Games of Fire (23 page)

Tell? She couldn’t even think.

“Okay,” she squeaked.

He pulled away much too quickly and crossed to the freezer. He yanked open the door and fished inside.  “Allergies?” he asked suddenly, pulling out a box.

“
Pineapples,” she answered, moving to stand beside him as he tore the top off a microwaveable dinner. She laughed. “Good choice. Nothing’s touching.”

His mouth turned downward in a teasing scowl. He flicked her gently
on the nose. “Back off, brat.” He nudged her aside as he reached for the knobs on the stove.

“How are things with your mom?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

The amusement faded from his eyes. He leaned back against the counter, folding his arms over his chest. “The insurance place is closed over the weekend. She’s going to call them Monday.”

Sophie nodded slowly. “That
’s cool.”

He exhaled, pushing away and moving towards the door. “Come on. We have to wait for the oven to preheat.”

“You know the whole point of
microwavable
meals is the beauty of not having to wait, right? You just pop them into the microwave.”

He slanted her
arched eyebrow glower that contradicted the grin on his mouth. “I don’t like soggy food.”

“No soggy food. No food touching each other. Is there anything else I should know about your eating habits?”

He snorted a laugh, poking her in the side. “You’re such a pain.”

Sophie snickered. “Yeah, I know.”

She followed him back into the short foyer, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. She glanced at Spencer. Realizing she wasn’t following him up the steps, he stopped and glanced back.

“I should say hi to your mom,” she said. “I’ll meet you up there.”

He nodded. “Second door on the left.”

With a nod that she understood, she walked down the narrow hall to where Jackie was sniffling into a wad of tissue. Careful not to startle
the pair, Sophie stopped in the doorway.

“Hello!”

Suzy didn’t budge, but her lips turned down further at the corners. She stared at the screen a little too hard to be paying attention. Her deliberate avoidance didn’t faze Sophie.

Jackie blinked, her lashes clinging together, clumpy with mascara gunk. Her blue eyes were ringed black, raccoon style. She looked like a kid in her jeans and fluffy sweater, her hair swept back in a ponytail.

“Sophia!” She rubbed at her nose with the tissue. “I didn’t hear the door. Is everything all right?”

Sophie nodded, not sure what Spencer had told his mother about that evening’s
plans. “I’m watching a movie with Spencer.”

Jackie blinked again as if this bit of information confused her. “Oh! He must have forgotten to mention
… ” She trailed off, clearing her throat. She smiled. “Never mind. You know you’re always welcome here!”

Sophie smiled. “Thank you.”

But Jackie’s attention had reverted back to the screen. She sniffled, her bottom lip trembling. “I’ve seen this show a million times, but this part … ” Her voice broke. “Poor Mary.”

Sophie, who had never
watched the show, could only nod sympathetically before excusing herself politely and slipping quietly from the room.

Her feet made no sound as she ascended the stairs to the top. The cream colored carpet sprawled down a narrow hall with two doors on either side and another door at the very end that opened into a bathroom. Sophie followed Spencer’s instructions and walked to the second door on the left and peered inside.

The room was painted a tropical blue that popped with the white of the ceiling and the trim. Gently used furniture in glossy oak took up most of the room, really bringing out the color. It took only one glance for her to realize this wasn’t a spare sitting room or a rec room. It was probably the massive bed taking up most of the place or the dresser, the posters, the pictures and trophies, but it came to her real quick that this was his bedroom. She was in his bedroom. She was about to watch a movie with him in his room, possibly on the bed because there was nowhere else to sit.

Holy poopcicles.

The boy in question stood with his back to her, shuffling through a stack of DVDs, oblivious of her building hysteria. He looked so comfortable in his private place, in his chamber of solitude where he slept and dressed and did all his daily things.

Unconsciously, her gaze flickered to the bed. No way was she going to be able to get comfortable to watch anything while sitting on his bed
… with him.

Maybe she could make a run for it. She could escape now before he even knew she was there. All she had to do was take two steps back, turn and
…

“Oh hey!” He caught sight of her before she could follow through and bolt.

Crap!

“Hey!” The single word came out high pitched and shrill.

His eyebrows shot up. “You okay?”

Distrusting her ability so speak again, Sophie nodded.

“You going to come inside?”

The bed pulled her eyes again, sending hot fingers of heat creeping into her face, burning behind her eyes. She swallowed hard, rubbing the sweat off her palms across her thighs. Her mind worked overtime, shouting at her the pros and cons of what she was about to do, but she had to do something fast. He was watching her, waiting.

She took one step in, then another, her movement almost robotic.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“No! I mean yes! I’m okay. I just … ” She sucked in a lungful of air. “I’m okay.”

He looked doubtful, but amused. “Okay. Here.” He pushed the stack of movies at her. “You pick.”

She took them from him, grateful for something to do other than stand there like an idiot. She was doing pretty well too, flipping through each one, until she saw him walk over to the bed and stretch out across the dark sheets, a beautiful banquet. It took a little more effort after that to focus, to not let her fingers tremble or her eyes to stray over to him.

He sat propped against a mound of pillows, hands folded beneath his head as if he had not a care in the world. His feet were crossed at the ankles and his shirt had ridden up, revealing a thin strip of flesh between the hem and his waistband.

“This!” she blurted, randomly selecting one without looking.

He leapt off the bed and ambled over to her. She was careful not to let their fingers touch when he took the
DVD from her.

He looked it over, looked at her, lifted an eyebrow. “
Serious?”

Trying not to fidget, Sophie frowned. “Of course!”

His gaze dropped to the cover again. His teeth caught his bottom lip. “Okay.” Something in the way he said it, oooook, all doubtful and surprised, made her want to snatch it back from him, but he was moving away to the plasma TV mounted over a squat bookshelf stacked with a stereo, game systems, DVD player and comics.

