Drawing in lungful after lungful of air, I crawled backwards like a crab until I felt the cool scratchy wood of the garage against my back. I pulled my legs up to my chest and watched with fascination as the boy from this morning stood over my assailant. He had tossed the man into a heap and appeared to be waiting for him to come back for more. His stance was wide and his arms were held at the ready. He was completely still, just waiting. I couldn't see if he was even breathing. He looked positively lethal.
I didn't want to watch anymore. I didn't want to see. I pressed my shaking body back into the side of the garage, covered my ears with my hands, and shut my eyes tight to block out the world. I sank deep into myself, blocking out everything that I could. I thought I was humming, but then I realized it was just a background noise that I was hearing. I noticed that my feet were tingling as though they were falling asleep. I didn't care. I just stayed as I was, pressed forcefully against the wall, trying to pretend I wasn't there, pretending I didn't hear anything. The tingling moved up from my feet and was making its way up my legs. It felt cold, not numb. The background hum was getting stronger, louder, and harder to block out. Just then, warm hands grasped confidently around my upper arms and gave me one quick firm shake.
"Stop it! This is not the time or the place. Anyone can see you."
My eyes snapped open, the tingling and the humming instantly vanished. I stared up into cold blue eyes. Without further thought, I launched myself into his arms and wrapped mine around his neck, holding on for dear life. He stumbled back at my unexpected weight, but he wrapped his arms around me gently and comfortingly.
I began to cry. Adrenaline did the strangest things to me. I was finally safe and here I was bawling like a baby. It wasn't the silent, dainty cry that you see people do on TV or in movies. It was wet, it was snotty, and it was loud. He just held me, and appeared to be waiting it out. I don't know how long we stood there, but I finally was able to pull myself together. I gave him a watery, sheepish grin.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
I looked down at myself. Aside from my ruined shirt, a few new bumps and bruises, I was physically okay. He surveyed the damage as well, noticing for the first time my shredded shirtfront. The neck seam held the shirt together, but that was it.
"Here." He shrugged out of his black hoodie and handed it to me, which I gratefully accepted and donned. It was warm from his body and smelled clean.
After I was zipped up nice and warm and decent, I happened to glance over his shoulder. My grin faded. The man was still lying on the ground in an unmoving heap.
"Is he dead?" I asked.
"No."
"What should we do about him?" I couldn't seem to look away from where he lay. I wanted to walk over and give him a few kicks of my own. I was sure that would have made me feel better.
My thoughts must have shown on my face, because when I looked back at my savior, he was grinning at me. It wasn't a full smile, but enough for me to see that life was just so not fair. He had dimples, the cutest dimples. I always wanted dimples. He gave me one quick negative shake of his head. "Don't even think about it. He's had enough for the night. Come on, let's get out of here." He took my hand and began to pull me toward home.
I dragged my feet, which made him stop and look back at me. His eyebrow was cocked regally up, like he was asking me a question.
"Wait! What about...shouldn't we call someone?"
"Do you want to call someone?" he retorted.
I opened my mouth but then closed it with a snap. I didn't know what to do. I stood there debating again. He waited and watched in silence. Finally, I asked the one question I had been dying to know since this morning. "What's your name?"
Chapter Three
Into the Shadows
I watched as his face smiled in amusement. There was that dimple again. I found myself smiling in return, for no reason except that I wanted to.
"Leif," he said.
I tried really hard not to laugh. "Seriously?" I asked.
"Hey, you're one to talk, Sunshine," he replied with a bite of sarcasm. I had to admit it was warranted. We both did seem to have hippie names. "Ironic, wouldn't you think?" he continued. He still held my hand. It felt small in his; nice, warm, and safe.
I thought for a moment, not finding anything about my name ironic. I always assumed my name was for my hair, or if I wanted to be silly, maybe my sunny nature. "No, not really. Hey, how do you know my name?"
"Small town," he replied. I watched as his face changed from showing amusement to contemplation, and he was looking at me again.
