Divine (16 page)

“
Dangit!”
I snapped. I quickly grabbed a cotton swab from a drawer and ran it
under some cold water, making the black smear gradually vanish as I
drew around my eyelid with the soft cotton-covered stick.

When my straightener
felt hot enough I sectioned out my hair and ran the hot plates down
my blonde strands. I usually didn't bother with straightening it on
most days; my hair was naturally on the straighter side. But it was a
special day, so I wanted to tame all of my fly-aways and make sure
that it looked perfect.

I went back to my room
and carefully slid into my outfit, making sure not to mess up all the
work I had just done with my makeup. When I was all put together I
stood back and admired myself in the mirror. My v-neck shirt clung
tightly to me in all the right places and left a small view of my
cleavage, my jeans were flattering against my smaller waist and
womanly hips.

You look good, how
could Jonah resist you tonight?

My mind wondered next
about the shoes I would wear, since I hadn't decided on them earlier.
I went over to my closet and knelt down, digging around in my pile of
footwear until I found some nicer-looking flip flops.

I miss wearing flip
flops. I'm going to wear them tonight, even if it's super cold.

I slid them over my
freshly red-painted toe nails and stood back up to give myself
another look in the mirror.

The sweet sound of
Jonah's ring tone filled my ears. A rush of excitement ran through me
as I grabbed my phone up from my nightstand and slid my finger across
the screen to answer. “Hello?”

“
Hey, Ashy.”

“
Hi,” I
blushed; I was happy that he couldn't see my red face.

“
I'm almost to
your house; I'll be there in about five minutes.”

“
Okay, I'll meet
you outside.”

“
Okay, bye.”

“
Bye.”

I hung up and grabbed
my purse off of my desk as my stomach twisted itself into a knot; my
nerves were really getting to me from knowing that he was just around
the corner. As I pulled a piece of gum out of my purse and popped it
into my mouth, I hurried downstairs and stood by the front window,
anxiously waiting for his truck to pull up in the driveway.

After a couple of
minutes I could hear the faint sound of his pipey Dodge barreling
toward my house on the slick road. I slowly opened the door and
waited for him to pull in, taking a moment to silently thank the
clouds for taking a break and not raining on my hair and makeup that
I had worked so hard on.

The cold air outside
pimpled my skin and made me think twice about wearing my sweatshirt.
I ran over to the couch where I had left it earlier and put it on,
covering up my perky cleavage more than I preferred.

I'll take it off
when we get to the concert.

I went back to the door
and closed it behind me, locking the deadbolt into place just as he
pulled in.

My heart beat quickened
as I walked toward his lifted truck and went to the passenger side
door. When I opened it I reached for the over head grab handle and
hoisted myself up onto the seat, throwing my purse on the floorboard
and breathlessly shutting the heavy door with a loud bang.

Jonah stared quietly at
me from across the spacious cab. “You look beautiful,” he
finally said with a soft admiration.

I laughed
self-consciously at his compliment. “Thanks,” I said as I
looked over at him.

My breath abruptly
caught in my throat when I saw how handsome he looked. His hair was
freshly cut and done up with gel that gripped his messy spikes. He
wore a silver chain around his neck and a tight blue t-shirt that
clung to his masculine flesh, revealing muscles that I didn't even
know he had.

“
Wow, Jonah. You
look really good,” I uttered with what little breath I had
left.

He looked down at his
chest and then back at me. “So, what, I don't look good every
other day?” he joked, breaking the seriousness of the moment.

“
Oh god, here we
go,” I teased back in our usual banter. “Yes, you look
good every day. Are you happy now?”

“
Thank you. Yes,
I'm happy now.” He flashed me a white smile and put the truck
in reverse, leaving my house behind for the night.

I looked out the window
at the passing businesses as we drove through town. Since my face was
pointing away from him and he wouldn't be able to see, I took the
moment to close my eyes and secretly relish in the aroma of his musky
cologne. He was wearing a different kind this time, it was more
sensual and powerful than his usual scent, but it still had the same
undertone of the woodsy cedar.

“
Are you ready to
have your mind blown?” he asked, cutting into my rhythmic
breathing.

I looked over and shot
him a sideways smile. “Let's see if you can impress me.”

He smirked and turned
on his stereo. “Let's see what we have in the old CD player,
shall we?” He hit a few random buttons and leaned back against
the seat while it loaded. A few seconds later a familiar tune from my
junior high years blasted out from the speakers.

“
Oh, my, god,”
I laughed, leaning forward in my seat. “You've got to be
kidding me! I haven't heard this song in years!”

“
Ha! I knew you
would like this,” he said happily.

“
Yeah, well, it
takes me back. This song will never get old.”

He brought his hand up
to the volume knob. “Let's blast it then.”

Taking my nod as an
agreement he turned the dial and raised the volume to its maximum
level. The bass shook his Dodge hard as we rode down the street
singing all the words to one of our favorite songs that we grew up
with.

“
This is a really
nice truck,” I shouted over the start of the next song.

He turned the volume
down with a smile, looking pleased to hear the compliment. “Thanks.
This truck means a lot to me.”

“
Why is that?”

