Allegiant (13 page)

Thank God. I’m on my way.

What?! No! Shel will kill
me!
What are you doing awake?! You can’t
drive here in the middle of the night!

I’m up worrying anyway.

What do I say? That she
doesn’t want to see to him?
You CANNOT
come here.

Dane is with me. He wants to see you.

Oh, hell no!
Don’t you DARE bring him here!

Be reasonable.

You be reasonable!
It’s late and I’m tired. I don’t want to argue
right now. All I was trying to do was ease Matt’s worry; which I
now realize was a mistake. And what is Dane doing with him at this
hour? What are they, attached at the hip?

How mad is she?

Very.

How mad are you?

Extremely.

I wait and there is no response. I imagine
the two of them getting in the car for the long drive out here. A
ball of nerves forms in my belly and sits there like a rock, or
maybe it’s all the junk I ate coagulating in one spot. Probably a
combination of both. Man, I really screwed this up. I switch the
phone to vibrate, in case it goes off again before daylight. I
stand to go back to our campsite. How am I going to sleep now?

Buzz.
I’ll see you in a few.

I could cry.
NO.

Don’t worry. I’m alone.

I barely manage to sleep the rest of the
night in anticipation of Matt’s arrival. If he left when he said he
did, he should be here soon. I look over at Shel, who is sleeping
peacefully, and imagine her wrath when she finds out. I contemplate
waking her, so we can make a run for it. Instead, I decide to get
up and get dressed.

When I’m decent, I leave the apartment to
wait by the front door for Matt. I don’t want him pressing the
intercom and waking Shel. I lean against the sidelight, peering
through the window, so I can see him when he arrives. I pick at my
cuticles to pass the time and silently wonder if James will visit
today. He was so excited yesterday and, the more I think about it,
so am I. If Garrett is partially human, what could that mean for
us? Who knew that was even possible?

My light is temporarily blocked by a passing
shadow, and I turn to open the door quickly. Matt jumps as my
action startles him and he freezes, his finger hovering over the
intercom button. I give him a stern look, step outside, and close
the door behind me.

He relaxes. “Em, I…”

“
Wait.” I stop him before
he can say anymore. I cross my arms and take a step forward,
looking up and down the sidewalk to make sure he came
alone.

Matt sighs. “He’s not here.”

I turn to face him, raise my eyebrows, and
snap, “At least you listened to one thing I said.”

He runs his hand through his hair. “I just
want to make things right. This is killing me.”

I take a moment to really look at him, and
he does look worn. His usually styled hair falls flat against his
head, his eyes are red from lack of sleep, and his clothes are
wrinkled and unkempt. Geez, it hasn’t even been 24 hours.

“
Matt, I only contacted you
so you wouldn’t worry. Not to make you come out here.”

“
Shel can’t avoid me if I’m
here and neither can you,” he says and puts his hands on his hips.
“I feel terrible, and I deserve a chance to explain, to apologize.
Is she awake?”

“
She’s sound asleep and has
no idea you’re here. Do you know how much trouble I’m going to be
in when she finds out?”

“
I won’t tell,” he says,
trying to look innocent. “We can pretend like I took a chance that
she was here and just showed up.”

“
Fine.” I pull my keys from
my pocket and unlock the front door. I step inside and warn him,
“This may not be pretty. Are you prepared?”

He grimaces. “As much as I’ll ever be.”

“
Give me a minute and then
press the intercom,” I tell him. “It’ll probably wake her and
she’ll be none the wiser.”

“
Got it. And
thanks.”

I give him a sarcastic smile and close the
door. I head to my apartment and enter as quietly as possible. I
creep over to Shel, and she’s still asleep on the floor. I barely
take two steps away from her when the intercom buzzes, making me
jump. Impatient much?

Shel stirs, but doesn’t open her eyes. I
pick up LB, who has left the cozy comfort of Shel’s side, and head
to let Matt in, leaving my apartment door open. When we return,
Shel is sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She takes one look at us,
blinks to focus, and then opens her mouth. “What the hell?”

