by S. J. West
I feel my heart race as he looks at me in disappointment, causing a wave of guilt to wash over me.
“She was just upset,” Aiden tells my father, as if making an excuse for my transgression. “I'll let the two of you talk.”
Aiden looks back at me and tries to smile reassuringly, but I see the worry on his face just before he phases.
“Caylin,” my dad says, drawing my attention away from the now empty spot where Aiden was, “I think we need to talk.”
I nod because I agree that we do indeed need to talk about things. I walk over to the swing and sit down beside my dad. I stare down at my hands loosely clasped in my lap because I don't know where else to look.
“I'm sorry,” my dad says, “I shouldn't have lost my temper with you earlier.”
“I'm sorry too,” I tell him. “I didn't mean to yell at you.”
I see my dad hold his hand out to me, and I place one of my hands in it just like I did when I was a little girl and needed my daddy's protection.
“Can we call a truce?” He asks me.
I nod but don't say anything because I fear this truce will make me agree to a price that my heart isn’t willing to pay.
“I know my rules might seem old fashioned,” he tells me. “And I'm sure you think they're unfair. But I just want you to know that everything I do I do to protect you.”
“I know, Dad.”
“Malcolm and Jess have both made strong arguments on Aiden’s behalf. You’re mother and I both trust their opinion since they've had the most contact with him over the last three years. On their recommendations, we’ve decided to amend our rule about you being able to see him.”
I look up at my dad with newfound hope.
“We've told Jess to invite him over for dinner tomorrow night so we can get to know him a little better and see how things go from there.”
Without even thinking about it, I propel myself into my dad's arms.
“Whoa,” he says with a chuckle as I hug him so tightly I fear I might be cutting off his circulation from the waist down.
“Thank you,” I say, holding back tears of joy because I've cried enough for one day, and this isn't something I should cry about.
“Let's see how the dinner goes first, and then we can decide what we can both live with after that. I don't want you to feel like you have to sneak around behind our backs to see him like you just did. And if I know you, that's exactly what you'll keep doing. You're just like your mother, stubborn to the core.”
“I'll take that as a compliment,” I tell him, because if there is one person in this world I don't mind being compared to, it's my mother.
“Give me a little time to get used to things, Caylin,” my dad says, hugging me tightly to him, “just a little more time.”
CHAPTER FOUR
We go back to our Lakewood home and do something we almost never do, order in pizza. My father has always been a stickler about us eating healthy meals. Plus, he just enjoys cooking for us. But, on days where he doesn’t have time to cook, or we want something quick and easy, we order in pizza from one of the few restaurants my father trusts to have the freshest ingredients. Why does he trust them? It’s owned by Abby and Sebastian.
When I was five-years-old, my big sis and her husband decided to start a business. Since they both liked to cook, they decided to open up a pizzeria in Lakewood. After they moved their family to Denver permanently, they opened another restaurant there. Well, one thing led to another and now, twelve years later, they own two hundred franchises all over America. I always smile when I see the pizza box delivered. It’s a black box with a furry holographic white wolf howling at a full moon and wagging its tail. The name of their pizza company is Happy Howlers Pizza.
Uncle Malcolm brings Will and Mae home to us but doesn’t stay for dinner. He makes up some lame excuse about Watcher business, but I know his real intention is to give us some much needed family time alone together to deal with the events of the day. Mae promptly follows Uncle Malcolm’s phase trail when he leaves, but he quickly brings her back and admonishes her gently before leaving again.
After we eat, Will offers to give Mae a bath. I assume his generous offer is due to the fact that he sees the toll the events of the day have taken on our parents and me, and he simply wants to do something nice for us. Well, as we soon learn, that isn’t his only motivation.
While my parents and I are sitting in the living room watching a movie, the TV is mysteriously switched off and an upbeat song starts to play through the speaker system in the house.
“Ladies and Gentleman,” we hear Will say as he walks out from behind the couch we’re all sitting on and comes to stand in front of us, “I present the versatile talents of the one…the only….Mae Cora Cole, also known as,” Will makes a dramatic pause and takes in a deep breath, “The Dancing Naked Shrimp.”
Mae comes running butt naked from behind the couch with a pair of oversized pink sunglasses, a smile that stretches from ear to ear, and her hair up in bouncy twin pigtails. We all smile and I hear my mother giggle, which makes me relax for the first time since we came back to Lakewood.
Mae begins to twist and turn her little body to the beat of the music then promptly turns around, lifts her still wet behind in the air and begins to shake it.
“Ahh, the classic booty dance maneuver,” Will says sagely like he’s a commentator on a dancing show, “a risky move for one so young.”
Mae giggles and stands up straight, turning back to face us as she balls her hands into fists and tucks them under her arms. She waves her folded arms up and down while bowing her legs at the knees and bouncing.
“And who can resist the call of the chicken dance?” Will says, promptly taking up the same position and joining Mae in her dance routine.
My dad busts out laughing. Mae runs up to dad and grabs one of his hands with both of hers, tugging on it until he stands up. In no time at all, we are all dancing like chickens and laughing at how foolish we look.
