Inseparable

by Missy Johnson

  “It happened a long time ago, she was six and I was twelve. I was thirteen when they caught the guy. He confessed and everything, but he died in prison before they could get her location out of him,” Dane looked away, but not before I caught the sadness in his eyes, “That’s the worst part. Knowing she’s out there somewhere and us never getting the chance to say goodbye.”

  I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat that felt the size of an orange.

  “With Abby, at least I got to say goodbye. She was sick for a long time. At least I had the chance to tell her every day I Ioved her,” I could feel tears pricking my eyes. Suddenly I began to laugh. Dane looked at me, both confused and amused by my outburst.

  “I’m sorry,” I gasped, mortified at my response to talking about the deaths of our siblings, “It just struck me how horrified Abby would be if she knew this was how my first date was going,” I giggled. After a minute, Dane laughed too.

  “Yeah, I guess we’re both pretty morbid, hey,” He made a face, “So, this is your first date, huh?” He smiled at me playfully. I groaned. Why did I say that? I’d been hoping that would slip by without him noticing. No such luck.

  Truth be told, I suppose this was my first date. I’d had a boyfriend before, Dennis Collin. We were together for about two months before Abby got sick, when I was fourteen. Our month together involved lots of kissing, some fondling, and two extremely awkward nights of sex in his single bed when his parents were away.

  Abby had been so pissed that I’d lost my virginity before her, especially when she was the one with the steady boyfriend. She’d been so mad that the very next night she’d slept with Will, almost as if to spite me. That was the night dad caught Will in her room, and we were both banned from having boys in the house.

  “It’s not my first date,” I said, blushing, knowing there really was no way out of this one, “Just my first in a while.” Dane grinned, as though he was loving my discomfort.

  “Well now I’m feeling the pressure,” He joked, straightening his back.

  “Well it’s not like I have much to compare to, so my standards aren’t that high,” I covered my mouth. Once again, I’d spoken before thinking. That had actually been me trying to be nice.

  “Ouch!” Dane cried, laughing, “That was a low hit, Lily. Enough of the family talk. That’s way too depressing. What’s your favorite color?”

  “Blue,” I answered, so happy he’d let me off the hook, “You?”

  “Green,” He replied, gazing deep into my green eyes. I giggled. “No, really. I’m not just saying that to be smooth,” He argued as I laughed.

  “You think that was actually smooth?” I giggled. It was cute how corny he was.

  “Hey!” He pretended to be offended, “You’re crushing me here. You’ll end up sending me home with a complex the way you’re going,” Even as he said it, his smile suggested otherwise. Somehow I got the feeling it would take a lot more than that to rattle Dane Hanson.

  “For someone as ‘out of practice’ as you claim, you’re doing pretty well,” I said. The fact that he didn’t move from girl to girl was something that made me feel pretty special, what about me had caught his eye? Maybe I should throw myself at men more often.

  We left the restaurant after ten, the cool breeze outside making me shiver. Dane put his arm around me, his hand resting on my shoulder as if it belonged there. It didn’t make me feel any warmer, but having him so close certainly distracted me from the cold. He opened the door of his car for me, shutting it once I’d slid in. His car was even colder, if that was possible. I silently prayed that his heater worked.

  “It will kick in pretty quick,” He promised, turning the heat knob on high. Within seconds, the cool air blowing through the vents turned warm, and finally hot. My body began to relax as the warmth encased it like an invisible blanket.

  “Better,” I grinned, my teeth no longer chattering. He turned on the radio. I gazed out the window and into the darkness, humming along to the music. I glanced his way to find him looking at me. “What?” I asked. Dane shook his head.

  “Nothing. I like looking at you,” He replied. If he were a stalker, or someone I wasn’t impossibly attracted to, that probably would have sounded really creepy, but he was Dane, and the more we spoke the more intense my feelings toward him got, so any confirmation that he felt the same was wonderful,

  Too quickly, he pulled up outside my house, only this time he cut the engine and turned to me.

