Inevitable

by Tamara Hart Heiner

  Aaron caught up with me, taking my arm. “We were just talking. And she’s a cute bird.”

  I scowled. “Fine. Let me stay out of the way so you can keep chatting with your ‘bird.’” I yanked my arm, but Aaron didn’t let go. He leaned over me, eyes boring into mine.

  “Why so angry, Jayne?” he whispered, his gaze probing. “Is everything okay? Didn’t you like your rose?”

  The rose. Confusion battled against my anger, and I relented. I lowered my eyes. “I loved the rose. I’m just a bit confused—I thought you’d be waiting to talk to me, to sit by me, I don’t know.” I shut my mouth. I sounded like a lovesick idiot.

  “Ah,” he said softly. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted from me.” He lowered his head, and I realized what he was going to do a half second before he did it. His lips brushed mine, and then pushed harder, warm and demanding. I clutched my book to my chest, feeling something ignite in my navel. Aaron pulled back, his eyes darker than usual. “Can I sit by you at lunch?”

  I sputtered. There was no turning back now. I’d fallen, heart and soul. “What makes you think you’re invited?” I asked, trying to salvage some control.

  He smiled, the dimple in his chin showing. “Because I like you.” He took my hand and I let him pull me along behind him, trying to ignore the tingles caused by his touch.

  I led Aaron to our usual spot, waiting for Dana to join us. When she didn’t, I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer her phone either. Aaron watched me while he unwrapped a whole-wheat sandwich with sprouts poking out of the sides. Somehow I doubted his mom made it for him.

  “Are you looking for Dana?” he asked, opening a bottle of orange juice.

  “Have you seen her?” I furrowed my brow. “You said she wasn’t in school yesterday. I didn’t expect her to miss today too.”

  “I don’t think she’s here.” Aaron peered into the orange juice, and then looked at me, his expression somber. “What does she think of you seeing the future?”

  I inhaled. Oh please, we weren’t really going to talk about this here, were we? “It’s not something we discuss very often.”

  “What else do you know?” Something burned behind his eyes. Curiosity. Hunger. The need to know.

  I turned away from his gaze. “Is this why you’re suddenly interested in me? Because of my ability? How cool is that, to be with the psychic girl?”

  “Jayne.” He took my hand, gripping it tighter when I tried to pull away. “I’ve been interested in you since the moment I saw you. Yes, you have a unique ability that fascinates me. But it’s you that interests me.”

  “And my ability,” I couldn’t help saying.

  “Everything about you,” he replied.

  He couldn’t have rehearsed a more perfect response. I softened. “It’s not an ability I’m glad to have. I hate it. It’s awful to know when people are going to die, to know how, and not be able to stop it.”

  He leaned back, rubbing the dimple on his chin. “You’ve never stopped a death.”

  “I’ve tried,” I snapped, suddenly defensive. “I try every time. Every. Single. Time. It never works.” I felt a headache coming on and rubbed my temples. “Can we just pretend like I’m a normal girl? Just be normal people?” My throat choked up and I shook my head, hot tears rushing to my eyes. That’s what I wanted, more than anything.

  Aaron leaned over, putting his forehead against mine. “You are a normal girl, Jayne. I just want to get to know you.” He pressed a kiss to my cheekbone. “Really well.”

  I really needed to stop spazzing. “Yes. That sounds great. So let’s not talk about this anymore, okay?”

  “Okay.” He offered me his orange juice. “Drink?”

  I had to laugh. Like orange juice would make me feel better. “Sure.”

  

  “So who is your boyfriend?” Meredith’s wide brown eyes stared at me from behind her glasses when I got to journalism seventh hour.

  My face warmed. “I don’t have one.”

  “That’s not what I heard. Everyone says you were making out with the new kid in the hallway.”

  “What?” I gasped, fanning my face. I hadn’t noticed any gawkers. “There wasn’t anyone there!”

  Meredith threw back her head and crowed. “So you were! Everybody saw, Jayne!”

