Embrace

by Cherie Colyer

  I resisted the urge to grab a handful of fries to eat on the way to the jukebox.

  “So, what did you two do all day?” Kaylee asked as she read the long list of songs.

  “Set up his room. It’s pretty cool. It’s in the basement.”

  She put her money in the machine. “Did you kiss him?”

  I must have grinned or looked as if I was ready to burst at the seams to squeal YES! or something, because Kaylee grabbed my wrist. “You did! Is he a good kisser? I bet he is.”

  Our kiss had been so brief and soft, and I could still feel his lips on mine. Unconsciously, I touched my mouth with my fingertips, which was answer enough for Kaylee.

  “I knew it,” she said. “I can still remember the first time Josh and I kissed. There were fireworks.”

  Their first date was on the Fourth of July. The whole town saw fireworks, but Kaylee swears it was Josh’s lips on hers and not the bursts of red, white, and blue lights being shot into the sky.

  “Soo…” She moved closer to me, so that our arms were touching as we leaned over the jukebox pretending to look for the perfect song. “What else did you do? Come on. I want the dirty details.”

  “There aren’t any dirty details.” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure we were still alone.

  “You want me to believe you and Sexy over there” —she indicated with a tilt of her head in Isaac’s direction— “were alone in his bedroom, and there was no cuddling or touching?”

  “Sorry to disappoint, but it was just a brief kiss.”

  She looked more disappointed than I had been at the time. “I bet he’s just being a gentleman. Wait till he drops you off tonight. I bet he sticks his tongue down your throat.”

  “Kaylee!”

  She cracked up laughing and punched in the numbers to her favorite songs, and we headed back to the table. We were gone long enough for a couple of Josh’s friends to take our seats. Mark, a lanky guy with cheeks that resembled a chipmunk’s and enough freckles to make a cloudless night sky jealous, shoved the rest of my fries in his mouth, while Ben, a guy built more like a compact sumo wrestler than a teenager, chatted excitedly.

  “What are they doing here?” I whispered. This was supposed to be a double date.

  “You know they have a way of finding Josh. They’re better trackers than hound dogs. Besides, Mark likes you.”

  I stiffened. “No he doesn’t. And he’s dating Emma.”

  “To get you jealous,” she said.

  “That’s ridiculous.” I had known Mark since grade school, but we’d never hung out. The only time I saw him outside of school was when he happened to be with Josh.

  Kaylee grabbed my arm and waited for me to face her. “Come on, Madison. You can’t be that blind. Mark has been trailing behind Josh ever since Kevin moved, hoping to get your attention.”

  I shook my head and walked toward our table. Mark did not like me. We’d talk if we happened to be in the same place at the same time. We were friends because of mutual friends. That was all.

  Mark jumped up when he saw me. “Hi, Madison. How’s it going?”

  “Good.” I sat, and Mark grabbed an empty chair from the table behind him. Kaylee took a seat on Josh’s knee. To prove to Kaylee that she was wrong, that Mark wasn’t following Josh hoping to see me, I asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

  “We saw Josh’s car,” Mark said, giving Isaac a sideways glance. Or maybe I imagined that.

  Kaylee and I exchanged a look. Mine said, HA! He’s not looking for me. Hers said, I told you so. Only, she was wrong and just didn’t want to admit it.

  Ben sucked the last of his soda through a straw with a slurp. “Yeah, and we had to come in and see if you were here.”

  All the smugness I’d felt a moment ago drained out of me in one big whoosh. Kaylee’s eyebrows disappeared under her bangs, and she mouthed, See.

  “How about a game of pool?” Ben asked, oblivious to the tension building around the table.

  “I’m in,” Mark said. He looked at Isaac and in a dry tone asked, “You want to play?”

  “Thanks,” Isaac rested his hand over mine, which was on the table, “but I’ll pass.”

  “Another time,” Josh said, wrapping his arms around Kaylee and giving her a squeeze as if to remind Mark and Ben they were here with us.

  One of Kaylee’s songs blared over the speakers. She hopped up, dragging Josh to his feet as she did so. “Dance with me.” She grabbed Isaac’s and my hands next. “You two aren’t getting off that easy.”