Will’s silly diversion is just what we needed, and I realize how blessed I am to have a family like mine. No matter what might happen in the next few days or even years, I know my family will be by my side to help me through it.
Later that evening while I’m lying in bed before turning my light out for the night, I text Leah. She tells me Jess and Mason came over to her house earlier that evening and told her what happened to me that day.
My parents have invited Aiden over for dinner tomorrow night
No way!! What are you going to wear?
I stare at the message and feel panic set in. I throw my covers off, run to my walk-in closet, and promptly start to tear it apart trying to find something, anything, that looks decent. For any ordinary dinner, I probably have a multitude of things to wear, but for my first dinner with Aiden, nothing I have seems right.
I need something new
Hmm, maybe JoJo has something. You can ask her tomorrow when we go for our fittings
That night, even though I knew Baal might try to kill me again at any time, all I can think about is what I will wear the next evening. Mentally, I know it is a completely childish thing to worry about, but, for my emotional well-being, I need the next evening to be as perfect as I can make it. I pray to God that my parents will fall in love with Aiden after they’re able to spend some quality time with him. My life would be made so much simpler if they did.
When Leah and I pull up in the parking lot at school the next morning, Hunter isn’t in his usual stalker spot waiting for us.
“Where’s Hunter?” Leah asks, sounding just as confused as I feel.
“Think he’s finally decided to give up?”
“But, why change all of a sudden? He’s been waiting on you every morning for a year and a half now.”
I shrug. “No clue but it would make my life a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with him chasing after me anymore.”
“You could always get Aiden to come to school and threaten Hunter with bodily harm,
” Leah says jokingly.
I laugh too but it gives me an idea.
“Maybe if the dinner goes well tonight, I can ask Aiden to the Valentine’s Day dance.”
“That would be awesome! We could double date! And maybe Joshua wouldn’t feel so out of place at it with Aiden around.”
Out of place…
Aiden would definitely look out of place at a high school dance. But, I don’t care. All I can think about now is having Aiden twirl me around the dance floor and enjoying time with him out from under my parents’ scrutiny. First things first though, we have to get through the dinner tonight before any future plans of us being together can even be considered a possibility.
School drones by as usual. By lunchtime, I feel like I have a thousand needles tumbling around inside my stomach. A multitude of scenarios keep rampaging through my mind, twisting my fate for the worse.
“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Will comments as he sits down beside me at the cafeteria table.
“Yeah, KK,” Linc chimes in taking his usual spot by Will. If I thought of Leah as my sister, Will definitely considered Linc his little brother. “You look greener than a tree frog.”
“Thanks for making me feel even worse. I haven’t been able to eat all day. So I don’t think there’s any chance of me throwing up,” I say, wrapping my arms around my waist and laying my forehead against the cold laminate on the table.
“What’s wrong, Caylin?” I hear Leah ask as she takes her regular seat at the table.
“The Dinner,” Will says ominously. “Where her fate with Aiden will be decided… dum… dum... dummmm…”
I lift my head and give my little brother the evil eye, two of them in fact. Linc just laughs.
“You just wait,” I warn him. “Wait until you meet your soul mate and see how funny it is.”
Will rolls his eyes at me. “You know I’m joking. Everything will go ok tonight. Quit making yourself sick worrying about it.”
I lay my forehead back on the table with an audible thud.
“I can’t stop worrying,” I mumble. “I feel like I might die if they make me wait another six months to be with Aiden.”
“Well, you won’t die,” Will says, and I can tell he’s got a mouth full of pizza by the way all his words are completely muffled. “But you might make my life miserable if you start moping around the house. Besides, I’ve got my own problems to deal with.”
I lift my head again and look at Will. “What kind of problems?”
“Uncle Malcolm is making me go with him to get some supplies for our sex ed class. I got out of it yesterday because of what happened, but today I’m trapped.”
“You make it sound like a death sentence,” Leah giggles before taking a bite out of her apple.
“I’m worried because I don’t understand why he needs my help. I mean, what could I possibly do for him that he can’t do for himself?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him. “Uncle Malcolm would never do anything that would hurt you.”
“He would embarrass the dog out of Will though,” Linc says sagely.
“Oh, well yes,” I grin, “he would do that.”
“See?” Will says, shaking his head as if he has no choice but to accept his fate. “I’m doooommeed.”
After lunch, I find Hunter sitting in his regular seat right beside mine in Uncle Malcolm’s classroom.
“Did you miss me this morning, Cole?” Hunter asks with a cheesy grin spreading his lips.
I roll my eyes at him. “Actually, I enjoyed the quiet of arriving to school and not being harassed as soon as I got out of my car.”
Hunter groans. “Ouch, Cole. And here I thought you would miss me just a little.”
I sit down and turn towards Hunter.
“Hunter, I’m flattered that you like me so much, but you need to know that there’s someone in my life that I am head over heels and completely in love with. He’s the only one I want to be with. So please, either find someone else to stalk or maybe work things out with your girlfriend. I would like to stay friends with you because I do think you’re a great guy, but nothing is ever going to happen between us, ok?”
