Aftermath (33 page)

Emma's Story

The lighthearted look on Ben’s face disappeared.

His eyes squinted, and his smile was gone. Ben went from mingling around the room for an hour, like the party’s host, to staring intently at the guys at the beer pong table. The game temporarily stopped, and I wondered if something happened.

As soon as the thought came to me, Ben looked up and winked.

Even though he didn’t hover at my side, he was still incredibly attentive. I felt like a married couple that kept tabs on one another at an event—glancing at each other occasionally, nodding when they wanted a refill, or signaling when it was time to leave. Mom and Dad did that, I realized, as I watched Ben move to another group of people near the door. He shook hands with one guy, then looked over at me and smiled.

“He was quite popular in high school,” Pete whispered when he noticed my stare.

I chuckled. Pete would have talked to me all night. I was sure of that. He was nice, polite, and funny. He told me story after story about them growing up together, followed by joke after joke. He had me laughing so hard, tears welled up in my eyes, which caught Ben’s attention and brought him quickly to my side.

“I found a charger for your phone,” Ben said after he pulled me into the empty kitchen.

“Great. Thanks.” He was more accommodating than I was used to.

“Here.” He handed the phone to me.

I shook my head, bewildered. “Where’s the charger?”

“It’s already charged. See? Full bars,” he answered.

“Wow. That was fast!”

“Now you can call your friends whenever you want to leave.”

My heart pitter-pattered and I paused, trying to formulate the right words. “I’m not ready to go yet,” I finally said.

“Good. ’Cuz I don’t want you to leave either.” A smiled crossed his face.

I was lost in his chocolate-brown eyes.

He leaned toward me, and I was sure he would kiss me. I hoped he would, anyway. He moved closer, and I felt his breath on my cheek. My heart raced, and my palms got clammy.

As his lips neared mine, a dark-haired girl barged in from the back hall. Her entrance startled me, and the moment between Ben and me was gone. I could tell the girl was crying as she mumbled an apology when she saw us. It looked like she was crying. Seconds later, she was wrapped up in Pete’s arms.

“Was that Molly?” I asked.

“Um, no,” Ben answered.

I looked back to the girl, realizing she was shorter than Molly and had curly hair in a different shade.

“What happened to her?” I asked, more to myself than to him.

Ben shrugged. “I’m not sure. Come on.” He grabbed my hand and led me out of the room.

The guys playing beer pong asked if we wanted to join the game. Before we could respond, Melissa called and arranged to pick me up. Ben gave her directions and within a few minutes, she was there.

Even though he held my hand when we walked out, Ben didn’t try to kiss me again.

Ben's Story

The last thing I wanted to do was put Emma in a car with her human friends.

I had her in a secured location and all to myself. Well, almost all to myself, before Molly blew it.

“I’m so sorry, Benjamin,” Molly pleaded to me minutes later. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Obviously!”

“Not clearly, anyway,” she added. “I was just looking for someone to talk to.”

Molly was calm given the circumstance and even though I was angry for her poorly timed entrance and initial lack of disguise, I completely understood her emotions. I didn’t understand how she could have left a child—Victor’s child—behind all those years ago.

“I had no idea the baby survived,” she said to me in the third-floor conference room of the safe house. We were alone in the soundproof room that rookie ears couldn’t penetrate.

“You didn’t check?” I asked, irritated. “You died when you were pregnant with Victor’s baby, and you didn’t realize the baby survived?”

She looked to the floor, silent.

It wasn’t like her to be absentminded. “Molly, how far along in your pregnancy were you… when Victor killed you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. It was so long ago—”

“Think!”

“Six, seven months. Maybe. Benjamin, I’m not sure.”

“And it didn’t dawn on you to check what happened to the baby?”

“I was a human going through transition and admissions. I wasn’t in any frame of mind to think about that.”

“What about later?”

“What
about
later?” She repeated my words sarcastically.

“Did you ask about it? Did you wonder what happened to your baby?”

“No, Benjamin. I didn’t.” Molly tilted her head to one side and glared at me.

“What kind of mother are you?”

“How dare you, Benjamin Parker Holmes. I am
not
a mother!” Molly’s piercing eyes flared, and I knew I hit a nerve. “What about you? Did
you
ever think about your son, Danny?”

