Falling for Hadie (9 page)

I reached over and turned up the volume, and
Lovefool
by The Cardigans filled the car. Leaning back in the seat again, I began humming along to the words.

Hadie shot me a quick look of surprise before focusing on the road again. “You did not just turn that up.”

The smile wouldn’t stop itself from spreading across my face. “Why? I can turn it up if I want.”

“I bet you don’t even know the words,” she said with a frown.

“Mama tells me she wants a brother. That I should just stick to eating Spam…” I trailed off, the words escaping me.

The corner of Hadie’s mouth quirked up as if to say, “See, I knew you didn’t know the words.”

Not wanting to prove her right, I reached over again and turned up the volume full blast as the chorus came on.

Hadie flinched in her seat and shot me a withering look. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“CAN’T HEAR YOU. I’M BUSY.” I gestured at my ear and then closed my eyes as I began singing. “Want me, want me. I know you want me.” I opened up my eyes again to find that Hadie had pulled over on the side of the road. “Drool on me, drool on me. Just go on and drool on me.”

“You’re crazy,” Hadie mouthed at me.

With a shrug, I leaned in closer to her and saw her take a sharp intake of breath. “So I die, and I whine for you to want me, want me. Say that you want me.”

Hadie shook her head in disbelief, but there was a small smile growing on her face as I started dancing around in my seat, rolling my shoulders in time to the music. I knew I looked ridiculous and barely knew a single word to the song, but I didn’t care. That glowing smile on Hadie’s face was worth it.

“COME ON. SING!” I yelled, “AND KEEP DRIVING.”

She shook her head again as though she couldn’t believe she was taking orders from a dancing, singing, crazy person like me. She pulled out from the curb and continued through the town.

As she drove, I noticed that she was bopping along to the song. There was a fun Hadie hidden underneath the reserved one; someone just had to dig it out of her.

“Want me, want me. Say that you popped me…” I trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

“Hold me, hold me. Go on and scold me,” Hadie continued, and then burst out laughing. Her laughter sent thrills through me, and I couldn’t stop looking at her.

I mean, I didn’t want to stare at her like a weirdo, but seeing that broad grin on her face had knocked the wind right out of me. She’d been so serious and sad since I’d met her, but now she was being herself. And that made me happier than she would ever know.

We sang at the top of our lungs, our voices completely out of tune and our words not even slightly resembling the actual words of the song, but neither of us cared. Our version of the song was silly and ridiculous, but we sang right until the end, and when it finally ended we both leaned back against our seats with goofy smiles on our faces.

“Is this something you do with everyone?” Hadie asked, turning down the radio as some rap song came on.

“No,” I said sincerely, “just with you.”

She didn’t respond, but when I looked over at her there was confusion etched into her face. To be honest, I was confused too. Confused as to why I felt like I could be myself with Hadie; confused as to why she made me feel like my walls could come down around her.

As the silence set in again, Hadie drove out of the town and further away from it.  Houses grew scarce as more trees popped up, until all we were surrounded by were forests for miles. It was total and complete isolation.

“See this bridge we’re about to drive over?” Hadie asked, slowing down as we drove over a rickety wooden bridge that looked as though it might collapse at any given second. “Just a five minute walk through those trees is where the field party is on this weekend.”

I looked out the window to where Hadie was gesturing towards a bunch of trees just past the bridge. “There’s a field in the forest?” The geography of Statlen was making no sense to me.

“It’s not really a field; we just call it that,” Hadie said, speeding up as she continued down the road. “There was a fire a few years ago which burnt down a lot of trees. The ones closest to the road grew back, but the ones in the center of the forest never did.”

“Don’t you get caught by the police when you throw the parties?” I asked as Hadie pulled over on the side of the road. “I mean, it’s pretty close to the road.”

“Sometimes you do, but mostly you get away with them. The parties are usually a hit and miss.” Hadie turned her chestnut brown eyes onto me. “So, you up for a hike?”

I frowned as she started to get out of the car. With all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I was. I’d gotten pretty out of shape ever since I’d dropped out of the football team in sophomore year. My body had remained the same because I’d continued training a couple days a week, but I was no longer in top physical form.

“Where are we going?” I asked, following her through the trees.

“Somewhere nice.” She glanced over her shoulder with promise in her eyes.

Hadie

I had no intention of telling Lincoln where we were going. I wanted to surprise him because where I was taking him was a pretty special place. I wasn’t the only one who knew about this haven, but when your town was only populated by fifteen thousand people, you didn’t have to worry about sharing with a lot of people.

Besides, I was struggling to find something to say that didn’t make me sound like a complete dork. After the moment we’d just shared, singing without inhibitions, it was hard to think of something to say. No one had ever made me feel like that or been able to make me come out of my shell so fast.

Honestly, being stupid in that moment with Lincoln had made me forget about the jerk that’d broken my heart. I’d actually been
happy
. I don’t know what it was about Lincoln, but he wasn’t what I’d expected. He’d spent the entire week alone on the field and despite several attempts made by the “popular kids”, he still hadn’t joined their group.

He was a complete mystery and he had me completely intrigued.

There was a well-trodden path that led to where we were going, but even without it, I’d still know my way. I’d been here too many times, spent too many summers sitting beneath the trees with a book in my hand and getting lost within the pages.

As I paused to brush aside a low-hanging branch, I heard Lincoln huffing from behind me. It was surprising that a guy like him couldn’t keep up with me—I was definitely not the athletic type—but I guess that city lifestyle had pampered him too much. Only the wealthy residents of Jackson Heights were used to that sort of living. The rest of us were usually lost in our simple existences.

