Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1) (3 page)

“I saw you get out of line. I hope you don’t mind.” He waves a second cup of coffee in my direction. “I didn’t know how you liked it prepared, so I made sure they left a little room for cream.”

The guy is even more gorgeous up close and personal. His weathered jeans and untucked white button-down gives him a rough, but masculine appearance. The stark black eyes that gaze into mine clash against the rest of his features; his sandy blond hair almost demands he have blue ones. I stand there for several seconds, not being able to stop myself from staring back into his eyes. Reluctantly, I snap back from his gaze and notice he’s actually offering me the cup of coffee. I can actually feel my entire face turn red with embarrassment.

“Are you sure that’s not for someone else?” He probably bought that second cup for a friend, and then decided to give it to me at the last minute. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone being that nice. In my experience, people don’t go out of their way to do thoughtful things—at least that’s what I learned from the folks I grew up around.

I can’t seem to move from my current position. It’s almost as if his body gives off these little electronic waves that flow directly into my own. I can feel the goose bumps on my arms as I continue to stare up at him like a grade-A dork. This is the kind of thing that happens to good looking girls like Jaime, who are prepared for these types of social interactions, not someone like me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not self-conscious about my appearance that I consider myself unattractive—that’s for girls who lack self-confidence. I’m just plain. My long brown hair lacks luster and my brown eyes are neither exotically dark nor light like toffee. Not that I care, but at this moment, I wish I was more like Jaime when it comes to the looks department.

“Nope. It’s all yours.” He hands me the tall cup of coffee. “Shall we?” He motions to one of the empty tables up at the front of the shop near the windows. Normally, I don’t make it a habit of taking drinks from complete strangers, nor accepting invitations to accompany them, but with Jaime still M.I.A., I figure I can kill some time before she comes back.

Sitting opposite each other, I’m able to get a better look at him. He looks older than the guys I go to high school with and if I have to guess, I’d say he’s around twenty, twenty-one. At the very least, he definitely appears more mature than any of the other guys I’ve come across at school.

“So, do you want some cream or sugar?” He offers.

“No, I’m good.” The fragrant smell generating from the steaming hot cup tells me I don’t need to sully it with added crap.

“I’m Cooper.” He grins, flashing a perfect set of teeth. This is a guy who probably never had to wear braces and will never need to spend a dime on tooth whitening strips. His smile is that flawless.

“Etta.” I extend my hand to shake his. “Thanks for the coffee. Um, I’m actually here with a friend, I just don’t know where she ran off to.” Single girl survival tip 101: always let strange men know you’re not alone. This way they know not to try anything stupid like slipping roofies in your drink. Okay, I know we’re in a coffee shop, but a girl can’t be too careful.

“If you’re talking about that blonde you came in with, I’m sure she got sidetracked talking to some guy.”

Great.
No doubt he’s only sucking up to me so I can later introduce him to Jaime. I got so caught up talking with him that I didn’t stop to question why a good looking guy like him would buy a girl like me a cup of coffee.

“You’re probably right.” This isn’t the first time Jaime’s forsaken me for someone she just met.

I feel a big tug on my right elbow. Speak of the devil—I turn just in time to see Jaime looking beyond annoyed. “Hey, where’d you run off to? I was looking for you.” Now that I’m talking to Cooper, I wish she’d stayed where she was.

“What are you doing here?” She hisses.

At first, I think she’s addressing me, but one look at her face indicates her irritation is aimed directly at Cooper. Does she know him? I’m sure Jaime would have mentioned knowing him. Taking a protective stance, her hand moves from my elbow to my shoulder.

“It’s a free country, darlin’. I can patronize any establishment I want.” He counters back. Unlike Jaime, he seems to be enjoying this.

We’ve been sitting for several minutes and this is the first time I notice the drawl in his voice. Perhaps he’s one of those people whose Southernisms come out when they were drunk, provoked, or in this instance, amused.

“Hey, Jaime, I’m—” I try to break away from her hold, but this only tightens her grasp on my shoulder.

“Come on Etta, we’re leaving.” Jaime attempts to drag me out of the place. From the look in her eyes, she is hell bent and determined to get me out of here, even if it means dislocating my shoulder. This isn’t good. She must know him or she wouldn’t be acting this way.

