Arise

by Michael Dean

  “I hope so.”

  “I know so. Now, let’s go.” She reached down and shoved the car into gear.

  We small talked all the way to Veitoni’s. I went into further details about the fight, what happened afterwards, and so on. But I still didn’t say anything to her about the visions of the woman and little girl that I kept receiving, along with the one that I had of Shade sitting in my tree, looking up at the sky. Until I figured out what is going on within me, I thought it best not to speculate on something that I didn’t understand at this point. Not only that, I didn’t want to take the chance of her writing it in her diary. Not that she would, if I asked her not to.

  We pulled into the restaurant and went inside. We were ushered around upscale patrons by a stiff, seemingly uptight maitre d’ who gave us the once over as we were guided to a two person table in the most desirable spot in the restaurant, right in front of a window that overlooked the Gold Rock River. The place was dimly lit by crystal chandeliers and a large white candle burning on the tables which perfectly accented the white cloth and matching napkins. Sitting alone in a small vase next to the candle rested a beautiful white rose. The maitre d’ slid back the chair for Shade to sit and placed a napkin on her lap, letting us know that our waiter would be with us shortly.

  “How in the world did you pull off this table…at this restaurant?” I looked around in awe of our wondrous location.

  “Well, Darryl’s parents used to take us here all the time. The owner, Mr. Veitoni, told me at Darryl’s funeral that if I ever wanted to come back to eat here, all I had to do was ask. So, I placed a call and asked him and here we are.” She shrugged, pulling the napkin off her lap and placed it back on the table.

  “Wow, that’s very nice of him.”

  “Yeah, it is. He’s a really kind man. He used to tell Darryl that I was the daughter he’d never had. He told this story to Mr. and Mrs. Kite a couple of times, but when he lost Mrs. Veitoni some years back, they didn’t have any children, so he just invested all of his spare time in this restaurant in order to avoid being at home without her.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Yeah, he’s just a lonely old guy that does nice things for people.”

  The waiter approached and took our order. Our idle chatter continued until a short, nearly bald old man with black, bushy eyebrows approached the table.

  “Shade, my dear.” He smiled warmly and opened his arms.

  “Mr. Veitoni, so nice to see you.” Shade hopped up like she was on a spring and hugged him. I almost chuckled because Shade was almost a full head taller than the little fella.

  “You look so stunning tonight, beautiful as always.” He held her at her shoulders like a father to a daughter. It was easy to tell he was Italian by his thick accent.

  “Awww, thank you. And thank you again for giving us a table.” She sat back down.

  “Anything for you. This must be your handsome beau.” He extended a hand, and I met his with mine.

  “Yes, sir, at least I try to stay as pretty as her. Nice to meet you.” We laughed.

  “Well, that’s a gonna be a hard to do. Miss Lewis is much too pretty for most of us around here. She belongs in Hollywood.” He remained holding our handshake a touch longer than a usual greeting as he spoke before releasing it.

  “Yes, she does, sir.” Shade just sat there red-faced, trying to hold in her smile.

  “You take ‘a good care of her and treat her right or I come looking for you,” he said softly with a smile.

  “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

  “Ahhh, that means he’s met the parents, then?” He turned to Shade with a chuckle.

  “Yes, yes, he has.” She giggled.

  He remained at our table and talked until our waiter brought the food. Before he left, he informed us that dinner was on him tonight, and if we needed anything, to just ask.

  “He really is a good man. My demon senses detected no malice about him whatsoever.”

  “I told you. Now, let’s dig in.” Shade picked up her fork and started twirling the alfredo on her plate.

  “Oh goodie, goodie,” I proclaimed sarcastically.

  “Just hush up and eat, Demon Boy.”

  Chapter 10

  BULLHEADED

  When dinner was over, we chatted over dessert and drinks, non-alcoholic, of course, even though a cold one did sound nice.

  “We better get going,” Shade said, checking out her Smartphone.

  “What time is the movie?”

