Shelter

by Stephanie Fournet

  Cole raised a brow that arched so high, a world of doubt could have sailed down it on a sled. “Vampires in love? In the Pacific Northwest?” he scoffed. “Please.”

  My gaze shot to Ava. “Edward’s a vampire?” I asked in stunned horror.

  Her eyes registered shock before she gave me an anguished, half-pitying look. “You didn’t know?”

  I winced. Clearly, this was something I should have figured out already. I combed over the details from the story. Fair skin… super-human strength… warnings of danger… Now that I thought about it, the facts seemed to be staring me in the face. And I’d just blinked back. Like an idiot.

  As always.

  Outwardly, I shook off my shame. “I-I wasn’t paying attention. I would have known it soon,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing and composed. I couldn’t meet either of their eyes, so I poked at a near-melted marshmallow in my cocoa instead.

  “Yes, you would have.”

  These words coming from Cole made my head snap up. I expected him to be fighting back hysterics at my expense. But he wasn’t. His face held no trace of humor. Instead, he looked so convinced, even I believed him, and my shoulders relaxed on my next exhale.

  Sometimes, when he wasn’t being an annoying ass, Cole wasn’t so bad.

  “You would have because it’s stupid,” he added.

  And then he goes right back to being an ass.

  I picked up my mug and brought it to the sink, the sweet drink suddenly nauseating. I felt Cole turn toward me as I poured my cocoa down the drain.

  “And you’re smart,” he said.

  My body went rigid, waiting for the next insult that would surely come. Cole was an expert at catching me with my guard down. No, that wasn’t exactly right. Really, he was an expert at getting me to let my guard slip before he leveled me with an insult or slight. He’d had years of practice.

  This time, I wasn’t going to give him the chance. And I certainly wasn’t going to stick around for more of Twilight now. Not because Cole’s opinion tainted mine. But because I didn’t want him to ruin the book any more than he already had.

  Mama was rolling out pie crusts on the counter. She was pretending not to listen, but I knew she’d tuned into every word. Her eyes flicked up to mine when I put my mug into the dishwasher. They held a warning. I was not to say something to Cole I might regret. But there was something else in her look, too. A hint of sympathy and maybe even a little defiance.

  “Don’t listen to him,” it seemed to say. “You’re smart enough to figure out what you want.”

  The look touched something in my middle and set it free. I smiled at her. “I’ll be at Alberta’s,” I told her softly, and then I turned and moved to the door.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Cole asked, sounding surprised.

  I put my hand on the knob, but I faced him before turning it. “I’m leaving.” I didn’t owe him an answer. He could say anything he wanted to me, but I didn’t have to tell him where I was going. I didn’t have to tell him a thing.

  A frown creased his brow. “But why? Y’all were in the middle of the story?”

  Over his shoulder, I watched Ava smirk and roll her eyes at her brother.

  “Yeah,” I said, opening the door. “We were.”

  “I’m telling you, Alberta, he is just SO. ANNOYING. Ugh!” I smacked her lavender and periwinkle bedspread with my open palm. We both lay on our backs, staring up at her muraled ceiling. She’d painted it as though her room was a deserted island, overlooking the open ocean as evening fell. A short strip of sand with a few scurrying hermit crabs and a fallen coconut made up the beach before gentle waves crashed ashore. It was easy to get lost in the colors of the sunset on the rippling water.

  “Yeah, but why do you care?” Alberta asked, crossing one knee over the other and letting her bare foot bounce.

  “Because he’s annoying.” I shrugged as though this were obvious. “He pisses me off. He tries to make me feel stupid. And he’s mean. And nosey. And judgy. And I just hate him so much!”

  Alberta turned to face me. “But why do you hate him? I mean, why do you feel anything?” she pressed. “Why not just ignore him? It wouldn’t matter what he did or said if you didn’t care.”

  I screwed up my face and looked at her like she was crazy. “Of course I care.”

  She blinked her blue eyes at me. “Why?”

  My mouth opened, and I shook my head from left to right, expecting the explanation to come out, but nothing did. Why did I care?

