Crushed (8 page)

Kristen couldn’t remember being this nervous before. Her palms were sweaty, and there were dragons in her stomach breathing fire every other second. She couldn’t swallow saliva properly. How was she supposed to eat? Was this what dating always felt like?

It kind of sucked.

Her jangling nerves weren’t solely due to having dinner with Zach. Shards of guilt cut into her conscience because she was stabbing Brittany in the back just by being across a table from him. It was true that in the beginning she hadn’t realized Brittany liked him enough to feel betrayed, but now that she knew, she shouldn’t be dating him.

She glanced up from the Chinese food and choked on the last bite because Zach was watching her. Coughing, she grabbed her soda and drank a third of it. The cold liquid washed the pork down. She gulped in some air, knowing her face had probably turned red. Great, she could see the headlines now—“Head cheerleader dies of embarrassment on first date.”

“You okay?” Zach asked with a mixture of concern and amusement.

“Mmm hmm.”

“Good. `Cause I don’t know the Heimlich.”

They both laughed, and Kristen relaxed a bit. She carefully chewed each bite she took after that. They were sitting in the center of the food court at the mall. At least no one seemed to notice her distress. They were focused on their own food and the people eating with them.

He glanced around the food court and said, “I would have taken you somewhere nice, but the movie is starting soon, and the theater is right next door. The food court was too convenient to pass up.”

“It’s fine,” she said, feeling incredibly awkward. “The food is good.”

“I guess.” With a heavy sigh, he tilted back in his chair, balancing on the rear legs. He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Being with each other shouldn’t be this hard.”

She nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

He played with his half-empty cup, turning it this way and that, sliding the straw in and out. Kristen stared at his hand for a moment, fascinated by it. He had beautiful hands, tanned and smooth with strong fingers. She wondered what they would feel like against her skin.

“What do you think the problem is?” he asked.

Not being one to back down from anything, Kristen took a deep breath before hitting him with the plain, unadulterated truth. “This is my first date. I don’t know how to act. I feel like I’m a performer, you’re the judge, and I’m waiting for my score. So that’s my problem. What’s yours?”

She stuck the business end of the straw into her mouth and sucked down some of her carbonated beverage. It had lost its fizz, watered down by melted ice, but her mouth was bone dry, so she didn’t care.

His eyes narrowed for a moment, and he stared at her until she thought he wasn’t going to answer. He set the front legs of his chair back down. Leaning his elbows on the table, he said, “Truthfully? I feel like I’m totally out of my depth here, like I’m a trash collector taking a princess to the ball. Everything I say comes out wrong. And knowing that this is your first date just adds to the pressure. You don’t know how to act? Try the view from this end.

“I want you to remember this as one of the best nights of your life.” A cocky grin stretched his lips. “I want this date to be so good that you compare every other date in your life to it, and they all fall short.”

Oh my
. She was in trouble. In the blink of an eye, he’d turned on the charm, and she couldn’t resist. Part of her had been thinking he regretted asking her out because there wasn’t any chemistry between them, but he was just as nervous. Happy bubbles filled her throat and quickly turned into a girlish giggle that she immediately hated herself for, but she wasn’t going to let a slight imperfection spoil what could be the best night of her life so far.

She put some food on her spoon and carefully floated it across the table to his mouth. It was an intimate gesture, something to build on. “Try some of this. It’s delicious.”

He did. His gaze locked with hers and stayed that way as his mouth captured the rice and chewed it. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. She wanted to crawl across the table and kiss him. What would he do if she took the initiative?

“You need to learn to relax more,” he said. “I read an article online yesterday. People with Type-A personalities wind up with ulcers and have heart attacks.”

Where did that come from? She was just beginning to feel relaxed, and he ruined it. Feeling like she needed to defend her lifestyle, she said, “I have to get good grades to get into a good school.”

“What about all the extra stuff you do? Cheerleading? Drama Club? And I hear you’re running for class president.”

“My guidance counselor suggested I do those things because they’ll look good on the college apps. The best schools don’t just wave you in because you get decent grades, you know. You have to be a well-rounded person.” She sighed and pushed her food away. “You just don’t get it. I’ve spent my entire life working toward one goal, a college degree. I can’t relax and screw it up now, even if I’m not sure what I want to do with it. I don’t want to blow it and then figure out it’s what I wanted all along.”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t going to fall on your face.”

The word ‘fall’ caused a shiver to vibrate her spine. A vision of plunging off the cliff and almost dying came to mind and refused to be dislodged. She picked up the plastic spoon again and played with the food on her plate. “That was weird what happened the other day, wasn’t it? I’ve never seen an owl in the daytime before. I wonder what caused it to attack me.”

“Attack you? Nah. It just lost control and almost ran into you. Maybe it was blind.”

“It didn’t look blind.”

“Did you get a good look at it?” Zach leaned forward, eyes on her face with a new intensity. “I barely caught a glimpse. Can you tell me what color it was?”

She didn’t understand his interest in the owl’s color. What difference did the color make? And why did she feel like the police were interrogating her? “It was two or three shades of brown, and it had yellow eyes.”

His mouth tightened. “Are you sure about the yellow eyes?”

“Yes. What’s the big deal? Do you know something about owls that I don’t?”

He shrugged and looked away. There was something he wasn’t telling her. He continued to stare off in another direction for several minutes, ignoring her. He was making her regret her decision to defy her sisters and go out with him. Maybe the Crushed spell had done something to his brain.