  “I had a great time Lily, a really great time,” He reached for my hair, running his hand through, trying to smooth out some of the damage caused by the wind, “Can I kiss you?” He whispered softly, his fingers tracing the edge of my face. I nodded, not trusting that if I spoke the words wouldn’t come out in a jumbled mess. My heart skipped a beat as he curled his hand around the back of my neck, under my hair, pulling my lips toward his. Every expectation was surpassed as his lips met mine. For someone so out of practice, he was a damn good kisser. Because I was such an expert on kissing.

  He pulled away enough to look at me, his lips parting into a small smile.

  “You’re pretty amazing, Lily,” He said, drawing me in for another kiss. He cradled my face, his lips searching mine as I kissed him back forcefully. My lips tingled as his mouth met mine, his tongue gently caressing my own. Everything about his kisses, and his touch was perfect.

  I exited his car, still dizzy from what was possibly the greatest five minutes of my life. I could get used to being felt up in the car by Dane.

  “I had a great time, Lily,” He smiled, looking up at me, his arm resting on the door frame, “Can I call you?” His eyes met mine, and I shrugged.

  “Sure, you can call me.” I replied, smiling devilishly. He laughed as I backed up the path, my eyes still firmly on him.

  “Will you answer?” He chuckled, throwing his head back against the seat.

  “Maybe,” I smiled, walking up to the door of the apartment building, then turning back to face him, “Maybe I won’t.” The sound of his laughter filled the night, and I’m sure we were both thinking the same thing. I’d be sitting by that phone waiting for his call.

  Crawling into bed still fully clothed, I thought about our night. In spite of my weirdness, he seemed to like me, especially if that heart stopping, coma inducing kiss was anything to go by. Reaching up, I touched my lips, which were still a little numb from my make out session. Dane was amazing, better than amazing, he was everything.

  “Lily’s in lurve,” Teased Abby, her face mirroring my own happiness.

  “It’s one date, Abs. I’m hardly in love,” I rolled my eyes. It was true, it had only been one date, but I could quite easily see myself falling for him.

  “Yes, well, I know you better than anyone, and I see the way you look at him,” Abby smiled knowingly. She saw the way I looked at him. Knowing she was always around me, watching over me gave me mixed emotions, both happy and sad. It reminded me of all the things I couldn’t share with her anymore.

  “I do like him a lot,” I finally admitted, “And I think he likes me.”

  “He likes you Abs. Just enjoy it, okay? Don’t overthink things.”

  Don’t overthink things.

  What the hell did that mean? I realized I’d just answered my own question. Of all the things Abby said to me, that is what I focused on? Not the fact that he liked me back? I suddenly got it; I knew exactly what she was trying to say. If I wanted this to work, it would, but I couldn’t let myself get in the way of my own happiness.

  Chapter Seven

  Kella and I sat in the doctor’s office, as he examined my foot carefully. She had insisted on coming with me, claiming I shouldn’t be driving, but I was sure she thought I’d try and pull a swifty and cut the plaster off myself if the doctor wanted it on for longer.

  No matter how shocked I’d acted that she’d even think I’d be capable of something as underhanded as that, I had to admit there was probably some truth to it. My first stop would’ve been th
e hardware store to cut off the damn thing myself.

  Still, where was the trust in our friendship?

  “Well, Ms. Somerton. It appears to have healed,” He looked at me over the top of his wire rimmed glasses and smiled, “I think we can take this off.”

  Yes! I squealed softly, resisting the urge to jump up and dance. The timing couldn’t have been better either, since I had another date with Dane tonight. I sighed, picturing myself sporting a pretty dress and heels as he lowered me over his arm for another passionate make out session.

  Then I saw my foot.

  After nearly four weeks in a cast, it was pasty, blistery and just downright disgusting. And it smelt. Like really, really bad. As in ‘I accidentally left a roast chicken inside my car for two weeks in sweltering heat’ kind of bad. Even the doctor cringed.

  There was no way in hell I was going anywhere tonight.

  As soon as I was out of the doctor’s office, Kella patted my back sympathetically. I tried not to notice that even she was having a hard time standing next to me, walking a good few inches behind me.

  Jesus, I was having a hard time stomaching the smell.

