by Rachel Wells
“Hey, no big deal!” Lucas laughed good naturedly, and then started to rub his shoulder where Mandy had slammed into him. “You can really pack a punch!” he laughed again.
I’m going to burst into flames, Mandy thought. Well at least this humiliation will be over with quickly. “Um, I’m sorry. I guess I wasn’t really paying attention. Are you ok?” Mandy tried to act cooler than she knew she must look.
“Yeah, I think I’ll make a full recovery. You’re the new girl, right? I saw you in the flower shop the other day…Mary?” Lucas offered trying to remember her name.
Great, he does remember me. Mr. Popular will probably leak this incident to the school newspaper. He must think I’m such a dork. “Mandy,” Mandy corrected.
“Yeah, sorry. Mandy. You know, Mary…Mandy, kind of similar…” Lucas trailed off. “So something had you in a pretty good trance right now,” he pressed.
“I was just looking at the lighthouse,” Mandy admitted.
“It’s the most photographed…” Lucas started.
“No, not the Nubble. I was looking at Boon. It just seems so lonely,” Mandy said.
“Huh, yeah I guess. Listen, you want some company? I wasn’t doing anything and looks like you weren’t really either,” Lucas grinned.
He wants to hang out with me? Why? This must be some sort of dare. The Mr. Populars of the world never hang out with me. “Um, well I was just…” Mandy started to make up an excuse, racking her brains for anything lame to get out of there.
“C’mon. It will be fun. I don’t bite! Promise!” Lucas grinned. Mandy couldn’t help but notice his teeth were the perfect shade of white and his green eyes seem lit from within. The salty breeze had run her fingers through his brown hair tousling it and yet making it look even more perfect.
Mandy suddenly realized she was looking at Lucas for a bit too long and quickly said, “Ok” while trying to get a hold on the second round of blushing she was sure was about to take over her face.
“We can take my car,” Lucas said. “Did you drive here?”
“Yeah, my boat, I mean car’s right over there.”
Lucas looked at her questioningly. “Boat?” he asked, laughing.
“Yeah, I kinda named the car the boat. It used to be my grandpa’s, but he passed away awhile back and my grandma gave it to me. It’s old and it’s big, just seems more boat-like than a car, you know?” Mandy smiled.
“You’ve got quite the imagination,” Lucas nodded. “Well, hey it drives right? That’s all that matters really.”
“That’s what I said!”
They were at Mandy’s car now. Lucas peered down at the meter reading the time left. “Ten minutes,” he said reaching into his pocket. “I don’t really think that’s enough time to get to know you better.” He dropped some quarters into the slot. “That should do it.”
“Oh you didn’t have to, I have more change,” Mandy said, embarrassed again.
“I don’t think it’ll kill me!” Lucas teased. “C’mon, my car’s right back there.”
Of course Lucas’s car was a black Mercedes, which just made Mandy’s outdated boat seem even that much more pathetic. Lucas held the door open for Mandy, smiling his perfect smile at her.
Mandy started to wonder if she was dreaming again. This was too crazy to actually be happening to her. This perfect guy holding open the door to his perfect car, for boring, klutzy Mandy, on top of it all the new girl? It just didn’t make any sense. Yet here she sat on the perfectly cushy seats of his perfectly perfect car. She suddenly wished she had brought a camera just to document this moment as evidence for herself later when she knew she wouldn’t believe it had actually happened anymore.
Lucas climbed in the driver’s side gracefully, his long blue jeaned legs fitting perfectly behind the wheel. Mandy suddenly felt like a slob next to him. She had the feeling that her hair was a mess. She inwardly cringed as she remembered that she hadn’t so much as even brushed it after she had woken up from her afternoon nap. In fact, she hadn’t even looked in the mirror. Oh, God, Mandy thought. Why must you curse me like this?! She tried to look at Lucas from the corner of her eye. He was wearing a tan t-shirt that somehow seemed to accentuate his beautiful face and body even more. Like he needed any more accentuating! Mandy was still in her pink polo shirt from Dew Drops, with a sloppy gray hoodie over it. Mandy sighed. They just didn’t match. This was a sure sign things would not work out. Mandy had always had this weird theory that people had to “match” to make it long term. For instance, superiorly good-looking people with expensive wardrobes did not match with just standard run-of-the-mill bordering on boring looking people with wardrobes from Target. It just wasn’t meant to be. A nervous little laugh found its way out of Mandy’s mouth. She smiled at Lucas, trying to look nonchalant.
