Eternally Blue (Sunset Cliffs Vampire #1) (Paranormal Teen Romance) (14 page)

We walk in silence for a minute. “So I guess I won’t be seeing you tonight?” I ask.

“
No, I will probably be home late. Lainey will probably hang out with you if you needed something to do, or my brother has off tonight…”

“
I don’t need anyone to hang out with me out of pity!” I screech at him before speeding away from him. To my dismay my raised voice caused a few people to look in our direction but they looked back down when they saw that it wasn’t going to escalate seeing as how he wasn’t following me. Now I was really mad; he should definitely be trying to follow me at least.

By lunch we still hadn’t made up and Lindsey frowned as he walked by our table without sitting down. She opened her mouth to ask, but I told her not to bother. The rest of the table kept giving me sideways glances like they were afraid I was going to breakdown when Courtney called loudly across the lunchroom to him, waving her arms. He went over and sat with his back to me. I just shrugged my shoulders and made my lunch take the whole break to eat to avoid having to look at Stacey or Lindsey’s pitying puppy eyes. Didn’t they think it was odd that Courtney was sitting somewhere else today and that she took my Noah with her?

Even if I was wrong to argue with him he should definitely still be trying to talk to me, find out what’s wrong, and make up. He seemed to be ok with just forgetting it, forgetting me, ever happened. Why shouldn’t he, I thought. He now has Lainey here and I’d bet she’d even be willing to make a relationship work without making him a vampire again, or he obviously has Courtney eating out of his hand. Hopefully not literally. I don’t dare raise my head to see what their lunch table situation is.

By the end of the day I have resigned myself to having to just walk home, since I wasn’t counting on my ride waiting for me. It was only about five miles and would give me the chance to blow off some steam at least.

I make it home only 20 minutes before Stacey, and she had to stay after school for practice. But still, I feel much better after my walk and we both hang out in the kitchen snacking and gossiping. Stacey was so great, and she never pried once about Noah even though I know she knew something was up. At the very least I know Lindsey would have said something to her about it during pep squad. And I am willing to bet that Courtney mentioned that he was coming over her house to study that night so she might have put two and two together, but she didn’t once mention it, and instead seemed to be trying very hard to keep the conversation positive, as if she couldn’t bear for me to have a silent moment of thought to dwell on my misfortune.

We decided to go run out for some ice cream even though we just gorged on some chips and salsa, (she really is amazing isn’t she?) and I go upstairs to freshen up and relax while she showers.

Lindsey ends up meeting us for ice cream and even though there is the obvious absence of Courtney who is hanging out with my not-quite-official boyfriend, we all manage to not talk about it once and even spend so much of the time at the ice cream parlor laughing that we get hit on by a group of guys.

Lindsey was apparently ‘taken, sorry boys’ by Sean and begged away to call him, leaving me and Stacey to fend them off. Interestingly though, Stacey didn’t appear too interested in fending one coincidently named Fender, off, and he joined us, taking Lindsey’s empty seat. His friends left standing shifted uncomfortably, and appeared disgruntled that they weren’t chosen. Especially when Fender embarrassed them by motioning to them all in a line and telling me to ‘take my pick’.

There was one cute one out of the bunch but I wasn’t in any mood to flirt so I shook my head and pretended to be very engrossed in our ‘belly buster’ the three of us ordered. Or maybe I shouldn’t say pretend since I definitely inhaled more than my third of the ten scoop monster.

By the time Stacey got Fender’s number and the guys took off, I was feeling sick to my stomach with ice cream. Lindsey finally returned after a telephone marathon with Sean outside, and giddy on love they both gushed while eating the drippy remains. I apologized for eating all the good flavors and they for the first time it seemed noticed how much I had eaten and that started us all in giggles again.

When we got home there was a note on the counter about leftovers in the fridge for us, which I couldn’t of course stomach, but Stacey pulled them out and I told her I was going upstairs to lay down to nurture my bellyache. I tried not to let myself be happy about the fact that Noah’s car was in his driveway.

I put my iPod on and fell asleep within minutes listening to Amy MacDonald’s “This Is The Life”. I couldn’t help but think that mere weeks ago when I got here, I picked this song out of Stacey’s iTunes specifically because I thought that this life was so perfect and exciting that I felt the mood of that song perfectly. Now when I listened to it, I just felt sad.

I rode with Stacey the next morning as usual. She was more alive and awake than she was most mornings and told me about Fender calling her last night, and them talking on the phone until the early morning. So trying to get into the spirit with her, when she was finished talking, I turned the radio up and we sang Miss Li’s song “Dancing The Whole Way Home”, the rest of the way to school.

Feeding off the peppy, high energy song put me in a great mood and by the time I got to school I decided that I wasn’t going to wait around for Noah to talk to me, I would talk to him as soon as I saw him. His car was still in his driveway when I left for school so I knew I’d be able to just sit at a picnic table by the parking lot and wait for him to arrive.

The parking lot slowly filled up as I sat there and I started to fidget, getting nervous. Courtney arrived and when she saw me she did a double take in my direction, before slowing down to smirk at me in passing. She stood a little straighter after that and strutted away confidently, smoothing her hair and waving at various students as she walked.

My stomach sank a little, wondering what happened last night that left her feeling so cocky. No doubt she set candles while serving Noah her mother’s surf and turf. Everyone knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and being that he was a vampire for a handful of years, his stomach is even more susceptible to being bought with delicious foods.

No, I had to push those thoughts out of my head. The parking lot was pretty full now and the rush of students was slowing but Noah’s spot was still empty. My leg started to tap with anxiety and I pulled out my phone to check the time. Disappointed – that it was almost time for school, not that I hadn’t missed a call or text from Noah I told myself– I stood and headed for class.