He rubbed the back of
his neck with his impressive hand and then placed it gently back on
the steering wheel. “Well, my dad had a life insurance policy.
When he died my mom used the money to pay off their house. She used
the rest to buy me this truck.”

“
That was really
thoughtful of her,” I said softly, not sure if talking was
appropriate at that moment.

He kept his eyes fixed
on the road. “Yeah, it's basically the last thing my dad ever
bought me,” he said, breaking his focus ahead to give me a
reminiscent smile.

“
That's really
cool,” I smiled back.

“
Yeah, it is.”
His attention returned to his driving as he sat in silence. A moment
later, his hand slammed down on the wheel, making me jump in my seat.
“Oh man, I forgot the concert tickets,” he moaned.

“
Oh god you
scared me,” I gasped heavily with my hand on my chest. I took a
second to catch my breath while silently scolding myself for being so
skittish. “Well, where are they?” I sighed.

“
At my house. Is
it okay if we swing by there?”

Is it okay if we go
to your house? Of course it's okay. In fact, let's just blow off the
concert and stay there all night . . .

“
Yeah that's
fine,” I said casually, refraining from what I
really
wanted to say.

Looking a bit irritated
with himself, he gunned his engine and made an illegal u-turn around
a cement divider.

“
Um, you're gonna
get pulled over,” I said, a little too parent-like. I took note
of my tone and changed it immediately. “That was fun, though.”

“
Relax, Ashy. I
know what I'm doing.”

Yeah, I bet you do .
. .

His confidence amused
me. “Is there anything that Strong Jonah Brown can't do?”
I teased him.

He laughed and put both
hands on the wheel, twisting them tightly around it. “Yeah, I
can't dance.”

“
You can't dance,
huh?”

“
Yeah, but don't
get me wrong . . . I have rhythm . . .”

Mm hmm, I bet you
have rhythm . . .

“
Well well,”
I said with a bit of shyness brought on by my thought, “I'm
surprised I found a flaw about you.”

He shot me a sardonic
smile. “Is there anything that Summer Peregrine can't do?”

His return on the
question silenced me.

Yeah, I can't
teleport.

“
Well? I'm
waiting,” he nagged.

“
I can't really
dance either,” I told him, wishing I could tell him what I
really
couldn't do.

“
You're lying,”
he spat out.

His shocking statement
made me turn in my seat to face him. “I am not!”

“
I know you, Ash;
you're lying. Just tell me what you can't do, really.”

I faced back toward the
front of the truck and crossed my arms in front of me, unsure of what
to say to him without revealing that I was a Divine.

“
So you’re
not talking to me now I take it?” he said, cutting through my
silence.

I gave him an
exaggerated sigh. “I'll tell you someday.”

He gripped the wheel
with one hand and looked back and forth between me and the road, the
muscles of his strong shoulders relaxing as he leaned back into his
seat. “I'm sorry, I don't think you're lying,” he said
softly. “I know you can't dance . . . I've seen you . . .”

My head snapped over to
see his devilish grin waiting for me to act on his ridicule. I
reached over and gave him a soft punch on the arm. “You're such
a jerk!” I said with a laugh.

He threw his head back
and laughed loudly into the air. “That's what you get for
getting me to spill mine without spilling yours.”

“
Hey, I told you
I will tell you someday.”

“
Well I hope that
someday comes soon.”

We pulled into his
driveway and he turned his truck off, shifting toward me in the
darkness. “Do you want to come inside?” he asked
hesitantly through the cologne- scented air of the cab.

I wasn't sure what
would happen between us when we went inside his house, but,
obviously, I was willing to find out. “Um, sure,” I
answered him.

The house itself
belonged to his Uncle Lou. It was a larger house and was made of
brick that varied in different colors of red. Blue shutters bordered
the windows and white trim lined the front of the roof, making it
appear to be a comfortable cottage-style abode. Off to the side was a
two car garage with an apartment above it, which was where Jonah
lived.

We jumped out of the
truck and walked toward the side of the garage to a flight of stairs
that ran up along the wall. As we climbed them I looked over at Lou's
house and noticed that all of the lights seemed to be turned off.

“
Lou and his
family are gone?” I nosily asked.

Jonah jumbled his keys
around in the dark. “Yeah, they all left this weekend. His
wife's mom is sick so they went down to help her out.” He
finally found his key and thrust it into the lock, turning the knob
and opening the door to a room filled with the faint smell of his
cologne. He stood back and let me go in first before following behind
me and locking the door back into place.

“
Well, this is
it,” he said through a heavy sigh.

His house was
surprisingly clean for a guy his age. The gray tiled kitchen shared
the same open space with the living room, which had clean, low-pile
beige carpet. His leather couch was pretty nice as well, and it faced
a flat screen TV that was hanging neatly on his wall. And lastly,
there was a simple black coffee table that held a gaming system
controller and a short stack of auto magazines, of course.

“
It's a really
nice place,” I told him. “You keep it so clean.”

“
Thanks. I try to
keep it as clean as I can.” He walked over to the kitchen and
pulled open one of the small drawers. “I think I put the
tickets in here,” he said as he dug around in the shallow
paper-filled space. A moment later he looked up and revealed a look
of frustration. “Nope, not in there.”