“So you like the lighthouses huh?” Lucas began. “I’ve got the perfect place to take you.”
“Where?” Mandy asked.
“You’ll see,” he said, pulling out into the steady stream of cars driving up the road. In less than five minutes they were pulling into the parking lot of Sohier Park where you could view the Nubble lighthouse up close. Mandy had been here many times with her parents, but it was still always breathtaking.
“Beautiful,” Mandy murmured, gazing at the sentinel light. It was dusk now, and the fog was just starting to roll in off the rocking waves. The stars were starting to peek their sleepy head out off their pillows of clouds, and the moon was turning his silver face down to look at them from his airy throne.
“C’mon,” Lucas said. He motioned to Mandy to follow him. He took her to a telescope mounted on a slab of granite where you could look at the lighthouse or the sea or “Boon Island,” he finished her thought. “Up close and personal. I think I’ve got a quarter left,” he winked at her. Mandy smiled back as Lucas put in a quarter and the ticking timer counted down a minute to look where she wished.
Mandy climbed up and put her eyes to the viewer. She scanned the now dark sea looking for the blinking light that she knew would be Boon. After a quick search she found her target. There it stood, all alone. Still far away, but a little clearer with the aide of the telescopic lens. “Wow,” she said.
“What is your fascination with that place?” Lucas asked from her side.
“I don’t know. It’s just weird that it’s so near and yet you can’t see it clearly. I guess I kind of feel like a lot of stuff in life is like that. Like in front of you, but you don’t see it or even understand it,” Mandy shrugged. “You want to look?”
“Nah, I’ve looked enough for the rest of my life,” Lucas teased. “I grew up here, remember?”
“Yeah, well I practically did. We’ve been coming here every summer since I was a kid.”
“Oh, so this isn’t new for you? I mean getting to see the lighthouse and stuff? You should have said something. We could have done something else.”
“No. It’s not new but I like it here. I like the familiar.”
Lucas went to sit on one of the benches lining the rocky cliffs and patted the seat next to him. Mandy went and sat down next to him. They sat there, looking at the sea, the lights, and the stars talking for the next hour and a half. Lucas asked Mandy question after question and Mandy felt he had really taken an interest in her, although she still couldn’t pinpoint why. The darkness had gone into full blackness and the night sea air was proving too much for Mandy. She started to shiver in spite of her best efforts not to, even after zipping up her hoodie and donning the hood. Lucas noticed and said, “You’re cold!”
“I’ll live,” Mandy joked.
“I better get you back to your car so you can get back to your nice warm house.” Lucas smiled at Mandy and grabbed her hand, leading her back to his car. Whose life did I suddenly fall into?? He’s holding my hand! Mandy stumbled along next to him trying to feel like this was normal for her.
Inside the car Lucas turned up the heat. “Better?” he asked as the car warmed up.
“Yeah,
much,” Mandy replied.
In too short of time they were back at Mandy’s car. The street parallel to the beach was now devoid of the earlier cars and traffic that it had held. Lucas pulled into the spot behind Mandy’s car.
“Well, thanks for all the quarters. I had a good time. It was nice of you to, um, hang out with me tonight,” Mandy stammered.
“No it was nice of you to hang out with me. In fact, you’re nice. And pretty. And I like you. Are you busy tomorrow?”
The air almost forced its way out of Mandy’s lips in a gasp, but she stopped it and recovered her surprise in the nick of time. “Um, no, not really,” Mandy said, shocked that this perfect god was actually wanting to see her again.
“So, can I come by and take you out for dinner? Say like 5?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Mandy said nodding.
“Can’t wait,” Lucas said quietly. He leaned over and brushed his lips against Mandy’s cheek in a quick kiss.