  “Nine o’clock, and it’s twenty till right now.”

  We hopped up and headed for the exit. Right as we opened the door to leave, Mr. Veitoni came shuffling up to wish us farewell. Not only did he hug Shade, he hugged me as well, telling me that I was welcome anytime. I told him I would return and we wished him goodbye until next time.

  It didn’t take long to get the theatre. Just as we were about to get out, Shade grabbed me by the arm, keeping me in the car.

  “There’s something I forgot to tell you.” She bit her bottom lip nervously.

  “That is?”

  “I invited Sandra to join us.”

  “Cool. It will be nice to see her again.” I shrugged.

  “…and Scruffy.” She wrinkled her nose as she remained gnawing on her lip.

  “Really—? You set me up,” I said, moderately agitated. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more drama tonight. I wasn’t sure if there would be any, I just knew it would be a little uncomfortable because Scruff was so bullheaded.

  “So, do think you two can play nice…maybe become friends again?”

  “We’ll see,” I said with a sigh.

  “That’s good enough.” She nodded, letting go of my arm and we got out.

  While walking up to the main entrance, I could see Sandra and Scruffy standing in front of the box office. When we got close enough for them to see us, I noticed Scruffy look at Sandra and turn around in mild disgust as he came to realize, like I did, that he’d been set up, too.

  “I’m not apologizing for trying to save that jerk’s life, Shade.”

  “Just be cool,” she murmured, pinching my arm, which caused me to flinch and yelp.

  Shade rushed up to Sandra and gave her a big hug as I trailed slowly behind her. Scruffy stood next to her with his arms folded, staring out into the parking lot like he didn’t notice us or something. He reluctantly gave Shade a hug when she grabbed him, only to turn around afterwards and look away again.

  Sandra walked up to me and I gave her a big hug because it had been so long since I last saw her. I have to admit, it was even nice seeing the stubborn Scruffy too, but I wasn’t going to be the first to give in.

  “You’ve been gone so long, Leo. We…I’ve missed you.” Sandra turned to nose in the air Scruffy, who was pretending not to listen. Sandra could only roll her eyes at his childish behavior.

  “How’s your family doing?” Sandra reminded me of the cover story Shade put out about my absence. Shade opened her eyes wide as if to remind me to play along.

  “I missed you, too,” I added, not acting any more mature than Scruff. “My grandfather is doing very well now, thank you. He’s out of the hospital and at home.”

  “Oh my God. Let’s go inside, girl.” Shade sounded agitated at my and Scruff’s behavior as she looped arms with Sandra and approached the ticket counter.

  Scruffy and I didn’t say a word nor look at one another. We simply stood behind our ladies, giving them money for the tickets. Even when going to the snack counter, as the girls laughed and talked, we merely stood behind them, arms folded, refusing to look at each other. We’d just hand over the money to our head-shaking beauties.

  After they snagged some popcorn and drinks for us, we headed in to see the movie. Along with the comedy we were going to see, I have to admit, my and Scruffy’s behavior remained comedic as well. Usually when going to a movie or something, we’d sit next to each other and cut up the whole time, even if th
e girls were with us. This time, I sat next to Shade, Sandra next to her, and Scruff the furthest away from me. We were on the two ends, sandwiching the girls.

  Throughout the movie the chicks kept trying to get us to interact in some way, but it didn’t work. I think the fact they picked out a funny movie was strategic, too. It had become a full blown challenge, silently between us, as to who was going to speak to the other first. It sure as heck wasn’t going to be me. I think we were both thinking that whoever spoke first was the one apologizing. So, for the entire duration of the movie, we sat silent, not even so much as a glance at the other. When the movie was over, as soon as the credits hit, Scruffy stood up, kissed Sandra, and told her he’d meet her in the car. He was at the exit in less than ten seconds.

  “Well, that didn’t work out like we intended,” Sandra stated.

  “No—no, it didn’t,” Shade agreed.