  Isaac looked helplessly at Josh as he stood. Josh shrugged, a goofy smirk on his face, and followed Kaylee. Ben ate a few fries off Kaylee’s plate. Mark just frowned.

  Isaac and Josh sort of shuffled their feet as we danced. My back rubbed Isaac’s chest as I shimmied in front of him. He was as comfortable on the dance floor as I would have been walking a tightrope, which made it all the more fun when I turned to face him, arms raised over my head. His eyes followed my hands as they trailed down my torso, stopping on my thighs as I wiggled my hips and bent my knees until I was crouching. Then I was up again, and Kaylee and I bumped hips and continued moving to the pulse of the music around the guys. They made it through one-and-a-half songs before Josh tugged Kaylee off the dance floor.

  Isaac’s arms encircled my waist. “You ready to get out of here?”

  I nodded and took his hand, ignoring the sting of static electricity. We stopped at the table first. Mark and Ben were gone.

  “We’re leaving,” Isaac said to Josh and Kaylee.

  Josh tossed some money on the table and replied, “We better be going too.”

  “Isaac, your keys.” Kaylee held up a set of keys by its bright red carabiner.

  “Those aren’t mine,” Isaac replied.

  “They’re Mark’s.” I remembered seeing the bulky set of keys—with the brass black widow hanging from it—clipped to his belt loop before.

  Kaylee held onto them. We kept an eye open for Mark as we left but didn’t see him.

  “Josh can give him a call and let him know I have them.” She clipped the keys around the strap of her purse.

  The night was cool and the sky clear, but the air felt wrong somehow. Thick. It crawled over my skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake. I hugged my elbows and glanced anxiously around me, not sure what I expected to see.

  Josh cursed, pulling my attention away from our surroundings. I followed his gaze.

  “Damn it!” He kicked at one of the flat tires on his silver Mustang.

  Isaac walked around to the passenger side. “The tires on this side are okay. We can fix it.”

  The sole of Josh’s gym shoe slammed against the tire again. He hissed, “I only have one spare.”

  Isaac walked back around the car and placed a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “The front tire doesn’t look bad.”

  I craned my neck to get a better look at the front tire, which I would have sworn was as flat as the back tire, but Isaac was in front of me placing his keys in my hand. “The Jeep is a couple of cars down. Why don’t you and Kaylee wait for us there?”

  When I opened my mouth to protest, he added, “You look like you’re freezing, and Kaylee does too.”

  Kaylee had her hands wrapped around her arms and was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She did look cold.

  “Thanks.” I took the keys and motioned for Kaylee to follow me.

  When we reached the Jeep, I held the remote up so that I could see it better, pressing the button with the picture of an open lock. The double beep of the doors unlocking was almost drowned out by Kaylee’s gasp. She grabbed my wrist. Her nails dug into my skin.

  “Ow!” I tried to tug free. “You’re hurting me.”

  Kaylee’s fingers tightened like a vise as she took a step closer to me so that our shoulders touched. Kaylee’s eyes were wide and focused on the far end of the parking lot. My gaze followed hers. “What is it?”

  The street lamp flickered on and off, creating odd
shadows among the cars parked there.

  “Who is that?” Kaylee whispered.

  I squinted, looking between and inside the distant vehicles. “Who’s who?”

  She raised her free hand and pointed toward the darkness in front of us. “Right there, standing in front of the pick-up truck.”

  It was one of those work trucks with the racks for ladders.

  “Kaylee, there’s no one there.” And even though I couldn’t see anyone, I was still freaked out. “Come on. Let’s get in the Jeep.”

  We did. I started the engine and cranked the heat.

  “Where’d he go?” Kaylee kept shifting in her seat so that she could look behind us and next to us. Between her behavior, what I’d felt when we walked outside, and the fact that someone had slashed Josh’s tires, I really didn’t feel safe sitting in a Jeep with a soft top that didn’t offer all that much protection from a psycho with a knife.

  Behind us, a street lamp grew brighter, illuminating the rusted out minivan beneath it; it sparked, and then only the orange glow of the filament could be seen.

