by C. L. Stone
“Looks like we’re all ready for a slumber party,” she said, putting a crock of gravy on the table. The entire table was made up with a small turkey, green beans, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, stuffing, buttered rolls and gravy.
Jessica sat at the table with her feet picked up off the floor and her knees close to her face. Her glasses reflected the light from the chandelier above the dining room table. She, too, was in pajamas, wrinkled, like she’d been in them all day, too. “I’m so hungry,” she said.
“Then we should eat,” Erica said, brushing her palm over her daughter’s head. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Just tired,” Jessica said.
“You’ve been laying around all day, watching TV,” Erica said.
“All the Christmas movies are starting,” Jessica said and put her feet on the floor. “Can we eat?”
Erica smiled at this, and then looked at me. “Are you having a nice Thanksgiving?” she asked.
I nodded. Erica stepped away from the table, and went back into the kitchen.
I couldn’t imagine a better Thanksgiving.
INTO THE NIGHT
Dinner was nice and comfortable—much less stressful than the chaotic afternoon, but the moment it was over, we all assisted with dishes and putting food away.
When he caught me leaning on the counter with my eyes drooping in exhaustion, Kota told me to go lie down in his room.
I expected his mom to say something, but she didn’t. Had she heard her son tell me to go to his bed?
Once I was upstairs, I crawled into Kota’s bed and spread out a little, comfortable.
I meant to be awake when Kota got upstairs.
My phone vibrated against my rib cage several times, waking me from the middle of a deep sleep.
I stirred, groggily searching it out. I actually didn’t remember where I’d put my phone, and for a minute, I forgot where I was. But then I realized I was in the middle of Kota’s bed and I wasn’t alone. Kota had his back to me. Nathan was on my other side on his stomach.
I dug the phone out from between my body and the bed. The light on it was blinking, letting me know a message had arrived. I felt the scratches on the back, my sleepy brain trying to remember how it work to see what was going on.
It buzzed in my hand again, and I clutched it to my chest to quiet it, not wanting to wake Kota and Nathan.
It might have been an emergency, but then, if it was, wouldn’t someone have contacted Kota? Where was Kota’s phone? Was he too dead asleep to answer?
Night had fallen. I don’t know what time I’d fallen asleep, but the sun had still been up—sometime late in the afternoon.
Did Erica know I was still here?
The room was partially lit by a street light’s glow outside and blinds being partially open. I got up, sliding to the foot of the bed as quietly as possible, taking my phone with me. I headed to the bathroom to find out who was sending messages so early.
Kota and Nathan stayed absolutely still, breathing deeply.
Once I was in the bathroom, I checked the messages.
Luke: Hey.
Luke: Wake up.
Luke: Awake yet? Come outside.
Luke: Don’t make me climb up after you.
I shook my head, my sleep brain confused. Oh no, not another camera stealing event. Now? I was so tired. I was sure I couldn’t climb into a house now.
I checked the time, eleven p.m. It wasn’t that late. Stealing a camera, or something equally dangerous, didn’t seem likely, unless he just wanted to get there sooner and wait until two in the morning like last time.
I groaned, but reasoned if I didn’t answer, he might have to go alone, or another boy would have to join him. Could I sleep knowing Luke needed me and there might possibly be danger?
I sent along a text.
Sang: I’m awake now.
Luke: Grab some clothes and come along. Something nice, like one of your skirts. Comfortable shoes, too. I’m parked at the street.
That didn’t sound like a break-in. Perhaps this was a trick of some sort. The guys said we got to relax for the weekend. Was this relaxing? Did he have some sort of prank in mind?
I remained in the bathroom, easing from one foot to the other, debating if I wanted to go or not.
I was kidding myself. Of course I’d go. I would have stayed awake for the rest of the night wondering what he was up to.
My mind started working out how I would get downstairs and out the door without waking anyone up. I realized I couldn’t do that. I remembered Kota being hurt that I slipped out without telling him before. Now that I was a little more awake, I knew I had to tell him. At least him.
