The Crushes (11 page)

Rule 7:
Be adventurous and daring! See life as an adventure!

Rule 18:
Respect yourself! Demand that your crush respects you as well!

Rule 19:
Do not allow your crush to pressure you to do something you do not want to do! Do only things that
you
and
only
you want to do and are comfortable with!

Alexia’s cell phone rang in her bag. She fished it out and smiled when she saw it was Ben. She broke away from Raven and Blake. “Hey,” she answered.

“Hey. Where are you?”

“I’m by the fountain. Are you here?”

Alexia waited for a response, but when none came, she thought maybe the line had disconnected. “Ben?” Still nothing.

Fireworks popped behind Alexia. Several kids ran past her screaming and laughing. She plugged her other ear. “Ben, are you there?”

“Raa!” Someone poked her in the ribs. She screeched and whirled around.

“Got you,” Ben said.

“Oh my god, you!” She put her phone away and reached out to swat him, but he grabbed her wrist, twirled her around and dipped her.

“Ben!” Alexia laughed while she held onto his arms with white knuckles. “Bring me back up!”

He did, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a long kiss.

“I’m so frickin’ happy I’m here with you and not out on the boat with my parents.” He sighed, scratching his overgrown hair. It curled at the nape of his neck and around his ears. It probably drove his parents nuts and that was probably one of the reasons he kept it long.

“So the barbecue didn’t go so well?” Alexia asked.

“As well as the French Revolution. But I did finally get my graduation present, which sort of made up for the debacle that was a family gathering.”

“What did you get?”

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the park, dodging more fireworks, weaving around blankets and lawn chairs until they reached the street.

“Where are we going? We’re going to miss the fireworks!”

They walked a block and then turned right into the parking lot behind Wendell Bakery. Ben pulled Alexia over to a forest green Jeep Wrangler and stopped.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, looking around. “Where—”

It finally dawned on her. She looked at the Jeep again
and then at Ben. His pearl-white teeth shone bright in a big smile.

“You got a new Jeep?”

“Yeah. This is my graduation present.”

“Oh my god, Ben! This is awesome.” Alexia ran her fingers over the slick, shiny hood. She made a circle around the whole vehicle. The roof was off, as were the doors.

“Want to go for a ride?” Ben jangled the keys in his hand and waggled his eyebrows.

“But the fireworks?”

“If we hurry up, we can head over to the state park and catch the end of the show.”

Alexia raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Ben downshifted as they turned into the state park. The wind ruffled Alexia’s hair, and she pulled it to the side out of her face.

“This is awesome,” she said, imagining them spending the rest of the summer cruising around Birch Falls in the new Jeep. It would be perfect.

“I know,” Ben said. “I love it. Best thing I ever got.”

They found a parking spot and got out. The fireworks boomed off in the distance, their sparks lighting the sky red. There were no other cars here, which meant they had the entire park to themselves.

“We should go up to the Sky Trail,” Ben said, grabbing Alexia’s hand, threading his fingers through hers. “Oh, wait. I brought a blanket.” He pulled it out of the Jeep and
they headed up the stairs that would take them to the top of the Sky Trail.

By the time they reached the top, Alexia was out of breath, but the fireworks were blazing through the sky and she wanted to see at least
some
of them. They hurried along the dirt trail to the far side of the hill near Garver Lake.

Finding a good break in the trees, they laid the blanket out and sat.

A purple and then orange firework went off in the distance. Ben lay back, putting his hands behind his head. Alexia lay next to him, curling into the crook of his arm.

“It’s beautiful,” Alexia breathed. They might have been some five miles away from the city park, but the fireworks were still spectacular, the color brighter than ever. And Alexia liked the quiet.

She sat up, looked Ben in the eyes.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” She leaned over, kissing him gently. Everything felt perfect, and she wanted to share it with Ben.

He sat up and Alexia leaned back on the blanket. Ben ran his fingers through her hair, then along the nape of her neck. She shivered, pulling him down closer as he ran his tongue softly over her lips.

