Anywhere But Here (14 page)

After the final bell, Fin caught up to me as I was approaching my car.  “Hey, do you want to grab something to eat before we … hang out… or what?”

I definitely
didn’t want to do that – it would be too awkward trying to pay for my food and if he paid, it would certainly seem like a date.  This whole non-date thing was turning into more of an ordeal than I could handle.

“Nah,” I said.  “I’ll eat with Aunt Franki.  I need to talk to her, anyway,” I added, not totally lying.  True, I hadn’t told her of my plans for the evening, but I also really wanted to see what was going on with her.  I hadn’t been a very good niece lately – especially after all she’d done for me.

“Okay.  I’ll see you at six.”  He winked again, turning on the charm, and jogged to his own car, leaving me a heart-fluttering mess.

***

Aunt Franki was smoothing out a sculpture of a clay lighthouse when I entered the garage.  I perched on a stool and watched as her hands worked their magic.  She smiled at me as she brushed an errant curl off her forehead with the back of her hand.

“How was school?” she asked.

“Okay,” I said, nibbling my lip.  “Um I’m going to hang out with Fin tonight – if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” she said, her brows wrinkling.  “Fin?”

“Ian Finley,” I supplied.

“Oh, the hockey player,” she said as realization washed over her face.  “Is this a date?”

“No,” I said, a bit too quickly.  “Not really.”

She set her carving tool down and folded her arms over her chest.  “Not really?  What do you mean?”

“We’re just friends,” I said, toying with the tools in her tool box.

“But you’d like to be more?”

I lifted a shoulder.  “He’s nice, even if he is a little arrogant.  I don’t know.”

“Well,” she said with a sigh.  “You don’t have to decide how you feel about him tonight.  You’re only seventeen and you have the rest of your life ahead of you.  Don’t worry about it.”

I nodded, taking her advice to heart as my eyes skipped over the various pieces she’d completed.  “What are you going to do with all of this?”

“I have a show next weekend – sort of like an exhibit.”

“Oh, cool,” I said, remembering my vow to find out more about her.  “Where?”

“
Chicago,” she said as she went back to work.  “Do you want to go?”

“No thanks,” I said in a droll tone.  “I’d like to stay away from
Chicago for a while.  Do you mind if I stay here?”

Her face puckered as she studied me over her sculpture.  “You’re not going to have a party, are you?”

I laughed, though it was a valid question.  She knew my past.  “That part of my life is history, I promise.  I’ve learned a lesson or two and I swear to you, no parties.  I won’t invite anyone over or anything.”

“I trust you, Rena,” she said softly.  And I wouldn’t let her down.  “Whatever I don’t sell in
Chicago, I’ll bring back here and try to sell in Mathilda’s old shop.”

“Did you inherit that, also?”

“No,” she said with a wry grin.  “She left the shop to Sean Mahaffey.  He was a client of hers, also.”

Her
pink cheeks caused me to slide off the stool, glee filling my heart.  “You like this guy!”

“No,” she tried to deny as the color in her cheeks darkened.  “I mean, sure, he’s nice and very good looking, but I’m not into dating right now.”

“Uh huh, sure,” I teased.  “That’s why you’re selling your stuff in his shop.”

“Rena,” she scolded, though her words were far from harsh.  She giggled as her shoulders dropped.  “Mathilda was an old romantic.  I think she purposely left me the house and him the shop in hopes that I’d settle here and hook up with Sean.”

I laughed hard enough to draw tears as Franki, still quite embarrassed, turned her back on me, busily fussing with the sculpture. 

“It’s not happening so don’t get any ideas in your head,” she warned.

“Hey, I’m not the one who set this whole thing up,” I claimed, lifting my hands.  “Good old Mathilda beat me to it.”

“Don’t you have a date to get ready for?” she asked.

That stopped my laughter short.  “Um, I’m eating here with you then Fin’s picking me up at six.”

She looked at me over her shoulder.  “Don’t you need to figure out what to wear?”

I shrugged.  “No.  He told me what I had on was fine.”

“Rena,” she sighed, shaking her head and abandoning her sculpture to cup my chin.  “Go get a little gussied up – you are going to be with a handsome boy tonight.”

“But he said…” I tried to protest.

“Do as I say,” she smiled.  “Trust me.”

“You know, I have dated before,” I grumbled as I headed for the door.  “I know how these things work.”

“Could have fooled me,” she called.

***

“Your aunt is cool,” Fin said as he pulled out of the driveway.  “Do you get along well with her?”

“Yes,” I said, nervousness settling in the pit of my stomach.  “She’s great.”

“Are you ever going to tell me why you came here?” he asked.

“I got into a little trouble at school last semester.  I was suspended before the winter break – pending expulsion.  My parents weren’t happy and Aunt Franki offered to let me stay with her for a while.”

“Wow.  What did you do?” he asked, a little in awe.

“Stupid stuff,” I said in disgust, embarrassed by my idiocy.  “I started hanging around the wrong sort of people.  At lunch one day, I went with them to the parking lot and drank a few beers.  It was stupid.”

He chanced a quick, disbelieving glance at me before returning his attention to the road.  His brow furrowed as he worded his next question.  “Do you still, you know, drink and stuff?”

I snorted.  “No.  Like I said, it was stupid.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  And I was very lucky – I don’t know how Aunt Franki and my parents managed to get me into Dunewood High.  I thought for sure that I wouldn’t be able to attend or something even though I’d already served my suspension.”  I paused, allowing him a second to digest everything I’d told him.  “I’m, um, on probation.”

“Probation?” he asked, shocked.

“Well, not probation, probation,” I said, clarifying.  “My dad managed to get me out of trouble with the law, but I’m on probation here, at school.  If I mess up, they’ll toss me out.  No second chances.”