I didn’t see him in between any classes which wasn’t a huge shock since we were still fighting, but by lunch I was sure I’d see him. I skipped the lunch line completely and was the first to the table, so that if he came in the door I wouldn’t miss him, but he never showed. He didn’t sneak past me to sit with Courtney either, even though I kept checking in her direction for signs of him. Stacey kept stealing worried glances at me but didn’t say anything and I kept my smile plastered on just in case she got any ideas about me wanting to talk about it.

He never showed up in last period and by then I had imagined so many scenarios about where he could be that I decided that after class I would just ask Courtney what happened last night. I swallowed my pride after the last bell rang and ran straight to the gym locker room where I knew she would be with Stacey and Lindsey changing for pep squad.

They all looked surprised to see me, and see me panting out of breath at that. Gasping for breath I held my finger up in the universal symbol for wait, and bent over at the waist to gulp down deep breaths. I stood back up to see the three of them in various stages of clothing themselves looking at me like I had three heads. Lindsey spoke first.

“
Blue hey? Are you thinking about joining pep squad?”

I shot her a look like I thought she was crazy, and turned to Courtney, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

She shrugged “Go ahead”.

I looked at Lindsey and Stacey, I had been hoping Courtney would go somewhere more private but honestly these were my friends too and I knew anything I said they would find out anyways, better they hear it from me without Courtney’s added flair. “What um, happened last night with you and Noah?”

Now it was Courtney’s turn to look surprised. “What, he didn’t tell you?” She let that sentence drip out with disdain. My heart thudded hard against my rib cage painfully. I didn’t know having a heart beating could be this painful, now I understood the words heartbreak, aching breaking heart and so on.

“
Will you just tell me what happened last night Courtney?”

She just shrugged and pulled a gym shirt over her head, “Maybe you need to talk to him about that”.

She was trying for nonchalance, I could see that much, but I didn’t know what she was hiding. If they kissed wouldn’t she just be bursting at the seams to tell me? I must have looked like I felt – like I got kicked in the stomach – because Stacey looked at me with a worried look on her face and then at Courtney hesitantly like she wasn’t sure if she should get involved in it. Lindsey shook her head slightly, but Stacey caught it and thought better of taking sides.

I snapped then. Who was Courtney to hurt so many people, she was hurting me and I didn’t even know her, and she obviously bosses around her other friends so that they are afraid to oppose her. I got in her face then surprising her into taking a step back, “Courtney, if you don’t tell me what happened, I will tell everyone… well I’m not sure yet what I will tell them, but I will be waiting for you to slip up, and I will be there to relish your demise.” She blinked and I kept my finger in her face, both of us breathing heavily.

“
Whoa Blue, kind of creepy” Stacey said. Lindsey laughed, and I looked at them both standing there grinning. “Yeah Blue, “Lindsey chipped in, “Why’d you get all ‘I’ll be watching you’ on us?” They both laughed. I looked back at Courtney who looked like she was trying to suppress a smile and I couldn’t help it, I laughed and backed up. “I’m really sorry Courtney that was inappropriate, I’m not sure what came over me, I’m just worried about Noah I guess, I haven’t heard from him all day.”

“
You haven’t?” She looked surprised, “I thought he was rushing home to you last night”. At the three of us looking at her with probing eyes, she rolled her eyes and continued “yeah after we studied, he wolfed down a lobster and steak and left before I could serve him dessert. I am sooo not used to that. He said it was late and that he needed to get home”.

“
Hi- his car was already home when I got home last night” I stuttered. I couldn’t fathom what he needed to rush home for if he wasn’t meeting me. Maybe he and Lainey had plans … but plans that didn’t require the use of his car?” I grimaced; He just obviously didn’t want to talk to me, regardless of not doing anything with Courtney.

Stacey reached out and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Do you want me to drive you home so you can go over there?” “No, I can wait, I think I’ll sit and watch your practice and just catch a ride home with you after if you don’t mind?”

“
Yeah of course! I have plans with Fender but I could use to go home and jump in the shower really quick anyways”.

That is how I ended up on the bleachers watching pep squad practice until 4pm. I would have taken a nap if I hadn’t brought my iPod. This was the greatest thing ever I thought as I remembered thankfully that I packed it and dug it out of my newly bought book bag. I kissed it in thanks for a distraction from the hyena pack-like mentality of the girls practicing and stretching and talking. I put my book bag down on a bleacher and used it as a pillow and dozed off listening this time to “Sweetheart” by Lightspeed Champion. What can I say; I was in the mood for something romantic and cheerful in anticipation of making up with Noah.

I didn’t have time to think about it on the ride home too much because Stacey was explaining the intricacies of pep squad to me. I don’t know what I did to deserve that, I guess she didn’t notice that I fell asleep from boredom waiting for her. She insisted if I could just understand it, that I’d love it and she guessed that I would be a natural at it.

When we pulled in front of our house and she shut off the engine I felt like it was the moment of reckoning. Did I want to go inside first and get a snack? Change into something cute? Put my bag down? Hell no. I ran across the street, leaving my book bag in the backseat of her car, and knocked on the door. To my surprise the door gave way under my beating, and swung open. I didn’t want to just go inside; someone must have not closed the door all the way.

I stood there in front of the open door and tried the doorbell. It rang loud and clear several times but still nobody stirred in the house. I would have at least thought Lainey would be home and wake up. I turned around and double checked – yep his car was still in the driveway. I yelled into the house ‘ok guys, I’m coming in, you left the door open!’ I grabbed a fire poker in the living room as a weapon just in case I ran into a sleepy and hungry Lainey. I didn’t want to actually use it – stabbing a vampire considering I AM, or WAS or am partly still a vampire? No thank you – but I took it anyways because as Lainey said ‘I smell yummy’, and set off to search the house.