Solstice - Of The Heart (24 page)

Aaron, Belmont, and Beaumont continued
across the divide and into the next set of trees as though nothing
had happened.

Cherrie pulled up inches away from
where I stood.

“What’s up? You look like you saw a
ghost? You okay?”

“You didn’t see?”

“What?”

I pointed to where Jason’s friend now
sat.

She looked in the direction of my
point.

“What? He fell?”

“No. Aaron plowed into
him.”

Cherrie looked east where Aaron and
the twins had been snowboarding.

“I thought they were over
there.”

“They came across behind
you.”

“Where’d they go?”

“Off in that direction.”

We saw Jason’s friend stand and wave
off help from his friends down below. I guessed none of them had
seen what had happened and figured he had biffed it.

“He’s all right,” Cherrie said. “Just
shaken a bit. Hey, I know him.”

“You do?”

“I recognize the Marmot coat he’s
wearing. See the lightning design. That’s the same boy that hit
you.”

I kept silent on the ride back down
the road from the mountain.

Cherrie prodded, asking me, “what’s
wrong”.

I told her “nothing”, of course, and
begged off using the excuse I was exhausted and my head
hurt.

In reality, everything couldn’t be
more wrong.

Had Aaron targeted the boy who hit me?
If so, in a way I found nobility in his action. It meant he had
feelings for me and was being protective. But to avenge by causing
physical harm! He could have killed the boy! I didn’t want any part
of hurting people. And if Aaron held hateful tendencies, I didn’t
want anything to do with him.

We stopped in at the Fifth Season and
dropped of my gear. I didn’t check the store to see if Aaron had
returned. There was no way I could face him right now.

“Where are we going?” I asked, as
Cherrie turned left instead of right to go home.

“To the Burger Hut. You’re hungry,
aren’t you?”

I had to admit I was starving. I
hadn’t eaten any breakfast. Lunch hour had passed.

“You don’t like burgers.”

“No,” Cherrie said with a smile, “but
the boys do.”

“We’re going hunting
again?”

“Did we ever stop?” Cherrie looked at
me. “Let me rephrase that. “Did I ever stop? You’ve found
yours.”

“Not so sure anymore.”

“No? Found out god-man isn’t your
type?”

“Not if he’s going to hurt
people.”

“Isn’t that something you
should be asking him?”

“I will.”

The Burger Hut parking lot, as I saw,
was packed full of cars, including the blue paint speckled Dodge
Ram.

“Aaron’s here,” Cherrie
said.

“Yes,” I said, “I see. And it seems,”
I said, as we entered, “half the school is, too.”

The Burger Hut is not the booth-type
restaurant you find at Burger King or McDonalds. It has an open
floor arrangement with large wood tables and benches for furniture.
The place was packed with Shasta High students, some standing,
others sitting in each other’s laps.

The noise level roared through the
roof.

I placed an order for a chicken
sandwich, fries, and a soft drink. When the cashier couldn’t hear
me, I lip-synched until I got the point across.

“You’re not getting anything?” I asked
Cherrie.

“We’ll share,” Cherrie said, more to
the cashier than to me.

Finding a seat wasn’t easy. We spotted
open bench in the middle of the restaurant and squeezed
in.

I saw Aaron and the book-ends at the
far end of the restaurant. Belmont and Beaumont had their backs to
the fracas. They also had the table to themselves, which, at this
point, didn’t surprise me. Once Aaron spotted me he stood up and
headed my way.

“Hi,” he said. “How’re you
feeling?”

I sensed tenseness rippling through
our companions at the table. Seems like Aaron standing this close
made them nervous.

“Good,” I said. “I saw you sno-rippin
flake,” in an awkward attempt to sound like I knew snowboarding
lingo.”

“You were up on the
mountain?”

“Yes. Cherrie taught me how to
snowboard.”

“How’d that go?”

“Pretty good. I made it down several
times. Once or twice on my back.”

“That happens. It’s a steep learning
curve, but a short one. We’ll have to go together sometime. Hey,
you guys want to join us?” Aaron half turned and pointed to his
table. “We have plenty of room.”

I looked at Cherrie. The expression on
her face said she wasn’t interested. If the others at our table had
a vote, I imagined they would be saying in a loud voice,
NO!

“That’s okay. We’ll hang
here.”

I saw Aaron glance up as someone came
in the door. His eyes turned dark. The crease in his forehead
deepened.

I scooted around to get a
look.

Jason and his buddies, including the
boy who wore the Marmot Lightning ski jacket, entered and lined up
at the cash register.

“Okay, Aaron,” said. “Suit yourself.”
He pointed a finger at me. “See you later?”

I nodded with the expectation he would
head back to his seat.

He didn’t. He made a beeline to the
boy in the lightning jacket.

After seeing Aaron and the twins
targeting the boy on the slopes, I expected the worse; an all out
fight or something of that nature. I don’t know why I thought this.
Maybe because I had seen one too many boy fights on the school
playgrounds.

By the time I pulled my legs free from
the bench, Aaron stood next to lightning boy. Fearful the twins
would be right behind him when the fight started, I glanced their
way. They, as well as the rest of those in attendance, watched
Aaron and lightning boy.

Aaron leaned in. Talking in a voice
which only lighting boy could have heard, he said something.
Lightning boy reacted, but not as I expected. He nodded. He
grinned. And he patted Aaron on the shoulder as if they were good
buddies. He then waved his arms wildly about as though re-enacting
his fall on the slopes. They parted by shaking hands. I lowered
back into my seat as I watched Aaron walk on by.