  “Lil, it’s really not that bad,” I glanced up at her hopefully, catching her as she eyed my foot and winced.

  That was it. I reached for my cell and texted Dane that I was sick, extremely contagious, and needed to reschedule our date. I got a reply almost right away.

  Hope you’re okay, sexy. Thinking of you xx

  I stared at the message, motionless in the middle of the walkway causing Kella to smash right into me. Sexy, thinking of you and text kisses!

  “He’s thinking about me!” I yelled, waving the cell in Kella’s face. She tried to push me away. “He likes me, Kella,” I chanted, over and over, or at least until she whacked me over the arm.

  “Enough about Dane,” She cried, laughing, covering her eyes with her hands as I waved my hands above my head like an idiot. I didn’t care if people were staring, but for Kella to be embarrassed, that was enough to make me stop.

  Even with my ugly white stinky foot, it felt so good to be able to wiggle my toes, and flex my foot. I still had a bit of a limp, but the doctor had assured me that would disappear in a few days as my foot strengthened.

  I begged Kella to stop off at the grocers for some ice cream and a frozen pizza, as we drove home. Frozen pizza was not my meal of choice, but Kella was going out with Fraser, so I couldn’t rely on her cooking, and frozen pizza beat any meal I could throw together. While I had many talents, cooking was not one of them.

  The first thing I did when I got home was take a bath. I scrubbed and scrubbed my foot until it was at the point of drawing blood, and it still stank like rotten eggs.

  Ugh.

  When I surfaced from the bathroom, the house was silent, note from Kella sitting on the table telling me to enjoy my night. I rolled my eyes. Enjoy my night?

  It took me less than an hour to eat the ice cream and the frozen pizza, and realized I was still hungry. Well, either hungry or just really bored. After five trips to the refrigerator to survey my options, I gave up and ordered a real pizza, large, heavy on the anchovies, and olives. Sam, my phone consultant easily talked me into a garlic bread and a bottle of coke. A bit too easily.

  Less than ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Fastest delivery in town was right, they weren’t messing about!

  I opened the door, a twenty in my hand, my mouth watering at the thought of those fishy little anchovies. I saw no pizza. Instead, Dane stood, leaning on the brick wall, a smile on his face and his eyebrows raised.

  Crap. Crappy crap crap.

  “Sick, huh?” His eyes danced as they took in the twenty in my hand. My mouth dropped open as I tried to think of an acceptable excuse. “Hey, your cast is off!” He exclaimed. My eyes went down to my white pasty foot. Shit. Did I mention crap?

  Dane peered at it closely, actually kneeling down to get a better look. His lip curled up ever so slightly, “It looks really gnarly,” He commented, “Smells pretty bad too. Maybe you need to wash it, or something?” He suggested. The worst thing was there was no sarcasm or humor in his voice, just Dane trying to be helpful.

  “Gee thanks,” I snapped, unable to help myself. Of all the things to say to a girl, and one you supposedly like! “Why didn’t I think of washing it?” I retorted, a nasty edge to my voice. Dane looked at me, surprised at my tone. Then he laughed.

  “Is this why you cancelled our date? Because of your foot?” He started to laugh harder, until he was doubled over, hands on his knees. I wanted to kick him over onto the stained wet floorboards, and then slam the door shut on his stupid little face. Then we’d see who was laughing.

  “You said yourself it’s gnarly,” I snapped, reaching out and pushing him away from the door. “Stop laughing at me,” I demanded, as I tried to close the door, putting all my weight against it, but he was nearly twice my size and way too strong for me.

  “Okay, okay! I’ll stop laughing. I promise,” He looked at me solemnly, his eyes showing the only trace of amusement in his whole face, as he held his hands up, scout’s honor.

  “Fine,” I grumbled, “Come in. but you’re paying for the pizza.” He followed me inside, into the living room. I sat back down in my spot, complete with blanket, magazines, tissues, pillows, and a nail file. Dane shook his head, hiding a smile behind his hand by pretending to rub his chin.

  “What?” I growled, daring him to say something.

  “I didn’t say anything,” He protested. The doorbell rang. Rolling his eyes, he pulled out his wallet and went to get the pizza.