“Guess you’d better behave yourself,” he smirked.

“Guess so.”  I frowned at the window as he pulled into the community parking lot.  “What are we doing?”

“Getting out of the car,” he said as he killed the engine and opened the door.  “Come on.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I followed him down the sidewalk and across the street to the Community Center.  “Don’t tell me – we’re going to watch a hockey game!”

“Nope,” he said as he opened the door for me.  “Not at all.”

He took my arm and led me to the ice rink, stopping at a desk to chat with an older woman.

“We need some skates,
Nancy,” he said.

“What size, dear?” she asked.  He turned to lift a
questioning brow at me.

Realization set in and I backed away, shaking my head.  “Oh, no, Fin,” I said.  “No way.”

“Come on,” he wheedled.  “You’ll have fun.  Now, what size skates?”

“I haven’t been ice skating in years,” I whined, softening as his face pleaded with me.  “Geez, you’re going to actually make me do this, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” he said as he unleashed a devastating smile.  “What size?”

“Six,” I said with a hopeless sigh.  “I will make you pay for this, you know that, right?”

“Oh, I’m counting on it,” he said as he took a pair of white skates from Nancy.  He handed them to me and grabbed my arm, dragging me to bench.  “Wait here while I run to the locker room.  I have a pair of skates in my locker.”

I did as he asked, slipping off my
boots and replacing them with the skates.  When he returned, he sat next to me, shoving his own skates on his feet.  He took our shoes and placed them in a cubby hole then offered me a hand, a smug grin on his handsome face.

“Come on, sissy,” he chided.  “I’ll help you.”

With a thrill surging through my body, I placed my hand in his, allowing him to assist me to my feet.  I walked awkwardly to the rink, pausing only to remove the guards from the skate blades. 

He stepped out onto the ice and waited for me, his eyes challenging.  I lifted my chin and stuck a tentative skate on the ice, holding the wall for balance.  He didn’t laugh but I could tell he wanted to, badly.

He took my hand and eased us away from the wall toward the center.  There weren’t many people on the ice – an older couple, a few middle school kids, and a family of five – so I wasn’t too concerned about my pride being bruised.

Fin skated backwards, holding both my hands in his, pulling me as I clumsily shuffled along after him.  His patience was admirable as was his heroic efforts to stifle his laughter.

“So, what do you think?” he asked as we made our way around the rink.

“I think I suck at this,” I said.

His smile caused my heart to leap.  “Nah. It just takes a little time to get the hang of it again.”

I nodded, concentrating on not falling.  I knew that if that happened, he wouldn’t be able to contain his laughter.

“Your game tomorrow,” I said as I stumbled a little and righted myself before I could tumble to the ice.  “Is it late?”

“It starts at five.  I won’t be back until late, though.”  His eyes narrowed as he considered me carefully.  “Why?  You thinking you might want to go on another non-date?”

I snorted, rolling my eyes.  “Please.  I was wondering if your friend, Isaiah, would be around.”

A queer look passed his face as his eyes briefly clouded.  “Hm.  Figures.  The girls really like Isaiah.”

“Well,” I said as I wrinkled my nose.  “I guess I can understand it – I mean, if you’re into the whole, tall, hot athlete sort of guy.”

His brows rose.  “And are you?”

Stumbling again, I fell into his chest.  He peered at me with soft eyes and my entire body melted.  “Not really.  I prefer the curly dark-haired hockey player types,” I said in a low voice.

He smiled brightly as his arms wound around my waist. 
“Good to know,” he whispered as he brushed his lips lightly over mine.  It was sweet and held a promise of better to come.  “And I think this just turned into a date.”

I chuckled softly as I fisted his shirt.  “Maybe you’re right.  Again.”

He drew back to lace our fingers as we made another lap around the rink.  As I gained a bit more confidence, I was able to strike out a little on my own, but I still didn’t release his hand.

We skated for nearly two hours – Fin not able to resist showing off his skating skills – until he suggested we go for coffee. 
When we left the Community Center, he took me to a small coffee shop on the main strip. The long windows were fogged by the hot breath of packs of students milling about, gossiping. Fin and I sat in the loud, obnoxious coffee house, ignoring the rest of the patrons as we talked, mostly about his family and the people from school.

Plenty of our classmates
had stopped in for coffee, and a few of them even joined our table briefly, chatting about whatever was going on around town that night.  None of them seemed surprised to see us together, sitting closely in a booth. No one noticed that he held my hand under the table, giving my fingers a gentle squeeze from time to time. And no one even mentioned the goofy look that had to be plastered on my face.  I was immensely grateful for that.

When he drove me home, I nibbled on my lip, wondering if he’d kiss me
again.  He stopped in the driveway and switched off the lights before turning to me.

“I probably won’t be back until late tomorrow night – like ten or so.  If you want, I can call you then,” he said, his eyes searching my face in the dark.

“That’s fine,” I said as I gave him my cell number.  “I’ll probably be awake.”

“Great,” he said as he inched
closer.  “Thanks for coming with me tonight.”

“Thanks for taking me,” I said as I leaned toward him.

Reaching for me, he cupped my cheek as he pressed his lips gently against mine.  My eyes fluttered shut as he applied more pressure.  My lips parted and he took advantage, deepening the kiss and stealing my breath. When he pulled back, his hand still resting on my cheek, he smiled.

“Good night, Rena.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Good night,” I whispered as I reached for the door handle.  “Good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” he said as he pecked my lips once more.

I floated inside the house, grinning like an idiot at Aunt Franki, who was sitting on the sofa, bowl of popcorn in her lap.  Her answering smile made my heart flutter as I remembered her earlier teasing.

“Yes, it ended up being a date,” I said, still smiling.  “Let’s leave it at that.”  I squeezed her shoulder as I breezed past her toward the basement.