Chapter 58
She looked up into his eyes, which
were bright in the pale moonlight, the only part of his face that stood
out. Normally, they were light blue, the
same color as the dress she’d worn that night.
The rumpled gown was lying in a heap in the sand now, just as she was,
only she was no longer in it. And though
his eyes shone down upon her, she could not make out their color through the
sheath of darkness that had enveloped them.
He rolled off of her and collapsed
next to her in the sand, his chest heaving.
She lay panting beside him, just as breathless, just as gratified. For a few minutes, neither of them spoke, but
instead listened to the harmony of their ragged breathing, which eventually
evened out and slowed.
“This whole night has been amazing,”
she said softly, her voice hoarse. “I
can’t believe the year’s almost over.
You realize we graduate in less than a month?”
“I know,” his low voice joined
hers. “I can’t wait. This summer’s gonna be the bomb.”
“Yeah… but that means only three
months until everybody leaves. You’ll be
at FSU… I’ll be at UT… and our friends will be spread out all across the
state. I can’t wait to move out and be
on my own, but it’s gonna be so weird, not seeing you and Di and the whole gang
everyday.”
“You’ll make new friends. That’s half the point of going away to
college.”
“Oh, I know… but...” She sighed, biting her lip, and reached out
to touch his arm. “I’m gonna miss you,
Jamie.”
“Well, I’m gonna miss you too,
Clairie.”
She smiled sadly. “It’s going to be hard, not seeing each other
every day. Do you think… I mean, do you
think it’ll work?”
He took a moment to answer. “I don’t know... Do you?”
“I think so,” she said slowly. “If we make it work. It’ll take some effort, sure, but we love
each other, and that’s the most important thing. If we’re meant to be together, then we will
be.” She looked over at him, hoping for
a sign of confirmation that he agreed with her and was willing to work through
a long-distance relationship. But his
face was impossible to read in the dark.
“Right?”
“Sure,” was his nonchalant reply. She hated how he did that. One minute he was talkative, and the next,
totally silent, except for his one-word responses. There were times when she felt she was always
on the same page as him, but sometimes she just didn’t understand the boy. She supposed she should just shut up. Guys didn’t like to talk after sex – wasn’t
that the rule?
She settled for quiet cuddling
instead, letting a tranquil silence fall over them. Lying there, her body cushioned by the soft
sand beneath her and sheltered by his arms, she wished the moment would last
forever. She wished this whole night
would never end. It was magical and…
just perfect, the way senior prom night was meant to be. No worries… no curfew (a rare exception that
she was prepared to take full advantage of)… and by now, no people, no one but
her and Jamie. There were other couples
around, scattered along the beach, she was sure. But she couldn’t see or hear them, so as far
as she was concerned, it was just the two of them. Together.
Perfect.
After some time, they finally decided
to leave their secluded spot and walk back up to the house, where there were
sure to still be people partying. She
shook the sand out of her dress and put it back on, hoping it didn’t look like
a mess. Her mom would be pissed if she
ruined that dress, even though it wasn’t like she’d be wearing it again. Jamie did the same with his tux, all except
the jacket, and they walked back up to the house, hand in hand.
Hey, this
is Nick’s house, she realized as they got closer. Funny, she didn’t recall Nick hosting the
after-prom party. But it was his house
alright. She was just hitching up her
dress to climb the wooden steps that led to the sprawling deck in the back when
she heard Jamie shout. She looked up
just in time to see a dark figure dart out of the shadowy hideout beneath the
stairs. She jumped and let out a shriek
and was just about to go off on the person for lurking under the stairs and
acting creepy when he turned around. And
then – she couldn’t help it – she screamed.
It was the Grim Reaper. Or rather, someone dressed as the Grim
Reaper, in one of those stupid Scream costumes. She’d seen
them everywhere for the past couple of Halloweens, ever since that stupid movie
came out, but they still freaked her out.
“Real mature!” she snapped
sarcastically at the masked figure, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s prom, not Halloween. Get a life!”
Annoyed at whoever it was for scaring
her and embarrassing her, she stalked over to the guy in the costume and
reached up to pull his mask off when she heard Jamie cry out, “Claire,
no!” Confused, she glanced over her
shoulder at him, and when she turned back, the Scream guy had a knife raised.
“Oh, very fun-“ she started to say,
but when she saw the flash of metal in the moonlight, she realized it was no
fake knife. Letting out a strangled
scream, she turned and practically dove out of the way, just as the knife came
down, missing her lower back by inches.