“That’s not even a comparison!” I knew she had a point. I took a deep breath. While I checked in on Danny several times since my death, I wasn’t regularly following his life path. He had another decade left in his contract and when the time came, I’d be there.

“Funny how the rules are different for you, Benjamin!”

Pete Jorgenson appeared in the doorway. His presence silenced us and lowered the anger level within the room.

“Knowing what happened to Molly’s child wasn’t her responsibility. It was the job of her Admissions Counselor to know what happened to the fetus. My staff is already on top of it and, right now, it appears to have been reported as too gestationally young to have lived. We have no record of assignment. No immortal spirit listed on the books,” Jorgenson stated.

“What does that mean?” Molly asked, though we both knew what that meant. It meant the baby could have only survived if Victor gave it life. A life different from that of a human, but not quite that of an immortal.

It meant Molly’s son was out there for almost two centuries with immortal abilities we weren’t even aware of.

A son Victor named Aberthol.

Emma's Story

Monday morning, I awoke before my alarm.

Chester wasn’t ready to get up when I stepped into the shower. The weekend was a whirlwind, and I couldn’t wait to get to school and see Ben.

“You’re up early. Did I miss something? A meeting at school, maybe?” Aunt Barb asked. She was making pancakes when I walked into the kitchen. Instead of her already-showered-and-dressed morning look that I was accustomed to, she was in a pink silk robe and fluffy slipper-sandals.

“No. Just up early.” I helped myself to a glass of orange juice. Glancing at the microwave, I noticed it was an hour earlier than my normal breakfast time.

“I thought maybe there was some homecoming thing this morning,” she said, her back to me as she flipped the hot cakes on the griddle. Her hair was down and even though it didn’t look like bedhead, it wasn’t neatly combed or styled.

“No… I couldn’t sleep anymore. Sorry I woke you.” I gave a weak smile and took a sip of juice. I couldn’t tell her I was anxious to see Ben because then I’d have to admit I spent Saturday night with him at a party and not with Melissa like I told her. Well, I did meet up with Melissa later that night, so it wasn’t totally a lie, right?

“Don’t worry. I always get up at this time,” she said. “Oh. I almost forgot.” She looked excited for a second, and then went to the mudroom to grab something. “Can you watch the pancakes? They should be done,” she yelled from the other room.

I did as she asked and turned off the griddle.

When she came back, her arms were full of things that made no sense to me. “I dug these out for you,” she said with a smirk.

I didn’t understand what I would do with a bunch of clothes, but I grinned in response and fixed my plate with a short stack of pancakes and syrup.

“Neal said everyone dresses up this week. For homecoming. Hat day, eighties day…” She rambled on and on about how they had spirit week when she was in high school too. She held up a striped pair of leggings, a grey, off-the-shoulder sweatshirt with matching headband, a brown cowboy hat she said Uncle Rob once wore to a costume party, and an ugly black-and-white checkered sweater. “I thought you could use these for your dress-up days this week,” she said, pleased with her effort. “If you want. You don’t have to.”

“Thanks, Aunt Barb,” I said and gave her a hug.

“I always loved homecoming week.”

I took a bite of pancake to avoid answering. Unfortunately, it encouraged her to talk about her high school days in Westport. I barely listened, picking at my breakfast.

“I thought kids today went toilet papering. Seniors decorated the houses of juniors… Does that still happen? Or was it just my generation?” she asked.

“They still do.”

She clutched her coffee cup with both hands and took a long drink. “Didn’t you want to participate in that?” she asked, putting the cup on the counter between us.

“Maybe.”

“Neal said Lucas was going out last night.”

“I’m not sure,” I mumbled. Lucas and I hadn’t spoken since Saturday. I was still mad he didn’t meet me in Evanston like he told me he would, but I couldn’t tell her how he ditched me.

Aunt Barb’s eyes opened wide, like she wanted to say something. After a brief pause, she spit out, “Just so you know, I’m fine with it—if you want to go, that is. I know it’s past the city curfew and everything. Neal said officers just look the other way. Well, of course, unless there’s trouble.”

I nodded. “Okay, thanks.”

***

I got a good parking spot in the student lot when I arrived at school that morning.

The cowboy hat Aunt Barb gave me slipped down on my forehead, the brim covering my eyes when I put my backpack inside my locker. I heard voices around me, as kids started filling in and the first bell rang. It was our warning we had six minutes until first period.

