On the Fringe (18 page)

“I was still figuring everything out. Really. I
still
am—which is why you need to trust me,” she said weakly.

“Trust you? You’re like a circus act. How do you expect me to take you seriously?”

Her eyes bulged. “Ha! That hurts, you know. Have you always been so judgmental and cruel? I wonder what she sees in you.”

“Just tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Fine. But, for future reference, you should work on your people skills. You’re not making any friends here with this kind of attitude.”

I stared long and hard at her, waiting for her “so-called” information. Finally, she spit it out. “Aden got someone to help him. Someone mortal.”

“Come
on
. Who could possibly be helping him? He’s a ghost.”

“He’s done it before,” she said.

“Done
it?
What does
it
mean?”

“Worked with a mortal.” Her eyes grew wide, and she whipped her head back and forth, like she was looking for something. And then she was fading, the vending machines behind her beginning to show through. “Just keep a closer eye on your girlfriend for now,” she said, growing dimmer by the second. “And keep that mortal away from her, too. I have to go.”

Back to her pink robe and slippers, to the nutcase look, she slowly disappeared into the lit-up rows of candy bars behind her.

“Wait. You never told me—why do you want to help me?” I asked as the opaque version of her lit up yet another cigarette and inhaled.

Her eyes drooped, as if she were sleepy. “I don’t.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I want to help Claire, not you.”

“Why Claire, then?”

“If you must know, Claire-bear happens to be my niece and let’s just say I’m not exactly thrilled with all the attention she’s been getting lately…especially by some ghost with a vendetta who’s out of his mind. Now start thinking of a movie you want to see. And make it a funny one.
”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
BLIND DATE

Daniel

Claire had a date tonight—a mercy date Addie guilted her into. Mrs. James was probably already sending out the wedding invitations (wait, that wasn’t funny). The whole thing annoyed Claire. Me, too.

The sun was just starting to set, but it was still light enough that Claire couldn’t see me yet. She had already started getting ready for her date, and I was sitting behind her on the bed, watching as she sat in front of her mirror. She started in on her mascara, her fingers gripping a neon-orange plastic wand as she meticulously dabbed black stuff along her eyelashes. I watched intently—more so than I’d ever watched her do anything…

And then I lost focus to the memory of the motorcycle accident, wondering how I could’ve blocked out something so traumatic. Over the years I remember a few sporadic flashes of a barking dog or screeching tires, even the sick smell of blood…
that’s right
… as a kid, a bloody nose made me nauseated though I never knew why. Until now, I figured those random memories were just bits and pieces of a recurring nightmare…had no idea they were flashes of truth
.

My parents probably kept quiet about it, hoping I’d forget.Lucky for them I did,because the memory as a whole was horrifying now. The thought that I’d been the cause of someone’s death made me sick, but what could I do about it now? Did he expect me to somehow change the past? Maybe tell him sorry?

I wondered how old I was when it happened.
How old was I now?
When you stop having birthdays, do you stay that age forever, or do you keep counting the years like everyone else?

“Oh my…
Daniel!
” Claire yelled, turning around to face me.

Oops. Who,
me?
I smiled, shrugging my shoulders.

“What are you
doing?
” she demanded quietly, a pointed finger pushing through my chest. I could tell she was mad, excited and annoyed, all rolled into one. “Where have you
been?
”

I wanted to explain everything to her. But right now, all I could do was smile because of the huge black smudge that marred her otherwise adorable face.

“What?” she asked.

Laughing, I motioned to the mirror behind her. She finally understood and turned around.

“It’s
your
fault,” she said, slightly grinning, before disappearing out the door. A few minutes later she returned with a wet towel, carefully dabbing at her face until her eyes were perfect along with the rest of her. I wandered up behind her, resting my chin at her shoulder as she finished up and put on her glasses. Black ones this time.

“I’ll be right back.” She pushed her chair backwards and walked through me to her closet, closing the door.

