Guardian (13 page)

I rolled my eyes at the ground. “Well, could you just make sure they’re safe?” I started in surprise when I felt a heavy, warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Rafael’s beautiful eyes filled with concern.

“I’ll keep them safe,” he promised, the strength and sincerity in his voice leaving no doubt in my mind that he would do what he said. “No matter the cost.”

So convinced was I of this promise that I didn’t spend a second worrying overlong about Grace and Colton’s safety the whole time I was gone. Visions of Rafael standing vigil outside Natalie’s house danced across my thoughts, always in the role of our guardian.

The day I returned from the missions trip, I could barely hold back my patience all through mass, something that was totally new for me. But how could I help my thoughts from straying to Rafael, whom I knew, without even looking, was waiting for me just outside the church? When the last note of the closing hymn ended, I picked up my overnight bag and flew down the aisles of the church. I burst through the large doors, my excitement apparently preceding me as Colton and Grace struggled to keep up.

He was there, of course, still dressed in his daily black uniform, his dark, brooding face the same, although it actually lit up with a genuine smile when he saw me. The pleasure of this led me to do something that I would never have normally considered: when I reached Rafael, I threw my arms around him and hugged him fiercely. After a startled moment, his arms came around me as well, in one quick but lung-crushing squeeze. I sprang back, too full of happy energy to stand still.

“Well?” I asked. “Did the city crumble down in my absence?”

Rafael was grinning. I took in his white teeth, his perfectly carved mouth, the dark arched brows above his magnificently colored eyes. I decided that I could look at him all day, and always find a new little freckle from the sun, or a different golden highlight amid his dark chocolate-colored hair. He was just so
beautiful
, so divinely amazing to look at, I could never get bored with staring at him.

“It tried, but failed with me here to hold it up,” he teased. “I hear the trip was quite spectacular.”

I gave a happy little shudder. “Like a little medicinal retreat for my soul,” I told him. “I brought you something!”

He looked utterly taken aback. “You did?”

I nodded excitedly. “Of course I did. We’re friends, aren’t we? Friends do things for each other.”

“But I have nothing for you!” he protested as I dug around inside my large duffle bag.

I scowled at him. “It doesn’t work that way. Although, technically, you bought me a cell phone, so we’re even. Here you go.”

Rafael looked from me to the small little gift box that I had wrapped up at the airport, and then back again. “Is it from the mission trip?” he asked, sounding suspicious.

“Yes, silly,” I said, holding it out further.

He took a small step back. “It isn’t blessed, is it?”

I sighed. “Knowing your aversion to anything touched or handled by a priest of the Catholic variety, no, I did not ask anyone to bless it. It’s as ordinary as the jacket you wear. Every day, I might add.”

Rafael finally accepted the little box. “This jacket,” he said, untying the small bow that seemed very frivolous in his large, capable hands, “has been through a lot with me.” He took my gift out of the box and lifted it into the sunlight, examining it.

“It’s become the motto of the church,” I explained, taking the small black rubber-style bracelet from his hands and holding it out so he could stick his wrist through it. SEEK HOLINESS was pressed into the rubber. “They’re trying to get everyone to wear them. You’ve seen different colored ones for other causes, I’m sure. Despite your refusal to attend youth group, or mass, or anything else in the church, I thought maybe this would remind you, you know, of God and the Church and everything.”

Rafael slipped his wrist inside, still staring at the bracelet, his eyebrows knit closely together. I lifted my own braceleted arm up next to his. “See? Now we match!”

“How positively exciting,” he said dryly, but then he looked me in the eye, and I noticed something in his expression that I had never really seen there before. It was the kind of expression that made me realize I had just, somehow and without even realizing it, given Rafael a gift that to him was absolutely priceless.

“Thank you, Lyla,” he said quietly, putting his arm down. “Thank you very much.” Then Rafael did something he had never done before; he put his hand on the back of my head to hold me steady, leaned down, and kissed the top of my head.

To my absolute mortification, I blushed. “So,” I said, clearing my throat awkwardly. “Do you want to, um, maybe go see a movie or something?”

Rafael raised his eyebrows. “A movie?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “There’s no rule that says we have to stay in the park every day we hang out, is there?”

“The last movie I saw in a theatre was
Star Wars
.”

I wrinkled my nose. “The new ones just can’t beat the first three. I’m sorry, but I just have to say it.”

“I’m
talking
about the first three,” Rafael corrected dryly.

I cringed. “How old
are
you?”

“Austin.”

I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just go and see if anything good is playing. Unless you’d rather not spend so much time with me. I understand if you’ve found someone more interesting while I’ve been away.” I held my breath, wondering if Rafael would realize I had just voiced my deepest fear.

He didn’t, of course. Perceptive and inhuman he might be, but God he
certainly
was not. He scowled at my suggestion, however, and grabbed my arm to tow me along toward Colton and Grace. “Come on. We’re not getting any butter on our popcorn, though. That’s where I draw the line.”

That was the first day Rafael and I ever ventured out into the world together, away from the safety of our park bench. But it certainly was not the last. While the bench was our official meeting place, we began to get out and see the rest of the city. That was also the day I realized I had fallen head over heels in love with a total stranger I knew almost nothing about.

“Okay, okay,” Natalie said, appearing next to my locker out of nowhere, as she always did. She and Rafael had that in common. “A few weeks ago you missed two days of school in a row, I do believe that was a ‘B’ I saw on our history test last period. You’re slacking on school! What’s up?”

I shrugged. “Senioritis,” I lied. “I think all of this straight-A student stuff is just really catching up to me.”

“Now, Lyla,” Natalie said firmly, as I closed my locker and hefted my backpack over my shoulders. “It’s September! You can’t get senioritis in September! Come on now. We have a long time to go before we can start skipping classes.”