“
It’s not Emma’s fault,”
Matt rushes to defend me. “I figured you would be here.”

Shel throws off the blanket
and gets to her feet. “What part of my
not
answering your calls didn’t you
understand?”

“
I needed to see you. I was
worried.” He looks genuinely concerned, as if he thought Shel might
have fled the country.

“
I’m a big girl. I’m fine.
Now leave.”

“
Shel…” he
pleads.

“
I’m serious!” she
shouts.

I hate to see them fight, especially when
it’s over something to do with me. I speak up. “Guys, stop! I’m the
one who should be mad, not you.”

They turn around.

“
This is between Dane and
me.” I put LB down and give Matt a hard look. “Although, it
would’ve been nice to have had some warning.”

Matt grimaces. “Dane is my friend –”

“
So is Emma!” Shel
snaps.

Matt closes his eyes then opens them slowly.
He takes a deep breath. “When he told me he was starting to have
feelings for you, I told him he had to tell you. Demanded it,
actually.” He glances at Shel then back to me. “He assured me that
he was going to break things off with Teags; he said he didn’t love
her anymore. Said maybe he never did.”

“
Teags?” I ask. My mind
flashes back to the day of my fight with Dane, when I was packing
up to move to Western. When he told Matt,
“I’m headed to the airport. Teags will be here in a few
hours.”

“
We’ve been calling her
that since high school,” Matt says. “Em, the girl has been gone
forever. I was surprised to hear that she was finally coming home.
Then you and Dane stopped speaking to each other, and I thought
bringing it up now wouldn’t do any good. It’s really not my place
if you two aren’t together.”

I stare at him in silence, digesting what he
has said.

“
How did you find out
anyway?” he asks.

Shel and I make eye contact and I nod,
giving her the go ahead to explain. “She got a newspaper article in
the mail, a spotlight piece on Teagan about her trip. The end of it
talked about the engagement.”

Matt looks at me, confused. “Who sent you
that?”

“
I have no
idea.”

Matt takes a few steps toward me. “Em, Dane
is wrecked over this. He feels horrible that you didn’t hear about
it from him personally. You should really talk to him.”

“
Ah, not gonna happen,” I
say adamantly. “He basically cheated on her with me. Besides, he’ll
be fine. His woman is home to take care of him now.”

Matt lets out a sharp laugh.

“
What? Is there trouble in
paradise?”

“
Teagan isn’t exactly the
maternal, caring type.”

“
What are you trying to
say?” Shel asks.

“
That she’s a raging
bitch,” Matt says matter-of-factly. “She always has been. I’ve
never liked her.”

I can’t help but smile as
images from the show
Bridezillas
flash through my mind. “Well, I guess that will
make for an interesting wedding.”

Matt shakes his head. “Who says there’s
going to be a wedding?”

By early evening, I’m sitting cross-legged
on my bed, finishing an assignment for Communications in Business.
On the floor, LB plays with the discarded edges of my notebook
paper as I brainstorm ways to differentiate between the advantages
and disadvantages of non-verbal communication. It’s not a riveting
topic.

This afternoon, Matt and Shel left on better
terms. Shel was still a little salty, but I’m not sure if her mood
was an act or not. She may still be doing that whole “Matt needs to
be trained” thing. Matt repeatedly apologized over breakfast, after
we decided to go out to eat instead of consuming the leftovers of
our junk food picnic. There was a lot of eye rolling on Shel’s
part, especially when Matt refused to elaborate on his statement
regarding Dane’s possible wedding. He said it wasn’t his place to
discuss Dane’s business and that it would be best if I called Dane
to let him explain what’s going on. I know what he’s doing; he’s
trying to bait me into speaking to him again. Well, I’m not going
to fall for it. I have too many conflicting feelings when it comes
to Dane; now is as good a time as any to cut off any and all
contact. I’ll stay off that emotional rollercoaster, thank you very
much.