I waited on the bed until she emerged dressed in a long black shirt and dark jeans, a green scarf hanging around her neck. Her strawberry-auburn-gold-
who knows what color it really is
–hair fell in waves across her shoulders and her big, brown eyes watched me strangely. I was thinking her lips looked irresistibly tempting, and realized I was staring at her like an idiot…and turned away.

“Where have you been?” she asked quietly. “Do you realize it’s been over a week? I’ve been wondering this whole time when…
if
…I was ever going to see you again. You can’t just disappear like that, Daniel. Not without telling me first.”

Overa week, really? I must’ve missed a couple of days somewhere in there.

I opened my mouth to respond, but remembered it wouldn’t do any good. The fact that she couldn’t hear me was especially unfair, because I had no way to defend myself.

“You”
she whispered, shoving her finger in the middle of my face, “are in trouble.”

“Sorry,” I mouthed.

Addie barged in. “You ready, Claire?”

Claire spun around to face her. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

“Come on, it’s just one date.”

Claire gaped at her, and I could feel her frustration. I floated over to the bed and hovered across it, my arms behind my head, my ankles crossed. It seemedlike a relaxing pose—too bad I couldn’t really tell.

“I’m sorry,
really
, I am,” Addie pleaded, instantly insecure. “I promise to do whatever you ask, for like a week straight.”

“A week?”

“Come on, Claire. I owe you, I promise. It’s just I already told Josh you’d go out with him if he got Landon to ask me out.”

“I know what you promised, but you didn’t ask me first, Addie.”

“I know, I’m sorry, really. Josh is nice, anyway. I don’t know what the big deal is.”

“Fine. He is nice. We’ll have fun,” Claire conceded, then looked over at me and rolled her eyes.

Addie sat on top of me, and I shifted to the window, trying to figure out my plan, already starting to second-guess myself. Could I risk being with Claire again?
Should I?
Was Nico telling the truth about this whole haunting business, or was she just making stuff up like the way she conjured up all her little costumes? Worse—maybe she and Aden both happened to be screwing with my mind. No, she was Claire’s family; she’d want to protect her.

Right now, Claire was the only thing that made any sense at all.

“I think we’re just getting dinner and a movie—nothing too horrible,” Addie was saying.

“I’m sorry, Addie. I just hate blind dates.”

“I know. That’s why you’re the best.” She squeezed Claire and jumped off the bed at the sound of a loud knock at the front door. As usual, Addie’s little act worked on Claire, who was once again at her mercy. My sister is the master manipulator. I would know.

Claire followed her out the door, turning around at the last minute to grab her purse. Throwing me a look of desperation, she whispered, “I’ll meet you at ten. Wherever I am, I’ll figure something out. Just be there, ok?”

That was when I knew for sure I was going to risk it. I
had
to hold her one more time, at least to say goodbye. How I was going to get Claire to myself with some dude hanging all over her when ten-o’clock rolled around—that was the real question of the night.

At 9:55, I still didn’t have an answer. Claire was fidgeting in the back seat of Landon’s four-wheel drive, sitting uncomfortably next to a dark, curly-haired, loud-mouthed, overenthusiastic Josh. He definitely was not her type. What was Addie
thinking?

About herself, obviously.

Claire anxiously watched the green-lit numbers on the front dash. I sat in front of her, pretty much in the middle of the front seat, stuck in between the laughter and music bouncing back and forth. It was obvious we weren’t going to make it in time.

“Hey Claire, lighten up!” Addie turned around, laughing.

“Yeah, Claire,” Josh interjected, putting his arm around her. I wanted to chuck him out of the car.

Claire and I looked at each other, and at the clock again, realizing we still had ten minutes to go before we’d be home. That was when brilliant Claire leaned over in her seat, pretty much right through my lap, and started groaning.

“What’s wrong?” Josh asked, suddenly cautious about where he put his arm.

Claire didn’t answer. She just kept making a bunch of sick, moaning sounds. I was impressed.

“Hey,” Addie grabbed Claire’s knee. “What’s going on? You okay?”

