The Haunted (25 page)

Several stacks of newspapers were scattered across the surface of the couch, but I just swept them to the floor. Stretching out, I closed my eyes to take a short nap. Let Aubra come find me when she was ready.

But I couldn’t sleep. Loud voices kept waking me.

“Fine!” someone shouted. It sounded like Aubra, and then there was a thump. Muffled noises came next, and it ended in weeping. I didn’t know what to do. Should I stay out of it? Or go check on her?

I shifted to a sitting position. But I didn’t have a chance to do any more than that, because Ex-Blondie-Turned-Goth-Boy suddenly appeared at the door.

He sauntered in and ran one finger down the edge of Uncle Bob’s desk as he came toward me. Never breaking eye contact, never missing a step. Which was an impressive feat in an office as cluttered as Uncle Bob’s. He stopped less than a foot away from the couch, holding up his finger to inspect it.

“Tsk, tsk. I do so
hate
a messy work area.” Neatly sidestepping one of the stacks of papers, he sat down next to me. My skin crawled, and I forced myself to let out a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding.

“I like things neat and tidy,” he said. “Do you?” I nodded, and swallowed. “Have we met before? Aubra said your name was… Abbey?”

“Thanksgiving,” I heard someone say. Then I realized it was coming from me. “You dropped some papers off for my uncle, and I took them from you.”

“Ahhh, yes.” He extended a hand. “I’m Vincent.”

I hesitated for a moment, but didn’t want him to see how much I didn’t like him, so I capitulated. He reached past my hand and slid his fingers down my wrist before shaking. The sensation made me feel queasy, and my gut reaction was to immediately let go.

But he held firm.

“You won’t hold my earlier behavior against me, I trust. And I won’t hold it against
you
that you left me out in the cold.” He flashed a perfect white smile, but all I could see were sleazy car salesmen ads, infomercial hosts, and bad come-on lines all rolled into one. I was
so
not going to be another notch on his bedpost.

I pulled my hand free and resisted the urge to wipe it across my shorts. That could wait until he left. Instead, I stood up. “It was nice to meet you, Vincent. I have to go help Aubra now.”

He stood up too, in one fluid motion.

“I guess I’ll see you later, Abbey,” he said, pausing to flash me another smile. I followed him out, and watched as he stopped to talk briefly with Aubra, who was back behind the counter. She shook her head once, and then gave him a hug, all smiles again.

As soon as he left, I wanted to ask Aubra what had happened, and why she was with someone who was such a jerk. But
she pinned me with a steely, slightly red-rimmed glare.

“This will be our little secret, right, Abbey?” She glanced away and went to go flip the
CLOSED
sign back around. “It better be. I wouldn’t want to see you accidentally “misplace” some money from the register drawer.”

So that’s how it’s going to be?
Ignoring her, I went to gather up the cleaning supplies I’d left on the table.
I should have known
.

At ten after five Mom rolled up to the door, and I headed back to Uncle Bob’s office to tell him I was leaving. And that I wasn’t coming back.

After Aubra’s little boyfriend break, she’d given me even more of the cold-shoulder treatment and left me to clean up a huge pile of puke on the floor after some overeager kid had told his buddies that he could eat ten scoops of ice cream in a row.

He’d been wrong.

Uncle Bob was sitting at his desk, and he looked up as soon as I entered. “Mom’s here, so I’m gonna head out, and…” I lost my nerve for a second, but then looked down and saw puke remnants on my shoes. “I’m not going to be able to…”

He held up something and pointed to it. “Look what I still have.” It was the
WORLD’S BEST BOSS
mug I’d given him for Christmas last year. “I use it every day. It’s my favorite.”

All my thoughts of telling him that I was quitting instantly vanished, and I gave him a feeble smile. “Glad to hear it, Uncle Bob. See you on Wednesday.” He beamed at me and I turned to leave, telling myself that no matter
how
desperate someone acted, in the future I was going to just say
no
.

Out in the car Mom asked me how my first day went. I flopped wearily onto the passenger’s seat. “Long. Never-ending. With an eternal time suck in the middle of the day.” As I said it, I couldn’t help but think of Caspian, who had nothing
but
time on his hands.

Mom patted my knee. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It was worse.”

She turned the wheel and pulled away from the store. “I know what will make you feel better. The library is having a book sale. You can get one to bring with you for next time.”

I perked up. That actually wasn’t a bad idea, and I knew someone else who could probably use some new books to help pass the time too.

A F
ORGOTTEN
D
ATE

Fain would I pause to dwell upon the world of charms that burst upon the enraptured gaze of my hero…

—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

The rest of the week passed by in a blur of science sessions and long hours at Uncle Bob’s, until Saturday finally came. I’d only gotten to see Caspian once during the week, stopping by the cemetery to explain my prolonged absence, and I’d totally forgotten to bring the books with me. Or tell him about my evening movie plans.

But now I had time to remedy that, and I walked swiftly to the cemetery. I was glad I’d worn a long, loose, red cotton skirt and my sheer white peasant blouse. Thanks to that, I wasn’t turning into a puddle of sweat just yet.

Switching the small pile of books and some of Mom’s
unused dinner-party candles from my left arm to my right, I passed by the gates and hurried toward the mausoleum. When I entered, Caspian was bent over his cardboard-box table, working on a drawing. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t hear me come in.

“Hey, Casper,” I whispered, leaning in close. He jumped and looked embarrassed, and I caught sight of what was in front of him.

It was a half-finished scene of the two of us, lying on the grass, looking up at a sky filled with stars. My hair was wild and loose, spread all around me in crazy waves, and my face… “I’m not that beautiful,” I murmured, captivated by the gorgeous girl he’d drawn there.