“Jamie!” she screamed, running towards him, her dress slowing her down. But before she could get there, he’d leapt
off the steps and taken off in the other direction, running away from the guy
with the knife and away from her.
“Wait!” she screamed frantically, struggling to pull up her skirt so
that she could run properly. “Jamie!!!”
The knifeman was gaining on her; she
could hear his footsteps and muffled panting behind her. Don’t trip and fall, she begged herself as she struggled through the
uneven sand. The girls in the movies
always trip and fall at this point, and then the killer gets them.
She let out another shriek of terror
as she felt the spray of sand hitting the back of her dress – he was right
behind her! She threw herself to the
side, hoping to at least dodge him, and cried out when she bumped against
something. Or rather, someone. She screamed again and scrambled to get away
when the person she’d ran into grabbed her shoulder and whispered into her ear,
“I’m here, babe. I got you.”
“Nick!” she cried breathlessly. “Nick, watch out, he’s got a knife!”
“I can handle it,” he said, and she
saw that he was dressed in his Pirates of the Caribbean costume. She heard the graze of metal as he withdrew a
sword from the long scabbard swinging at his hip and watched as he closed in on
the guy in the Scream costume, his sword pointed and ready to strike. The killer raised his knife menacingly and
took a step toward Nick.
“God, be careful, Nick,” Claire
whimpered behind him, her heart racing in her chest. She felt powerless to do anything but watch
nervously as the two advanced on each other, each of their blades aimed directly
at the other’s heart. The Grim Reaper
struck first, thrusting his knife towards Nick, who quickly blocked it with the
blade of his sword and then jabbed back.
Claire watched in awe as the two
dueled. The Grim Reaper was quick with
his knife, but Nick was even quicker. He
moved with the grace of an experienced swordfighter, spry and nimble, even on
his fake leg. He had the larger weapon
and the better footwork – surely he was going to take this guy down.
But to her horror, the Scream killer
suddenly dodged Nick’s sword and, catching him off-guard, plunged his knife
into the left side of Nick’s chest.
“NO!!!” she screamed, but Nick had not
yet fallen. He stayed on his feet, and
with lightning speed, slashed his sword across the masked knifeman’s neck,
decapitating him in one clean swoop. The
hooded white face fell from its black cloaked body and rolled across the
sand. There was no blood, and before
Claire could get over her shock enough to take the mask off the severed head,
the masked head and the body vanished.
Claire gaped at the spot where the two
halves of the Scream costume had lain not five seconds ago and closed her eyes,
hoping that when she opened them, this whole scene would make more sense.
When she
did open them, however, all she saw was Jamie’s face. Gasping in surprise, she did a quick survey
of her surroundings and realized that she was lying in bed. Jamie was standing next to the bed, leaning
over her.
“Hey,” he
said, smiling broadly. “Good morning.”
She let out
a slow breath, still getting her bearings.
“Morning,” she echoed. The memory
of her dream quickly faded, as the events of last night came back to her. Now she remembered what she was doing
sleeping in a hotel room with Jamie.
“What time
do you work?” he asked.
“Seven… What time is it now?”
“Six-thirty.”
“Shit,” she
said with a groan, wearily drawing a hand across her face. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all. But she had to get up now, or she was going
to be very late. Grudgingly, she dragged
herself out of bed. “Mind if I use the
bathroom?” she asked, as she knelt beside her overnight bag.
“Go right
ahead,” said Jamie.
In the
privacy of the bathroom, she dressed quickly, putting on a pair of her
brightly-colored hygienist scrubs, and got cleaned up, brushing her teeth,
washing her face, and pulling her hair back into a low ponytail. When she came out of the bathroom, Jamie
handed her a bowl of Corn Pops, complete with milk. “You should eat something before you go,” he
said.
She
laughed, taking the cereal from him.
“Thanks, Jamie.”
“No
problem. Breakfast is the most important
meal of the day, you know.”
“I know,”
she said with a smirk, digging her spoon into the cereal. She downed the bowl quickly and then said,
“I’m sorry to rush out on you, but I really need to go; I can’t afford to be
late.”
“I
understand,” he replied with a nod.
“What are
you doing later?” she asked as she pulled on the white tennis shoes she always
wore at work. “Maybe you and Di and I
could go do something.”
“My plane
leaves at eleven,” he answered.
“Oh.” She looked up at him apologetically. “I’m really sorry. We’ll hang out next time you’re here,
okay? I promise.”
He
nodded. “Sounds good.”
