens somehow got out of the road, narrowly missed by the truck.

  I shivered and took a handful of popcorn from the bowl Drake held out to me, the green tint of the screen making his eyes look alien. I studied the popcorn kernels and ate them one at a time, the weird crunch not entirely unappetizing with all the butter on it.

  “Haven’t you had popcorn before?”

  I glanced over at Drake who was apparently still watching me. “Of course I have.

  Haven’t we had this conversation before? I go to movies in the movie theater all the time. I mean, I have gone a few times. Not a lot. Twice. Aren’t you going to watch the movie?”

  He left his hand on the edge of the armrest through the film, kind of close to me. I leaned away from him, huddled on the far side of the chair while the music got more intense. I wrapped my arms around my knees while I stared at the screen, my chin going lower and lower until I could barely see the screen above my knees.

  When the girl was standing in the woods, calling her boyfriend, she turned and screamed while this guy in a mask swung an enormous chainsaw at her face.

  I gasped and grabbed Drake’s hand, dragging his arm against my chest where my heart pounded, holding on tight while blood splattered the screen. I held his arm like that for the rest of the movie, probably uncomfortable for him, but I didn’t think about that until the movie was over.

  I sat there in the credits with a pounding heart until I let go of his hand and straightened up. “So that’s a horror movie. I’m going to have nightmares.”

  “You’re welcome to spend the night in my bed, Penny Lane. You can hold onto me as tight as you like.”

  I glared at Drake, but I had clung to him through the entire movie. I glanced over at the gingerbread house and knelt down in front of the coffee table.

  “I almost forgot.” I hesitated for a moment then broke a chunk off the roof. I ate the gingerbread, and it was really nice gingerbread even if there was too much frosting. The gumdrops didn’t hurt. Viney and Zach broke off chunks and ate while they discussed the movie, talking about bad directing, like who hadn’t seen that chainsaw guy coming a mile away? Drake grinned at me so I shoved a large chunk of roof in his mouth.

  He grabbed my hand and licked frosting off my fingers before I could pull away. My heart pounded ridiculously hard before he let me go. I shook my head and ate gingerbread until I really needed some nice tea to go with it.

  When the roof was gone and half a wall devoured, I stopped and stared inside.

  Written in swirling frosting were the words, “Come to the fairy-tale dance with me. I’ll wear Lederhosen if you’ll be my Gretel.”

  I stared at those words while my head got dizzy and everything grew fuzzy around the edges.

  I woke up on the couch, Viney sitting next to me while behind her Drake paced and Zach sat on the edge of the table, grinning and eating gingerbread. I squeezed my eyes closed while my head hurt.

  Viney yelled at Drake. “What did you put in the gingerbread? Are we all going to die?”

  He scowled back at her. “It’s fine. She’s just tired.”

  Zach grinned at me. “Sleeping beauty is waking up. Are you all right?”

  I sat up slowly while Viney quickly moved away from me. I put my hand on my forehead where a bump was rising.

  “You hit your head on the corner of the coffee table.” Viney scowled at me like I’d done it on purpose.

  “That makes sense. I had this weird hallucination that Hansel asked me to a dance.

  Wait, maybe it was a mistake. Where did the gingerbread come from?”

  I looked from Viney’s blank face to Zach who tried hard not to smile and Drake who stared at me intently.

  “I made it.” Drake sounded almost casual.

  I stared at him. “You made it? You made the gingerbread and the frosting parts particularly the…”

  He rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch beside me, too close so I couldn’t breathe very well. “Why not? It’s not for another month, but girls have already started asking me. If I have a date, it’s easier.”

  I shook my head and winced because it hurt and my head was aching. “Drake, as my Pas de Deux partner, you know that I can’t dance. You should ask Viney who probably dances really well. Or Zach, he’d be a great partner. You’re even taller than him.”

  Drake leaned closer to me, his eyes going wide and soft. He smelled so ridiculously delicious, my mouth started watering. “I know it’s sudden, and I know that you like someone else, it’s just that I thought we were friends and if you’re not going with someone else by then it would be convenient. You don’t have to agree just because I made you gingerbread and frosted all of those little roof pieces, or that I hung your new bed and…”

  “Stop it!” Viney grabbed his hair and pulled him off the couch.

  His eyes widened in surprise as she rounded on him, a small ball of fury that was pretty terrifying.

  “She’s just had a concussion. You can’t guilt her into going out with you just because she’s the only girl you know who doesn’t melt at the sound of your voice. You asked her.

  Fine. I’m not going to let you stand there and try to seduce her into going with you if she actually likes someone else. And as for you!” She rounded on me.

  I pressed into the back of the couch and smoothed down my hair to make it harder for her to grab.

  “Don’t you ever wear a bra?”

  I blinked at her. That wasn’t where I’d been going. “Um…”

  “Do you even know what a bra is?”

  I gestured at her. “It’s for girls with voluptuous curves. I’m fine without one.”

  She scowled at me. “Do you think Zach and Drake don’t notice your nipples in that shirt?”

  I felt my face get hot while Zach choked then burst out laughing.

  Drake stared at me, his gaze dropping to my shirt while his lips twisted into a smirk.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  Viney whirled on him which gave me slight breathing room. “You should have gotten a shirt from the same kid you stole the pants from. Your shirt, hanging off her shoulder and no bra…”

  Zach put a hand on Viney’s shoulder and didn’t take it off when she turned her snarl on him. “I think it’s time for all of us to go to bed. Professor Vale is going to turn off the lights at ten, and Drake’s got to clean up the tea party while Penny collects her things for her room. I know it’s weird to see Drake acting like this, but you should probably stop screaming at people.”

  She stiffened up and shook off his hand. “I’m going to bed.” With that
, she marched off leaving me alone with Zach and Drake. I stood hurriedly then grabbed the arm of the couch while the world spun again. Drake moved like he was going to grab me then held back while Zach put an arm around my shoulders.

  “You got it?”

  I nodded and carefully took his hand off my bare skin. Viney was right. Drake’s shirt hung off me. Of course, Viney was the one who insisted I wear a t-shirt. Drake spun around and I heard the click of stacking dishes while I headed to my room.

  Alone in my room, I stood in front of the floor length mirror holding Señor Mort’s floral covered cage and staring at my reflection. My forehead was red, my shoulder was

  bare and Viney was right about the whole nipples thing. The knit fabric clung to absolutely everything, and my femininity was glaring. Weird.

  I put the cage down and pulled off the knit clothing, throwing them violently to the ground before I rustled up my temptress robe and rose bustier. Fine, if knit clothes were too provocative, I’d stick to my grandmother’s negligee and call it good. I folded up the clothes, burying my face in the shirt and inhaling deeply of black cherry before I picked up Señor Mort’s cage and stalked into the common room.

  “Drake, I’m putting your clothes on the couch. Zach, could you help me move my trunks into my room? I didn’t see what kind of security system it had. Could I speak to the maintenance team that fixed my room?” Drake came out of my room and I nodded at him. “Will you help Zach get my trunks? Thanks so much.”

  I stood back, lifting my chin and not quite looking at his narrowing green eyes as he stood there, hands clenching and unclenching.

  He leaned close as he passed me. “You can’t think that you look less enticing in your practically sheer lace robe and that contraption. You must be trying to tease me into giving you a better offer. Fine. I’ll wear Lederhosen without a shirt.”

  I gasped and shivered, but that wasn’t from his arm brushing across my body, sending a flare of bewildering heat through me. I didn’t say anything, just hung onto my cage and tried not to faint again.