The bright sun hit my eyes, blinding me as we walked through the main doors of the school. Natalie pulled out her large sunglasses, slipping them on as she flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulders.

“And today, I will
not
take no for an answer…” She kept talking, though I was listening with just one ear as I looked over the front drive, where all the cars full of parents waited to pick up their children from school. There was the usual line up of mini vans and first-in-safety-ratings SUV‘s. I tuned back in to Natalie.

“-That quiz will probably be killer and midterms-”

I tuned her back out again. While I had gotten a ‘B’, it hadn’t really been from shirking class. I was actually doing fabulous in history, thanks to Rafael and his stories. Recalling all his secrets, I wasn’t so sure he hadn’t been alive and present for all these events. I remembered his hilarity when I asked if he was a vampire, and smiled to myself.

“What are you smiling at?” Natalie asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing. Just, just something funny I remembered,” I said quickly.

“Isn’t that Colton and Grace?” Natalie asked suddenly, pointing.

I followed her finger to where both Colton and Grace were standing next to a shiny rocky-blue Hummer 3. They were perched on the edge of the car, feet braced on the side steps and clinging onto the door through the open window as they talked to whoever was inside. I began to sprint over to them, preparing my lecture for talking to strangers, when I caught a glimpse of the driver.

“Excuse me for a second, Nat,” I murmured, and headed over to the big vehicle. Rafael lifted his new aviator sunglasses to the top of his dark head as I came closer.

“So, I see you went on a shopping spree,” I said, grinning just a little bit.

“Sometimes you’re just in the mood to spend a little money.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I teased. “How do you even pay for all of this, Rafael? And the cell phones?”

He leveled his eyes at me. “Austin.”

I planted my hands on my hips. “Are you a criminal?” I demanded.

His answer was to laugh, loud and long, and then lean over to open the door for me. “Just get in so I can drive the three of you home.”

After helping Colton and Grace up the big step into the backseat, I climbed in myself. We were almost home when my phone buzzed with a text. It was from Natalie.

Um, are you crazy?

I ignored it but had a brief moment where I wondered if she was right as Rafael pulled into an empty parking lot and got out of the car, coming to open my door.

“What are you doing?” I asked, frowning at him.

“It’s time to teach you how to drive,” he replied, completely serious.

I laughed, because the idea was so ludicrous. “I don’t
need
to drive,” I told him. “The chances of me even owning a car before I’m thirty are like, nil. And if I did drive, it wouldn’t be a
tank
like this.”

“Everyone needs to learn how to drive,” Rafael told me, and now he was using his serious voice. “You never know when it will be useful, Lyla. And if you learn how to drive a big car, then you can handle any other kind. Now, move over.”

Cowed by the reprimand and meekly obedient, I climbed over the middle console into the driver’s seat, Grace’s and Colton’s giggles ringing in my ears. Rafael got into my vacated seat and took the lead. After explaining all the various controls and what they did, he began to rap out orders like a seasoned drivers ed instructor.

“Turn the key in the ignition. No, the other way will start the car. Very good. Now, press your foot in on the brake. Your
right
foot, Lyla. You don’t use your left foot at all when you drive. Press down on the brake, grab the gear shift and pull it slowly back into drive. Excellent. Slowly,
slowly
ease your foot off the brake.”

I couldn’t help grinning widely as the big SUV began to glide, well, creep really, across the parking lot.

“All right.” Rafael continued his calm litany of instructions. “Now, carefully, very gently move your foot off the break and gently press on the gas. Gently, Lyla!”

Grace and I both screamed as the car jumped forward, snapping our necks sharply backward.

“Gently, Lyla,” Rafael said in amused exasperation. “This is a brand new car, so all the pedals are very touchy.”

I tried again, and this time the car slowly and smoothly moved forward. Several jerky stops and sudden jumps forward later, I thought I finally had the hang of ‘easing’ in on the pedals and Rafael declared me ready for the open road. I wasn’t the only one to protest this. Colton and Grace let their lack of confidence in my driving abilities be known from the back seat as well. Rafael ignored all of us.

“If you don’t do it right away, you’ll never think you’re ready,” he said, speaking loudly over all our complaining. “Lyla, you know these roads and traffic is light. Now is an excellent time. Head for the exit from this lot.”

My panic level rose considerably when I contemplated driving with other cars, but with Rafael’s calm voice to narrate me the whole way, my palms eventually stopped sweating. I was actually enjoying myself. I had only sharply cut off one person and been honked at three times (mainly for turning at a speed of five miles per hour) when flashing lights caught my attention in the rearview mirror.

“Rafael, there’s a-” I began, and now not just my palms were sweating, but my forehead and my upper lip. My fingers even started trembling on the wheel.

“Calm down,” Rafael said, in an extremely soothing voice. “Just ease in on the brakes and pull off to the side of road. I’ll handle this, Lyla. Don’t panic. Don’t say anything.”

Don’t panic?
I echoed in my brain as I did as he requested, carefully pulling the car over to the curb between two parked cars. How could I not panic? It had only just occurred to me that I was breaking the
law
. I, Lyla Evans, senior class president, senior youth group leader, was not just breaking a rule. I was driving without a
license
. Moreover, I was driving without said license or learners permit, and without my
legal guardian
. I looked at Rafael out of the corner of my eye as we waited for the cop to come to my window. Clearly, this man was a terrible influence on me.

“Excuse me, miss.”

I started in surprise; I hadn’t even heard the cop approach.

“I’ll need to see both of your licenses and the registration.”

I sucked in my breath and looked to Rafael for direction. He was leaning forward in his seat, looking intently at the cop.

“No, you don’t,” Rafael said, and both the cop and I stared at him in shock.