When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1) (23 page)

Did this feeling go away? Was he doing this somehow? Was she falling deeper into whatever weirdness was around her? But she liked the way he made her feel, even if she wasn’t so sure about him.

Julie backed away. Her feet felt like they were walking through quicksand with every step she took further away. He was gripping the dance pole, like he was trying to prevent himself from going after her.

The only time she wasn’t thinking about him now was when she danced. She couldn’t dance twenty–four–seven. What about him—did he have anything to distract him? They couldn’t live with this. They would go crazy.

Or in her case—crazier. She sighed.

Julie took a long time in the shower. She turned the water from hot to cold and back again several times. The cold didn’t help cool down the temptation of Rory in the other room, waiting for her patiently on the other side of the wall.

One painted cinder block wall was all that was between them. She shivered.

She brushed out her hair and put it under the dryer, aware that he was listening to everything she did. She’d half expected him to follow her into the locker room. Instead, he respected her wishes. She softened a bit. Maybe it was all right to trust him a little. Maybe he wasn’t that bad a guy, though he was a bit arrogant.

This wasn’t good.

Julie ran into him as she walked out. He was leaning against the wall right next to the door. His hand shot out, and they started kissing again. Right there next to the girls’ locker room.

She broke it off after a while, surprised she was able to do it. After they had some physical contact, the feeling burned down to a smolder, giving them a reprieve.

“Sorry about pouncing like that,” he said with a smirk. “But the thought of you in there…in the shower…well…I couldn’t stay in the gym.”

“It’s fine.”

“Let’s go outside. There are some nice places to sit out there, and no one’s around.”

“Sure.”

He picked up her bag for her. She laughed.

“What?”

“Sorry. You remind me of the boys at school. They make Kara and me give them turns to carry our stuff. It’s kind of annoying, though I think they feel it’s gallant or something.”

“That sounds odd. I don’t like it. Don’t let them do things for you anymore, okay? I do them.”

“Yeah, like that’s the only odd thing around here. Plus…bit possessive? We hardly know each other.”

Rory nodded in acknowledgment. “Doesn’t matter. I won’t be able to deal with it.”

They found a patch of grass encircled by the tall bushes surrounding the school. The empty buildings’ windows were the only eyes around. The bees buzzed through the manicured flower gardens.

Julie leaned back against him, and his warm body cradled her back. He had one hand around her waist, and the other made small circles in the palm of her hand. The slight touch sent shivers up her spine.

He could feel it, but at this point what did it matter if she tried to hide the reaction. It wasn’t exactly a secret anymore. Plus, he was shaking too. It was pleasant being held by him. The kissing had pulled the first blush of overwhelming emotion away, and now they could relax.

“Julie, I hate to ask this.” He sighed. “Can we keep this quiet for a while? I want to see you again, but it’s so new. I don’t want to share this with anyone else right now.”

She shrugged. “Fine. I don’t know who I would share this with except my friends anyway. If you dump me tomorrow, I’d rather not have to talk about it with all of them.”

“You won’t be getting rid of me.” He kissed her neck, and she shivered.

They sat quietly for a few more minutes.

“You know, I have kissed other boys—”

“Why are you trying to make me jealous?” His arm stiffened around her waist.

She giggled. “Don’t interrupt me. Besides, I didn’t know I could.”

“You can.”

“Well anyway, what I was trying to say before you interrupted me was that I have kissed other boys. But it was never like this.” His arm relaxed around her waist. “I mean, my first kiss was on a bet at a stupid party. It was all sloppy and wet, and I felt slimy afterwards. It wasn’t good at all. Even the couple dates I went on before I decided to give up boys and focus on dancing…weren’t like this. If they had been more like this, I would have dated more than Mandy.”

“I kind of sensed that you may not have dated much. That’s why I tried to keep my hands off you yesterday. I didn’t want to scare you. I don’t want to scare you.” He tightened his grip on her.