When I pushed the hat out of the way, I noticed Ben at the end of the hall, talking with Drew and a bunch of guys I recognized from the soccer team.

Everyone was wearing a hat, except Ben. Drew wore a bright green one that looked like it belonged to a Peter Pan costume. Another guy wore a tall, pointed hat, like a giant, striped cone on his head, while someone else wore three baseball hats, one atop the other turned in different directions. When they neared me, Drew yelled, “Nice hat, Bennett!”

Ben nodded. His eyes met mine briefly, and I thought I caught a glimpse of a smile before I turned away, feeling my face flush already. My heart skipped a beat like it did Saturday night, and I couldn’t help but remember that almost kiss. Well, my hopeful almost kiss, that was.

I jumped when I heard a voice behind me.

“Hey, I stopped at your house,” Lucas said.

“Oh.” I glanced at him, and then looked away.

“Your aunt said you left early. You know, I can drive you to school.”

“That’s okay. I can drive.” I grabbed my books and avoided making eye contact.

“Lose the hat.”

“What?”

“It looks stupid,” he answered. His expression was serious.

Screw it. I glared at him.

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” I felt a twinge of satisfaction that he knew I was angry.

He smirked. “You’ll get over it,” he said, and then leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head, but not fast enough. His lips caught the corner of my mouth. Lucas turned and left quickly. When I looked up, I realized Ben was watching.

The rest of the week sped by. Most people dressed up and, despite Lucas’ instruction to lose the hat, I kept it on all day and opted to wear the leg warmers on ‘80’s day and the ugly sweater the next. Ben never dressed up, and neither did Lucas. Claire did, and so did most of the girls I knew.

At lunch, Lucas acknowledged me with a nod or smile, but never sat with me. I didn’t expect him to, and frankly was happy he didn’t ask me to join his boys’ table either. Ben noticed me a few times, but we never had a chance to talk.

In study hall on Monday, Lucas stopped me in the library and made me sit with him. Well, of course, not physically forced me to sit with him. He gave me sad eyes, and I caved in.

“You can’t be mad at me, Emma,” he said. He justified leaving me stranded in Evanston by telling me he didn’t have a car and was at the mercy of some guy I never heard of. “Emma, you didn’t even tell me you were coming. I couldn’t make everyone stay. I had to go with them. Abe was my ride. Besides, you ran into Parker, didn’t you?”

I wanted to scream at him. I mean, boyfriends didn’t do that kind of thing. Right? Then again, Lucas wasn’t boyfriend material and of all the boys I met, he was the last one I wanted to date.

“Some guys were following me—” I began.

“I’m not surprised. I’d follow some hottie on the street, too.” His grin was contagious. “Come on, Em,” Lucas said, touching my hand.

I could have stayed angry longer. He was a jerk, leaving me, but he was right. He didn’t know I was going there, and I wasn’t planning to see him. I called him for help when I couldn’t reach Melissa.

After I forgave him, I realized how I was manipulated, which made me mad at myself.

Later, I wondered if he would have felt bad if he knew how scared I was and how creepy those guys were. No matter what, I knew Lucas wasn’t someone I could rely on.

Tuesday, Lucas walked me to study hall, so I couldn’t look for Ben. Wednesday, Ben was out sick. At least that was what Claire said when I got up the courage to ask.

On Thursday, Lucas had a meeting with the football coach during study hall. I went to the small reference room where Ben and I met weeks before. I worked on my calculus homework and sat alone. Before I knew it, the period was almost over and there was no sign of Ben. When I left the library, walking through the main section on the first floor, I found Ben sitting with Stephanie. Figured. She chatted non-stop and even though he appeared to be listening intently, he looked up and smiled as I passed by. 

That night, Neal and Lucas stopped by with carryout pizzas for dinner. I was surprised when I opened the door and saw Lucas and his dad standing on the porch. Aunt Barb worked late, getting home mere minutes before they arrived. It sounded like she called them, though she didn’t tell me that. My aunt whipped up a huge salad, while Lucas and I set the table. 

It was becoming a habit. Dinner with the Crandons was a weekly—or more often—event. It justified to me all the more reason why I couldn’t stay mad at Lucas for long. Well, I couldn’t let him know he irritated me, anyway. What bothered me the most was that he didn’t even seem to notice how I sacrificed my beliefs to forgive him.