  “Hope you like anchovies! And olives!” I called after him. He came back a few minutes later, chuckling.

  “You’re very strange, Lily,” He handed me the pizza, “Anchovies and olives? I mean, one or the other is bad enough, but both?” He made a face, and I took a strange satisfaction in him not liking my choice of pizza topping. That was fine by me; I was more than happy to have the whole pizza to myself.

  “Double anchovies, too,” I said, my mouth full of pizza, just in case he wasn’t turned off enough.

  “Do you want a drink?” He called out, heading into the kitchen as if he owned the place.

  “Sure,” I called out, “And help yourself,” I added, rolling my eyes at his boldness. He came back with two cans of coke, throwing one of the cans on the sofa next to me. I rested it on the table, not game enough to open it, just in case he’d shaken it, because that’s something I would do.

  “So now you’ve cancelled our date, I guess I’m picking the movie,” He walked over to Kella’s DVD cabinet. For a hard ass lesbian turned straight chick with anger issues, Kella sure loved her soppy romantic movies.

  “Is this all you have?” Dane screwed up his face as he read through the selections, “Gone with the wind, Sleepless in Seattle, True Love, Pretty Woman…” He looked at me, horrified.

  “Don’t blame me. They’re Kella’s,” I jumped to my feet, heading for my room, fully aware he was following me. I fished through one of the boxes in the corner of my room that I was yet to unpack as he stood in the doorway, watching me. After a moment he wandered in, looking at the few photos I had on my dressing table, me vaguely aware of the pile of underwear sitting on the bed I’d yet to put away.

  “You and Abby,” He murmured, gazing at the picture. Not that it was that hard to work out. She was the only identical twin I had. “You two look identical,” He said softly.

  “Yeah,” I replied. Hadn’t I mentioned that? I wasn’t sure what difference it really made in the whole scheme of things.

  “Okay, so we have Die Hard, or Under Siege,” I handed Dane the movies. I had more, but truthfully I needed him out of my room. He was hard enough to resist in the car, but put me in a setting with a bed and Dane, and I couldn’t promise things wouldn’t happen.

  “Hmmm. Tough choice. Die Hard,” He answered, throwing Under Siege back on the bed. “You’re still limping,” He commented,
as he followed me back into the living room. I wondered if he had checked out my ass. I blushed as I recalled how we’d met.

  “Yeah. Doctor said it might take me a few days to get my strength back in the foot, but it’s so good to be out of that plaster,” I grinned, glancing down at my foot. While in the bedroom, I’d thrown on a pair of socks in an attempt to hide my foot. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything.

  “So, tell me more about you,” He raised his eyebrows as he reached for a slice of pizza, picking off the olives and anchovies. What was left was a limp slice of cheese pizza. I reached over and gathered up his scraps, piling them on top of my slice. He stared at me in disbelief as I took a big bite.

  Me? Shit. It had been that long since anyone had asked about me, I had to think for a moment.

  “That’s a tough question. What do you want to know?” The flavors exploded in my mouth. Mmm. So good! This beat the ass off frozen pizza.

  “You’re not good at talking about yourself,” He laughed. I gave him a look. And he was?

  “Neither are you,” I shot back, “Okay. Something about me. Well, I love fishing, basketball. I’m a bit of a tomboy. The son my parents never had,” I giggled, “And I love my food, but I can’t cook. My skill lies solely in eating,” I added.

  “Well, it’s a good thing I’m a pretty awesome cook, then,” He responded, cocking his eyebrow. I laughed.

  “You?” I repeated, not bothering to hold back my amusement or surprise. I would never have picked Dane to be good at cooking.

  “Yes,” He said with a wounded look, “Why is that so funny? Haven’t we reached a point in our society where a man can be appreciated for his cooking ability?”

  “Sure we have, you just don’t strike me as the type to whip up a gourmet meal,” I giggled.

  “Hold on,” He began, “I never said gourmet, but my skills extend beyond boiled eggs and pasta.” He stopped as I continued to laugh, “Are you done?” He crossed his arms, and narrowed his eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized, my expression suggesting the opposite. He shook his head.