Landlocked (A water witch novel) (15 page)

“Maribel?” Sylvia said, shaking me out of my daze.

I cleared my throat and looked up. I would have to take that creepy charm off, but other than that, it was my new favorite piece of jewelry.

“Thank you, Johnny, I love it.” I smiled at him, hoping that my obvious distaste for the weird snake charm didn’t make him feel bad.

“You’re welcome, our dear Maribel.” He returned my smile.

“Hello, ladies,” Dylan said.

I turned to see him standing next to Jaron, who was wearing a huge grin stretched across his handsome face. “Maribel, Clarissa,” he said, nodding to us formally.

“This is Jaron?” Sylvia said in a rush.

“Yes,” I said, my eyes pleading, trying to convey the message, Don’t embarrass me!

“Yes. You must be Sylvia.” He extended his hand. “You’ve raised a pretty amazing girl.”

“Oh…” she said, taking his hand and looking at him closely. Peering at Dylan she raised her eyebrows questioningly, he shook his head slightly.

“Okay, you’ve met. We’re outta here.” I pulled Clarissa with me over to Jaron. “Have a good dinner!” I waved to them as I grabbed Jaron by the elbow. He gave them an apologetic look over his shoulder as I tugged him away.

When we were out of embarrassment range, I slowed my pace. “Dylan wasn’t too bad, was he?” I asked.

“Well, I would say what’s with the twenty questions, but it was more like one hundred.” He grinned.

I stopped walking, too mortified to continue.

“It wasn’t that bad, kind of educational.”

“Educational? What did you learn?” I asked.

“Mostly I learned things about you. The game of twenty question tells as much about the asker as the ask-y.”

“Ask-y, reall-y?” Clarissa said, bringing us out of our bubble. “Where are we eating, anyway?”

“I don’t know. What do you ladies feel like eating?” he asked.

“Well Maribel’s favorite is seafood, and I eat anything,” Clarissa said matter of factly.

“Seafood it is,” he said, taking my hand and breath away with it.

8

We decided to give a restaurant off of Main Street called Shells a try. None of us had eaten there, and I was pretty sure it was new. We were seated toward the back of the restaurant at a round table with a crisp white tablecloth over it. The utensils were wrapped in sea foam green cloth napkins, and the rest of the place was scattered with over-the-top plastic ocean themed decorations. I hoped the food was better than the décor and service.

The waitress ogled Jaron while she poured us water, making me shift uncomfortably. He didn’t seem to notice. “Do you want anything to drink besides water?” he asked me.

“Umm… sure. I’ll take a Shirley Temple,” I mumbled to the waitress, who ignored me completely. I hadn’t brought my purse and fumbled with the box that contained my bracelet, deciding that my lap would have to do.

“Yeah, I’ll have a diet Coke, hold the diet,” Clarissa said from behind a menu.

Jaron laughed and I looked up from the menu, not wanting to miss a moment of it. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he didn’t try to stifle his laughter like so many people did.

“Why don’t you just ask for a regular Coke so that… Carries? ” He paused and re-read the waitresses name tag. “Doesn’t have to worry about getting it wrong.”

“It’s pronounced care-is rhymes with Paris, but you can call me whatever you want.” she said with a sigh.

“Man, I am parched,” Clarissa said, peeking around her menu and shooting a dirty look at the waitress.

Carys turned on her heel and went to get the drinks. I smiled at Clarissa, who rolled her eyes.

I tried to read the menu, but I couldn’t really concentrate. Jaron wasn’t looking at the menu. He was looking at me. I took the box out of my lap, set in on the table, and replaced it with one of the napkins.

“Do you mind?” Jaron pointed to the box.

“Not at all.”

He stretched across the table, and I pushed the box toward him. His long index finger brushed my hand as he took it from me, leaving my skin tingling with sensation in its wake.

Jaron opened the lid and gently pulled the bracelet out. “It’s beautiful…give me your hand.”

I leaned over and gave him my hand without hesitation. His warm touch was only there for a second, and when he let go, the bracelet was dangling from my wrist.

“There,” he said. “Now you don’t need to worry about what to do with the box.” He smiled at me. “The colors suit you.”

“My aunt and uncle’s friend Johnny made it, not just the bracelet but the beads too. Can you believe how beautiful it is?” I asked him.

“No, I can’t…”he said, gazing at me.

“You had the Coke, right?” the waitress said, setting it in front of me before I could answer and putting my Shirley Temple by Clarissa. “You ready to order?” she asked, turning to Jaron.

“Yes I’ll have the seared scallops. Do you guys want an appetizer?” he asked.

I looked at the menu, not sure what appetizers they had, or entrées…

“We’ll have an order of crab cakes, as well,” Jaron said, handing the waitress the menu.

“I’ll get that out as quickly as humanly possible,” she gushed, then turned to me.

“I’ll have the snow crab basket.”

“Spiced or regular?” she asked as she chewed her gum.

“Regular.”

“I’ll have the Maine lobster tail,” Clarissa said before she was asked.

The waitress walked away without telling me and Clarissa how quickly she’d get our orders out.