“Emma, have you been out toilet papering this week, too?” Neal asked as we sat at the dining room table.

“Um, no,” I answered, swallowing a bite of salad.

“You can come with us tonight,” Lucas added.

“Oh, you should,” Aunt Barb said. “We had so much fun homecoming week… when I was in school.” I dreaded hearing her reminiscent stories of high school that I heard earlier that week. Lucas grinned at me, and then rolled his eyes as Neal joined in. Finally, I agreed to go.

An hour later, Lucas and I headed to his house two blocks away to pick up his car. Neal told Lucas that a guy should drive, even though I offered, which meant walking to his house. It was already dark and cool when we headed out the door.

Lucas didn’t reach for my hand the way Ben did the other night. Then again, I balled my hands into fists and shoved them into my pockets, where I stuffed the hat and gloves my aunt insisted I bring along.

I couldn’t get Ben out of my mind. He seemed so genuine compared to Lucas.

We walked the first half in silence. After we turned the corner, Lucas began to talk about plans for after the dance. “Trent’s having people over. You know… a sleepover. Couples.” He paused and looked at me, but I glanced down at the sidewalk. “I said we were in.”

What? I shook my head. “I, ah… I’m not sure my aunt will go for that.” I hoped she’d be against it. “Besides, Claire invited us girls to her house.”

“Well, you can
tell
Barb you’re at Claire’s…”

“No, I don’t think so.  I mean, your dad’s not okay with it, is he?”

“What’s he gonna do?”

“Say no. Ground you,” I said and then added, “Kick you out, again?”

He shrugged. “I dropped it on my dad. He didn’t say much.”

I felt sick.

“Don’t worry. It’s cool.”

“What exactly did you tell your dad? I mean, I’m surprised he’d agree. And what about Trent’s parents? Will they be there?”

Lucas laughed at first, and then answered as we reached his house. “I told him everyone was staying. Girls in one room. Guys in the other. You know.” He smirked. “I lied. Besides, he won’t know.”

He unlocked the side door of the house, and I took a deep breath.

“Car’s open. I’ll grab my keys.” He nodded toward the blue sedan parked in the driveway. “Unless, of course, you want to see my bedroom.” He raised his eyebrows and gave me a lopsided grin.

“Ah, no.  Claire’s waiting for me at Drew’s.” I definitely wasn’t ready for what he implied.

“You’re right. We’ve got the weekend.” He winked and headed into the house, returning with keys in hand.

“Ray offered up toilet paper he has at work. We gotta pick it up,” he said, starting up the engine. Ten minutes later, Lucas pulled into an auto body shop in Riverside.

Ray was just as friendly as the first time we met. Creepy, but nice.

“Emma, good to see you,” he said, putting his hand on my back. “Come. Sit down. Lucas can load up the trunk. Let’s talk.” Ray motioned to a burgundy leather chair with studded accents. It was across from an oversized desk with scattered papers and antique-looking pictures. I was completely uncomfortable, like I was called to the principal’s office.

I sat anyway.

“So, Lucas tells me the two of you are going to a dance at the high school this Saturday. His mother wants to take pictures. She’d like you to come to the house. Okay?”

I nodded, afraid not to. His piercing eyes never left mine.

“You know. The typical: Smile for the camera. Pin on a corsage. That sorta thing.”

I wasn’t sure where the courage came from, but when I found my voice, I said, “My aunt is having everyone at the Inn. All of our friends will be there. At Lake Bell. Maybe you’d like to come, too?”

He nodded slowly, his oversized lips pulled taut in a frown. He looked deep in thought, and then raised his eyebrows before he spoke. “Lots of people, you say?”

“Um, yeah. I think so. TJ will be there with Molly. And probably Trent… but I’m not sure who Trent’s date is.”

“Molly?” Wrinkles creased his forehead.

“Yes. She’s TJ’s girlfriend,” I said. “Long, dark hair.”

Again, he nodded slowly.

“You’re welcome to come. My aunt is… Well, I’m sure she won’t mind if you and Lucas’ mom come.”

“At the Inn?” He seemed interested. A wave of excitement flashed through his eyes.

“Yeah. Carmichael Inn. Four o’clock.”