I snuck back out of the bathroom and tiptoed over to Kota in bed, asleep.
I gently brushed my fingertips over the top of his foot.
He sat up in a rush, blinking and breathing heavily.
I held my breath, sorry that I’d frightened him.
He rubbed at his eyes. “Sang?” he whispered.
I remained still in the room and simply handed him my phone. I motioned for him to read the contents of Luke’s message.
I considered the message might be Volto, but Kota would tell me if he suspected it was someone else than Luke, right? Besides, I could probably peek out from the house and see if it was Luke or not. Volto would have to be very tricky to get me to fall for that again.
Kota sucked in a breath and then brought the phone close to his face so he could read without his glasses. The light illuminated his high cheekbones and put a gentle glow to his eyes, giving him an eerie, haunted look.
He studied Luke’s messages, blinking several times at them, and then sighed and passed the phone to me. Then he waved me on. “Go,” he whispered. “Text me if they get to be too much. Do you need any money?”
I was worried I would wake Nathan with my questions, so I used a blank message space to type out: “Money?”
Kota chuckled quietly, took my phone from me and typed in a message.
“Go get your cash from your jar. Trust them. Have fun. Make them bring you home before you get too tired.”
I was already tired. And them? His answers gave me more questions, but he seemed comfortable letting me go along with whatever this was. Have fun. Bring money. Whatever it was, Kota approved, so it couldn’t be too bad.
I sighed. I’d have to grab nice clothes from Nathan’s house and money from the jar. I nodded to Kota, gave him a small wave.
Before I could leave, Kota reached out, taking my hand. I thought he wanted to say something more.
He brought my fingers to his lips, kissing my knuckles.
I slipped away. I checked out the front window, spotting a Jeep. A blond head was in the driver’s seat: Luke.
At the top of the stairs, I turned back and he was still watching.
My heart was fluttering from his kiss and nervous about what was ahead.
Max greeted me in the hallway and I had to keep him from escaping out of the back door. I ran around, barefoot to the black Jeep waiting out in the street.
I hesitated, moving toward it slowly. Was North in there, too? What was all this about?
The driver’s side window rolled down. Luke peered out.
Next to him was Gabriel, tired-eyed and yawning. Their clothes were simple: jeans and T-shirts. Why did they want me to dress up?
Gabriel took one look at me and groaned. “What? That’s not dressing up. You’re in pajamas still.”
“My clothes are at Nathan’s,” I said. I didn’t want to tell them I’d spilled the beans to Kota. “I’ll go get them. But do I need anything else?” I asked. “Supplies? A dummy phone? Money?” I was still suspicious that this had something to do with the Academy. Maybe it was a job, since they said to dress nice. I had to trust, I knew, but I still had a lot of questions.
“Money’s good,” Gabriel said. He opened his door and jumped out. “Let’s go get some.”
“Aw, come on,” Luke said, putting th
e Jeep into park. “Don’t go in there with her. You’ll take forever.”
“I’ll grab the clothes,” Gabriel said, before he shut the door. The street was completely quiet except for us and the gentle rumbling of the Jeep. Gabriel motioned for me, and I ran around the Jeep, following him. “Is your tip bucket here? Grab whatever green is in there and let’s go.”
The air was still, but there was a solid bite of cold and I could see my breath. “Where are we going?” I asked, following him toward Nathan’s house.
Gabriel used his key to open the door and then shooed me inside. “Hurry, hurry,” he said.
He wasn’t going to answer me, so I had to assume they were trying to surprise me again. I slipped into the house, feeling a little creepy to be here when Nathan was asleep next door.
I went to Nathan’s bedroom, where on the dresser next to his stereo and a stack of CDs, sat the pickle jar Nathan had saved for me. Inside was a collection of change and cash, whatever North paid me from the drawer as my wage, plus whatever tips I was given. I rarely spent anything, so I had no idea how much was in there.