  “What if that guy sees Josh or Isaac?” Kaylee reached for the door handle. “We have to warn them!”

  “I didn’t see anyone.” I grabbed her wrist before she could bolt out of the car. “The guys are fine.” Only, as sure as I was that I didn’t see anyone, I wasn’t so sure that she didn’t see someone. What if she was right and this guy went after Josh or Isaac? What if he was waiting for Kaylee or me to step out of the Jeep? I scanned the back of the parking lot looking for movement. There was none.

  A car’s engine roared to life, making it impossible to hear if someone were to approach.

  Something then tapped against the metal of the Jeep. Kaylee and I grabbed each other’s hand. Tap. Scrape. Neither of us moved. When my door swung open, I jumped. Kaylee screamed.

  “Sorry,” Isaac said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Tire’s changed.”

  Josh pulled up behind us, and Kaylee got out. “I’ll see you later,” she said and ran to his Mustang.

  I climbed over the stick shift to the passenger seat, and Isaac waited for Kaylee to be safe inside Josh’s car before he got in. I wondered if she felt as unsafe as I did being in a car with a vinyl top.

  “Does Josh have any idea who’d slash his tires?” I asked.

  “They weren’t slashed.” Isaac backed out of the parking spot. “He probably ran over a nail or something.”

  I would have sworn on my mother’s grave I’d seen a gash in one of the tires, but, then again, maybe what I had seen was the nail sticking out of the sidewall. “How’d you fix the front tire?”

  When Isaac didn’t reply right away, I thought he was going to deny that both tires had been flat, and I couldn’t imagine why. Unless he thought someone had done this to Josh’s car to make a point that hanging out with Isaac was not a good idea. Didn’t Isaac tell me just this morning that he’d gotten into a fight with someone? What if that person held a grudge? What if Isaac’s family hadn’t moved because his father was tired of driving from Amesbury to Rowley? What if they’d moved because this other guy still had it out for Isaac?

  “The front wasn’t as bad as the back,” Isaac finally said. “Josh will be able to drop Kaylee off at home and make it to his house. His dad has an air compressor in the garage. He can fill it there.”

  I wasn’t buying that Josh had just so happened to get nails in two tires. He was very particular about where he drove that car. He’d drive ten miles out of the way if it meant he could avoid road construction and damn near came to a complete stop over railroad tracks because he didn’t want to mess up his suspension.

  I was afraid to ask Isaac if he knew what really happened back there. Not because I was afraid of the answer but because I was afraid he’d get mad at me for prying into his business. If he wanted to tell me, he would. And just because Isaac had gotten into a fight with some guy didn’t mean that he’d hurt me. Right?

  As we drove to my house, I decided not to let my imagination get the better of me.

  “Thanks for dinner,” I said when we were parked in my driveway.

  “Thanks for helping today.” Isaac looked at me, his eyes smoldering as he leaned over the stick shift and brushed my lips with one of his feather-soft kisses that sent a warm tingling sensation all the way to my toes.

  No one who could get my heart beating as fast as it was with such a brief kiss could possibly be bad. I was sure of it.

  “Sweet dreams,” he added.

  And that’s exactly what I planned on having that night: steamy, sweet dreams of him.

  Chapter 4

  School

  “I HAD THE WORST night’s sleep,” Kaylee said when I got in her car the next morning. She had dark circles under her eyes. “I kept dreaming that Freddie Krueger was after me. In my dreams I was doing everything possible not to fall asleep, and then when I finally woke up I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Madison, I swear someone was in that parking lot last night.”

  Kaylee didn’t scare easily. She was the one who loved to see the latest horror movies at the theater. I didn’t like seeing her upset.

  I rested a hand on her arm in reassurance. “Kaylee, I didn’t see anyone. You had to have seen a shadow of a lamp post or antenna, or maybe there was something in the back of the pick-up truck.” I was trying to remember if there were any pipes or brooms or even a ladder.

  She glanced at me, her expression hopeful. “Do you really think so?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t sleep well either, but it wasn’t monsters from the movies that kept me up. “I need caffeine if I’m going to make it through Mr. Chapin’s class. It’s my treat.”