  Alberta rolled onto her side and propped her cheek onto her fist. “You know my cousin, Marty?” she asked.

  Marty was Alberta’s family on her mother’s side. He was a year younger than us. I nodded. “Sure. His family comes over all the time.”

  Alberta nodded back. “Well, what if Marty teased you about the books you read or said you were dumb?”

  “Marty?” I asked, pulling a face. Alberta’s cousin was nice and all, but he was… well… a nerd.

  “Yep, Marty.” Then Alberta frowned. “He doesn’t think that, by the way. I actually think he has a little crush on you.”

  “Marty?” I echoed. My brow rose at this unwelcome news. “Don’t even say that.”

  A giggle escaped her lips.

  “I mean, no offense, but Marty’s…” I couldn’t finish.

  Alberta’s gaze on me sharpened. “Marty’s what?”

  I shook my head and turned back to her seaside ceiling. “Marty’s not my type.”

  The bed bounced as she snorted.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, eyeing her profile.

  She brought her twinkling blue eyes to mine. “You don’t care what Marty thinks about you because he’s not your type,” she said, fighting a grin. “Maybe that means Cole Whitehurst is.”

  My eyes flew open wide. “Hell, no!” I shouted.

  “You should see your face!” She rolled onto her back, cackling.

  I pushed myself up to sitting and eyed her in disbelief. “How long have you known me? I can’t believe you said that.” But even as I bawled her out, I felt my cheeks burn.

  “Oh, come on,” Alberta said, sitting up beside me. “You have to admit he’s gorgeous.”

  “Alberta!”

  She covered her mouth with her hands, her shoulders heaving with laughter. “Your face is so red.” She giggled while I scowled, and then her eyes widened. “Oh my God, Elise…”

  “What?” I asked, frowning.

  “I think you like him.”

  “I do not.” The words broke from me like birdshot from a gun.

  Alberta’s eyes moved between both of mine. “Are you sure?”

  Of course I was sure. I was sure.

  Cole Whitehurst looked down his nose at me. He laughed at me — when he wasn’t pretending that I was invisible. He’d never once said thank you for the times I’d helped him and Ava. He couldn’t be bothered to help me in return.

  I was not worth his time. His space. His anything. I wasn’t worth knowing.

  “I don’t like him.”

  Alberta narrowed her eyes at me, assessing me for a long, uncomfortable moment. “Hmm… But do you want him to like you?”

  Yes.

  The word almost leapt from my mouth before I could catch it and lock it down. And nothing could have surprised me more. Why did I want Cole Whitehurst to like me?

  “Well, I don’t want him to dislike me,” I hedged, chewing the corner of my lip. “I don’t want anyone to dislike me.”

  Alberta gave me a mini eye roll. “You know what I mean. Do you want him to be… you know… into you?”

  The question made me go prickly with heat all over.

  “God, no,” I protested. “He’s almost twenty years old.”

  Her eye roll this time was full-sized. “What does that matter? Are you telling me you wouldn’t want James McAvoy to be into you? He’s like 28.”

  I should have leapt at the chance to talk about anyone other than Cole, but I felt like I ne
eded to root out the doubt that Alberta’s questions had planted in me. Why did I want Cole to like me at all?

  Turning in on the question felt like running a finger over an old bruise. The kind that is still tender, even when the purple mark has gone an ugly green. The wish that he would like me — accept me, approve of me, acknowledge me — felt ancient. Maybe I’d wanted it since the day I’d met him on his back porch, me with an earache and him with a bloody nose.

  Was that why his smirks and his put-downs made me so angry?

  If that was so, I really should be angry with myself. Because who could be so dumb? Cole Whitehurst?

  I shook off the thought. “James McAvoy is a fantasy person. If he really was into a sixteen-year-old, the tabloids would go bananas calling him a perv.”

  This made Alberta laugh again, so I took what advantage I could get. “And the exact same thing would be true for Cole Whitehurst. The only difference is that James McAvoy is probably a lot nicer.”

  An hour later, I rode my bike back home with the December air stinging my nose and cheeks and making my eyes water. Mrs. Okeke had invited me to stay for dinner, but Mama didn’t like me riding back after dark.