  The tardy bell rang just as Ms. Montgomery clicked into the room. Her red hair was pulled into a smart French bun with a ball point pen poking out of it. “Edits, class. Paper goes to press on Monday.”

  I pulled out the three sport columns I’d written, two lengthy ones that gave a detailed play-by-play of the games, and a short one with highlights to be printed on the front page. I hooked my camera up to the computer in front of me and began uploading pictures. “What movies did you review?” I asked, hoping to get the attention off me.

  “Nothing so interesting as your love life.”

  I rolled my eyes, but Meredith wasn’t done. “Are you trying to get Stephen back? Or do you really like this guy?”

  I stopped and turned to stare at her. “Excuse me? Stephen? We are so done. This is about me and Aaron, not me and Stephen.”

  “Sorry. Aaron. I guess you do like him.”

  I remembered the way his lips brushed mine, so soft at first and then with a greater intensity. Sadness washed over me. I was falling in love with him. “You could say that.”

  “Is that why you missed school yesterday?”

  “No. I was out too late. Did you go to Spanish club?”

  “I did, yeah. I’m going again today. We’re having a Cinco de Mayo party next week, and I’m helping prepare for it.”

  “I’ll come with you. I feel bad for missing yesterday.”

  We drifted into silence, and then Meredith said, “Stephen was pissed.”

  That caught me off-guard. “What?”

  “I was by his locker when Troy told him about you kissing Aaron. He punched the wall. I don’t know, maybe he still hoped you’d get back together.”

  “Bad timing on his part. He cheated on me. I moved on.” I glanced over my shoulder.

  Ms. Montgomery was checking someone else’s layout and not paying attention to us. I stealthily opened a web browser and pulled up the local paper. A quick scan revealed nothing new about the murders. I heard Ms. Montgomery’s heels behind me, and I closed the browser. I began arranging my uploaded pictures next to my articles.

  “How’s it going?” she asked, leaning in between Meredith and me to check out our work.

  “Just fine,” I said, clicking on a picture and expanding it. “Just trying to see things from the right perspective.”

  I didn’t see Dana the entire day. She wasn’t in sixth hour, or any of her classes, and I know because I stalked them in between my own classes. I became increasingly more anxious. Was she sick? Skipping? Did she blame me somehow for what had happened? I thought for sure she would’ve wanted to talk to me.

  I waited around her locker when school got out, but she didn’t show. I was just about to leave when Aaron walked up, one hand hooked around the shoulder strap of his backpack. “Hi.”

  “Hey.” He nodded, a slight smile about his lips. “Where are we?” He glanced at the locker behind me.

  “Dana’s locker. But she’s not here today.” I felt a pang of guilt. I should’ve called her. “I better go.” I pushed past him, a rush of heat moving through me where my shoulder brushed his arm.

  “Are you going to her house?”

  “I will after work. Right now I have to get to Spanish club.” It wasn’t like there was a tardy bell for after-school clubs, but it was only fifty minutes long, and I didn’t plan on staying for all of it. I didn’t want to waste any time. Besides that, I was falling for Aaron, and I was falling fast, and for some reason it made me want to run and hide.

  “I’ll come too.”

  I stopped. “To Spanish club? You speak Spanish?”

  He shrugged, his deep blue eyes peering into mine. “No. I’ll just sit and do homework.�
��

  I pictured him in his Oxford coolness, sitting around my dorky Spanish club. I cringed. “It’s kind of a private club, you know?”

  He stared at me a moment. “You don’t want me to come?”

  “No, no,” I said quickly. “Well, you just might feel out of place... it’s not your usual crowd.”

  “All right, Jayne.” He took a few steps back, then turned and walked away.

  My gut twisted, watching his figure disappear down the hall. He’d taken that wrong, I knew it. I opened my mouth, ready to call him back, but stopped myself. I’d call him later tonight, after I talked to Dana. Shrugging off the disturbing unease in my heart, I hurried to Spanish club.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  A loud ringing sounded in my ear. I tried to open my eyes and bat at the alarm clock. The noise moved out of range and then blasted loudly in my other ear.