“You’re not taking me out here to murder me, are you?” Lincoln asked, sounding out of breath.

I stopped. We had reached the edge of the forest on this side. I turned to grin at him. “Well, you might think that you died and went to Heaven.”

I stepped through the last few trees and broke into the small clearing of the lake. The light was still streaming through the opening in the canopy as though the Heavens had opened up and were shining through. In fall, the forest transformed into an otherworldly beauty; the shrubs and plants changed to vivid reds, yellows, and oranges. This entire area was on a slope and we were standing on the higher bank of the lake. Tall reeds grew unevenly around the edge, and the large Basswood trees, with their yellow fall leaves, enclosed the area. A silence hung in the air; the kind of silence that inspired you because it was so peaceful and soothing.

“This is incredible,” Lincoln breathed from beside me.

“I know. I always come here to get away from everything.”

With a wistful glance at the shining lake, I walked over to where a large flat rock lay on the ground. I sat down and Lincoln joined me, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

We sat in a comfortable silence as I watched Lincoln’s eyes dart around the lake, absorbing every little thing. I imagined it was a huge shock for him to be in such a natural, undisturbed environment. Honestly, I would have this any day over living in a big city where it was probably so noisy that I wouldn’t be able to hear myself think.

I lay back on the rock, stretching my body out and letting my muscles relax as I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds around me. A few seconds later, Lincoln shifted around and I turned my head to see that he had reclined beside me.

“I bet you don’t have anything like this in New York, huh?” I finally asked.

“Unless you count the fountain in Central Park then, no, we have nothing like it. This was what I left New York for,” he murmured, eyes half-closed. “This was what I was looking for.”

“You…left? I thought you said something about your dad…”

His azure eyes locked with mine and I couldn’t help admiring the perfection of his face. His features were in absolute symmetry and his piercing eyes just added to his clean-cut looks.

“I lied. We came here because of me; because I wanted to. I had to get away from New York, Hadie. I couldn’t stay there anymore.”

His admission surprised me. What could be bad enough for a seventeen-year-old to convince his family to just up and leave to a new state, a new town, a new life? Was he into drugs? Did he get into some kind of trouble? Had he hung out with the wrong crowd?

“Why did you have to leave?” I propped myself up on an elbow, grazing my skin against the rock, so I could get a better look at him.

Lincoln gave me a twisted smile and I could tell that whatever it was was tormenting him. “Let’s just say it’s something bad enough for me to tell you to stay away from me. I’m no good for you, Hadie. I’m only going to screw up your life. I mean, damn, I shouldn’t even be out here with you. I’m supposed to be staying away from people. If my parents knew, they’d kill me…”

His words annoyed me. “Let me decide for myself if you’re any good for me. And please don’t give me this whole “I’m no good for you crap”. What are you, a vampire or something? I’ll make up my own mind about who I want to spend my time with.”

Lincoln’s smile became teasing and his features softened. “Hadie Swinton, did you just admit that you want to spend time with me? Don’t say it too loud, someone might hear you.”

I laughed and punched him on the arm. “It’s still a work-in-progress. I might want to strangle you tomorrow.”

“What?” Lincoln caught my hand, his face turning serious. “What did you just say to me?”

My insides clenched up at his tone and my heartbeat accelerated. I was out here all by myself with a boy I barely knew. A boy who’d told me himself that I should stay away from him. My parents would be so proud. Obviously I had totally missed that lecture when they’d warned me never to get into cars with strangers.

Oh my God. What if he was a serial rapist or worse? What was worse than a rapist? Well, whatever it was, I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

He didn’t know this area the way I did. Actually, he didn’t know it at all. Maybe if I could just make it to the safety of the trees, I could lose him in the forest. Then I could backtrack to my car and…

Cue rambling as a tool of distraction. “Uh…this is a nice place, isn’t it? I really like the grass and this rock is pretty neat too. Those trees are a good color, aren’t they? Yellow. It’s so mellow. Yes, what a great color for a tree to be…”

Lincoln’s eyebrows rose. “Hadie, you’re doing that thing again where you go on and on about irrelevant topics. That annoys me, and do you know what I do to people who annoy me?”

Sever them from limb to limb and then scatter their body parts around the country? Scar and disfigure their face until they became unrecognizable? The possibilities were endless.

This was it. He was going to make me disappear off the face of the planet. I was a goner. I was done for. I couldn’t let him win without a fight. I had to protect myself somehow.

As I glanced around for something to defend myself with, Lincoln stood up and pulled me to my feet. I screamed as he grabbed me around the waist and dragged me towards the lake, my feet digging into the ground as I tried to free myself.

His hold on me was vice-like, and I tried to tear myself away by hitting him repeatedly on the arm with my free hand in hopes that he would let me go.

Fat chance. I was a petite 5’0 and Lincoln was taller, bigger and stronger than I was. And he was laughing. Wow, he really was psychotic and deranged. The laugh was probably a maniacal one.

Except…it didn’t sound very maniacal. It actually made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Oh, lord. I was about to die and I was feeling warm and fuzzy. Seriously, was I a normal person in any aspect?

“Hadie, you’re only making it worse,” he said, picking me up in his arms.

Fear raced through me as we made eye contact, and then the fear faded quickly. The look in Lincoln’s eyes was bright and sincere. All of a sudden I felt like a first-class moron. He was going to throw me in the lake, not kill me!

Wait…what! No! I didn’t want to go in the lake either!

“Lincoln, stop!” was all I managed to shout before my body hit the water. The impact sent a shock through my entire body.