  “He doesn’t get it, Sandra, no one understands right now…” before I could finish, Shade patted my leg, her sign imploring me to stop speaking.

  “It’s okay, you two idiots will work it out…let’s get outta here.” The two girls snickered and led the way to the parking lot.

  We stood outside for a few minutes and discussed prom next week, what to wear, if we wanted to meet up, and so on. I guess Scruffy was sitting in Sandra’s car. The girls, along with me, thought it best to go to junior prom separately and meet up there due to the fractured relationship between Scruff and myself. I felt very bad that our behavior was preventing them from having fun together on one of the most important parts of their lives and apologized repeatedly for it, but I wasn’t giving in. Maybe I was just as bullheaded as Scruffy.

  I hugged Sandra and told her how happy I was to see her and looked forward to seeing her again. After a brief sign off between the ladies, we parted ways for the night. Sandra had parked kind of close to where we were and I could see Scruffy sitting in her ride just staring out into space, again, refusing to look my way.

  “Baby, you and Mark have got to get things figured out. You’re really throwing a dark cloud over mine and Sandra’s friendship.” She looked at me in earnest.

  “I know, I know. I promise you we’ll get it figured out sooner or later, but right now it doesn’t feel right to me.”

  “Leo, you’re a demon, you feed off negativity. If it’s up to you, you could hold out forever. Swallow your instincts, make it right, preferably before or at prom…please, for me?” She reached over and squeezed my hand.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Now there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for Shade, but she was right. I am a demon, and tension only fuels me. Humans prefer positive energy. Most of the time, anyway. I live on anything negative, no matter how small or large the fire may be. So, for me, coming to him wasn’t an option, even if it meant severing our friendship for good. After all, my privacy towards the dude is all about saving him and Sandra’s lives. The only way I would consider coming to him for forgiveness is if it meant losing Shade and I don’t think this situation would gravitate to that conclusion.

  Like in the past, Shade took me home and picked up Shadow. It was understood that she would have the candle in the window tonight, her usual invitation for me to come over and stay the night.

  “Tonight, I want you to model what you’re going to wear to prom for me, so I can dress to match,” she added before driving off.

  “Model?”

  “Yeah, it’s not every day someone can just look at clothes in a magazine and instantly change into them right before your eyes, so yeah, you need to show me what you’re going to wear. I don’t have the luxury of just pulling style out of thin air like you. I actually have to go buy my dress. If I know what you’re going to wear, it will be a lot easier and not be a waste of money picking out something.”

  “I see your point.”

  “So you see, I don’t have to worry about not matching doing it this way. I have magazines all set up at home…see you when you get there.”

  “See ya, babe.” I sealed her departure with a kiss.

  Like the other nights, I sat around and waited for a few hours before going airborne to her house. I slid into the window, in shadow form, of course, and was greeted by the sight of a mass amount of Glamour magazines sprawled out all over Shade’s bed. Shadow, as usual, had made himself at home and was lying on top of them, batting his tail around.

  “Damn, girl, I’ll say you’ve been prepping for this for awhile. You could almost buy yourself a prom dress with what you’ve already spent on magazines.” I pushed some off her bed and sat down.

  Shade came walking out of her bathroom, “Hush and get back up, I wanna show you what I have in mind for you.”

  “Oh, is that right?” I said.

  “That’s right, now get to modeling, sexy boy.” She picked up some issues that models wearing outfits had been circled with markers.

  Shade would point at something and I would transform into what she was eyeballing. Sometimes she’d find a page with a shirt in one magazine and then pick up another that had the pants she preferred. This series of unfortunate events continued on for over an hour and I had absolutely no say in the process. She owned me when it came to this prom thing. Being a sucker for Shade was really making me soft, at least when it came to her. Anyone else giving me orders I would knock them through a ceiling, much less have them dress me. Deep down I think Shade took joy in the fact that she held, to an extent, a power over this supposedly uncontrollable evil figure.