Julie blushed. She hadn’t meant to tell him that she hadn’t dated much. She didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t want her now.
Shit.

“What’s wrong? Did I say something to scare you?”

“Umm, no…I just.” She pressed her lips together to stop talking.

She didn’t need to tell him anything? He was practically a stranger. Why should she tell him that she was scared now? She didn’t want to sound like an idiot.

She tried to sit up, but he held on tight.

“If you don’t tell me, I will get it out of you.”

She remained quiet.

Rory put his head down and nuzzled her neck, kissing her gently. She sighed and relaxed back against him, letting the trickle of sensation wash over her.

Then he tickled her sides. She pushed at him, laughing, but he kept tickling her. “I will keep tickling you until you tell me.”

“No! Fine.” She gasped and laughed.

He stopped, and she leaned back into him.

“I’m waiting.” His fingertips gently touched her sides in warning.

“I’m embarrassed, okay? I didn’t mean for you to know I haven’t dated much. Not like my friend, Mandy. I don’t usually share that kind of thing with someone I don’t know well. For a guy like you, that’s probably a signal to run away…too much work.” She blinked back tears. “Jamie made it sound like you play around with a lot of girls. So why would you want me? Honestly, I’m not even sure why you’re here. Or why I’m here.”

He laughed.

“Oh, Jamie exaggerates a bit. He made me sound like I go around having sex with all the girls in my class. I’ve had a few girlfriends in the past, but believe me none of them made me feel this way. He did that to warn you off.” He kissed her neck again. “Let’s not think too much. It makes things confusing. Let’s agree that we both don’t know what we are doing.”

She started drawing circles on his arm again, mollified. He nibbled her neck.

“Besides, I’m glad. I don’t even want to share you with your past.”

That bothered some distant part of her. It was kind of scary possessive, but this felt so good. She didn’t want to think about this too hard right now. Maybe later, like he said. She’d been thinking too much lately.

“Who is Mandy?” He asked after a few minutes.

“She’s a friend of mine from Atlanta. She, Darcy, and I usually hung out together. Mandy dated a lot, but Darcy and I didn’t. We all had our own thing and were friends because we cheered each other on.”

“Sounds great. It’s not like that around here. Everything is about who you are. What did they like to do?”

Julie answered a lot of questions. They parted as the sky darkened to twilight. He promised to come again the next day, and she said she would like that. It wasn’t until her walk home that she realized that she still knew very little about him.

Her family was sitting around in the living room when she got home. Their conversation stopped as soon as she opened the door. She worried that they knew about Rory, except conversations suddenly ending when she entered a room was the norm now.

“Hey, what were you all talking about?”

All three sets of eyes moved away from hers at once.

“Where have you been all day?” Jamie asked. “I thought we could hang out or something.”

This was new, maybe because she’d showed up at their work unexpectedly.

“I needed to practice.” She shrugged and turned to hang her bag up as she felt her face flush.

“Oh. Well I should stop by and hang out with you next time.”

“Umm, sure.” Crap. What would happen if he showed up with Rory there? She had to let him know not to come.

“I can’t tomorrow. Dad needs me again. Later this week?”

“Yeah.” She relaxed. She’d have time to let Rory know.

“What do you want for dinner?” Andromeda asked from the kitchen. “Do you want to watch a movie with us tonight? We thought it might be fun to have a family movie night. It has been a while since we were all able to spend time together.”

Julie hesitated but didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts right now. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Pizza! Pizza!” Jamie said.

She had that eerie feeling like she was being watched. She looked outside but didn’t see anyone. It continued, but now it reminded her of Rory. She knew he said he didn’t have any plans this evening, but surely he wouldn’t hang around outside her house watching her.

Maybe someone else was watching her. Someone curious about why she went to the brick building today. She shook off the feeling, trying to ignore the prickling. She was overly paranoid.

Julie snuggled up on the chair with a blanket. A minute later, her face got pelted with a handful of popcorn. She started chucking it back at Jamie, laughing.

