Awakening (Covenant College #1) (28 page)

“That sounds like fun. If you wait, I’ll get showered and go with you?”

Paris shot
Brittany
a look. “I think they’re fine going by themselves.”

Brittany
either didn’t seem to notice Paris’ not-so-subtle hint or didn’t care. “We can cover more ground with three people.”

Aric
took a long look at
Brittany
as she got to her feet. He took in her flannel pajamas, snarled hair and runny nose and immediately started shaking his head.

“I have a truck,” he offered. “There’s only room for two of us.”

Brittany
look disappointed. As we shut the door, I heard Paris smack the back of
Brittany
’s head.
“You idiot.”

“What?”
Brittany
whined.

“You don’t horn in on someone else’s date.”

“I didn’t think it was a date.”

“Look at him. Of course it’s a date
..”

I shut the door and turned to see
Aric’s
reaction. He was eyeing me with a wolfish grin. “This is a date?”

“I didn’t say that. Paris said that. I know you don’t think it’s a date.”

Aric
followed me down the hall quietly. “If this isn’t a date, it’s too bad you had to break out the tight jeans and your very special ‘Star Wars’ shirt.”

I swung around to see the merriment in his eyes. “I’ll have you know, all of my ‘Star Wars’ shirts are very special.”

When we got down to the parking lot,
Aric
led me to his Ford pick-up truck. It wasn’t exactly new – but it did have a cool retro feel to it. It was slate gray and the interior was
a well
-worn black leather. It felt comfortable. As I slid into the passenger seat, I couldn’t help but be relieved that the cab was clearly too small for the two of us to have sex in, because for some reason all I
could think about was getting out of my tight jeans and running my fingers through his thick black hair.

I turned to
Aric
and – I swear – it seemed like he was reading my mind. His gaze looked hot for a second – and then it was replaced by a sly smirk. I decided to ignore him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“I know what you were thinking.”

“What was I thinking?”

“That you wanted check out my X-Wing.”

Aric
looked confused for a second – and then my double entendre must have become clear. “That’s the first time anyone has ever propositioned me with a ‘Star Wars’ analogy.”

“That wasn’t a proposition.”

“What was it?”

“When it’s a proposition – you’ll know it’s a proposition.”

“I can’t wait.”

The ride to
Zilwaukee
was boring. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long. I had never been to
Zilwaukee
, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m glad I wasn’t expecting too much. I definitely would have been disappointed.

Aric
and I parked at a local diner. There weren’t a lot of options – and this was the first place we found that wasn’t akin to an armpit made out of wood and abandoned vehicles.

“This place is bleak,”
Aric
said.

“Compared to what?”

“Compared to everything.”

I couldn’t agree more.

We made our way into the diner and found a table. To no one’s surprise – especially mine – it was sticky.

“So what’s the plan?” I was trying to keep my elbows from the table while I searched my purse for a wet nap. Maybe we should have brought
Brittany
, after all. She always had wet naps.

“We have lunch, feel out the room and then ask about Tara.”

“We’re eating here?”

“Don’t be such a snob
,”
Aric
admonished me.

“Just because I’m worried about eating road kill does not make me a snob.”

Aric
gave me a warning look as the waitress came to the table. I couldn’t help but smile when I took in her orange polyester uniform, acrylic nails and
ratted
hair. The 1980s had officially came to this town – and never left.

I watched
Aric
smile winningly at the waitress. “What are your specials?”

I noticed that the waitress had straightened her previously bent posture and was now pushing her ample boobs into
Aric’s
face. He didn’t look impressed.

“Well, honey, we have chicken pot pie on special today.”

Yuck.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger with everything and fries,”
Aric
smiled.

“You got it, sweetheart,” the waitress started to move away.

“What about me?”

The waitress swung around. “Oh, sorry honey, I forgot all about you. What do you want?”

I couldn’t help but notice that the waitress – who had a nametag that read Fern – was looking at
Aric
and smiling flirtatiously.

“I’ll have a chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato and an order of fries,” I grumbled.

After Fern left I turned to
Aric
expectantly. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You and the waitress.”

“I was placing an order.”

“Oh please.”

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous of someone named Fern that is stuck in the 80s.”

Aric
just smiled knowingly.

When our lunch came, I was surprised at how good it looked. “This looks great,” I said to Fern.

“This is the best restaurant in town.”

“How many restaurants are there?”

“This is the only one.”

“So it’s the best and worst restaurant in town at the same time,” I laughed at my own joke.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

After we ate,
Aric
called Fern over. “Actually, Fern, we’re here looking for someone.” His voice was friendly – but the minute he opened his mouth Fern’s demeanor changed.

“Are you a cop?”

“No.”

“Then why are you looking for someone?”