Every nerve in Alexia’s body came alive. Her stomach knotted in excited butterflies, and she couldn’t seem to think straight.

The kiss went from soft and innocent to urgent and intense. Alexia could feel Ben’s heart drumming against her chest.

“We should stop,” Ben said against her lips.

Yes. Yes, we should stop, she thought, but she didn’t want to.

Ben pulled his hand down to touch the bare skin peeking out from beneath Alexia’s tank top. His fingers were warm, smooth on her skin. Alexia breathed in sharply.

Stop, Alexia thought again, but then Ben’s hand crept farther up her shirt and all she could think was, Keep going. Keep going. His fingers caressed her ribs and then went beneath her bra.

Oh my god.

Ben’s lips pulled away from Alexia’s mouth and ran down her neck.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

Say something, Alexia thought, but she couldn’t seem to connect her brain to her mouth, and her hand grabbed Ben by the back of the head, keeping him close to her. She didn’t want to stop.

Rule 6:
Make him feel special, like he is the only guy in the world!

Raven turned her Nissan Sentra into the airport parking lot and navigated through the maze to find a parking spot. She finally found one about five minutes away from the building, but she still had twenty minutes before Horace was due to arrive. She’d wanted to get here as soon as possible so she wouldn’t make him wait any longer than he needed to.

Shutting the car off, Raven threw her keys in her bag and then checked her reflection in the tiny mirror behind the visor.

Clean teeth? Check.

Glossy lips? Check.

No makeup smudges? Check.

She ran her hand through her hair once, then twice, wanting to make it look perfect. She’d blown it out with a hair dryer so that it was pin straight. She’d been going for the volume effect, but instead it just hung along her face
like a dark curtain. Maybe she should have used that Giovanni Vacell wave-enhancing gel instead and gone with the messy look.

Why are you worrying so much? Horace will love you no matter what.

Raven reached for the door handle when her cell went off in her bag. She smiled to herself, thinking it must be Horace and that he must have gotten in early!

The screen on the outside of the phone said it was Kelly.

Raven’s shoulders sank as she flipped the phone open. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey. Have you talked to Alexia since the Fourth?”

Raven got out of the car and locked the doors. “No, why?”

“Because I haven’t either. She’s gone hermit on me.”

“She and Ben have been getting more serious. They barely come up for air. She’s probably hanging out with him.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway,” Raven said as she stepped up to the sidewalk running in front of the airport, “I’m picking up Horace right now. Can I call you later?”

“Oh, I forgot Horace was coming home! Tell him I said hi.”

“I will.”

“Later!”

Raven said good-bye and hung up.

The glass doors to the airport whooshed open. Raven walked through as she went to baggage claim, where Horace had said he’d meet her.

She still had fifteen minutes. Now she just had to sit and wait.

She bumped shoulders with someone.

“Raven?”

Spine rigid, she shot a backward glance and saw Blake. “What are you doing here?” Panic turned her voice squeaky, which made her blush like some silly schoolgirl.

Blake pointed at Mil-D in line at the airport McDonald’s. “We’re going to L.A. for a few days. Mil just had to get his McCrack before we boarded.”

Raven found herself laughing at the McDonald’s joke, but quickly squashed it as a new stream of people winded through the airport. Horace appeared, cheeks sun darkened, hair a few inches longer, waving at her over the heads of other passengers.

She swallowed. Hard.

“Who’s that?” Blake said, watching Horace navigate through the crowd.

“My boyfriend,” she muttered, and the perpetual grin on Blake’s face faded.

He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “So this is the boyfriend, huh?”

Horace came over, wrapped his hand around Raven’s. “Hey,” he said, his husky voice hitting all the right notes in her stomach and making the butterflies dance.

He was in a pair of ripped jeans, white strings hanging from the knees. A white band T-shirt peeked out from beneath a red, white, and yellow plaid Western shirt. There was a necklace around his neck with some sort of animal tooth strung on it.

Raven loved Horace, but suddenly her cheeks warmed as she watched Blake watch Horace. She wondered what he thought and for some reason she cared.

