Phantom (16 page)

 She dressed with extra care even though Tom told her he was going to keep their evening casual. She didn’t mind. She was never one for excess, and anything other than casual would have been unlike him. After all, he was an all-American, blue jean sporting kind of guy. So Rebecca wore her jeans as well, along with a lightweight sweater. They were having an Indian summer in South Jersey; even though it was the beginning of November, it was still warm enough to go outside without a jacket in the early evening. She applied her makeup and brushed her hair. When she checked her reflection in the mirror, she was pleased with the results.

Once she was dressed, there was nothing left to do but wait. It was nearly six and Tom would be arriving at any moment. She kept expecting the nervous jitters to begin. It was strange. She should have been a complete wreck. A month ago she would have been hyperventilating. Now, she was surprisingly calm, hardly even excited at all. Yet, when she thought ahead to the next weekend with Justyn, she felt her heart begin to flutter.

Rebecca wandered over to her nightstand and picked up the book Justyn had given her. She had forgotten about it after the excitement of the Halloween dance, but that afternoon, she had read more than half of the paperback. She was surprised by how interesting it was. The more she read about the pagan deities, the guardian elements, and all the amazing magical practices that Justyn believed in, the more familiar it seemed to her. It was like she was reading a book that she had already read years before and it was all coming back to her as she flipped through the pages. Yet, she knew for a fact that she had never read anything about Wicca before. So why did the strange feeling of familiarity persist?

Rebecca dropped the book onto the table when she heard the doorbell ring. She finally started to get the nervous jitters, but it was more because she was worried that her father would make it to the door before she did and begin the type of interrogation usually reserved for hardened criminals. Luckily, Rebecca moved a lot faster than her middle-aged father. She yelled out her goodbyes before her parents could even stick their heads out of the kitchen, and slipped out of the door before they had a chance to open their mouths. She found Tom waiting on the porch steps looking twice as nervous as she felt. A month ago, she would never have believed his demeanor possible.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

 There was a moment of awkward silence, and he scratched his head. “So, are you ready?”

She smiled. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Cool, then I guess we should get going.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

 Rebecca followed him to his truck. She was incredibly relieved to see that Jay wasn’t waiting inside. Tom was much more gentlemanly than he had been on their first disaster of a date. Of course, he was sober this time. He opened the passenger side door, and even took her hand as she stepped up into the seat—probably a good idea considering her reputation for tripping and/or falling. It was a sweet gesture, and Rebecca felt her heart warm up just a little.

“So,” Tom said once they had pulled out of the driveway. “I thought we’d grab something to eat and maybe catch a movie or something.”

“Sounds good to me.”

It also sounded ordinary. It was the all-American date with the all-American boy. Why did that suddenly seem so boring? All her life she had settled for the simplest, the easiest, and the most normal course of action. When did that change? When did she start longing for something more, something different, something more exciting? In the back of her mind, she pondered that Justyn Patko would have thought of something much more interesting than your basic dinner and a movie.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Rebecca was hardly surprised to find it was the typical Italian chain complete with the never-ending pasta bowl, and their famous salad and bread sticks combo. The walls were covered with paintings of Venice, the counters were lined with wine bottles, and every waiter and waitress recited the same greeting as they walked up to their tables.

 It was a nice place with a decent menu, but Rebecca was watching her waistline, so she stuck with just a salad. She needed to be sure she would be able to get into her costume, which the cast of the play had already been fitted for. Tom wasn’t worried about his weight. He ate so much lasagna, meatballs, sausage, bread sticks, and even dessert, that she was a little concerned they might have a repeat of the Halloween dance, with him spending half the night with his head in the toilet bowl. But he did manage to keep the conversation pleasant and flowing, asking her just as many questions about the things that she enjoyed as he spent talking about his love of surfing and basketball. It all seemed to be going well, and Rebecca was pretty much over her pessimistic thoughts. She was even starting to remember why she had liked him for so long. That is, until they got to the movie theater. Then she was reminded that Tom worried too much about what everyone else thought about him.

They pulled up to the little theater about twenty minutes before the movie was supposed to start. Tom bought tickets for some thriller flick without even asking Rebecca whether she wanted to see it. But that wasn’t the worst of it. As they were standing in line to get popcorn and sodas, Jay and several other members of his posse came up behind them, slapping Tom on the shoulder.

“Dude!” Jay shouted. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be here tonight.”

“There’s a reason for that, Jay. I’m on a
date
.”

“I can see that. Hey, Becca. Mind if we join you?”

Tom was annoyed. “Of
course
we mind. Like I said, this is a
date
. We’re supposed to be
alone
.”

“Aw, come on. I don’t mind a little PDA, you know, public displays of affection. You can make out all you want. Just expect me and the guys to be watching every second of it.”

Now Rebecca was annoyed. The last thing she wanted was to spend the rest of her evening with Jay spying on their every move.  “Tom,” she whispered. “I would really like it if we had some time alone.”

Jay heard her and he crinkled his nose in distaste. “Dude, are you gonna let some chick tell you how to spend your Saturday night?”

Tom looked torn for a minute. Then he made the choice that any self-respecting guy in the popular crowd would make. “Oh, come on Bec, it won’t be so bad to sit with the guys. The more the merrier, right?”

There was absolutely nothing merry about the situation at all, but Rebecca knew it wasn’t worth fighting about. There was no escaping Tom’s faithful sidekick and his string of minions. But she wasn’t happy about it, and she came very close to pulling away from him when Tom took her hand to lead her into the movie theater with Jay and the others in tow. It wasn’t in her nature to be
argumentative,
so she let him have his way.