Claire sat up again, still moaning, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

I drifted to the floor and gave her a big thumb’s up. The car abruptly skidded to a stop at the side of the road. I shifted outside to wait for her.

“Hurry!” I heard Josh yell. “Get her out of here!”

Claire threw open the door and bolted out into the darkness. Cars sailed by as she crouched behind a tree and pretended to be sick. I couldn’t stop laughing. Addie rushed to her side, rubbing her hand over her back. “Are you okay, Claire?”

“I think so,” she answered weakly. “It’s probably food poisoning or something. I just need a sec, if that’s okay.”

“I’ll wait here with you,” Addie offered.

“No, Ad, that’s okay.” Claire looked back at the car. “I’ll be fine in a second. You go wait with the guys. Just give me five minutes, okay?”

Addie hesitated then started walking back. “You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s freezing out here! Plus, I don’t want to ruin your date anymore. Seriously. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Just yell if you need me.”

Addie ran back around the tree to the car. I didn’t know how much time we’d already lost, but I still waited for the door to shut before catching Claire’s hand.

She practically jumped into my arms.

As soon as we touched, it felt like my heart started beating and my lungs filled up with air. I couldn’t breathe and think and smell and touch her all at the same time. It was such a rush, but the seconds were already ticking away from us. Forget Nico and her theories. I wasn’t about to miss another night with Claire just because of some nutcase ghost. It would be torture not to come back.

I pressed my lips over Claire’s, tasting again the only taste I’d ever missed, drawing her into me, feeling the warmth of her body. Claire looked up at me when finally, reluctantly, I pulled away from her before time ran out.

“This isn’t fair,” I complained. “Only four and a half minutes.”

She squeezed my hands. “Why were you gone for so long? I was so worried about you! What happened last time—you know, after the rainstorm? Did you see him?”

I didn’t want to answer or think about that night. I just wanted to hold her and feel her breath on my neck.

She continued, unfazed, rattling off questions one after another. “Did you see him throw the vase? How’d he do that?”

I couldn’t think straight, much less speak. All I could do was look at her…memorize her…absorb her. I felt like she was drowning me. “I missed you,” I finally said.

She looked at me like I’d completely missed the point, and then her shoulders dropped and she exhaled, like she’d gotten everything out and could relax now. “I missed you, too.”

She smiled and bit her lip as I held her warm, familiar hands. I kissed her again, our lips barely touching, until a powerful
something
took over and I couldn’t resist her. I pulled her to me, my lips attacking hers, feeling her touch as she kissed me back. Her hands dug into the back of my head, pulling at my hair, and her breath found its way into me as we fell away, lost somewhere else, oblivious to the rest of the world. The seconds were dying fast, so I had to stop and talk to her before it was too late. That was the whole reason I came back in the first place…
right?

Finally I pulled away. “Claire,” I exhaled, trying to calm down. “I need to tell you something.”

Lights lit up the inside of Landon’s car. I felt the thump-thump-thump to the blasting music. Claire turned her head toward the noise before finding me again while I told her the abbreviated version of my memory of the accident. About Aden.

“It was
him
? My stupid ghost is from your past?” she asked, tapping her fists against my chest.

I nodded my head, still in shock myself, purposely keeping quiet about Nico, afraid details would just scare her more.

“So, he—
Aden
—haunts me because he’s ticked at
you?
Ever heard of anger management?”

“Still, it’s my fault.”

“Daniel! Come on, you were just a little kid,” she said, punching me.

“Like that matters to him. I guess it doesn’t really matter to me, either. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be scared to turn off your lights every night. And you definitely wouldn’t be standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night, talking to a ghost.”

“If it wasn’t for you,” she said, looking up at me, “I’d be dead, too, because you saved my life. Remember?”

True.
But, still…

“So, what do we do now? Just wait around for him to come haunt me whenever he wants? I don’t know if I can take it anymore.”

I grabbed her hands, wondering if I should even say what I was thinking. “You haven’t seen him in a week, right?”