“What? Why? I don’t understand.” Confused, I look over at Cooper. He doesn’t make an effort to move from his seat and watches as Jaime pulls me out of the chair, clearly entertained by the spectacle we are no doubt creating.

Jaime looks him square in the eye. “You need to go back to wherever it is you came from.”

“Why don’t we just let Etta decide?” His attention shifts from Jaime over to me. “Etta, do you want to leave or do you want to stay here and talk? Don’t let her bully you into anything.”

A small crowd begins to gather where the three of us are arguing. Again, this isn’t good. The familiar feeling of my blood pressure rising is never a good sign and I don’t know what’s going to happen if I end up getting upset. Will my temper affect Jaime or Cooper? It’s not like I can control whatever it is I have. I don’t even know how it works. All I know is that any time I get upset or felt threatened, bad things happen. What if I get angry and I inadvertently hurt someone? I’m not willing to take any chances.

So as not to cause an impending scene, I decide to go along with Jaime and leave. I’m not thrilled with her telling me what to do and I still think she’s taking things a little too seriously, but this Cooper guy must be an ex-boyfriend or they wouldn’t be going at each other this way. Jaime and I have to get out now. The situation is getting way out of control, not to mention my body temperature.

“Come on Jaime, you win, we’re going now.” I grab hold of her hand, allowing her to lead me out of the shop. As we make our way out, I can’t help but peer over my shoulder to look at Cooper one last time. Instead of being annoyed that our conversation was cut short, he still has the same amused expression on his face. I silently mouth, “I’m sorry,” and follow Jaime out the door.

After all my reservations about going to Battle Grounds, I’m kinda bummed to be leaving. Jaime has some major explaining to do when we get back to Dominion House.

“We have to get out of here now before he follows us.”

“I don’t think it’s going to come to that. When we get back, you’re going to tell me exactly what all that was about.”

My statement catches catch her off guard, as if she hadn’t thought past getting me out of the coffee shop. “I’ll explain when we’re safe back at the home.”

When we get back to our room, Jaime places herself in the middle of her twin sized bed. She glances around the room and then back at me. “I’m so sorry, Etta. I shouldn’t have left you alone,” she says.

“Yeah, about that. Where did you go? Cooper and I were just talking anyway. I don’t see what the big deal was. Why were you acting so weird back there?”

“I’m sorry I left you there all alone. I bumped into Bridget on my way to the bathroom and got sidetracked,” Jaime explains. “Look, I wish we could avoid this conversation all together, but there’s something you need to know.”

When I think back to all that had transpired tonight, there’s nothing that could have prepared me for what Jaime says next.

“That guy you were talking to at the coffee shop? He’s been around here.”

“W
hat…?” For a second I misunderstand and think Jaime is saying she’s seen him around town. But that doesn’t make any sense. So, I’m pretty sure she means here at Dominion House.

“You heard me. He came by asking for you,” Jaime continues. “And somehow he manages to track you down over at Battle Grounds? That’s not good Etta. One minute he’s here snooping around, asking if I know you, and the next thing I know, you’re all cozied up with him at the coffee shop.”

“Did he say why?” Granted, our interaction was brief, but he probably would have gotten around to telling me why he was looking for me, if Jaime hadn’t intervened. There has to be a reasonable explanation. “And for your information, I wasn’t all cozied up. We were just talking. He was nice enough to get me a cup of coffee. I got tired of waiting for you.”

“No, he didn’t say. That’s why I got you out of there.” She says this with a serious tone in her voice. “What if he’s some kind of a stalker?” Her face softens a bit. “Look, I’m sorry I left you there alone. I didn’t think I’d be chatting that long.”

What Jaime said makes sense, but I’m still not willing to buy the fact that Cooper could be dangerous. I want to give Jaime the benefit of the doubt, but she’s seriously overreacting about the whole thing and paranoia isn’t my idea of a good character trait in a friend—or a roommate. I hope I’m not expected to live my last year at Dominion House with a total control freak. She’s my friend, sure, but in the end, I have to look out for myself.

Jaime must sense how ridiculous she sounds and relaxes on the bed. “It’s just freaky, that’s all. Sorry if I went a little overboard back there. You can’t be too safe nowadays.”