  “Riding a bike after dark in this town is like playing Russian Roulette,” she’d say every time I asked to stay late. “No one makes room for bikers and pedestrians. If you’re not on four wheels, you’re nobody.”

  Maybe it was time to ask her again about getting my driver’s license. I was old enough, and I’d taken driver’s ed over the summer, but Mama hadn’t let me get it then, saying she didn’t want me to become a statistic.

  A statistic for what I didn’t know.

  I loved my bike, but it was beginning to feel a little childish. Alberta had gotten her license back in May, but Mama wouldn’t let me ride anywhere with her either. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like we had plans to go drinking or cruising around town looking for boys. I locked my bike up in the back shed, thinking it would just be nice to stay out past dark.

  “Are you over your snit?” Cole Whitehurst’s voice cut through dusk’s shadows and launched me a foot into the air.

  I spun around and found him on the back porch swing, as always, laughing at me.

  “Didn’t mean to spook you.” He chuckled under his breath.

  “You didn’t,” I lied, and this just made him laugh more.

  “Sure. Whatever, Cormier.”

  He was leaning back into the swing, his heels pressing against the porch floor, gliding the swing back and forth. He looked completely relaxed, but something about the set of his eyes made me think he’d been waiting for me.

  Why would Cole be waiting for me?

  Not knowing what else to do, I gave him my best “You’re-a-weirdo-look” and took a step in the direction of the guesthouse.

  “So?” he called after me.

  I spun around again, this time frowning. “So, what?”

  The left side of his mouth hitched up into a smile. Cole had light brown hair with just a touch of blond on the ends, as if he’d always just returned from a tropical vacation. A bronze glow sat on his skin year-round, making him look like a lifeguard.

  Alberta thinks he’s gorgeous.

  The thought sprung at me from the shadows of my mind, knocking me off balance. I had to force myself to listen to what he was saying.

  “So, are you over your snit?”

  I shook my head. “I wasn’t in a snit.”

  He chuckled again. “You were. I pissed you off when I knocked your vampire book.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as though my skinny limbs could hide me from his all-seeing eyes. Why did he have to be so nosy?

  “I should be used to that by now,” I said, giving him a one-shoulder shrug. “You like to knock my books.”

  His eyelids lifted in surprise, but his smile held. “Is that so?”

  “It is,” I said, widening my stance and squaring my shoulders. “You said Jane Eyre was boring.”

  Cole pressed his lips together and nodded. “I stand by that assessment. I think all romance books are boring.”

  I kept my features from reacting to this. “You would.”

  His look of surprise returned, but this time uncertainty pinched the corners of his eyes. “What does that mean?”

  I shrugged again. “You have to actually have a heart to appreciate romance.”

  His bark of laughter made me jump a second time. And then, just as quickly, it tugged me toward him, forcing me to take a step forward. But I made myself stop there instead of joining him on the porch as I suddenly yearned to do.

  Yeah, okay, I want Cole to like me.

  But when I thought of the way Alberta put it, I shrunk back. The thought of wanting Cole to be… into me… had my stomach clenching in fear. Not because it would make him a perv. And not because I’d never had boys like me that way before.

  A handful of boys had asked me out. Nothing serious. Two boyfriends total. One of them, Will Graham, had been my first kiss and my first over-the-clothes make-out. The second, Jeff Griggs, had gone from kissing to slipping his hand under my bra in just two dates. When I’d shut him down at the zipper of my jeans, he’d called me a cock-tease. The words had felt like a slap and reminded me at once of that Halloween night with Ava. That had made me angry enough to let the air out of all of his tires a week later at Comeaux’s homecoming game. Alberta had helped, of course.

  That had been in October. I’d decided then I would be ready to have a boyfriend when a boy decided to actually be my friend first.

