Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (45 page)

A squealy sound rises with every millimeter that I slide the plastic out until at last, I drop the box to my side and just hold the small, cratered-like clear holder for the garment. Above the candy-wear sits a whole handful of arrowheads.
What on earth?!

“Ok, wait…” Evan starts.

“What is it?” Abby stretches to get a look, immediately scrunching up her nose like I have mine. “Whoa, ok, Evan…you are into some seriously weird stuff here. Why?” She points her finger to the assembly of carved rocks, crooking her head as she speaks as if she is more stumped than me.

“You seriously don’t get what that is about?” Evan speaks so directly that I know there has to be something here that I’m missing.

I circle through my mind, searching for the meaning behind the gift. Combing through them like a mall of windows into my memories, I come to a halt on one particular moment that at the time, didn’t seem too important.

“Wow…I thought they only had these in museums,” I say wide-eyed, staring at the huge display of arrowheads sitting in Evans grandpa’s bedroom.

The large wooden display case is about the size of the window in my bedroom back home and has rows upon rows of these small carved little stones.

“Yeah and he found every single one on this property, back before they bulldozed some of the hills to put in the cabins. I found this one,” Evan’s voice goes high with excitement as he points to the display case at a tiny black shimmery stone that has tiny curved etch marks along the edge, making it look fragile and delicate to the touch, yet somewhat lethal down to the precise tip and sharp border. “… This one too…Oh,” his voice kicks up a notch, anxious to show me more and more. “… And this one.” His finger moves to another one. “… This one I found one day when I was helping Grandpa replace the boards along one of the docks down by the end cabins. We stopped for lunch, and no sooner than I sat down, I looked and there it was…just buried in the dirt. I could barely make out the tip of it.”

My eyes move from one rock to the next, admiring the designs and different sizes; the intricate way someone spent countless minutes or hours whittling out shavings of the stone to create a perfect arrow shape; the precision to detail at each curve and corner and how not one shade of color is the same, ranging from pale beiges to earthy browns, a few blacks and even some whites and creams mixed in, but not one exactly the same; they are amazing. Dad used to take me to nature centers and museums when I was little, and ever since then I was always fascinated with the things people could do with their bare hands and a mind full of creativity; I always admired it.

“Wow. I’ve never even found one, and we’ve been coming out here for forever.”

“I haven’t found one in years, but if I see one, I’ll get it for you.”

I look over at him, a tingle of color rising into my cheeks and flaming up over the bridge of my nose until I’m well aware that I’ve turned bright red.

“Ok,” I whisper hesitantly, my heart thumping over the fact that he would do something like that for me, while my hands shake and body floods with nervousness from acting so silly; it’s just a rock.

Evan drops his hand from the display case and turns to me, brushing his fingers over mine; maybe it’s not just a rock.

As soon as the memory comes clear to my mind, I straighten up in my seat and level him with a sentimental stare.

“I’ve never found one,” I squeak out in a quiet and gentle whisper, my heart still tripping over the fact that he remembered that small insignificant moment that I had forgotten. “You found one for me?” my voice barely rises above the sound of the engine and the wind buzzing by outside the windows.

Evan cocks a huge grin, twisting in his seat and putting his arm behind mine after he shoves the vehicle into reverse. I look up, realizing that we are at the restaurant and it only seems like one minute ago when we left.

“I found you nine, actually.”

Glancing down, my eyes take an exact tally of the arrowheads before I swing my sights back to Evan with a question in my head, but at a loss for words.

He goes on before I can say anything, “I’ll be damned if I didn’t look for one of those suckers every single time I helped Grandpa, when I’d be out at the beach, swimming, doing whatever and nothing for years.”

I finally speak up, interrupting his train of thought and story, “That was when we were fourteen,” I point out the absolute obvious, still stuck on the memory of the two of us standing there looking at rocks after we had snuck in to borrow some change out of this huge glass jug he had sitting in the corner of his bedroom.

Evan throws the van in park and looks to me with a nod. “I remember how old we were,” he chuckles.

“That was the same week you kissed me for the first time…” I keep up with pointing out unnecessary facts as if he wasn’t the other person in the memory.

He shrugs, “I had it all planned,” he says with a quick wink, his smile never fading as he glances from the arrowheads and back up to me.

I’m still sitting here in awe. “When did you get these?”

My eyes flick to his throat as he takes a large gulp before answering, “I found the first…” he moves his hand to my lap, pressing his index finger to a dark brown arrowhead no bigger than an inch in length. “…the summer I last saw you…and several after,” he pauses; I gasp, my mouth open wide as I stare down at the tiny thing which now looks far more significant than rocks. His fingertip hops two stones over to a creamy ivory stone that is much bigger in thickness and size and currently carving its way through the fruit roll up underwear. “This is the last one I found. I found it this summer down by the ninth cabin after I was cleaning up a mess of shingles from the roof we put on.”

My head is still set back to him finding it the summer he last saw me, “You looked after I left?”