  “What the—?” I sat up to find Meredith holding my ringing cell phone in front of my nose. “Meredith? Oh.” A quick glance around the classroom revealed several other members from Spanish club.

  Meredith giggled. “Thinking about boys makes you tired?”

  “Yeah.” I grabbed the phone from her and answered it before it could go to voicemail. “Hello?”

  “Is this Jayne?” a no-nonsense male voice asked.

  I pulled the phone back to check out the caller ID. Unavailable. Great. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Lieutenant Bailey from the Lacey Township Police Department.”

  “Oh!” I stood up, hitting my thigh on a desk before exiting the room. I glanced back in the classroom. Nobody was watching me; they were all busy planning the party for next week. “Yes. This is Jayne.”

  “We need your help, Jayne. We need you to come and try to identify the killer from a line-up.”

  A knot formed in my stomach. “A line-up?”

  “Yes. We know you only have the description Hannah gave you, but you could be a key witness if you can choose the same person another witness identifies. Will you come?”

  “Yes.” The words were out before I even thought about them. I wanted this guy caught. “But I have to work tonight. What time is the line-up?”

  “It’s at seven o’clock. Can you make it?”

  I scowled. My shift started at five-thirty. My manager would not be happy about me leaving during work. Maybe Matt would be running the store tonight. He was much more understanding than Tom. “I’ll be there.”

  I went back into Spanish club and tried to focus on our extracurricular activities. I twirled my pencil between my fingers and studied my desk. My mind kept going back to the phone call, though. How much confidence did the police have in me?

  Then my thoughts drifted to Aaron, and I tried to keep from having a panic attack. Was he mad at me? Did he think I didn’t want him around? I pictured him calling Libby now, seeking someone else to build a close relationship with. Why should that surprise me? I knew it was going to happen anyway.

  A shadow crossed my desk, and I looked up at Mr. Livingston. “How’s your prep work going, Jayne?”

  I gave him a woeful smile. “It’s not.” I couldn’t even remember what I’d been put in charge of.

  He squatted next to me. “Language issues?”

  “Communication issues, for sure.” I tried to laugh.

  Mr. Livingston frowned, his light eyes registering concern. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  I was aware of Meredith leaning forward, listening to every word. “I don’t think so. I just have an appointment after this that’s making me nervous.”

  “Oh.” He smiled knowingly. “Doctor?”

  I lowered my voice. “Police.”

  His brow knit together tightly, marring his handsome face. “Are you in trouble?”

  I winced. So he remembered seeing me at the police department last week. For sure he thought I was going down the wrong path. “No, it’s not me. It’s about the serial killer. You know, the one that’s been hitting the towns around here?”

  “Jayne. I told you to leave that alone.”

  I whispered so no one else would hear, including Meredith. “Well, the police think I might know something. They have questions for me.”

  “This is very dangerous. I think you should stay out of it.”

  “I’d love to.” I sighed and wiped my hands on my skirt under my desk. “But I have an obligation to tell what I know. You know?”

  He shook his head. “No, you don’t. You have the right to protect yourself. In a situation like this, you shouldn’t do anything to draw attention to yourself. Let me call the police. I’ll give them an excuse for you.”

  I exhaled, appreciating his gesture but feeling more certain than before. “Thanks, Mr. Livingston. But I’ll be okay. I can do this.”

  He straightened. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Duly noted.” I saluted him and then turned back to my work, trying not to think about my upcoming task.

  

  Miracles were real. I still had a job.

  Tom, my manager, glared at me but said nothing else, and I quickly put on my apron and set to work in the kitchen. My heart hammered in my chest, and I could feel an anxiety attack coming on at the mere thought of asking for time off to go to the police lineup.

  “Hairnet!” Gabby yelled from the drive-thru window, snapping one at me. I grabbed it and scooped it around my head. She grinned, blowing a huge pink bubble. “You lucky you still gotta job, girl.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I sighed.

  “Hey.” Matt came over with a tray and piled on the bagels I’d just formed. “So tomorrow night’s Friday night, right? And a group of us are heading to the amphitheater for a big band show. So normally I’d play in it, but I’m not this time, so I thought we’d go watch together. What do ya think?”