She spent the next ninety minutes being hit in the head with popcorn kernels and listening to a wide array of strange and almost musical bodily functions. Even when Tom tried to slip his arm around her, Jay had to make his presence known by moving to the other side and laying his head on her shoulder,
oohing and awwing like the juvenile moron that he was, and in general making a complete nuisance of himself. The crowd was so rowdy that Rebecca could barely follow the storyline of the movie. She was surprised that they made it through the whole picture without getting kicked out. Strangers shot them icy stares and there was more than one loud “shhh”. When the credits finally started to roll, Rebecca heaved a sigh of relief. It couldn’t have come soon enough.

Tom was quiet and obviously embarrassed on the ride home. Rebecca felt a little sorry for him. He had planned a nice normal evening. It wasn’t his fault that Jay had shown up uninvited and ruined things. She understood why he had given in to their demands. Adolescent male teasing could be a brutal force to reckon with. And she really did have a nice time with him at dinner. All in all, the evening hadn’t been a total loss.

Tom pulled into the driveway and shifted his truck into neutral, still looking grim. “I guess there’s not much hope that there’s going be a third date, huh?”

When he turned those sad blue eyes on her, any lingering sense of annoyance melted completely away. “I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet.”

He smiled a huge bright smile and was visibly relieved. “I’m sorry about Jay. He’s . . . you know . . . he’s Jay.”

She did know. There were few non-vulgar words that could be used to describe Jay Kopp. “It’s okay. I won’t hold you accountable for his actions.”
She would have thought it impossible, but Tom’s smile widened. “Good. Because I’d hate to think I’d blown it with you, Becca. I . . . I really like you. You’re smart and pretty . . . and not like the other girls. You know, you’re special.”

Rebecca blushed. “I . . . I like you too, Tom.”

If he wanted to ask if she liked him more than Justyn, he restrained himself. And she was glad. She wasn’t ready to answer that question just yet.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

 He leaned over the armrest and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss wasn’t at all rough this time, and she found herself returning it with much more willingness than she had on Halloween. It was a nice kiss, and she waited for the warm fluttery feeling in her chest to finally come back. She waited for that sudden burst of inspiration where she would realize that he was the one. But as sweet as the kiss was, there were no fireworks. No breathlessness. No yearning for something more. Maybe she had just read too many romance novels. Or maybe Tom wasn’t the one that she really wanted to be kissing.

Chapter Eighteen

“Hi, Becca!”

Justyn buzzed past her on his black bike, which was a perfect match to his black silver-chained pants and metal-tipped boots. He came to a screeching halt just a few feet away from her with a huge smile on his face. She didn’t think twice before jogging to catch up with him. She couldn’t deny that she was happy to see him. And she was even happier when the two of them walked side by side to the bike rack, where he locked his bike up securely.

“So, will I be riding on your handle bars on Saturday night?”

Justyn smirked. “Don’t worry. I have a car. I just prefer to be out in the fresh air whenever possible.”

It
was
a beautiful day. Groups of students were loitering in the walkways, putting off the inevitable for as long as possible. It was a shame that it was a Monday and they were going to be stuck inside all day. It was warm and mild, without a cloud in the sky.

The sky? That reminded Rebecca of something interesting she had read that weekend. She pulled Justyn’s book out of her backpack, and handed him the small paperback.

“I finished reading your book,” she told him.

He raised a pieced eyebrow. “And?”

“Skyclad, huh?”

“Ritual nudity is completely optional.”

Now it was Rebecca’s turn to raise
her
eyebrow. “And do
you
opt for it?”

He shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to tag along to one of our get-togethers and find out for yourself.”

“Is that what we’ll be doing this weekend? Dancing naked in the woods with a bunch of witches?”

“Maybe . . . I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

Justyn wasn’t about to give up any information. Rebecca had a feeling that trying to get him to change his mind would have been a pointless endeavor. If he had his mind set on keeping their date a surprise, nothing could drag the secret from him. But it was certainly going to make the next five days go unbelievably slow for Rebecca while she waited in suspense.

As they walked toward the school entrance, Justyn explained some of the symbolism in Wicca. Rebecca asked one question after another, hungry for as much information as possible. The more she heard about Wicca, the more fascinating she found the religion. Before she knew it, Justyn was planning a whole reading list for her, which she found herself more than willing to accept.

Justyn held the door open as they slipped into the hallway. She noticed a few kids were pointing and snickering in her direction as they moved towards her locker. She assumed it was because of Justyn and his fashion sense. He still had a strange effect on most of their classmates. But he didn’t seem to be bothered by people staring at him, so Rebecca didn’t see any reason to let it bother her either.

Their lockers were in different directions, and Rebecca was just about to say goodbye to him when Carmen and Debbie swooped down on her like a pair of whirling dervishes. They each grabbed one arm in an almost eerie synchronization, and started pulling her down the hall toward the girls’ bathroom before she knew what was happening. She didn’t even have time to look back over her shoulder to see if Justyn was surprised by her sudden and unintended departure.

“What’s going on?” Rebecca demanded. “I know you guys aren’t crazy about the idea of me and Justyn, but don’t you think this is a little extreme? What’s next, a chastity belt?”

“Shhh.” Carmen hissed. “This has nothing to do with your freaky Gothic boy toy.”