Did he think Horace was a dork like the rest of the jocks at school?

“Hey,” Blake said, holding out his hand. “I’m Blake. Raven’s new neighbor.”

Horace shook because he was a gentleman like that. “Horace. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Mil-D sauntered over. The Big Mac in his hands looked tiny compared to his overall size. “Almost ready, son?” he asked around a mouthful of food. “Ray-ray!”

“Hi, Mil,” she said, tightening her grip on Horace’s hand. She wanted out of here. Like now.

This whole situation felt wrong. She had nothing to feel guilty over—it wasn’t like she cheated on Horace—but the butterflies in her stomach were suddenly warring.

“We should go,” she said to Horace. “Have fun in L.A.,” she said to Blake, thankful that, after this awkward encounter, she would be Blake-free for a few days. It would give her a good amount of time to forget about how fun it was to hang with him. Or how cute he was when people bragged about him.

He pulled his hat down more, hiding his eyes. “See you guys later.”

“Later, kids,” Mil-D said, flashing the peace sign before he ambled off after Blake.

Horace leaned over and kissed Raven on the lips. “I missed you,” he said, that secretive smile lighting his face.
He didn’t even pause to ask about Blake or Mil-D or why Raven had failed to mention her new neighbor was a guy their age.

She loved him for that, for his unflinching trust in her.

She just hoped she could live up to his expectations.

Raven parked outside Bershetti’s. “Hungry?” she asked, arching a brow at Horace.

“As a matter of fact, I’m starving. Airplane peanuts aren’t very filling.”

They got out and Raven went straight to Horace’s side, taking his hand again in hers. She hadn’t been able to let him go since the airport.

“It’s my treat.” She held the door of the restaurant open so Horace could go in ahead of her.

“Ray, you don’t have to do that.”

She shook her head. “I already made reservations for lunch. Besides, I want to make you feel special today.”

Rule 6 of the Crush Code said:
Make him feel special, like he is the only guy in the world!

For her, Horace was.

They went inside and were seated near the windows, sunlight playing over the table. It was so bright that Horace left on his aviator sunglasses, and Raven put on her white oversize ones.

“I bet everyone is looking at us like we’re insane,” she said, laughing.

Horace shrugged. “So what. Celebrities do it all the time.”

“Yeah, but we’re not celebrities.”

He sat forward, folding his arms on the tabletop. “Speaking of celebrities. Did you check out that contest I told you about? With Kay-J?”

Raven made an apologetic face. “Umm…no.”

“Ray.” Horace sighed. “Why not?”

“I don’t want to win some
American Idol
-like contest. I want to stay with you guys. I want to stay with October.”

“October will always be there. You can come back to us whenever. If you got this job, think of the experience you’d get. It’s an opportunity that you’d be stupid to pass up.”

Raven’s expression softened, seeing the seriousness on Horace’s face. He wasn’t usually so…well, persistent. Or blunt.

“It almost sounds like you want me to leave October.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. She wished she could see his eyes now. “I just don’t want you waiting around here for something that might not happen. October might not ever go farther than Birch Falls, Connecticut, and I don’t want you stuck here because of me.”

Raven frowned. He was starting to sound like her mother. “What’s this about?”

He sighed again, ran his fingers through his hair. “Just promise me you’ll at least check the Web site out.”

“Okay,” she said quickly because she didn’t like seeing him so agitated. “I’ll check it out when I get home.”

He leaned over the table and kissed her. “Thanks.”

With that, he picked up his menu, commenting on how he missed the food in Birch Falls.

Raven put on a cheery face because she wanted to enjoy the afternoon, but in the back of her mind, she
couldn’t help but wonder if Horace was keeping something from her.

Did he want to break up with her? Was that why he was pushing her to try out for the contest? This was his easy way of getting rid of her?

No, that didn’t seem like something Horace would do. She trusted that if he ever had doubts about their relationship, he’d talk with her about it first before making any crazy decisions on his own.

So what was this all about, exactly?