She stood
up and gave him a quick hug goodbye.
“Thanks again for letting me sleep here.”
“Not a
problem,” he replied casually. “It was
good to see you – for a few minutes, anyway.”
“I’m
sorry,” she said again as she walked to the door. “Next time, I promise. Have a safe flight home.”
“Thanks. Have a good day at work.” Following her to his door, he asked, “Do you
have a place to stay tonight?”
“I dunno…
if I don’t feel like sleeping at Nick’s, I’ll call Dianna or my friend Laureen
or someone. Don’t worry, I’ll find
somewhere to stay if I need to.” She
smiled and reached for the doorknob.
“Bye, Jamie.”
“See ya,
Claire.”
***
Claire made
it to work with only a couple of minutes to spare, and it wasn’t until lunch
that she had a chance to fill Laureen in on the previous night’s excitement.
“Oh jeez… I
would have been so freaked out!” Laureen gasped, gazing across the table at
Claire through wide eyes as Claire narrated the story.
Claire
laughed and dug her fork into her fruit salad, spearing a piece of wedge of
pineapple. “I was, believe me.”
“I’m really
sorry I didn’t answer my phone. I guess
I slept right through it,” Laureen went on guiltily.
“No, no
problem. It was really late; I figured
you were asleep. I’m a pretty heavy
sleeper myself.”
“Well, I’m
just glad you got a hold of somebody,” Laureen emphasized, and Claire
nodded vigorously in agreement. No way
would she have gotten back to sleep last night, had she stayed in the
house. “So do you think Nick’s gonna be
mad when he finds out you stayed with your ex-boyfriend?” Laureen asked
nervously.
Claire bit
her lip, feeling her stomach flip-flop.
“He’s not gonna be too happy, I’m sure,” she said dryly. She hesitated a moment, then added, “I was
thinking of maybe just not telling him.
I could say I spent the night with you or my friend Dianna instead. He’d believe that, and then he wouldn’t start
freaking out, thinking Jamie and I are up to something while he’s gone.” She rolled her eyes. “It’d be such a stupid thing to lie about,
but I know that’s what he would think, so maybe it’s better that he just
doesn’t know.”
Laureen
nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I can see why he’d think that though…
not that you were doing anything – I know you wouldn’t – but Jamie is
your ex, you know what I mean?”
“I know,”
Claire sighed. “See, that’s why I’m thinking
maybe I should just not tell him… I
dunno, what do you think?”
Laureen
hesitated before answering, absently stirring the contents of her salad around
with her fork. Finally, she shrugged and
replied, “Well, you know what they say – what he doesn’t know won’t hurt
him. If you think it’ll just make him
worry, I guess it might be better to tell a white lie. Just make sure he doesn’t find out the truth,
or then he’ll really be suspicious.”
Claire
chuckled nervously. “Oh, I know… I know
he would. But I don’t see how he’d find
out. I’ll tell him I called Dianna
first, and she didn’t answer her phone, so I stayed at your place – that’s a
half-truth anyway.”
Laureen
smiled and nodded. “Yep. So, anyway, where are you staying
tonight? Are you going back there, or…
you’re not staying with that Jamie again, are you?”
“Oh, no, no,”
Claire said rather forcefully, then added, “He’s gone anyway – on a plane back
up to Iowa as we speak. I haven’t
decided what I’m going to do yet though.
I’m sure the house is fine… but-“
“I don’t
know if I’d be ready to sleep there yet,” Laureen confessed
empathetically. “You know, if you want
to stay someplace else, you’re welcome to stay at my apartment. It’s a two-bedroom, so I have an extra room.”
“Really?”
Claire asked, grateful for the offer.
She was sure Dianna would let her sleep over too, but she hadn’t talked
to Dianna yet. “I just might take you up
on that, Laureen, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“No, not at
all,” Laureen replied, waving her off casually.
“You can stay all week if you want, until you feel comfortable sleeping
at Nick’s house again.”
Claire
smiled. “That’s really sweet of
you. Thanks a lot!”
“Hey, no
problem,” Laureen smiled back, then glanced at her watch. “Wow, that went fast. We better eat and get back to work.”
Claire
glanced at her own watch and saw that their lunch break was indeed almost
over. She nodded and took a large bite
of her sandwich, hoping it would give her some much-needed energy. She couldn’t wait for this day to be over so
that she could go home – or back to Laureen’s – and sleep, for few hours she’d
spent in Jamie’s hotel room had hardly been restful.
But for
now, it was back to work.
***