After he passed I heard a muffled
“creep” spoken at the far end of the table.

“Hey,” I said, “that’s not
cool.”

“It is,” said the girl, “if it’s
true.”

I heard my number called and I went up
to pick up my chicken sandwich. I walked over to the bar and begin
layering my sandwich with a lot of tomato, lettuce, and other
condiments. As I turned to return to my table, the boy with the
lightning jacket stepped in front of me.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.”

I looked lightning-jacket boy over,
searching for a bruised head or torn skin where Aaron’s snowboard
might have hit his head. I saw neither.

He, in turn, acted nervous, as though
he were about to ask me out for a date.

I was certain this wasn’t something he
was accustomed to doing. He kept glancing around the restaurant.
Best I could guess is he wished we were alone.

I lowered my head and made an effort
to step around him.

He held out a hand.

“I’m Louk Hollingsworth.”

“Julissa Grant. Nice to meet
you.”

I felt awkward, standing, holding a
tray full of food, blocked by a stranger. More so, I heard the room
go quiet. And I became acutely aware of the many eyes focused on
us.

I looked at Cherrie with help written
all over my face.

She shrugged her shoulders.

Louk brought it on.

“I want to apologize.”

I could feel how uncomfortable he was
with having to do this in front of his buddies and everyone in the
restaurant. I wondered why he hadn’t waited for a more opportune
moment. Then I realized what Aaron had whispered in Louk’s ear
might have had something to do with his apologizing to me right
now, here in front of half the school. Had he threatened Louk? It
certainly hadn’t appeared that way.

“I’m the one who hit you with the
snowboard. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

The tray became heavy, my
embarrassment even more so.

“No harm, no foul.”

“I’d like to make it up to
you.”

I saw Louk look Aaron’s
way.

How was I going to tell the boy, no,
in front of this group, that it wasn’t necessary to make amends?
Especially when I believed it wasn’t his fault.

“If you ever need your driveway
shoveled or wood hauled or something like that, call me, will
you?”

I nodded, stepped aside, and sat
down.

I could see Aaron across the room,
satisfaction on his face. I didn’t know how to feel. On the one
hand, I thought it was gracious of Louk to apologize, but having
expected more—and I don’t know what that was—and not getting it,
made me feel letdown. Of course I was no beauty today, but I also
realized (now!) Louk would never ask me out on a date, nor would
any other boy as long as they believed Aaron and I were
boyfriend/girlfriend.

As Cherrie pulled the LC into her
driveway, I spotted the blue Dodge Ram sitting in my driveway. I
saw Aaron standing, leaning up against the fender of his truck. My
maroon beanie lay draped in his hand.

“Forgot to give this to you,” he
said.

I took the beanie and stepped toward
the house.

Aaron followed me.

“You mad at me for
something?”

“I was there.”

“There?”

“I saw what you did to
Louk.”

“What are you talking
about?”

I stopped, turned, and faced
Aaron.

“What did you say to Louk at the
Burger Hut?”

Aaron shook his head, a surprised look
on his face.

“Did you tell him to apologize to
me?”

“No!”

Liar is what I said in my mind. I
turned to walk away.

“I told him,” Aaron said, “I was
sorry.”

“You? You apologized to Louk? For
what?”

“For almost knocking his head off up
on the mountain. He came out of nowhere. I didn’t see him until it
was too late.”

“You weren’t trying to hit
him?”

The stunned look on Aaron’s face was
the only answer I needed.

I edged in closer to Aaron with my
head down.

“Thought you guys were trying to hurt
him or something.”

“You’re kidding. Why would we want to
do that?”

Aaron leaned against the truck as if
he needed support. I could see by the hurt on his face it was as if
I had stuck a knife into his heart.

On the one hand, it meant my opinion
mattered to him; on the other hand, I felt I might have killed any
chance of us becoming friends, much less
girlfriend/boyfriend.

“
I just thought maybe you
were trying to defend me because he hit me with the snowboard.
That’s all.”

“Wasn’t his fault. If anything, I
blame myself.”

“I’m sorry. I just
thought...”

“Just thought what?”

Aaron came off the truck. He stood
tall, his muscles flexed and tight.

“That we’re revengeful? We don’t
believe in hurting anyone. We believe in the Law of
One.”

I didn’t have to ask. The quizzical
look on my face brought forth the answer. But before it did, Aaron
looked at me like I was from another planet.

“The Law of One? You’ve never heard of
it?”

“No. I’m sorry. Maybe I don’t get out
enough.”

“All humans are related? We’re
one?”

“Guess maybe I’ve heard something to
that effect. Still doesn’t keep us from hurting one
another.”

“Well, we don’t,” Aaron said, as he
moved to climb into the truck. “Not on purpose anyway. What
happened up on the mountain was an accident. I apologized to Louk.
I didn’t have anything to do with him apologizing to you. That he
did on his own.”

He closed the door to the
truck.

Suddenly, I felt like the accused
rather than the accuser. I felt sick to my stomach. I could see the
hurt in Aaron’s eyes.

I tapped on his window.

He rolled it down.

I held up my hat.

“Thanks for bringing the beanie
over.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You still want to take me on a
hike?”

Aaron looked out the
windshield.