Kristen filled her spoon with more rice. She held it up, grabbed the end, and flicked it at him. Rice sailed across the table. Some hit the side of his face, while the rest landed on his shirt.

That got his attention.

He frowned at her and asked, “Why did you do that?”

“Why do you think? We’re supposed to be on a date, but you’re not even here. What gives? We were finally starting to get along. At least, I thought we were.”

“I just realized I might have a family problem to deal with.”

She blinked at him. “An owl reminded you of a family problem?”

Dodging the question, he held his wrist up and pointed to the watch. “It’s getting late. When do you want to start walking to the theater?”

###

Dating was hard.

Zach didn’t know how other boys did it. How did they keep a straight face while saying mushy stuff to girls? When he’d told Kristen he wanted this to be the best date of her life, he’d almost gagged on the words. He wasn’t a hearts and poetry kind of guy. If he liked a girl, he would show her by fixing her car or painting her house.

Kristen didn’t bother to answer his question. She could probably tell he was using his watch to distract her. If he didn’t think of something quick, she was going to walk out on him. There was a faraway look in her eyes as she leaned back in her chair and finished her drink. She was either trying to figure out how to successfully pump him for information, or she was about to dump him.

He opened his mouth to compliment her. His dad had always told his mom she looked pretty when they went out, and it had made his mom smile. But a crowd of rowdy teens caught his attention. Lips still parted, his gaze followed them. They surrounded Rufus McDillion in front of the Crispy Chicken. One of the boys knocked his hat off while two others stole food from his tray. Zach hated bullies. He turned to Kristen to tell her he would be back in a second, but she was already halfway across the food court.

Moving like an unstoppable freight train, Kristen rushed over to save the small boy. She stepped between the three overgrown jocks and Rufus. Red faced, she shoved the main guy backwards and shouted, “Leave him alone!”

He asked, “Are you his mommy or his date?”

His friends laughed and high-fived him.

Kristen stood straight, hands on her hips in a battle-ready stance. Her expression alone should have scared the jerks off, but it was obvious they’d been drinking and weren’t currently using their brains. The biggest guy weaved on his feet, while the others giggled like girls at a sleepover.

Kristen jabbed the huge jerk in the chest with her finger and said, “Walk away now before you get hurt.”

No longer laughing, the bully took a menacing step forward, crowding her. Another couple of inches, and he’d be standing in the same space she was currently occupying. Zach shot out of his chair, almost knocking it over in the process. A picture of the dangerous teen taking a swing at Kristen took him from one side of the food court to the other in record time.

The guy lifted a beefy arm.

Zach grabbed it and jerked the bully around to face him. “Touch her, and I’ll rip your stupid face off!”

Pedestrians gave them a wide berth. Some of them ignored what was happening, not wanting to get involved, while others shot dirty looks at them before continuing on. Most people wouldn’t put themselves in physical danger for someone they didn’t know. That’s why Kristen’s actions had stunned Zach. She’d been willing to risk serious injury for a kid she barely noticed at school.

Zach clenched his fists, ready for a fight. The aroma of cooking chicken nauseated him. Or maybe the gigantic rock in his stomach was because of Kristen. The thought of her being hurt ripped at his sanity.

The other boys moved away, quickly abandoning their friend. Zach stared into the bully’s eyes. A silent understanding passed between them, and the bully retreated. He tripped over his own feet, staggered, but recovered quickly. Looking clumsy, he turned and ran.

To Kristen, it would look like the boy had heard of Zach’s reputation and didn’t want to mess with him. In reality, Zach had used a spell, a sort of Jedi mind trick. He’d shown that idiot a vision of what would happen to him if he didn’t make a quick exit. The move had zapped Zach’s energy. His shoulders sagged a bit, and he forced his lungs to suck in more oxygen. He bent over and retrieved the discarded hat, then handed it to Rufus. Patting the boy on the shoulder, he asked, “You okay?”

Eyes huge, the kid nodded several times. “Y-yes, uh, sir.”

“You can call me Zach.”

“Thanks.”

Rufus spun around and took off at top speed.

“Now you did it,” Kristen said with a smile. “He’s going to tell everyone at school how you’re his best friend. Before you know it, he’ll be saying you’re his big brother.”

“I’m not worried.”

Kristen stared at him for a long moment before saying, “You aren’t at all what I expected.”

Neither was she. The girl had taken on a rowdy group of boys to protect a kid from a possible beating. She seemed to be fearless. He was in awe of her. In that moment, the date became a real one, at least in his mind. He offered his hand to her, and she took it. Both smiling, they walked through the mall and out the main doors. He liked Kristen Noah, and he didn’t care who knew it.

His parents would have liked her. He wished they could have met her. His mom would have loved her compassion and her soft heart. His dad would have admired her strength and spunk. But they were gone because of Morgan.

He pictured the brown, yellow-eyed owl in his head and prayed he was wrong about it. If Morgan had had anything to do with trying to hurt Kristen, he wouldn’t be able to forgive her, not this time.

At least he had one piece of happy news, thanks to Kristen. He wasn’t under her spell. Back at the library, she had ordered him to lick the ground. Although she’d covered with a brilliant lie, he knew exactly what she’d been trying to do. He hadn’t been the only person wondering if he were enchanted, but her command hadn’t affected him in the slightest. There hadn’t been even a teeny, tiny urge to lick concrete.