She watched him slip the disk into the machine, watched the machine swallow it, never once seeing the title.

Spencer turned to her, case still in his hand. “I’m going to put our food in the oven.” He grinned. “Feel free to browse. I keep all the really good reading material under the mattress.” He laughed when she gasped. “I’m joking!” He walked to the door. “Maybe!” Then he was out of sight, leaving Sophie staring after him, not sure how serious to take him. Her gaze shot to the bed for the hundredth time, wondering.

She walked to the opposite side of the room, away from the temptation to check. She wandered over to the bookcase next to the closet and looked over the titles, surprised to find several she
recognized. She roamed over to the spinning CD rack, but recognized nothing there. She was peering over his many athletic accomplishments when he returned.

“Why don’t you play anymore?” she asked, gesturing to a soccer trophy.

He shrugged, moving to stand beside her. “My dad was into the whole sports thing. After the divorce, I decided I didn’t want to play anymore.”

“You were very good,” she murmured, reading the gold plaques.

He moved away. “The food’ll be ready in thirty minutes. We can start the movie or do something else while we wait.”

Sophie turned away from the shelf to face him. “We could play a game.” She gestured to the multiple systems lined neatly along the shelf.

His eyes narrowed. “You play?”

Sophie couldn’t help but bark a laugh. “Ha! No, not even a little, but I’m a fast learner. If you’re up for it
?”

His lips twitched. “You’re on.”

Playing against him proved to be a very bad idea. She had no idea what she was doing and spent more time than not lost in the maze. Several times, she killed herself by falling down a dark hole or getting eaten by giant spiders. A few times, she had to give Spencer her controller so he could get her out of a trap. But he never complained or lost his patience, not that it stopped him from rubbing it in.

“Admit defeat?” he teased thirty minutes later as he dropped down his controller and rose to his feet.

Sophie sulked. “I was only letting you win.”

He laughed, leaving her to sit and scowl at the screen as he hurried off to get their food.

Her tailbone throbbed as she struggled off the ground, using the footboard of the bed as leverage. She wondered if they would be sitting on the floor throughout the movie as well, and partially hoped not. But then again, she wasn’t looking forward to sitting on his bed either.

She was still standing, staring at his bed when he returned with a tray laden with two microwave dinners, a six pack of Coke, a bowl of chips and a bottle of water. He set everything down gently on the bed and turned to her.

“You look like you’re going to pass out.”

She went for what she hoped was a carefree smile, but wound up being more of a grimace. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t look convinced. “You can change your mind about the movie if you want. I won’t hold it against you.”

In her dilemma over the bed, she hadn’t even thought of the movie she’d picked. “Oh no, I’m a huge fan of
… of …
that
movie!”

He snorted. “I can see that. All right, so what’s got you tense enough to jump out of your skin?”

Sophie winced, then sighed, realizing there was no longer a point hiding it. “I’ve never been in a boy’s room before. I have one guy friend, Joe. We’ve been friends forever and I’ve been to his house, but never in his room. This is a bit strange for me.”

Spencer narrowed his eyes as if trying to remember something. “Joe? The guy you’re always with?”

“Well, I don’t think we’re
always
together, but yeah, that’s Joe. We’ve been friends since kindergarten. It’s always been the four of us.”

“Oh,” was all he said, sounding surprised, with an undertone of sheepish.

“What?”

“Nothing.” But there were pink flags riding high upon his cheeks as he turned away in the pretense of adjusting the tray better on the bed.

“No! No!” She grabbed his elbow, turning him back to face her. “You can’t play that. I told you the truth.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward as if he’d rather face the ceiling th
an her. “The first time I saw you standing with him in church, I thought he was your boyfriend or something.”

“Joe?” she exclaimed, not sure whether to be horrified or amused. “He’s like my brother!”

He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know. He had his arms around you. What was I supposed to think?”

Disbelief stole through her
. “So you thought I would still go out with you, or let you kiss me if I had a boy … ” She trailed off, realizing just what he meant. That was exactly what Aimee had done to him. Of course in his mind, Sophie was just like the other girl, fully capable of doing something so horrible to someone she supposedly cared about. The accusation was like a fist in the chest. “You might not believe me, but I’m not like that,” she whispered.

His gray eyes flickered to her face, then awa
y. He seemed at a loss for words or maybe he was trying to suppress the wrong ones. Sophie was just glad he didn’t apologize. She knew he wouldn’t have meant it.

“Can we just
… ” She gestured to the TV.

“Yeah.” Head ducked, he hurried past her to switch on the movie. He motioned for her get on the bed as he moved to the light switch and flicked it off.

Sophie had no trouble getting up on the bed, not when her heart sat somewhere at her knees, distracting her from any other thought. She slipped out of her shoes and curled her feet beneath her, gaze fixed on the flickering screen and not the boy climbing up on the other side. They sat in silence, eating their supper, as the first scene appeared. Fifteen minutes in and Sophie regretted her choice in movies. She regretted eating. She regretted not changing her mind when she had the chance.

The movie was horrific, a massacre of human life. She was almost certain it was a third or fourth installment of a series because there were parts mentioned that she knew hadn’t been shown, which not only confused things for her, but made it feel as though the plot was simply the sick, twisted game one man was playing on a group of other people by locking them in a maze of torture, watching while they fought desperately for their lives. Every scene made her stomach roil. More times than not, she watched through the gaps in her fingers, praying it would end soon. Beside her, Spencer didn’t seem to be having any trouble at all. He sat casually back, munching on chips as though they were watching some Disney movie. She was just about to tell him he had some serious issues for even owning such a horrible movie when it ended. Credits rolled, creepy music thrummed. Sophie nearly sobbed in relief.