“You know you two are going to clean that up, right?” Lir said.

Julie and Jamie grinned at each other and threw a handful each at him.

They messed around all evening. It was like old times. He was relaxed and happy for the first time in a while. Something inside was different, something that was broken a year or so ago was fixed. The island was good for him. Maybe it had been worth moving here if Jamie was happier.

After the movie, Julie went up to her room. When she opened the door she immediately saw a single purple rose lying dead center on her pillow. A note was attached.

To my jewel.

She shivered. Her body trembled with longing for Rory, but her stomach fluttered in warning. She sat on the bed to steady her wobbly legs.

He had meant this to be sweet, but how could he get in and out of her room with none of them noticing downstairs?

Had he been the one watching her earlier? She checked the lock on her balcony door. It was still in place. So how had he gotten in? Or how had he locked the door behind him?

She should have been freaking out and briefly considered telling her parents. She shivered again, not sure if it was with longing or dread.

♦

With Kara and Muriel out of town, it was easy for Rory to see her every day. Jamie, Andromeda, and Lir watched her dance a few times too. Rory was always mad about it—he hated missing time from her.

As time went by, Julie got used to him leaving her little things in her room. He gave her candy or left her a flower almost every night. He wouldn’t tell her how he did it but was amused that she was irritated by it. If anything, it seemed to egg him on.

Thank goodness he wasn’t creeping in to stare at her every night or something. At least she didn’t think he was. She was afraid to ask. She may not like the answer, since he definitely watched her outside her house sometimes.

She didn’t have time to investigate anymore—Rory took every moment of her time he could. Plus, she wasn’t sure what else to do or where else to go. She could try the brick building again, but she was lucky she didn’t get caught the first time.

After a while Julie was able to draw Rory out some. She found out that he wanted to go to college but wouldn’t be able to go since his father expected him to join the family business. He was going to work in one of the companies they owned. It was some type of engineering plant for small computer parts that required lots of technical knowledge but little business skill. His father felt like he would do better to learn this on the job rather than at college.

He wanted to explore the world a little before settling down on the island. He only had left a few times to go on vacation over the years, and he thought it might be fun to live away from here for a while. But, long term he wanted to settle down and run the business with his dad and raise his family here.

“Don’t you want to live in a big city? You know, let your family have more activities and opportunities?”

“No, it needs to be here. This is where I grew up. This is where my kids will grow up. Why not live here in this beautiful place with family around to share life with?”

Julie frowned, glad he couldn’t see it. She wouldn’t stay here. She needed to be in a big city to dance. She wanted to travel the world dancing. Oh well, it wasn’t like he expected to get married or anything. They were teenagers, and this was a summer thing for the both of them.

The thought of leaving him hurt. Surely it would wear off in time. She was starting to care for him, but she wouldn’t give up dancing for anyone.

She could be over thinking all of this. Look at Mandy. She met boys all the time, was all excited about them and dated them for a few weeks or months, and the feelings drifted away. So, it wasn’t like walking down this road with the first boy to make her feel all gooey would destroy all her hopes and dreams of dancing. She wasn’t committing to anything. They weren’t even dating yet.

He made her happy right now, for whatever reason. Even if she was a little afraid that reason wasn’t entirely natural. Not everything had to be so serious. It wouldn’t hurt for her to be a typical teenager for once. Wasn’t that what her parents always pushed for back in Atlanta?

A week later, Kara came back. She insisted on meeting Julie to practice with her, so the school and gym were no longer a private place. Rory didn’t show up that day. Julie was a little hurt but knew he wanted to keep their relationship quiet while it was still so new.

Unless he was tired of her now.

Kara wanted to tell her all about her vacation, so they went to dinner together at the one café in town. Julie ate a little. She was distracted by the fact that the same three people were sitting at the exact same table as they were the day she went on the bridge. Being with Rory kept her from thinking so much from the weirdness of this place. She was so busy being with him that she had stopped trying to figure everything out.