At first I just sat there, motionless, in shock that my best friend was kissing me. But after a moment I relaxed and I found myself kissing him back. And wow was Henry a good kisser! His lips were soft. How did I never notice Henry’s lips before? I felt delirious.The kiss deepened.
Henry took his hand from behind my head and slid it under the back of my shirt as he started fiddling with my bra hook.
I finally pulled back. “Wait,” I said feebly. The feeling in my head had become more intense, possibly from the impending blackout, the kiss, or a little bit of both. I wasn’t sure.
I tried desperately to fight it, but I couldn’t. Everything went black.
Chapter 16
When I woke up the next morning Henry had already gone to school. Probably embarrassed about last night. I know I was. I had never thought of Henry romantically – and I had no clue he felt that way about me. But even though I wasn’t sure if it felt right, I could safely say it didn’t feel entirely wrong.
It was just as well that he had left early. I wouldn’t know what to say to him anyway.
I needed something to distract myself. Worrying about seeing Henry that afternoon wasn’t going to change the situation. And it certainly wasn’t going to help me figure out how the hell I could be so attracted to Lucas but feel like swooning when I kissed Henry. Or was it just the blackout? No, I’d had plenty of those and they never felt like that before.
I headed downstairs to see what was on TV. Restlessly, I flipped from channel to channel, but nothing caught my interest. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been idly surfing when the sound of a car door made me jump. I glanced at my drug dealer, pay-as-you-go cell phone that Henry had bought me after Lucas kidnapped me. It’s noon! Nobody should be home!
I was off the couch by the time the kitchen door was being opened. Too late! There was no way to get upstairs unnoticed. The house was old, and almost every step creaked loudly even under the slightest pressure.
I only had seconds to hide. Panic had set in. I had been sitting on the large wrap around couch in the middle of the room. Maybe if I could hide behind the side that was at a right angle from the kitchen door, Mr. or Mrs. Matthews would walk through the room and go straight up the stairs, or at least in the opposite direction, towards the other part of the house.
I clicked the TV off and dove behind the couch, willing myself to be as still as physically possible. I heard the kitchen door swing open and slow footsteps as someone walked into the room. “Yes, yes,” an agitated male voice was saying. Mr. Matthews sounds pissed.
“You know I don’t get this kind of opportunity very often,” he said. “I have back-to-back client meetings all day for the rest of the week, and I have to be very careful about how I ‘schedule’ our time together. My assistant is nosy as hell. I can’t risk Valerie finding out about this.”
Valerie was Henry’s mom. This can’t be what it sounds like. I was in shock. Valerie and David had been together forever. Literally. They had been high school sweethearts. Surely this must be some type of misunderstanding? He couldn’t be having an affair…could he?
“Let me check my calendar.” Pause. “I can reschedule my 11 am, but we can’t meet here.”
David paced back and forth, obviously still annoyed. I prayed he would stay on the other side of the room. I would be beyond mortified if he saw me now. I don’t remember the Matthews keeping a gun, but as paranoid as they were I wouldn’t put it past them. He’d probably shoot first and ask questions later. And whether it would hurt me or not, having a bullet go through me was not something I wanted to experience.
Mr. Matthews was still talking and pacing. “Yes, that’s right next to the office, isn’t it? I can do that. But don’t stand me up this time!”
It sounded like he had hung up the phone. I heard David sit down on the couch. He was muttering to himself. “Waste of my time,” I thought I heard him say.
I peered tentatively over the back of the couch. He was scrolling through his blackberry, probably entering in the new appointment he’d just made.
Now he was making another phone call. “Hi, this is David Matthews,” he said smoothly. “I’m doing very well, thank you for asking. And how about yourself?” No one would ever have guessed that David Matthews had sounded like he was about to explode just a few minutes ago.
“I’m actually calling because I need to reschedule our meeting tomorrow.” Pause. “Yes, yes, so sorry for the short notice. We have a small family drama that I need to attend to. My son’s teacher has requested a conference with Valerie and me and I feel I should attend.”
My mouth dropped open. It was bad enough that he was a liar, and probably going out on his poor, unsuspecting wife, and now he had to drag Henry into the debacle?
“My next availability is Friday at 11. Does that work for you?” David finalized the details for the new meeting and hung up the phone. He was humming to himself now, his bad mood all but forgotten.
He’s cheating on his wife and he has the nerve to sit here acting like he’s some stand up guy. What a creep!Henry is going to be devastated. How on earth can I break the news to him?
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the situation, I tried to reason. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions without having solid evidence. I had to find a way to follow Mr. Matthews tomorrow. Once I confirmed what he was up to, then I could figure out the best way to approach Henry. That is, if he ever talked to me again after our kiss.
I was still crouched behind the couch. Will you just get out of here already! I wanted to scream. Mr. Matthews walked back into the kitchen. That was a close call.
I didn’t emerge from my hiding place until I heard him lock the door and start his car. The seedling of an idea was starting to sprout in my mind. Mr. Matthews worked downtown and it had sounded like the rendezvous he was planning was near his office. It would take forever to get there by bus and be a huge risk for me.