I grabbed all the bills. It was a really thick wad of cash, though mostly a lot of ones.
Gabriel emerged from the closet with underwear, a bra, skirt, top and a pair of boots I hadn’t worn yet. He looked at me with my wad of cash and chuckled. “Trouble, you need a purse. You can’t just carry that around.”
“I’ve never had a purse,” I said. I held out the cash to him. “Will you hold on to it?”
Gabriel groaned and then traded me the cash for the clothes. He separated the bills and then put two separate collections of them into his pants pockets. “Forget the purse. You need a bank account.”
He was probably right. A debit card would have been easier. “Maybe I should get one,” I said.
There was a flicker in his eyes and he shook his head. “Not right now,” he said and pushed me toward the door.
“Shouldn’t I get dressed?”
“No time. We’ll hit a diner on the way,” he said. “To grab some coffee and breakfast before we get there.”
I wanted to ask again where we were going, but he nudged me again toward the door.
I hurried out, hugging the clothes to my chest, trying not to let the bra slip to the ground before we got to the Jeep. Gabriel held open the front passenger door for me. I climbed in, put the clothes in my lap and then put my seatbelt on.
Gabriel got in the back and Luke took off.
“About time,” Luke said. “We’re getting slower at this.”
“It’s her first time,” Gabriel said. “You can’t expect her to be ready and get out the door quickly when she doesn’t even know.”
“It’s more fun when you don’t warn her. Didn’t I tell you she’d come out?”
“Yeah, you have a knack for talking her into whatever,” Gabriel said, waving his hand.
I looked back at Gabriel, at the blond locks of hair across his face and the brown ones bunched up in the back, like he’d been sleeping, too, and Luke had dragged him along. Luke had a sloppy mess of blond hair falling out of a pony tail, like he slept in it.
“Are you going to tell me now?” I asked.
“We’re going to grab some breakfast,” Gabriel said. “I’m starving.”
I’d eaten a whole lot the day before. My stomach was still feeling full.
When they’d said diner, I’d assumed they were talking about Bob’s Diner. Was it open already?
However, Luke drove out of the neighborhood, and down the road toward the interstate. After that, we were headed east.
“Are we going to Victor’s house?” I asked.
“Nope,” Luke said, a small smile playing on his lips.
“To...Dr. Green’s?”
“We probably should get him, but he’s at the hospital right now,” Luke said.
“And it’s too bad,” Gabriel said. “This’ll be the first one he’s going to miss since he started it.”
Poor Dr. Green. “They have him working right now?”
“He got stuck with a twelve hour shift that starts at midnight, but he got called in early because there were a lot of people going into the ER. It seems like all the emergencies happen around the holidays, but they have to rotate them so they get some downtime, too. He got all of Thanksgiving off, but he’ll spend probably two solid days at the hospital to make up for it.”
I considered sending a message to Dr. Green, but didn’t want to disturb him. Would he always be so busy as a doctor? It made me consider his choice to come to Ashley Waters and help the others with their job there. How did he ever find the time to teach during the week?
I’d expected the roads to be empty, but the further east we went, the more crowded the roads got. It wasn’t really bad, not like a morning traffic rush, but for a eleven at night drive, it was a lot busier than other late evening jaunts I’d had with the boys in the past. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Why is everyone out?”
“Sang,” Gabriel said, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. “Trouble. You sheltered creature. Please tell me you’ve heard of Black Friday.”
I meant to say yes, but I paused, because my brain hadn’t even registered it being Friday yet.
“It’s not like she’s ever gone out for one before,” Luke said. He let go of the wheel to wave Gabriel’s hand away from me. “Don’t pick on her.”
“I’m not picking on her. She just made it sound like she hadn’t even known it existed.”
“I knew about it,” I said quietly. “I’ve just never thought about it before.”
“You’re about to,” Luke said. “Only better.”
