Unconventional Scars (13 page)

“I’m making some macaroni and cheese. You want some?”

Without taking his eyes off the TV, he replied, “Sure. Thanks, pumpkin. Hey, how was your party last night? Did you have fun?” Not surprisingly, he’d been asleep when she got in. He sure wasn’t a helicopter parent. Guardian. Whatever.

“I had a blast. Danced for hours. My feet are sore.”

“You’re not going out tonight, are you? Noon news report said we might get some bad weather.”

“No, I wasn’t planning on it. Are you still going over to Lisa’s?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ll come home if the weather gets too bad.”

Anna started back toward the kitchen to check on the macaroni. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl, Uncle Phil. I’m not afraid of a little storm.”

****

The “little storm”, Anna discovered later by checking the weather forecast on the internet, promised to be an all-night event with high winds and torrential downpours. At the moment it was only thundering
some
outside, so Phil went ahead and left for Lisa’s house before the rain arrived. Anna decided the perfect way to spend the evening would be to pamper herself with a long soak in the tub, then curl up on the couch and enjoy a scary movie marathon. If there wasn’t anything good on cable, there were plenty of selections on the shelf to choose from.

She lounged in the bathtub for a long time, listening to the thunder outside. It was incredibly relaxing. A night like this made her long to be in some gothic castle, with lightning flashing and a gorgeous vampire on the ivy-covered stone balcony, calling to her. It was a
scrumptious
fantasy and made her think of Alex, of course. She had hoped he’d call her today. But he really didn’t have any reason to, so she
tried not to be too disappointed th
at he hadn’t. Still . . .

Their conversation the previous night
returned to invade her thoughts
. Why had he asked her how many boyfriends she’d had? He’d probably think she was a complete loser if she told him she’d only been kissed twice in her entire life. And she wasn’t even sure one of them counted. Which was a shame, because it had been the only one that mattered to her, at the time.

It was December, and Miss May’s grandson
Trent
was home on leave, visiting her for Christmas. He was
twenty-six, tall and muscular and confident, and when fifteen-year-old Anna first saw him in his U.S. Army fatigues, she
’d
developed a
major
crush. She spent most of that week hanging around Miss May’s apartment, and if
Trent
was annoyed by her presence
, at least
he was gentleman enough to hide it.

She
’d
happened to be standing underneath the kitchen archway one day when he pointed upward, laughing, to the sprig of mistletoe Miss May had hung. And as she blushed
fiercely
, he
’d
leaned over and kissed her
quickly
on
the
lips. It was perfectly innocent, just a
friendly
peck from a charming man who was only being kind to a starry-eyed schoolgirl.

It had also provided Anna with a month’s worth of x-rated dreams.

Her second kiss had been with a boy from school named Jeremy.
S
he’d been flattered by his attention and one day they went behind the bleachers where he proceeded to shove his tongue in her mouth. When he tried to put his hand up her shirt, she stopped him, not because she was a prude
exactly,
but because he tasted like cigarettes and it was really
grossing her out
. He told all his burnout friends that he’d scored with her.
That was the end of Jeremy.

Of course, none of
that
mattered now.
It all happened
a million years ago, in another life.

After blow-drying her hair just long enough
to prevent it from dripping
, she brushed her teeth and slipped into a comfortable cotton nightgown, then
skipped
downstairs, pausing at the
bottom
of the steps to listen. The wind had really kicked up outside, and it was beginning to rain harder. Peeking out the front window, she saw only darkness until a flash of lightning lit up the sky momentarily, and the whipping branches of angry trees were
briefly
illuminated. She wondered if she ought to check the news again and make sure there weren’t any tornado warnings.

Clicking on the television, she located a local channel and was relieved to discover only severe thunderstorm warnings. Storms were romantic and exciting. Tornadoes, on the other hand . . . not so much.

****

Alex was
getting his butt kicked at
Mortal Kombat. He didn’t blame his gaming skills, though – he blamed the girl next door. How was he supposed to concentrate? He kept remembering that Mr. Moore was always at his girlfriend’s house on Saturday nights
so
Anna must be all alone next door, and the idea of seeing her was tempting him almost more than he could stand. Logically, he knew it would be a really, really bad idea to go over there.
Really
bad. Why torture himself? Did you wander around a bakery if you were on a diet? No. You avoided temptation. Only way to deal with it.

“
Dang, y
ou suck tonight,” Creed was saying. “I’ve seen Jennifer do better and she’s terrible at this.”

“Where
is
Jen tonight?”
Charlotte
asked.

“Grounded. For breaking curfew last night.”

“Creed. You should know better than to keep her out past her curfew.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Thunder rumbled nearby, followed by a quick flash of brilliant light.

“Maybe we should unplug the TV,” their mom mused. “That lightning is really close.”

Creed rolled his eyes. “What are we supposed to do all night
,
then? Make shadow puppets on the wall?”

Charlotte
gave her son an exasperated look. “You could try reading a book.”