I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the card Lucas had given me last night. He had told me if I needed anything that I could call him – “day or night.” Here goes nothing. I punched the number into my phone before I could change my mind.
Chapter 17
It was ringing! If I had a heart, it would have been racing like crazy right about now.
He answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Is this, um, Lucas?” I asked nervously, even though I’d recognize that sexy voice anywhere.
“Yes.”
“Oh, sorry to bother you. This is Aurora, by the way.” I laughed nervously.
“Hi, Aurora,” he said patiently.
“Sorry to bug you,” I said lamely. Stop apologizing! “I actually have a favor to ask of you.”
“Yeah?” he sounded annoyed now.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing major,” I said hurriedly. God, why did I have to be so nervous! “I just was wondering if you could give me a ride downtown tomorrow.”
Lucas didn’t immediately answer. I pulled my phone away from my ear to check that we hadn’t lost the connection. “Hello?” I said tentatively.
“What time tomorrow? And why?”
“Um, I guess if you could pick me up around 10. I need to get there a little before 11.”
“You meeting a friend to talk about the good old days?” he asked sarcastically.
“Not exactly. But I am trying to help a friend.”
“Henry?” he asked. “Why don’t you just marry the guy already and get it over with?”
Eek! He thinks Henry and I are an item?! Maybe that’s why he didn’t try to kiss me the other night.
Normally I would have laughed if anyone implied that Henry and I were romantic, but after last night the thought of us together didn’t seem so crazy anymore. But no way was I letting Lucas know that.
“We’re just friends. He’s like a brother to me.” My voice sounded weird to my own ears. I hoped Lucas couldn’t tell. “So can you take me?” I asked, getting back to the original point of the conversation.
>
“I was supposed to surveillance you tomorrow anyway,” he said, laughing. “I don’t see the harm in making it a date to go downtown.”
A date! I could hardly contain myself.
We finalized plans and hung up. I tore upstairs to Henry’s room and took stock of the clothes he had taken me to buy before I went to dinner with Lucas. I tried on every item of clothing, studying myself in the bathroom mirror. They all looked so boring!
When I was alive, I was quite the clotheshorse. I smiled as I remembered one of the last shopping trips before my death. We were at my favorite store, Express, looking at the new summer line of clothing.
“Mom,” I had pleaded, “these shorts are fine. All the girls are wearing them!” They were the cutest denim cutoffs that I had ever seen. Unfortunately, they also only hit mid-thigh in length.
“Honey, I don’t want you walking around like some hoochie.”
I had snorted. “Mom! Where did you learn that word?”
“I’m down with the kid’s slang these days,” she had said defensively.
I remember when we got home, Kayla and I had made fun of Mom behind her back. I felt a twinge of guilt, thinking about it now. That wasn’t very nice of us. It’s true that you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone.
Mom hadn’t let me buy the jean shorts that day, so I had taken the bus back to the mall on my own and purchased them behind her back. The very first time I had worn them to school, my English teacher sent me to the principal’s office for ‘indecent attire.’ My mom was called to come get me, and boy was she pissed. I was grounded for two weeks over that one.
I thought of Kayla, in her tiny skirt. Maybe I wasn’t the best role model, after all. What if I had led her down this path by secretly buying those jean shorts?
It was impossible, but all I wanted to do was sit down and have a good cry. The stress of everything was getting to me. Sneaking around Henry’s house, not being able to go out on my own, constantly worrying I might morph into some monster and go on a wild killing spree. And now the added fear that my relationship with my best friend would never be the same again.
Then there was also the perpetual feeling of being watched. I just couldn’t shake it. I knew Lucas had been monitoring me, but this feeling I had was almost all the time. And now, to top it all off, I had to figure out what David Matthews was up to.
I want my old life back! I never thought I’d see the day I was actually wishing for school and homework.
I sat down on the edge of the toilet seat and willed myself to cry. Nothing happened. But there had to be some inkling of a human being, trapped somewhere deep inside this weird un-dead body I was living in. My emotions were certainly all over the place. I’d never heard of a zombie who worried so damn much.
With a big sigh, I stood up. What to wear? I might as well try to block out all that other crap and just deal with the current problem at hand – I had to look good for Lucas! I went back into Henry’s room and took stock of the small mound of clothes piled on top of the bed.
Suddenly, I had an idea. The dress I had been buried in was stuffed in the corner of Henry’s closet; maybe I could do something with that? I pulled it out and laid it flat across the bed, trying to smooth the wrinkles with my hand.
Hmm.I really did like the shade of the fabric, a pale pink – my favorite color. The problem was the dress just looked so young, and I wanted to portray a maturity, a wisdom beyond my years.
I pulled a cropped black jacket out of the heap of clothes I had discarded. It was slowly starting to come together in my mind. Moving swiftly, I darted back down the two flights of stairs and headed for the kitchen. There must be some scissors around here somewhere. I rifled through drawer after drawer until I located them, then thundered back up to Henry’s room. I had to hurry – it was nearly 2 o’clock now. Henry would be back from school in an hour.