He lets out a sigh, looking out the window and sitting very still in his seat, very un-Evan-like. “I combed every inch of those grounds for one of those for you and even more so after you left. I figured when school came back in session it would give me a way to break the ice; a reason for me to approach you and explain how stupid I had been.” He turns back to me, remorse and regret etched across every feature of his face as if someone had carved it out just like the stones. I start to speak up, to say I forgive him for whatever happened, but he beats me to it, “When the first day of school came though, I found out you had moved…that you had transferred to Fairview High,” he stops, pressing his lips together with a shrug as his mouth twitches to the side. “So I hung onto it and more found me.”

My mouth hangs open and my eyes feel as though they are drooping with sympathy and an ache in my heart for years wasted. There is no way to turn back time, to erase my stubbornness, but I want to say it; I want him to know I wish I would have just asked him what happened instead of acting so rash and reacting without giving him the benefit of the doubt.

“I should have called you. I should have…”

He shakes his head. “No. You had every right to leave. You didn’t owe me anything. I should have run after you and explained what happened. I really should have just learned to keep my mouth shut,” he smoothly tries to change the mood with his usual sarcasm and humor. “Someday, I will learn when to keep my mouth shut.”

“That’ll be the day,” Abby’s voice comes from the backseat and we both jump, looking back. “Oh yeah, I’m still here and can I just say…wow,” she hisses in a playful, dramatically sarcastic tone as she holds her arms across her chest, lounging back in the seat comfortable. “You’re a softy, aren’t you?”

Evan shakes his head again, a slow grin popping up over his lips and curving up to his cheek bones. “Yeah, you got me Abby. But, in my defense I did throw some edible undies in with it.”

Abby cracks up, leaning forward and spitting out a loud laugh as my body bounces in my seat, feeling every bit of her amusement, more so from nerves and a rush of emotion.

“Ok, yes and what was with that? Too afraid to just lay your heart out there? Gotta butch it up a bit to overshadow the sentiment and sappiness of truly loving someone?”

Abby’s words come out like bullets and it is written all over Evan’s face as he snaps his eyes to me, his grin dropped, but a serious expression cast upon his face with his lips motionless and his eyes a deep tone as if he’s looking inside me. She could not have said is better.

The seriousness flies away as Evan turns back to her, but not before giving me a small smile that whispers to my heart that every word she said was true.

“Well some people use tissue paper. I use edible undies.”

Abby spits out another laugh; so do I.

“Ok, whose hungry? I believe there are two appetizers each with my name on them.” Evan smirks, pulling the box out of my hand and placing it on the console between us.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Abby says in agreement, throwing her door open as a rush of wind sweeps over my ankles and makes me shiver.

“We’ll talk about it all after dinner, ok?” Evan’s voice goes back to the tender tone he reserves for me and honestly now, all I want to do is skip the red carpet and go right back to his apartment. This night is already perfect.

He flings his door open and I release a sigh, my lungs screaming as I sit there on that breath before I’m forced to draw in more air. Maybe if I hold my breath, my heart will calm down and learn patience tonight. No sooner than Evan’s door slams, mine is opened with his hand outstretched before me.
Ok, so maybe I’ll enjoy being spoiled and just let the entire evening build and build to the best part.

Stepping inside, arm in arm with Evan and on Abby’s heels, we quickly see everyone already seated at a table. I glance around for a second and laugh to myself, making a mental note that the entrance is adorned with a bright red runner along the floor and big plush red drapes swung to the side of the huge front windows. Through the doorway into the dining area, more splashes of red catch my eye from small droplets of red crystals that hang from the center of a huge glass chandelier in the center of the dome shaped ceiling, red napkins and candles strategically placed along each table and even a huge velvety rug in front of a large grand fireplace at the back of the room. The place is dripping with elegance and class.

“Wow…and you’re sure she said we’d be comped or was that just our waters we might want to order?” Evan mumbles through the corner of his lips as we walk to our table.

“Look, look, look what he got me…” Alyssa jumps up towards Abby, squealing and holding her wrist to show off a gorgeous diamond bracelet.

“Don’t worry, Lanie will come through. Her parents can afford it,” I whisper back to him as everyone says their hellos.

“Hey, what no tuxedo?” Evan points to Judd who takes a quick look down his body from his black dress jacket and button down white shirt and black slacks. “This isn’t prom, you know.”

“What?” Judd looks back at Evan, studying his attire and probably ready to rifle back over Evan’s much more casual wear of jeans, an untucked navy blue button down and a white tee peeking out near his neck.

Evan laughs, cutting up with Judd as I look back over to Abby and Alyssa, ‘oooing’ and ‘ahhhing’ over her most recent piece of jewelry.

“I should have gotten you some jewelry, huh?” Evan’s voice startles me as he whispers right by my ear, and I snap my head around, a dumbfounded feeling in my actions as if I’m expecting someone else to be standing there. “Whoa, I’m sorry.” Panic takes over his face, as he puts his hands out towards me.

“Oh no, it’s ok.” I brush off, refusing to let it ruin tonight. I have to learn to control it. I swallow any sense of anxiety that traveled into my consciousness just now, and respond to his last question, “And no, I love what you gave me.” I hold my arms out slightly and raise my chin. “Do I look like I wear much jewelry?”

Evan looks me over and chuckles. I probably look like a department store mannequin right now.

“Well, you’re not going to wear much jewelry, if you don’t own much.”