I sighed and said, "So now what do we do?"
"Leave him. Come on, I'll take you home." He led the way with sure feet. Both of us were quiet as we headed to my house. I was thinking about how strange the day had become. I had never laid eyes on Leif before today, but I didn't want my time with him to end just yet. I wasn't usually that needy.
"Where will you go?" I asked him. We had made it to my house and now stood on the sidewalk out front.
"Oh, I'll be around," he said with a negligent wave. When I started to protest, he cut me off. "You'd better go inside." He nodded at the house where the front curtain flicked quickly shut.
I wasn't sure how to say what I wanted to say without sounding stupid. "Thank you for, you know, tonight." Leif was also looking a bit uncomfortable, but I pressed on anyway. "You saved my life, I know you did."
"No I didn't, I just...it's no big deal," he replied, letting go of my hand, much to my dismay. He then pushed his hands into his front jeans pockets and rocked back on his heels. Yep, he was definitely uncomfortable. His face was as still as stone with no expression. His eyes were cold again. He was back to being the scary stranger. I sighed. He may not think it was a big deal, but I did. He hadn't been the one being held down by a brute of a man. Just the thought made a shiver run down my spine. He gave me a gentle shove toward the door. "Go on," he said.
I slowly headed up the walk. I didn't have much experience with the whole boy-girl thing, and I didn't want the moment to end. I stopped and turned back around once more. I couldn't go in without asking, "Will I see you tomorrow?"
A cocky grin spread over his face, bringing light back into his ice blue colored eyes. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning." Hearing that, I got all warm and shivery inside.
As I reached the porch, I looked over my shoulder one more time, but he was already gone. My warm happiness dissolved and I felt strangely sad. The whole day had been such an emotional roller coaster. I was suddenly very tired.
Once inside, I had a brief hope I could make it through the house and up to my room without being interrogated by my parents. No such luck.
"Hey, how was pizza?" my mom yelled from the family room as I tried to sneak quietly by.
I rolled my eyes, turned around, and waited for the questions. "Fine."
"Just fine? Who all was there?" she asked.
For the first time in my life, I really didn't feel like discussing my night with my parents. I have always been able to talk to them about everything, but that night I didn't want to share. I wanted to hold all my thoughts and feelings about Leif close. They were just for me and I didn't want anyone to try to discuss it. "Pizza was fine mom. Nothing exciting." The lie felt like a neon light on my face. I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks, betraying me, if anyone cared to notice.
"Look, I have loads of homework still to do, I'm gonna head up. See ya in the morning." I didn't give them a chance to respond. I dashed from the room up to my own and closed the door with a snap. Safe! My dad hadn't even had a chance to put down the remote.
I changed into my pj's, threw my ruined shirt in the trash then tried to sit down and prepare for the next American Lit novel, The Scarlet Letter. But I couldn't get my mind off Leif. There were so many questions floating around in my head. Some of them silly, such as what he thought of me. Some of them serious, like where did he live and why wasn't he in school. I gave up trying to read. I climbed into
bed and tried to sleep, but the questions and thoughts still wouldn't shut off. It was going to be a long night.
Much to my amazement, the night was not long at all. I soon drifted off into a dreamless night and awoke eager and ready for the new day. It was Wednesday, halfway through the week. I sped through my morning, keeping one eye out front for a glimpse of Leif.
"What are you looking at?" my mother asked after I had checked out the front window for the fifth time in as many minutes.
Caught, I looked back at my mom. She was just too perceptive. I hated that. "Ah, nothing really, I was checking the weather. Is it supposed to rain?" Yikes, I was really bad at spontaneous cover-ups. It was time to get going, and I was a bit disappointed that I still hadn't seen any sign of Leif. But I couldn't put off leaving any longer, or I'd be late to school.