“You’re probably right. It is kinda weird,” I say as a way of calling a truce. But in the back of my mind, I didn’t think it was weird at all and I can’t get the image of his perfect smile out of my head.

Then again, if Cooper is going around asking about me, why didn’t he just tell me what he wanted back at Battle Grounds? And how did he know to ask for me here at Dominion House? It just doesn’t add up. I can’t think of a possible reason for him to come looking for me.

Unless… “Hey, do you think…” I know I’m letting my imagination get the better of me, but my thoughts come stumbling out, “…do you think maybe he’s some sort of relative or something?”

Jaime springs up from bed with a wide-eyed expression. I can tell she looks sorry for me. “Oh, Etta. I don’t think so. If that was the reason, don’t you think he would have said so from the start?” She then turns away from me and faces the wall. “You know, I have thoughts like that too. That some long lost family member will realize I’m in this hell-hole and take me home.”

I can hear her sniffle under the sheets and I realize I’m not the only one who daydreams about being reunited with a family that simply doesn’t exist. I know it’s a long shot, but why can’t it be possible? “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I finally agree and turned over in my bed, staring back at my own barren side of the wall.

Tonight, I dream about going to a fancy ball. I’m wearing a knee-length silver formal and I feel like a princess. I can’t tell who my date is, but I’m positive he’s cute.

•  •  •

At school, I try to keep my thoughts of Cooper and his mysterious entrance into my life out of my head. A small part of me still holds on to the belief that he’s here to tell me I have family out there, waiting for me to come home. But I know Jaime’s right. If that’s the case, he would have gone straight to the administration office to discuss the matter.

“Miss Fleming, are you still with us the morning?”

“Sorry, Mr. Duncan.” I’m a bit embarrassed at being caught daydreaming in English class. Mr. Duncan is one of my favorite teachers and the last thing I want is for him to think I don’t care about his class.

Jaime is in the same class and she leans over her desk to poke me when Mr. Duncan isn’t looking. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I whisper back. I don’t want to tell her I’m thinking about Cooper. She’ll give me another lecture for sure. I settle back into my chair and listen attentively to Mr. Duncan’s lecture on Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
for the remainder of class.

As soon as the bell rings, Jaime and I hightail it to the cafeteria, which is the only time we get to hang out during the day—as if sharing a room back at Dominion isn’t enough face time. But since English is the only class we share together, we take advantage of the lunch hour and spend it catching up on idle gossip.

“So, did you hear, Amy Pierce is preggers,” Jaime says in a hushed voice. I don’t know why she bothers to whisper. There’s no one else at our table to overhear our conversation. Because we’re orphans and live over at Dominion House, it pretty much seals our fate as social pariahs at school.

“Really? I thought she was all religious and stuff.” Then again, isn’t it always the pious ones? Amy is president of the Bible Fellowship Youth Ministry and spent the latter part of last year trying to convert all of us heathens. By the time she got to me, I told her I was Catholic and didn’t need to be saved. I don’t actually know what I am, but I figured that would shut her up. It didn’t though. After that, she and her ministry pledged to save my soul. The finally gave up last semester after their group was nominated to head up the high school’s beautification project.

“Pretty sure. Bridgette all but confirmed it the other night at Battle Grounds.”

“Well, it could be worse, it could be us,” I laugh. People always think the worst about us.

“Speaking of, do you think Alex would notice us if we weren’t orphans?” Jaime slides her lunch tray across the table, eyes focusing on the table situated at the other end of the cafeteria.

I guess even girls like Jaime have confidence issues. I follow the direction of her gaze and immediately understand the reason behind her question. The back corner table is where all popular kids sit, including Alex Stewart. Not only is he captain of the football team, he also dates the most popular girl at Alexandria High, Jenny Prado. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out, she’s captain of the cheerleading team—but do I really have to say it?

“How are those two things even related? And to answer your question, no.” I go back to munching on a french fry. Hamburger Day at school is my favorite day of the week. They actually use real meat for their burgers, not the crap ones filled with fillers, like the ones they serve us over at Dominion House. “We’d have to be cheerleaders too. It’s in the teenage handbook. Even then, I’m not sure we’d have a shot.”