Hunter just stares at me. I don’t think he expected me to be so blunt with him. Up until now, he’s always made his advances, and I’ve always rebuffed them good-naturedly. It’s been a game the two of us have been playing with one another for a year and a half now. To finally be completely honest with him and verbalize the exact reason why I’ve been refusing him all this time seems to have laid him out flat.
“Wow, can’t say I expected you to say all that. But, yeah, it’s cool. I understand. I figured there was someone else in the picture but didn’t think it was that serious. I’ll back off.”
I sigh in relief. “Thanks, Hunter.”
He shrugs.
“Sure thing.” He holds out his hand to me. “Still friends?”
I shake his offered hand and notice how cold it feels.
“As one friend to another,” I tell him, trying not to immediately yank my hand out of his. “Maybe you should invest in some gloves.”
Hunter chuckles. “First she lets me down easy and then nicely tells me my hands feel like ice.”
“Seriously, Hunter, are you sick or something?”
“That’s why I was late this morning,” he tells me. “I wasn’t feeling too hot. But, I thought if I could see your beautiful face maybe I would find a reason to go on living.”
I laugh and shake my head, pulling out my notebook just as Uncle Malcolm walks through the door.
“Good afternoon class,” he says, shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it onto his desk. “Is it just me or is it unusually hot in here today?”
Uncle Malcolm proceeds to pull the knot of his tie down and unbutton the top three buttons of his shirt. I notice all the girls lean forward in their seats with their eyes glued to Uncle Malcolm eagerly awaiting to see what he might take off next.
He releases the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt and proceeds to roll them up to his elbows revealing unusually well-muscled forearms.
I hear Keri, Uncle Malcolm’s number one fan, sigh as she stares at him in complete and utter adoration from her front row seat.
“That’s better,” he says with a satisfied grin.
Groans of disappointment issue forth from the female population in the class. It makes me wonder if some of my classmates thought Uncle Malcolm was about to do a strip tease right in front of us. What a completely absurd expectation…
“Today, gentlefolk, we are going to take a slight detour from our regularly scheduled class syllabus and talk a little about one of Shakespeare’s most famous works…Romeo and Juliet.”
Keri immediately shoots her hand up into the air.
“Yes, Keri?” Uncle Malcolm asks, picking up a leather bound copy of Romeo and Juliet from his desk.
“We covered that last year, Mr. Devereaux. Why are we going over it again?”
“Because, my dear, I believe some of you,” Uncle Malcolm glances in my direction, “need a little refresher. Now, I would like us to discuss one scene in particular. Who can tell me what happens in act one, scene four?”
Keri immediately raises her hand again, but Uncle Malcolm completely ignores her and stares straight at me.
“Caylin,” he says, “do you happen to remember what takes place in that particular scene?”
I narrow my eyes at Uncle Malcolm because he knows I could recite the whole play verbatim if he asked me to.
“It’s the scene where Romeo and Juliet first kiss,” I answer, not having to stretch my sense of logic very far to figure out why Uncle Malcolm picked this particular day to discuss such a pivotal part of the play.
Uncle Malcolm smiles. “Exactly.”
He opens the book and proceeds to read the scene to the whole class. Once he’s finished, he shuts the book with a snap.
“So, who can tell me exactly what Romeo is referring to when he talks about his �
��blushing Pilgrims’?”
Keri raises her hand and waves it like she’s trying to flag down an incoming airplane.
“Yes, Keri?”
“He’s referring to his lips,” Keri answers with a sigh.
“And why does he call them pilgrims?”
“Because he wants to let Juliet know his intentions are pure.”
“But are his intentions pure?”
Surprisingly, Hunter raises his hand to answer the question. I feel sure it’s the first time in recorded history that Hunter Manning has ever volunteered to answer any question in any class.
“Yes, Hunter?” Uncle Malcolm asks, sounding just as surprised as I am to see Hunter raise his hand.
“Dude just wanted to make out with a hot chick,” Hunter answers, drawing a few giggles from the girls in the class. “So, no, his intentions weren’t pure.”
“And this seemingly innocent kiss leads to what, Caylin?”
I hesitate to answer just long enough for Keri to blurt out the answer for me.
“It leads to them having sex,” Keri says.
“Correct, Keri. Now, who can tell me why this was such a horrifically bad idea?”
“Because they ended up dying at the end?” Keri asks, not quite sure if that’s the answer Uncle Malcolm is looking for.
Uncle Malcolm rewards Keri with a smile. “Correct again, Keri.”
When he looks back out at the classroom he says, “And one reason I bring all this up again is because Friday night I know most of your little human hormones will be running full throttle, and you’ll most likely completely lose your minds. But take to heart the lesson that can be learned from Romeo and Juliet,” Uncle Malcolm looks straight at me, “a simple kiss can lead you down the wrong path. Don’t do anything you shouldn’t do before you’re ready to deal with the consequences. Is that understood?”
There are a few grumbled, “Yes, Mr. Devereaux.”
I just shake my head at my uncle and look down at my notebook feeling completely embarrassed.