It surprised me that Kota had seemed to know what they were up to and was encouraging it. He knew this wasn’t a secret Academy job. I sighed in relief and sat back in the seat, looking out the window. At least it wasn’t dangerous, which was what I’d feared. “Do we have to do this now?” I asked. “In the middle of the night?”
“Are you kidding?” Gabriel asked. “We’ve been waiting all day for it to start.”
I choked and sat up again, peering back at him. “Didn’t you sleep at all?”
“We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he said. “Or rather, tomorrow after we get back. We’ll probably have to make one more trip out, though, and then take everything to Dr. Green’s place so he can wrap them.”
I pressed a palm to my forehead, trying to take in the information, still not feeling fully alert. “Gifts?” I asked. “Dr. Green’s?”
“Sang,” Luke said, reaching for me, taking my arm and shaking it. “Are you even awake? What do you think we’re out here to get?”
“Not really awake, no,” I said. “I don’t need any gifts.”
“Sang, Christmas is around the corner,” Luke said. “Gabriel, Dr. Green and I use Black Friday as a way to get all of our Christmas shopping done in one night, especially with all those sales going on. One dark, terribly long night of shopping. Then we don’t have to go back to a store until January.”
“Dr. Green’s best at wrapping gifts,” Gabriel said. “He’ll wrap them all for us so they’re nice.”
“But isn’t he already so busy?” I asked.
“He doesn’t mind. He likes being nosy about what we all got for everyone, too,” Luke said. “He likes to tease everyone with hints as to what we got them. Sometimes he makes it completely wrong. Like he’ll tell Kota we got him a new computer desk.”
“And then Kota’ll fuss at us for weeks for buying him something new when his old one was just fine,” Gabriel said with an amused grumble. “But then we have to be quiet until Christmas so we don’t spoil the surprise for him.”
“Drives him crazy,” Luke said with a grin.
I gazed out the window, barely noticing the scenery through the fogged window. Christmas hadn’t been on my mind at all. Being in this family meant I was much more involved than I had ever been when it came to holidays.
I was glad they thought to bring me, when
I probably wouldn’t have considered shopping for gifts until the last minute.
Luke eventually pulled the Jeep into an IHOP—a pancake place halfway between Summerville and Charleston. At first, I was surprised it was open, but then I caught the sign out front saying it was open twenty-four hours.
Luke and Gabriel had me leave my spare clothes and brought me inside. “We can get changed after breakfast,” Luke said. “No need to risk getting syrup on your pretty stuff.”
I didn’t think to bring extra shoes with the boots I got from Nathan’s. When I took too long to even start undoing the laces, Luke let me borrow his flip-flops, while he put on normal shoes. I followed them inside. We were seated quickly and given menus in a rush by a tired-looking waitress.
Luke opened up the menu immediately to the breakfast page. “The only thing better than homemade chocolate chip pancakes are pancakes you don’t have to make yourself.” He peered at me from over the top of the menu. “How many cakes do you want this morning? And you don’t have to get bacon if you don’t want to. Or fruit. North isn’t here.”
Now that I was a little more awake, my stomach did have room. The menu was big, with many sections, but I was drawn to the eggs and bacon. “Is there something that has the pancakes with eggs?”
“You just get what you want and ask for the pancakes,” Luke said. “They’ll do it.”
When the waitress came over to ask about drinks, Luke told her we were already ready.
“Hang on,” Gabriel said, flipping the menu over with tired eyes. “I’m not ready yet.”
“You’re the one that wanted to hurry,” Luke said. He smiled sweetly at the waitress. “I want the big pile of chocolate chip cakes, with extra chocolate chips.”
“Do you want the chocolate batter?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, delight filling his eyes. “And the whipped cream.”
Whipped cream? I’d never tried that before. Was it to replace the syrup? I really liked the syrup.
The lady turned to me while Gabriel was still staring at the menu, his eyes darting around the pages.
It made me wish Victor was there, so he could order for me. I quietly pointed to one of the menu items with eggs, bacon, and hash browns. “With a side of chocolate chip pancakes?”