  Finally after a multitude of outfit changes and confused looks, mainly coming from me, Shade found what she was looking for. She picked out an expensive pair of designer blue jeans that were more black than blue, that’s right, blue jeans, something I wore pretty much every day anyway, those ones that have the holes purposely up and down the pant legs, some brown dress boots, and a black, long sleeve, skin-tight muscle shirt. Over the top she had me wearing a black leather dress coat. No tie, no tails, no dress shoes. My outfit was more like something you’d wear out on a nice night to the club or to a dinner, rather than prom. But this is Shade’s taste; this is what she likes, keeping things simple. Fancy suits or tuxedos weren’t her style. I like keeping things basic as well. Besides, this was junior prom, usually not as formal as a senior prom. I think we could get away with keeping our gear stylish, but low-key on this one.

  “Oh my God, yummm.” She raised her eyebrows and pressed her body against mine, planting a hot and heavy kiss on me. “You look irresistible.”

  “Of course I do,” I kidded her in between kisses.

  “I’ll let you get away with that one because it’s true.” She walked around me. “You are going to be one of the hottest guys there.”

  “One of?” I teased.

  “I mean, the hottest guy there. Now all I have to do is go pick out my dress tomorrow with my mom.” She stopped checking me out and kissed me again.

  I smiled at her and made out with her long and hard on the magazines on the bed. As painful as it is for me getting this heated with her, I can’t resist. It seemed like this time we were going at it a little longer and a bit further than usual. Shade recognized we were getting a touch too intense as well, pulling out of our passion and placing her palm in my chest.

  “Wait, baby, we gotta stop.” I continued to kiss her on her cheek and neck. “I don’t…I mean, I want to, but not yet.”

  I stopped kissing her and looked her in the eyes.

  “I love you, and I want you to be my first, I just don’t want to do this yet.”

  “It’s okay, we can, when we’re both ready.” I started to stroke her hair as I laid on top of her.

  “You’re not ready, either?” she whispered.

  “Well, technically, even though I’ve probably been around for ages, I’ve never gone all the way, either. Besides that, going that far may kill me.” She looked relieved as we started laughing.

  “Now, get out of those clothes. I don’t want them to get messed up before p
rom.”

  “You know that’s not possible.” I grinned.

  Another night of snuggling went by and I left for home with Shadow just before dawn. As I flew, I thought about how peaceful and beautiful Shade looked when she slept. I know that sounds very stalker-like, but I don’t sleep. What else am I supposed to do all night when I’m holding her if I can’t be sleeping? So, that’s what I do. In many ways, I crave the apparent serenity that sleep seems to give to humans; at least it looks that way. I kind of want to know what it’s like to forget all your troubles and rest your body and mind for a few hours. But all I can do is simply wish. It will never be a reality.

  The week of school before prom went by relatively fast. The only time it seemed to slow was when I had to be in classes with Scruffy or be close to him when the girls would hang out at lunch or something. During the week I made sure to sneak off and pick out Shade’s corsage.

  The buzz around school was that everyone was going to meet up at BNB’s before the prom and get a game plan on where the after-party would be. Sandra mentioned that she and Scruffy would likely check out the after-party that night for a little while and then take off to do their own thing. Shade and I already decided not to go to any after-party, being that the last time Shade was at one, someone died. Also because we wanted to go lay a blanket out at a spot on the edge of Gold Rock River and just spend time with each other. So, that was our plan.

  The night of prom arrived and because I didn’t have a car, Shade was going to have to come and get me first, then take me back to her house so she could get ready while I waited. I needed to figure out where I could stash her corsage on the way to her house without her seeing it before I could put it on her. When she picked me up, I made her get out and look at one of Shadow’s paws like there was something wrong with it. While she was examining him, I reached into her car and stashed it under the passenger seat.

  “I don’t see anything wrong with it.” She studied it closely before letting his paw go and petting him on the head.

  “Hmmm, he was limping on it earlier. I just wanted to make sure a second set of eyes looked at it in case I missed something,” I lied.