“Yes, you are, Abbey,” his tone was hushed and reverent. “Raven hair, red lips, porcelain skin. You’re like my own personal Snow White. And your eyes… they haunt me.”

I sucked in a deep breath. He haunted my thoughts too.

He reached out a hand like he was going to touch my face, but then caught himself. Switching course, he ran the hand through his hair instead. “Snow White always was my favorite,” he said.

“Are you calling me a princess?”

He shrugged. “If the shoe fits.”

I groaned and he laughed. “Okay, yeah, that one was bad.” Then he glanced down at my books. “What are those for?”

“These”—I sat the small pile on the box, being careful not to wrinkle his drawing—“are for you. Since you were sweet enough to leave me a surprise in my bedroom, I thought I’d bring you something. The candles are for when you run out of the ones in here, and I got the books at a library sale. So… happy birthday. Late. Or early. When
is
your birthday?”

Caspian grinned as he picked up the first book from the top of the pile and squinted at the title. “December twenty-second.
Jane Eyre
, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s a good one. There’s a crazy old lady, and a mad wife. Ooh! And a fire.”

He opened it and scanned the front page. “That settles it then. I’ll read this one first.” His words made me ridiculously pleased, and I could feel my entire face light up with happiness. “If all I have to do to get a smile like that is read your books, then I promise to read one every day,” he said.

“Stop it. You’re going to give me heart palpitations.”

He leaned closer. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Your face is absolutely adorable when you blush.”

My ears burned.
Oh great, am I the color of a tomato now?

“Yeah, well, I can make
you
blush,” I retorted. “By telling
you how hot you are, and that when that little piece of black hair falls into your eyes, it’s so sexy it makes me forget my words, and…” I stopped, suddenly aware of how warm the mausoleum was.

“Go on,” Caspian prodded, shaking his head so that his hair covered one green eye.

I blushed again, and glanced around me, slowly backing away from him. I just needed some… space to clear my head.

He followed me, stalking my every move. My blood felt like pure oxygen racing through my veins, fizzy and bubbling and making me want to float away. A hard wall at my back stopped me, but Caspian kept coming. I thought desperately of some way to change the subject. “I got you
Moby-Dick
,” I blurted out.

He gave me a sly smile. “Mmmm, did you? How… interesting.”

“And
Treasure Island
, and
The Count of Monte Cristo
.” I babbled on. “I thought you might like some boy books.”

He stopped an inch away from me. I felt like I was his prisoner.

“Let’s go back to the sexy and hot thing,” Caspian said. “Could we add a gorgeous or mysterious in there, too?”

I gulped. “Like you don’t already know you’re all of those things. You probably had girls falling all over you before.”

Caspian cocked his head to one side. “True. But I always thought it was because I was the quiet new guy. And besides, there’s only one person I was ever
really
interested in.”

“
Was
?” I squeaked. Then I cleared my throat and tried again. “I mean—”

“Am,” Caspian corrected himself. “Technically, I guess it’s both. I
was
interested the first day I saw her, and I still
am
interested in her.” His eyes glowed in the soft candlelight around us, and every last ounce of coherent thought left me.

“It’s… um… really. It’s…” My head felt like it was thickening and my body was overheating, every word dragged from somewhere in the depths of my fuzzy brain. I waved a hand in front of my face to fan myself, and finally spit out what I was trying to say. “It’s hot in here. Don’t you think? It’s really warm.”

“I only feel warmth when I’m standing next to you,” Caspian said. He stepped half an inch closer. “Like right now.”

I flapped my hand harder, desperately trying to get some air, when I felt something tug at my arm.

“Hey…” I lifted my arm, trying to pull free, and my shirt rose up. It was caught on one of the unlit candles at my back. “I’m stuck.”

Caspian glanced down. I followed his gaze and saw that my hip bone was peeking out above my low riding skirt, my shirt
pulled high enough to show a wide expanse of flesh.

I was completely mortified until Caspian glanced back up at me and we locked eyes. “What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Enjoying the view.” His voice was shaky, and he closed his eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath.

“
How
much longer until your death day?” I asked.

“Too long.”

“And you’re
sure
, that for a whole day you can…”

“Touch? Yes. And I’ll definitely be spending that day with
you
.” His voice was hoarse, and it seemed to take a lot of effort for him to speak.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

A high-pitched beep broke the silence and cut through the tension. Caspian pulled himself upright with an almost audible snap, and I freed my shirt. Shoving one hand into my skirt pocket, I pulled out my phone and turned it off.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s my alarm. I have to go.”

I hadn’t told him about my movie plans yet, and now I
really
didn’t know what to say. So of course, per my usual brain-mouth-no-filter method, I just blurted it right out. “I’m going to the movies tonight with some friends.” I hesitated. “And… Ben.”

He pulled back even farther, and everything in me yelled for
him to stop. I had to clench my fists to keep from reaching out.

“It’s totally just this friend thing,” I tried to explain. “I felt bad because this girl, Beth, called me and begged me to go so she wouldn’t be alone.”

Caspian smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Abbey. It’s cool. Go. Have fun.” He took a step away and turned his back.

“You could come.” I said. “And sit next to me. No one will know you’re there.”

He shook his head. “That could get awkward. It’s fine. I’ll see you later.”

I hesitated, unsure of what to do. I wanted to stay with him, but he
was
telling me to go and have fun. “All right,” I said finally. “Can we meet at the bridge? Tomorrow morning?”

“You’re on,” he replied. “Bye, Abbey.”

I tried to tell myself the whole way home that he didn’t
really
look at me with hopelessness in his eyes when I left. It must have been a trick of the light. That’s all.