Grabbing the pink dress, I slowly cut into the fabric just below the empire waistband. It took a few minutes of careful work to detach the top half of the dress from the billowy skirt. When I had finished, I held the new ‘tank top’ up to my face and examined my work. It wasn’t perfect by any means – I could see some edges that looked a little rough, where my hand hadn’t been as steady – but all in all I was pleased with the outcome.
The upper half of the dress had been transformed into an interesting shirt, not like anything I had ever seen in the stores I used to frequent.
I undressed quickly and pulled on my newly envisioned ensemble: pink top, black jacket, and boot cut jeans. I headed back to the bathroom, almost scared to look at myself. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by what I saw. The bottom of the tank top hit just above my bellybutton. It was more obvious in the mirror that the hem was slightly uneven, but it looked like that was intentional to make the shirt interesting. The black jacket looked great with the shirt and jeans and helped cover me so that I wasn’t showing too much skin.
I was grinning ear-to-ear. Lucas won’t know what hit him. There was just one thing missing now. I crept down the staircase and through the hall to the Matthews’ bedroom. I felt terrible about doing this, but I really wanted to borrow a smidge of makeup to wear for tomorrow.
The master bedroom was spacious and everything neatly in place. This whole house had such a different feel than my home, where every room looked lived in. I don’t think in all the years I’ve known Henry I’ve ever even been in here.
I looked around hesitantly. I was hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible; I really wasn’t the type to snoop and I felt guilty about being in their bedroom at all. There was no makeup sitting out where I could see it. Maybe she keeps her makeup in the bathroom.
I tiptoed across the room to the master bath and swung the closed door open. Wow! It was huge, with double sinks and a whirlpool tub. This is exactly my dream bathroom. And sure enough, against the wall by the window, was a vanity with a jewelry box and makeup on top. I opened the top drawer to find it was stuffed with even more: lipsticks, eye shadows, powders; this woman had everything!
Sorry. I said a silent apology to Valerie for raiding her makeup, and grabbed a handful of products from the drawer before I could think better of it.
I was back in the master bedroom when I heard someone downstairs. Not again! There is no way this can be happening twice in one day! Or maybe it’s Henry home from school?
I’d left my cell phone up in his attic room, but I could have sworn I hadn’t spent practically the entire afternoon figuring out what to wear tomorrow!
I stood frozen in place, listening.
“Aurora?” I heard Henry call up the stairs.
That’s a relief. “I’m here,” I shouted back. I shoved the makeup I had taken into my jacket pocket and hurriedly got out of his parent’s bedroom. I had reached the edge of the stairs just as Henry was getting to the second story.
“What are you doing up here?” he asked, shooting me a funny look, but not meeting my eyes.
Oh no. What if Henry thinks I dressed up for him? What an idiot I was! Talk about sending mixed signals.
“Nothing,” I said nonchalantly, unwilling to look him in the eyes either. “I thought I heard a crash so I came to investigate.”
“Okay.” Henry sighed. “So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
I gulped. “I’m not sure what – “ I started, but Henry cut me off.
“Please, Aurora. I was drunk but not that drunk. It was obviously a huge mistake.”
“It was?” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice.
“It was just the alcohol making me act stupid. That’ll teach me to drink again.”
I nodded, not sure how to respond. Part of me was relieved – I didn’t want to go down this road with Henry, not now at least, when I had no idea what I wanted. But part of me felt, I don’t know…disappointed?
“What’s up with that outfit?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I get bored here all day. I decided to try o
n all my new clothes.” That was kinda true.
Henry still seemed suspicious. “But you don’t see anybody,” he pressed on.
“You wouldn’t understand.” I pushed past Henry and headed downstairs, hoping he would drop the subject.
“Women,” he muttered.
“So did you find out anything useful from Lucas?” Henry asked, following me down the steps.
I filled Henry in on everything that Lucas had told me. When I was finished, Henry sat staring at me, speechless, his mouth hanging open in shock. I tried not to focus on his lips. It was so easy to talk to Henry, I almost felt normal around him again. Almost.
“Wow,” he finally said.
“Can you believe we’ve lived our whole lives with no clue that these creatures exist?” I asked him.
“Wow,” he repeated.
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
“I’m just in shock,” he admitted. “I’m trying to process everything you just told me.”
Henry raked his fingers through his thick dirty blond hair. “What happens when his lies catch up with him? If it’s as easy as saying some dumb words, who’s to say the person behind it all won’t give it a try?”
“There are no guarantees,” I admitted. “I’m scared, too, but Lucas promised we – you, your parents, and me – were all protected.”
“Well that makes me feel so much better!” Henry rolled his eyes.
“You haven’t seen him,” I said defensively. “He’s an intimidating guy.”
“Hmm,” Henry mumbled noncommittally. We sat in silence for a few seconds, both deep in our own thoughts. Finally, Henry spoke again. “There’s something else we need to talk about, Aurora,” Henry said.
Uh-oh. We’ve already covered the kiss, what now? “Yes?”
“I think it’s time for you to reveal that you’re back. To the world.”
“What? Why? Are you nuts? I thought we agreed to figure out what the hell is happening before I announce my return!”
Living Dead Girl (Vampire Hunter Book 1) Page 6