Suddenly, I hear this horrid gurgling noise
coming from beside my bed. I throw myself over to the edge to
witness LB throwing up on the floor.

“
LB!” I exclaim with worry
as I sit there, stunned. She finishes retching, backs up a few
steps, and starts to clean herself as if nothing happened. I bend
over the bed further to examine her vomit pile and it appears she
decided to eat the paper remnants instead of just play with
them.

“
Really?” I scold her,
annoyed.

She stops washing to look at me
innocently.

“
I thought you were sick,”
I grumble as I slide off the bed to find something to clean up the
mess. I return with a damp dish rag and some paper towel from the
kitchen and set to taking care of the grossness. LB apologetically
rubs against me.

“
No more paper for you,” I
tell her and pick up the last bits from the floor, the ones she
didn’t eat. “Let’s stick to pet store toys from here on
out.”

After I discard everything, I decide to turn
on some music while I finish my homework. I plug my phone into the
dock in my room and shuffle my way through my favorite playlist. I
select Maroon 5’s “Payphone” and hum along, attempting to complete
my dull assignment.

Halfway through the song I hear laughter.
Female laughter. I pause to listen, but don’t hear it again. I
shake it off and continue writing; it was probably in the song and
I never noticed it before. A minute later, I hear it again. What
the heck? I lean over and turn down the music, listening for the
mysterious laughter sound. I wonder if Samantha and Todd are being
overly loud upstairs.

Movement in my peripheral vision catches my
attention, and I turn to see James taking form on the opposite side
of the room. I start to get up off the bed to greet him, but then
stop as I realize he is with other people. People I’ve never met
before.

“
Hi,” he smiles broadly and
walks around my bed to be closer to me. His guests follow. “I
wanted to introduce you to some friends.”

I rearrange my face to offer a smile at the
two women James has brought with him. One woman is petite, with
straight, shoulder-length, fiery red hair, and a dash of freckles.
Her eyes are an odd shade of brown, almost caramel, and she wears a
soft yellow peasant blouse and embroidered bell-bottom jeans. She
can’t be much older than sixteen. The other woman is tall, almost
as tall as James’ 5’11 inch frame, with striking blue eyes that
remind me of the Mediterranean. Her dark brown hair falls in shiny
waves to her lower back, and she wears a cream colored sundress
that falls just above the knee, the style showing off her toned
arms and legs. The color complements her sun-kissed skin tone, and
I notice she’s wearing cowboy boots as well.

“
This is Jenna,” James nods
to his left indicating the red-haired girl. “And this is Meg,” he
nods and smiles to the woman standing at his right.

Jenna twists her fingers together nervously
as Meg confidently steps forward and extends her hand. “It’s a
pleasure to meet you,” she says with a slight southern twang.

I tentatively take her hand to shake it,
standing as I do. She feels just as cold as James, but the
consistency of her hand somehow feels more solid. “It’s nice to
meet you too,” I say quietly, somewhat stunned that I am meeting
yet another Guardian. Meg releases my hand and steps back, flipping
her long hair over one shoulder and revealing a perfect white
smile. Geez, could she get any prettier? I suddenly feel
self-conscious in my sweatpants and old Muse t-shirt.

Meg glances at Jenna and nods toward me.
“Um, hi,” the girl says shyly.

I give her a genuine smile, hoping to make
her feel more comfortable.

“
These two were on their
way to check in with Garrett,” James says. “I was headed to see
you, so we came together.”

“
Oh,” I say, for a lack of
anything better.

“
He was pretty anxious to
get here,” Meg says with a laugh. “We won’t keep you.” She steps
around James and nudges Jenna’s arm. She looks back to flash us
another amazing smile. “See y’all.”

I say “okay” lamely, and James gives them a
small wave as they turn together and walk through my bedroom wall.
I’m sure I look dumbfounded. When I feel his cool arms wrap around
my waist, I snap to attention.

“
What is it?” James
asks.