“So what brings you here anyway, Jaron?” Clarissa asked, fixing her eyes on him.

He leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Another round of twenty questions?”

“Clarissa—” I began, but he interrupted me.

“It’s all right. You’re worth crossing a little red tape,” he said and then his face dropped. “Why are we at such a big table?” he asked as he stood and swiftly moved his chair next to me with one foot. “I’m here because my family owns a house on the lake, and I needed a little getaway after last week’s family emergency.”

Clarissa arched an eyebrow. “And what sort of emergency was this, death in the family?” she asked as she slid me my drink and snatched hers.

Jaron’s face turned gray for a moment and he took a deep breath. “No, thank God, nothing like that.”

Clarissa must have seen the same emotional reaction as I did and let it drop, satisfied that he actually had to attend to a family emergency of some sort. Although I wished he would just say what had happened instead of being so tight-lipped about it.

“How many girlfriends have you had?” Clarissa asked after a sip of Coke.

I coughed, almost choking on my Shirley Temple. “You don’t—" Cough, cough. "—have to answer—" Cough. "—that.”

He put an arm around my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine… embarrassed by my friends and family, but fine.” I straighten up.

“Don’t worry about it.” He squeezed me with the arm he had around my shoulder. “I’ve never had a girlfriend.”

I looked over at him. He was the finest specimen of man that I had ever seen. There was no way he hadn’t ever had a girlfriend. “Really? But you’re so hot—” I said before I could stop myself.

“You think so?” he asked, with excitement dancing in his eyes. He was as close as he was last night when we kissed. I wanted to lean in and taste his lips again, I didn’t care that we were in the middle of a packed restaurant, or that Clarissa was sitting across from us. My heart fluttered and spread warmth through my chest.

“A crush,” Clarissa said. “Have you ever even had a crush, like when you were little?”

He sat back in his chair, and the warmth in my chest cooled. “No I’ve never had a crush.”

“Hmm, well maybe you and Mari are a good match. I have been her BFF for… well, see second F, and she has never noticed a guy before you.”

“Really?” he said with curiosity in his voice. He peered at me sideways. “She has noticed me, huh? Good to know.”

“Oh shut up, like you didn’t know that,” Clarissa said with a smile.

“Well, I might have barely noticed you, but that’s only because you wouldn’t stop staring at me.” I nudged him with my shoulder just as our appetizer was brought to the table.

He whispered in my ear. “I won‘t deny it. I noticed you like a boat out on the water notices a hurricane. You were a force of nature pulling me in.”

His breath tickled my neck in the most distracting way. “Force of nature or freak of nature?”

“Either way, I’m happily in your clutches.” Something I’d said lit up his eyes and his lips stretched into a half smile.

The waitress cleared her throat and set the crab cakes in front of Jaron.

***

The next day we were driving home and I convinced Sylvia and Dylan to let me go back with Clarissa, which wasn’t all that hard. But trying to convince Clarissa to let me drive home with Jaron was proving to be more difficult.

“Come Clarissa, please?” I said.

She rubbed the side of her head like I had given her a headache. “Listen I just don’t want to upset Sylvia. I mean, if she found out, she’d be so mad at me. I like having her trust me. Your aunt and uncle don’t trust anyone.”

My face fell. I wasn’t going to keep asking her when she put it like that. I knew how much my aunt meant to her. I’d just have to call Jaron and tell him that I couldn’t drive home with him. Although I had been looking forward to being alone with him for an hour.

“It’s okay,” I said, defeated.

“Ugh.” Clarissa walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “I’d go crazy if I were you. You always do whatever someone else asks and never get to do what you want to do. I always do whatever I want, whenever I want.”

I laughed. “Yes, yes you do.”

“Well, you should get to do that too. I’m your friend first, and sometimes best friends have to lie to parents.” She winked at me.

“So you’ll cover for me?” I almost shouted before Clarissa sent me a be quiet glare.

“Yes, but I’ll be driving behind him the whole way. I don’t know him well enough yet to trust him to keep you safe.” She gave me a knowing look. “You need to be careful with boys. Some of them are after only one thing,” she warned.

“I’ve already had the sex talk. I’m not that naïve,” I said, though it was only partly true. “Do you think that Jaron is one of those boys?”

Clarissa finished shoving her clothes in her overnight bag and turned to me. “No, I don’t think he is, but the intensity between you two is a little scary. I mean, last night at dinner, every second that you weren’t looking at him, he was looking at you. Watching your every move, like you were the most interesting thing that he had ever seen and he couldn’t get enough.”

“Well, aren’t I interesting?” I joked, feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Yes, Maribel, you are pretty interesting. But how intriguing could anyone really be when they are just cracking crab open?” she asked.

I thought about our date. Jaron had been close to me the whole night, well over two hours, and yet in that entire time, I'd never
gotten used to his presence. I had been hyper aware of him the whole time. His proximity gave me hot flashed, my overactive heart pumped too much blood. Being with Jaron was the craziest rush. When I was around him, I felt as alive as I did in my dreams of the ocean. It was as natural as hanging out with my aunt and uncle, or cutting my body through the open water.