“Bye!” Mandy called to Lucas as she tried to climb gracefully out of the car. Lucas waved. Mandy found her car keys and jammed them into the lock with shaking hands. The spot where Lucas had kissed her seemed to be burning her cheek. In the safety of the boat she hesitatingly put one hand up and felt the spot. Now a gasp did escape Mandy’s lips, but at least she was alone with no witnesses this time.
Mandy drove towards home in a zone all of her own. It wasn’t until she pulled into the driveway that realized it was 9:30 at night. The red numbers glared harshly up at Mandy from the dashboard. She realized she hadn’t even left a note for her parents when she had left in a haste hours ago. “Oh, man,” Mandy moaned. “Not good.” The front door to the house pulled open and showcased her worried parents standing in the door. Mandy got out to meet her fate.
* * *
Chapter 10
Mandy leaned against the counter of Dew Drops during an unusual lull in business. Ally had decided to take advantage of the downtime by bombarding Mandy with an endless list of questions.
“Ok, tell me again how this happened! I need details,” Ally practically squealed.
Mandy sighed. “I told you, Ally. I was walking up the beach and I just kind of bumped into Lucas. Literally. And then we ended up going up the lighthouse and talking for a while. That’s it.”
“How did that happen? I mean, he asked you to go up to the lighthouse or what?” Ally probed.
“I know it’s highly unbelievable, but yes, he asked me,” Mandy shrugged.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that every girl in town has practically thrown herself at Lucas at one time or another and nothing’s ever come from it. And then you, not even trying, somehow manage to snag up the hottest thing in York.”
Mandy raised her eyebrows. “Well, it doesn’t make any sense to me either.”
“So what are you going to wear tonight?”
“Um, I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it I guess. Probably just my standard jeans and a t-shirt,” Mandy shrugged again.
“Seriously? Mandy, you can’t wear that. It’s too everyday,” Ally sounded exasperated.
“Why not? We’re just going to get something to eat. Besides, I don’t really have anything else.”
“Mandy as your very jealous friend I just can’t allow you to screw this opportunity up! This is my chance to live vicariously through you! You can borrow something from me and I’ll help with your hair and makeup too,” Ally commanded.
“Oh I don’t know Ally. I don’t really like to make a fuss with stuff like that.”
“I’m not taking any excuses Mandy. We’re both off work at 3:00 so we’ll go to my house first and get something more appropriate for you to wear and then we’ll go back to your house and get you ready. Yay!” Ally clapped her hands with delight.
Mandy gave Ally what she hoped was a half smirk half smile and went to get the broom to start sweeping up some flower stems. Before she knew it was 3:00 and Ally seemed to magically appear out of nowhere at her side. “Here’s my little project! C’mon, I’m not letting you escape out the back door if that was your plan…” Ally teased.
“All right, all right. Bye Nana!” Mandy called.
“Bye Sugarplum! Have fun tonight!” Nana called back. At least Nana hadn’t brought the dreaded subject of healing or witchcraft back up since their first and only discussion about it. Mandy was glad. She wasn’t ready to talk about that again yet. It had been nice the last couple of days having something else to distract her. She could almost forget about it and pretend it had never happened. What better distraction could you ask for than one named Lucas? Mandy felt the corners of her mouth start to pull up in a smile. She quickly reigned it in before Ally caught her and started in with her investigation again.
Once at Ally’s house Ally directed Mandy to sit on her bed. Mandy plopped down feeling tired already from what she feared was ahead of her…fashion show. “Ok, we want something sexy but sweet. Don’t want to go overboard on the first date…” Mandy wasn’t sure if Ally was talking to her or to herself, so she just sat on the bed waiting for the decision to be made for her.
“Too short, too low cut. Too boring, too you,” Ally was dismissing each article of clothing with a flick of her wrist. Finally she came upon something that seemed to fit the bill. “Ooh, I had forgotten about this one! Perfect!” Ally pulled the hanger off the rod and turned to face Mandy, pride with her accomplishment written across her face in a giant grin.