I put on the hoodie Leif had given to me last night, grabbed my school bag, and headed out the door with a wave to my mom. Then there he was. He was wearing worn black jeans and a long sleeve black shirt. His hair looked damp but was loose and floating around his face.
He was not out front where I expected him to be, but waiting on the porch in one of our outside chairs. A strange sense of relief washed over me. He came. I smiled up at him. In the light of day, I realized how much taller than me he really was. He could probably rest his chin on the top of my head and maybe even have to bend down a bit to be comfortable. I couldn't tell if I felt short or petite. It didn't diminish my happiness at finding him waiting for me, though. "How long have you been out here?" I asked.
"About half an hour."
Crap, I had wasted half an hour that I could have spent with him before school. "So, why don't you go to school?" I asked as we started walking.
"I don't need to go to school," was his reply.
"Why?"
"Why what?" he asked.
I sighed loud and with quite a bit of huff. "Why don't you need to go to school?" It was like pulling teeth to get information out of him.
He turned his head and look down at me again. I must have been missing something, as he was grinning at me in amusement. He picked up my hand, intertwined his fingers with mine, and continued to walk. I continued to look at him. Waiting. Feigning a patience that I really didn't possess.
I have to admit that it was a nice walk. I had never walked anywhere with a boy holding hands. It always looked so silly when I watched other people doing it, walking down the halls of the school or around town, but I finally got it. It's a shared moment of quiet intimacy. It's not blatant or showy. It's just, well, lovely.
By the time we reached the school, I was smiling softly, enjoying our ten whole minutes of solitude before I had to leave him again. I think that may have been his plan. He walked me right up to the door. For a moment I thought he was going to walk inside with me, but he stopped and asked, "Will you be having lunch in the courtyard again?"
"Will you be there if I do?" I replied, trying to look calm and unconcerned. I don't really think I pulled it off. My cheeks were feeling hot again, telling me that I was blushing.
"I guess." He, on the other hand, acted as though he didn't have a care in the world. So unfair.
"Okay, do you want me to get you anything from the cafeteria?" I wasn't ready to go inside yet. It seemed like I was always watching him walk away.
"Nah. I'll pick something up for both of us. See ya at lunch."
Okay, I admit I was hoping for more than a goodbye and a wave, but that's all I got. I went to my locker and Tara was waiting there for me. My day was really looking good.
"Hey," I said, smiling in greeting.
"Hey. So who is he?" Tara asked before my words had barely left my lips.
"He's just a friend," I said, not really certain how to explain Leif to anyone yet. What was he really? My friend? My guardian? My soon to be special friend? I would have to add that to my list of things to get out of him.
"He looked like more than just a friend to me. Plus, he's hot!" As Tara spoke, her face and entire body animated. She pretended to fan herself. Yes, Leif was definitely hot. He really looked good in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
I laughed at her in genuine amusement. "He is that, isn't he?" I decided right then that Tara and I were going to be really good friends. "I'll tell you what," I said, "once I figure out what he is, you'll be the first to know. He's coming to have lunch with me today."
I wanted to see what she thought of that. I was a bit out of my element when it came to boys. Tara, on the other hand, had been dating Chris seriously since they were both freshmen, so she had a bit more experience. Okay, a lot more experience that me.
"Yep, definitely sounds like more than a friend, if you ask me."
We were laughing and being silly when the first bell rang. We quickly headed off to our first period classes. Getting through the morning was easier than I had imagined. We had a pop quiz in second period. Ceramics class was the usual. Tara was in my ceramics class with me, and today we sat together. We had been making vases out of clay, and that day we were painting them with ceramic paint before they could be fired in the kiln.
Of course, the twins had to aggravate me. I was beginning to think they might actually be crushing on me and were trying to get my attention. Ick. Flicking red paint at me was so not the way to do it.