“Only thing
he
knows how to
read is
a
text message
,” Alex joked, earning a shove from Creed. He shoved back and they delved into a wrestling match on the floor.

“Boys, please! Do you have to do that in the house?”

“Should we go outside in the rain and do it?” Having pinned Alex down, Creed released him with a triumphant grin. Alex socked him in the arm.

Charlotte
looked thoughtfully at the window, then stood up
,
saying, “I think I better get some matches. I’ll be surprised if the power doesn’t go out soon.”

At that very moment the lights flickered, as if some cosmic force heard her and agreed. “Oh no, don’t go out yet, please
!
” she begged, scurrying into the kitchen. She returned with a box of matches and hastily lit some candles in a centerpiece on one of the end tables.

“Don’t we have some flashlights?” Alex wanted to know.

“Yes, but the candles are more quaint
, don’t you think?
If you
must
have
a flashlight, there are a couple in the linen closet. Help yourself.”

“You scared of the dark or something?” Creed heckled.

“Your face scares me.” Alex found the flashlights in the closet and brought them into the living room, tossing one to his brother.

There was a loud crack of thunder, and the lights flickered again. Then they went out altogether.

“Well, there it goes,”
Charlotte
announced.

“Talk about stating the obvious.” Still lying sprawled out on the floor, Creed
lifted his head to
look up at Alex, who was headed down the hallway. “Where you goin’?”

“
Cleveland
, where do you think?” Alex hollered back. He went into the bathroom he shared with his brother, closing the door behind him.
I’m not going anywhere. Anywhere at all. I’m only brushing my teeth because I’m into dental hygiene. Clean teeth are happy teeth, right? And I’m only putting on cologne because I like the way it smells. Yep. I’m not going anywhere. Gonna stay put, right here. I am not leaving this house.

“Mom?”

Charlotte
looked up from her
novel
. “What?”

“I’m gonna go next door and make sure Anna’s all right. She’s over there by herself. Might be scared.” So much for resolve.

“Oh. That’s a good idea, sweetie. She may need a flashlight. Be careful, okay? And take your raincoat.”

Creed hopped up from the floor and followed Alex into the foyer, watching suspiciously while Alex maneuvered his way into the raincoat while holding a flashlight in one hand. “Are you wearing cologne?”

“Shut up.” Alex pulled the hood up over his head and reached for the doorknob.

Creed leaned against the door and crossed his arms, searching his brother’s face. “What are you doing?” he asked
, keeping his voice low so
their mother wouldn’t hear.

“Just what I said I was doing. Could you move?”

“You really think that’s a good idea? Going over there while she’s alone?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I think it’s a great idea.”

“Don’t be a smartass. You know what I’m talking about. You think I haven’t
noticed
the way you look at her?”

“What’s the problem? You want her for yourself or something?”

“That’s not it and you know it.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you? Like you knew what you were doing with that chick back in
Indiana
?”

With a sharp look at his brother, Alex said, “Christ almighty. That was two years ago, Creed. Do you have to keep bringing it up?”

“Only when you do stupid shit like this.”

“Get out of my way.”

“
T
hink you can control yourself this time?” The tone was sarcastic.

Alex fixed an icy glare on his brother. His expression showed clearly that he had no intention of backing down. With a resigned sigh, Creed relented
and
mov
ed
away from the door reluctantly.

“Just be careful this time, bro.
Please
. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

10

Anna had just
found
a movie
on cable
that caught her interest when the power died, sending the house into silent darkness.

“Great,” she muttered aloud to herself. “So much for movie night.” Having anticipated the possibility of an outage earlier in the evening, there were supplies waiting on the coffee table, so she struck a match and lit a jasmine-scented candle. Without the comforting noise of the television, the sudden hush was eerie. The only sound
s
remaining emanated from the
squalls
just outside
. Heavy rain was pouring down in sheets, and the wind was gusting just enough to put her slightly on edge.

Taking the candle with her, she tiptoed upstairs and locat
ed
her portable CD player,
bringing
it back downstairs for entertainment.
Fortunately there were plenty of batteries in the kitchen
, and s
oon the unnerving quiet was interrupted by the familiar sounds of her favorite
songs
. Anna was just contemplating whether to get some ice cream from the freezer before it had a chance to melt, when she heard
loud
banging on the
front
door and nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Anna, it’s me, Alex.”

Oh. My. G
osh!

Anna unhooked the chain and unlock
ed
the door,
yanking
it open to see him standing on the porch in a red raincoat. She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, out of the deafening downpour. “What the heck are you doing out in this? Are you nuts?”

He slipped out of his dripping raincoat. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Thought you might be spooked, with the power out and all.”

She took the raincoat from him and hung it on the coat rack, trying to hide a smile. “Did you think I’d be afraid of the dark?”

He gave her a sly look. “I was certainly hoping you were. How could I be chivalrous otherwise? You could at least pretend.”

“All right. I admit I was getting a little jumpy. Are you happy?” She headed back into the living room,
with
Alex
following
.