Ally was holding a sleeveless black dress with a cowl neckline, drooping elegantly. “Black is good,” Mandy managed.
“The whole thing is good. More than good, actually. Lucas will love it. It will look great on you. What’s not to like?” Ally defended her pick.
“Well, I don’t really do cowl necks,” Mandy started.
“Don’t do cowl necks?” Ally sarcastically mimicked. “Well you do now. Here, go try this on. I can’t wait to see it,” Ally instructed.
Mandy took the dress from Ally and went into the bathroom across the hall to change. Once it was on she felt completely out of place. There was a full length mirror hanging on the wall behind the bathroom door so she was able to criticize herself inside her head privately before she had to subject herself to Ally’s scrutiny. Yikes, Mandy thought. What are you supposed to do with this thing? She pulled at the cowl neck, trying to arrange it in the way she imagined it was supposed to look. She tugged at the hemline of the dress. It was kind of short. She turned to get a glimpse of her back. Oh God! Her whole back was practically hanging out. It was a closed neckline in the back...at the top. But under that was a circle cutout exposing a lot of skin. Mandy sighed and decided to go out to Ally, plead her case, and hope for mercy.
As Mandy opened the door Ally gasped and clapped her hands together in delight for the second time that day. “I know, it’s pretty bad, right?” Ally tried to sound convincingly devastated.
“Bad? Are you kidding? You look hot!” Ally exclaimed.
“Ally, this really isn’t me! I don’t even know where we’re going to dinner at. What if he was just planning on pizza or something?”
“If he was planning on pizza he will change his mind once he sees you in this!” Ally laughed. “It fits you like it was made for you. Grab your other clothes and let’s get going. We’ve still got hair and makeup ahead of us.”
An hour later Ally was just finishing up her “project”. Mandy glared at her reflection in the mirror as Ally practically beamed behind her. Ally had outlined Mandy’s eyes with black liner and then caked on lots of mascara. Rosy blush was now highlighting Mandy’s cheekbones and on her lips was a very shiny light pink lip gloss. Ally had then made sure to painstakingly curl all of Mandy’s hair and then topped it all off with a heavy mist of maximum hold hairspray. Ally also insisted on Mandy borrowing some silver jewelry from her. “Silver goes perfectly with black,” Ally had instructed. Dangling from Mandy’s ears hung two interlaced silver hoops. On one of Mandy’s wrists were three
thin silver bangles.
“I should be a stylist! People pay good money for this kind of work you know,” Ally said smugly.
“I’m sure they do, just not people like me,” Mandy replied.
“Relax Mandy. You look great. So what if you’re out of your comfort zone for one night? It’s your Cinderella night! And I am your fairy godmother. Which makes Lucas Prince Charming!” Ally giggled. She was cut short by the ringing doorbell. Mandy felt her insides turn to mush. “Your prince has arrived!” Ally said in a loud overly dramatic whisper.
“Tell him I’m sick,” Mandy moaned.
“Ok, I thought you were a little off, but now I am starting to think you are crazy. The hottest guy in town, possibly in the world, is down there waiting for you! Do you know how many girls, myself included, would kill to be in your shoes tonight?!” Ally raised her eyebrows at Mandy. Mandy wondered if she was supposed to respond to this question.
“Mandy!” Mandy’s mom called from downstairs. “Lucas is here!”
“Be right there, Mrs. Malone!” Ally answered. She grabbed Mandy’s wrist and pulled her along behind her down the stairs. “Hey Lucas!” Ally greeted him cheerily, full of confidence.
“Hey Ally. Mandy, you look…wow!” Lucas stuttered. Mandy’s mom laughed. Mandy thought she would faint dead away any moment, but somehow she remained on her feet.
“11:00. Ok guys?” Mandy’s dad piped in.
“All right Dad.” Mandy said.
“No problem, Mr. Malone,” Lucas replied.
“Have fun kiddos!” Mandy’s dad said.
Lucas took Mandy by the hand and led her out the front door with Ally trailing behind them. “Bye you two! Lucas take good care of my project!” Ally called laughing as she climbed into her car.