  “Coffee works for me.” Kaylee took a right at the light, heading toward the strip mall.

  I had so many questions about what had happened at The Grill, questions I was sure Isaac would brush off with a smirk and too few words. Like how he and Josh had managed to change the tire in a matter of minutes; only a pit crew at the Indy 500 could work that quickly. Not to mention, I would have bet my entire savings—all nine hundred and two dollars of it—that the front tire had been as flat as the back. And how had Isaac’s four little words—We can fix it—managed to calm Josh so quickly? There was only one thing Josh loved more than that Mustang, and she was sitting next to me.

  “Did Josh say anything about his car when he drove you home last night?”

  Kaylee shook her head. “Not much, why?”

  “I don’t know. Just curious, I guess.”

  I had to be reading too much into nothing. Kaylee wasn’t worried about the tires, so I told myself that I shouldn’t be either.

  We drove through the drive-up window at the coffee shop, then sped to school. Kaylee parked a few cars down from Josh’s Mustang.

  She grabbed her backpack off the seat behind her. “We better hurry. We’re late.”

  We arrived to first period ten minutes after the bell. Mr. Chapin, who had been leaning against the front of his desk, talking to the class when we got there, stopped teaching and watched us take our seats.

  “Ladies, I trust this will be the last time you show up to my class tardy.”

  I nodded. Kaylee smiled apologetically.

  “And I trust you’ve read the assigned pages in Death of a Salesman.” It wasn’t a question.

  Kaylee nodded this time. I swallowed and hoped my expression didn’t give away that I was already behind on the assignment.

  “Good,” Mr. Chapin said. “Because I just finished telling your classmates that the book report counts for fifty percent of your grade this quarter and the quizzes another twenty-five.”

  Mr. Chapin was known for his love of American literature, crazy long essay assignments, and pop quizzes—three things I could have done without my entire life and still been perfectly happy. Not to mention, I didn’t need to be reminded just how far behind I was first thing in the morning.

  I sank lower in my chair. I’d only taken Chapin’s class so that Kayl
ee and I would have the same first period. I held my cup under my nose and breathed in the scent of pumpkin spice syrup, knowing it was the only thing that was going to make the next hour bearable.

  The caffeine kicked in by the end of class, and I was feeling much more alive. It seemed to do wonders for Kaylee too.

  “Oh!” She unclipped the bulky set of keys with the ugly spider from her purse. “Give these to Mark.”

  I held them up by the carabiner. “Do you think he uses all these keys or just carries them around to look important?”

  Kaylee and I giggled as we left the classroom.

  “I’ll see you in History,” she said as she headed in the opposite direction.

  I walked slowly through the halls to my second period Food class, hoping I’d run into Isaac. I had no such luck. Mark was in class, though, so I gave him his keys. At lunch, I thought I saw Isaac waiting in line a few people ahead of me, but when I tapped the guy on the shoulder, he turned out to be a tall freshman with spiked brown hair like Isaac’s. By the end of the day I was tired, disappointed, and couldn’t wait to get home.

  “Madison, just call him,” Kaylee said when she pulled up to my house.

  “I’ll seem too anxious.” Besides, I told myself, maybe he didn’t want to talk to me. I didn’t want to call him and make a fool of myself.

  “You are anxious,” Kaylee pointed out. When I shot daggers at her with my eyes, she rested her hand on my arm. “How about I call Josh and have him call Isaac. That way you can find out what he’s up to.”

  “No,” I said stubbornly. “I’m serious Kaylee, don’t tell Josh that I’m going crazy waiting for a call. Promise me.”

  She rolled her eyes as she drew a cross over her heart, and I knew she’d keep her promise. “At least come over and hang out.”

  “I can’t. I told my dad I’d watch Chase. I’m taking him to the park. Come with us? We’re going to play Hot Lava.” Kaylee’s company would make the time go by more quickly, and Chase loved having her around. We’d all benefit.

  “Tempting,” she said. “But if you’re not going to come over, then I might as well catch up on my reading before Chapin asks me a question I can’t answer.”