Aric
paused for a second. He clearly didn’t know how to proceed.

“We’re students at Covenant,” I supplied. “My roommate was killed the other night. She said she was from
Zilwaukee
. We just want to pay our condolences to her family.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. It wasn’t exactly the truth either.

Fern looked genuinely surprised. She turned her full attention to me for the first time since we came into the diner. “That is awful.”

I pulled my phone out and showed Fern a picture of
Tara .
“Her name is Tara Thompson.”

Fern took the phone from me and stared at the photo a second
She
looked confused. I figured that was a perpetual state for her.

“Do you know her?”

“Yeah, I know her.”

“You do?” Despite myself I was surprised. I figured this was going to be a dead end. “Do you know where we can find Tara’s parents?”

“Why do you keep calling her Tara?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s not her name.”

“What’s her name?”
Aric
asked.

“That’s Lola,” Fern said.

“Lola? Lola Thompson?”

“No, Lola Winters.”

I was actually speechless.

“How do you know Lola?”
Aric
seemed to be looking for a specific answer.

“We went to school together.”

I looked Fern up and down again. She looked 40.

“That can’t be right,” I said carefully. “Tara . . . I mean Lola . . . was 22.”

“No, Lola was 38.”

I shook my camera in front of Lola again. “This girl was not 38. Are you sure it’s Lola?”

“Yeah, I’m sure although,” Fern bit her bottom lip in obvious confusion.

“Although what?”

“I haven’t seen Lola since we graduated from high school and she looks exactly the same. How can that be?”

“Maybe Lola has a daughter?”

“Maybe.”
Fern didn’t seem convinced. “They look exactly alike, though.”

“Lots of daughters look like their moms,” I supplied.

“Not like twins, though,” Fern said.

I turned to look at
Aric
. For his part, he seemed lost in thought.

“When was the last time you saw Lola?”

“High school graduation,” Fern said.

“Were you friends?”

“It’s a small town. Everyone knew each other. No one was really friends with Lola, though.”

“Why?”

“She was just  . . . different.”

“Different how?”

“You know, she was just weird. No one really liked her.”

“What? Did she sit in the back of the room and eat her hair? Was she a bully? How was she different?”

“I don’t know,” Fern seemed put off by my aggressive questions. “She was just different. She dressed all in black. People say she was a witch.”

“A witch?
Like she was obnoxious to be around?”

“No, like she went out into the woods and sacrificed animals.”

“She sacrificed animals?”

“I mean, I never saw her do it. That was just the rumor.”

I looked to
Aric
for help. He was still lost in his own thoughts.

“Is Lola’s family still around?”

Fern thought for a second and then shook her head. “No. Her mom left when she did and that was her only family.”

“What about her father?”

“I never met her father. I’m not even sure she ever met him.
She sure never talked about him.”

Fern didn’t have any more information.
Aric
paid our bill and we silently went back out to his truck. When we climbed into the cab, I turned to him. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are witches real?”

Aric
shrugged. It was like he was tuning me out.

“Why are you being so quiet all of a sudden?”

“Just thinking,”
Aric
replied absently.

The rest of the ride back to the school didn’t go much better. When we got to the dorms he didn’t even bother saying goodbye to me.

As I exited the truck I turned to him.

“I don’t know what your deal is, but I don’t appreciate being frozen out here.”

“I’m not freezing you out. I’m thinking.”

I met
Aric’s
eyes for a minute. As I did, I realized he was lying. I didn’t know what about – or even how I knew he was lying -- I just knew.

“Fine!”

I slammed the door shut and stormed into the building.

I didn’t turn around to see if
Aric
watched me enter the building. I was beyond caring at this point.

Thirty-Four

The next few weeks were uneventful.

The school packed up Tara’s belongings and took them away. I never found out where.

I’d stayed away from
Aric
and Rafael. I was done with men. What? I was.

I was also done with Professor Blake’s little monster school, too.
At least for now.
He had questioned me about my reticence. I admitted that I wasn’t ready to join the cause. In truth, I didn’t know if I believed in his cause. There are monsters and there are monsters. As irritated as I was with Rafael – and especially
Aric
– I didn’t believe they were monsters. The jury was still out on Professor Blake.

Life slowly reverted to normal. I got in a groove with my classes. Paris finally broke up with Mike and she and Mark were flirting incessantly.
Brittany
had even gotten her swagger back and was back to stalking Rick No. 1 in the
dorm hallway – which wasn’t going over well with Matilda. She was spending more time with the girls down the hall – which I encouraged.

Homecoming weekend was upon us – and while I didn’t care about football, I was up for a fun party.

“I’m going to the Alpha Chi party,”
Brittany
announced.

I couldn’t believe it. “Don’t you remember what happened last time?”