  “I’ll come!” Gabby hollered, moving the mic from her mouth and poking her head around the corner.

  “That’s sweet of you, Matt.” I grabbed another lump of dough and punched it down. “But I’m grounded.”

  “You?” Gabby left her post to sidle up to me. She looked me up and down. “Miss Goody Two-shoes?”

  “Yep, me.” I elbowed Matt. “You better get those into the oven.”

  “Right.” He disappeared with the tray of dough, only to be back a few moments later. “Your boyfriend’s here. Wants to talk to you.” He lowered his voice. “Don’t let Tom catch you. He’s p-oed with you right now.”

  “I don’t have a boyfriend.” The words were automatic. Aaron’s face entered my mind, the way his eyes had flickered over mine seconds before his mouth pressed against my lips. I gave a little shiver and hoped no one else noticed the pink tint on my cheeks. Him being here had to be a good thing, though. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”

  Matt went back out but reappeared seconds later.

  “That was fast,” I said, grabbing a paper towel and wiping bread from my fingers.

  Matt shook his head. “It’s a no-go, girl. Tom’s sitting by the register watching. I think he knows it’s your boyfriend.”

  “Oh.” I deflated against the counter. “Will you tell him for me? Tell him I’ll call him later.” I peeked around the corner and spotted Aaron leaning against the the wall, hands in his pockets. I gave a small wave, but he wasn’t looking.

  “Hang tight.” Matt pulled his hat lower on his head and scooted out of the kitchen.

  Maybe Aaron wouldn’t leave. Maybe he would insist on waiting until I finished.

  Matt came back, a folded yellow paper in his fist. “Here.” He rolled his eyes. “And don’t even think of using me to send a reply.”

  I wiped my hand on my forehead, staring at the note. My stomach knotted up. Was it a love note? Or a break up note? I took it reluctantly and turned away from Matt’s curious gaze. The paper crackled as I opened it.

  “Call me when you go on break. Aaron”

  I exhaled in relief, and then my stomach twisted up again. I hadn’t necessarily d
odged a bullet. He was going to break up with me, sooner or later. I was only delaying the inevitable.

  The suspense was too much. I couldn’t bare it. I pushed past Matt and made my way over to the coat rack. I sifted through my bag until I found my phone, then I scrolled through my contacts until I found Aaron’s number. Highlighting it, I pressed the delete button. There. It was done. I’d never have to hear him break up with me. Or not break up with me, as per the vision.

  I returned to the bagel dough, where Gabby and Matt were both staring at me. I ignored them, shaping two more bagels before the enormity of what I’d done hit me. I couldn’t call Aaron. What had I done? I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready for it to be over!

  Tom came into the kitchen, clipboard in hand. “Jayne’s on kitchen duty and floors tonight, Gabby’s on drive-thru—” he leveled his eyes at her, and she scampered away. “Matt, you’re on registers with Theresa. You and Jayne close. I’m off.”

  I waited until Tom’s car was gone to ask Matt about sneaking out. Spring was rapidly turning into summer, and it was getting hot. Even hotter in the kitchen, with four ovens going. My palms were sweating with anticipation, but this was the best chance I’d get.

  “Let me get this straight.” Matt pushed his baseball cap back and ran the towel over the sweat on his forehead. “You need to leave in an hour?”

  “It’s very important, Matt.” I drummed my fingers on the counter, trying not to appear impatient. “I’m meeting with the police.” I needed him to think I was begging, not demanding.

  “Yes, you said that already.” He cocked his head at me. “Didn’t Gabby say that’s where you went on Saturday?”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. “She mentioned that?” I stuttered, furious at myself for saying anything to her.

  “Sure, she covered for you when you were late. Did you think we wouldn’t wonder?” He squinted his bluish-green eyes at me. “Are you in trouble, Jayne?”

  “No!” Just as quickly as it had left, the blood rushed back into my cheeks. I waved my hands at my face. “I’m helping them.”