  And Cole Whitehurst definitely wasn’t my friend. Not that there was any chance he’d want to be my boyfriend if he were. I mean, he was in college, and I was just a sophomore in high school. And Alberta was right. He was gorgeous. It was easier not to think about him that way because I never knew what I’d get with him — charming, teasing, or insulting — but his sun-kissed complexion, his swimmer’s shoulders, and his wicked smile certainly had a way of holding my gaze. And those eyes. They could be cold, yes. But their blue was like a beacon. And when he laughed, like he had just now, the light in them pulled me off balance. Yes, he was gorgeous.

  And I was… well, not gorgeous. Other than my light brown eyes, there wasn’t much about me that stood out. And there wasn’t much to me to begin with. I was short, skinny, and pale. Jeff Griggs may have stuck his hand in my bra, but he hadn’t found a whole lot in there.

  If Cole put his broad hand in my bra, he’d completely cover everything.

  “What’s that face for?”

  I blinked and found Cole frowning at me, and blood rushed to my cheeks. Had I really been picturing his hand in my bra? Its size? Its heat?

  Caught and flustered, words failed me, and I stood there with my mouth open. Which made everything worse. Cole’s frown lifted as he watched me, his expression expectant with growing amusement.

  “You’re blushing.” He spoke softly, the shift in his tone catching me off guard. It was so gentle. And terrifying. “Does talking about romance novels always make you blush?”

  His question gave me the escape I needed. “Of course not,” I said, sounding more irritated than I felt. Actually, I wasn’t irritated at all. I was unsettled. Alarmingly so.

  Cole pursed his lips together, looking thoughtful and hiding a smile. “That’s too bad.” His voice, still so soft, set my heart racing.

  What is happening?

  My uncertainty mounted. “What are you doing out here?” I asked, accusation in my voice. I felt short of breath, desperate to get away from him and inexplicably spurred to step closer.

  His smile sobered, and his eyes narrowed on mine. “I was waiting for you.” He leaned forward on the swing and rested his elbows on his knees. “Come sit with me.”

  “What for?” Suspicion. Caution. He must have heard both in my words because I watched him swallow a snicker, and he shook his head.

  “Do you think I’ll bite?”

  “I don’t know what you’ll do,” I shot bac
k, years of distrust creeping into my voice.

  He raised a brow at me. “Well, I’m not one of your romance vampires.”

  I shook my head. “No, they’re nicer than you.”

  I watched my words check him. His chin lifted quickly and then lowered slowly in a nod of assent. “You’re probably right.”

  Was that regret I saw in his eyes? I was so curious, I couldn’t make my escape, though the wary part of me begged for it.

  “What do you want, Cole?” I wanted to sound tough and invulnerable, but the tremor in my voice betrayed me.

  “I want to know.”

  His cryptic answer only confused me. “You want to know what?” I asked, scowling.

  “You.”

  “What?” Resentment rose in me like a storm surge. He was trying to rattle me, shake my defenses. Somehow, he sensed my confusion, and he wanted to toy with me. Make me feel stupid. Worthless. Like he always did.

  “I want to know you better,” he insisted. And then he patted the swing beside him.

  I should have been smarter. I knew better. But I didn’t walk away as I should have. “Why?”

  “Because…” Cole’s ice-blue eyes held mine in a grip I couldn’t escape. His look was earnest, appreciative. It was a look I’d never seen before. “…you impress me, and few people impress me.”

  Chapter 10

  COLE

  I needed to leave her alone, but for some reason, I couldn’t. Since Elise had stormed out of the kitchen in a huff, I hadn’t been able to shake this feeling in my stomach. This ball of guilt.

  Besides, I’d spoken the truth. She did impress me, and judging by the look on Elise’s face, she didn’t believe that for a second. She glared at me with a wary set to her eyes like I might throw something at her — an insult or a rotten tomato.

  “I impress you?” She sneered, her scowl deepening.

  I nodded, smiling at her fierceness. “You always have,” I admitted. And this, too, was truth. Even as a kid, she’d been fearless. Savvy. Resourceful. After I’d read the ending of Jane Eyre to her, I’d found myself asking Ava about her every time I called. I knew she’d made honor roll last semester for the first time. I knew I owed her debts I couldn’t repay. And though I was ashamed to admit it, I knew what she looked like in her orange bikini, and all of these things had kept Elise Cormier on my mind the last few months.