Finally, it was time for lunch. I dashed to my locker, chucked in my books, and just about ran through the hall to the courtyard door. I stopped there for a moment, took a deep breath, and opened the door to go outside. The bright sun made me squint as I searched for Leif. I didn't see him anywhere. The heavy letdown was almost too much for me. I couldn't show it, though. I straightened my shoulders, stood up tall, and walked to a bench as if I didn't have a care in the world. I sat down heavily, wishing I had thought to bring something with me to occupy my time, like a book. Instead, I had to sit there by myself, feeling self-conscious as I waited and hoped Leif was still coming.
"Did you miss me?" I jerked in surprise at the quiet question whispered warmly against my ear. I turned around and there he was with a bag from the sub shop in his hand, which he plopped into my lap. I looked at it sitting there in my lap for a moment, trying to quell the elation zipping through my body. He came, he really came. Yay for me!
"Which is whose?" I asked him as I opened up the bag and dug inside. I found that both sandwiches were exactly the same, so it didn't matter. Leif dropped down next to me on the bench, taking up more than half the bench all by himself, and we both sat in an easy silence while we ate.
I only was able to eat half of mine. Before I could wrap it up he said, "Are you gonna eat that?" I just smiled and handed it over. He was such a guy.
"So, are you ready to chat with me, or are you just here to buy me lunch?" I asked with a touch of sarcasm. "Either way is fine, I'm just checking." I was actually content to just sit there with him. It wasn't an uneasy silence. I didn't feel like I had to come up with anything to say.
"There's not really enough time for a long discussion. How about I'm just here to buy you lunch for now?" He crumpled up our trash and tossed it into the can next to the bench. Casually, he threw his arm across the back of the bench. I just couldn't help myself; I leaned back against his arm and basked in the warm closeness of Leif.
"Can you at least tell me why you don't have to go to school?" I didn't want to ruin our time together with too many questions, but that one seemed like an easy one to me. He turned on the bench just a bit, closing the distance between us and resting his arm more fully on my shoulders. All I could think was, this is nice. That is such a weak word to describe how I was feeling, but that was all my brain would come up with. It was nice.
"I got my GED a few years ago, so I am done with high school. Haven't yet felt the need to go to college. Maybe some day, but not right now." He ran his fingers through my loose hair. "It really does look like the sun, doesn't it?" he said absently.
Aside from our blue eyes, we must have been quite the contrast. I was light. He was d
ark. His clothes were dark to match his hair, and mine were light to match my own coloring. One thing that I noticed though was that both of us had the same light, unblemished skin. He must have been noticing the same thing, as he put his arm next to mine. Apart from the faint covering of dark hair on his arm, our coloring was the same. We both looked up at each other at the same time and our eyes locked together. It was another moment. I really liked those.
~ * ~
I floated my way to sixth period history class. Tara was already there, just about bouncing in her seat. She smiled her big smile and waved me over. I took the seat next to her and sighed happily.
"So?" She demanded.
"So, he is fabulous. Don't you think?" I was giddy and dreamy and feeling wonderful. "He brought us lunch." I continued to fill her in on my lunch "date" and she sighed at the right moments and laughed at the rest. Tara was always so happy. She was easy to be around.
"He is meeting me after school," I continued. "I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of my day. I obviously won't be learning anything." I couldn't pay attention at all in history, which is another of my favorite classes. Mr. Roberts noticed right away that I was distracted and asked if everything was all right. I was hard pressed to not giggle at him when he asked. If he knew I was daydreaming about ice blue eyes and long dark hair, he would have been 'most disappointed in me.'
By eighth period I was practically bouncing in my seat. Ben was seated next to me, telling me what a great time he had the night before. "We should do it again, soon." Uh oh, he had the look. "I don't have much free time, but maybe this Saturday we could go see a movie or something? I get off work around six. What do you think?"
"Ben, I can't." Now what do I say? I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I didn't like him that way. Okay, maybe I would have before Leif, but now I just couldn't see Ben as boyfriend material. "I already made plans for the weekend. Sorry." Ugh. I hated this. He looked disappointed and all sorts of unhappy. Lovely.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 3
