Arianna Rose: The Awakening (Part 2) (10 page)

“My friend Lily.  I lived in Rockdale before I came here,” she began.

“Yeah, I heard you telling Mike and the gang when you first met them.  Why not just call this Lily?”

“I’ve been trying since I got here.  I can’t get in touch with her.  I’ve tried her house phone, her cellphone, sent her text messages and emails, and haven’t heard a word from her.”

“Maybe she’s pissed at you, you know?  Maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to you,” he said gently.

Arianna was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he’d said. The possibility existed that what he said was the
case; that
Lily was simply done with her
, their friendship terminated
.  But
something inside of Arianna, a feeling she could not explain, niggled.  She had known Lily well, as well as she could in the nine months she had spent in Rockdale.  Cutting off all contact so abruptly was not Lily’s style.  She was not like that.  She was not rude or cruel.  In fact, there did not seem to be a mean or vindictive bone in her body, which is likely why Arianna had felt so protective of her, not the theory Desmond had suggested.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Luke said and broke her concentration.  He reached a hand across the console and placed it on her hand tenderly.  He had clearly misread her silence as sadness.

“You didn’t,” she replied.  “I was just thinking about her.  She wasn’t like that.  She wasn’t the kind of person who would do that, I think.  And if I’m wrong, I’m wrong.  I’ve just been worried about
her and wanted to see her with
my own eyes.  At this point, I’d be happy to get there and find
out
she’s
blown me off.  At least I’d know she was okay.”

Luke directed the truck down the drive of their school and searched for a parking spot.  The lot was emptier than normal, their arrival earlier than
most.  Arianna was grateful for the extra time they would have now, without Stephanie, and hopefully on their trip to Rockdale.

“Rockdale, huh?”
he said.  “That’s what, five
, six
hours away?”

“I’ll give you money for gas and pay for our motel room,” she offered.

“Motel room?  Wh
y didn’t you lead off with that?
” he joked and was back on his game. 

“We’d
have
to stay in a motel room,” she flirted.  “We’d
be leaving after school, today i
f you want, and we’d need to rest, naturally.”

“Naturally,” he agreed and his cheeks flushed.

“Why Luke, I do believe you’re blushing,” she said leaning across the console and touching the tip of her finger to his chin.  “Aren’t you ready to be rewarded for all your wooing?”

She did not give him time to respond.  And judging from the expression on his face, she doubted he had a response.  She climbed out of his truck and slung her backpack over her shoulder, satisfied she’d intrigued him by turning his tactic on him.  She had bluntly offered him exactly what he claimed he’d been wanting.  Whether either of them would go through with it remained to be seen.  She glanced over her shoulder at him and saw that he smiled his broad, mischievous smile at her from behind the windshield.

“Come on,” she called to him and gestured for him to follow.

He rolled his window down and called back, “Just give me a sec
ond
okay.  I just need a sec
ond
.”

She laughed and leaned against the
passenger side door, waiting for whatever physiologic response he’d been beset by to pass.

After a few minutes had passed, Luke jumped out.  “I’m in,” he announced.  “Let’s take a road trip.”

“Yay!” Arianna cheered.  “When do you want to leave?”

“Let’s go today, after school.”

“Really?  Are you serious?”

“Yep.  We can miss school tomorrow.  There’s a stupid assembly that’s gonna eat up half the day anyway.  Let’s do it.”

“All right.  Sounds like a plan!”

“We can meet here after school, go back to our houses and grab a few things then leave.  Will your mom be okay with you and me going away overnight together?”

“You’re joking, right?” Arianna asked sarcastically.  “I
’m eighteen, and even if I wasn
’t, my mom doesn’t say a word about where I go and who I go with.  I’ve been coming and going as I please for as long as I can remember.”

“Sounds like my mom,” he said tightly.

“So it’s settled.  I’ll see you here in a few hours,” she said and rose on to her tiptoes.  She wrapped both arms around his neck tightly, her body pressing to his and kissed his lips.

She kissed him for several seconds then released him and dashed off.

“Oh
,
that’s just wrong!” he called after her.  She turned to look at him and saw that he held his books low over his waist.

“See you soon,” she called back and smiled.

***

The more than six hours of her school day had seemed like an interminable stretch of time.  She’d glimpsed the clock
on
many
occasions
throughout the day certain hours had passed only to find that mere minutes had passed.  When the last bell of the day finally
rang, Arianna felt as though she’d survived a marathon, tired and worn.  But once she stepped outside and the cool fall air greeted her, she felt invigorated.  As she approached Luke’s truck and saw that he
waited for her,
excitement stirred within her.  Though she was going to Rockdale under troublesome circumstances, she was looking forward to taking a break from her new school, from the idea that she was the Sola, from her life, and hanging out with Luke.  He was fun and funny and they got along well.  She felt certain that the six hours they’d spend together in the car would be enjoyable ones. 

“Hey you,” she said and smiled.

“Hey,” he replied and smiled.  “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.  Where to first?”

“Let’s go to your house first and get what you need then we can head to my little circus tent so I can grab a few things.”

“All right,” she said.

Luke opened the passenger side door for her then climbed in to the driver’s seat.  His truck protested twice, sputtering and choking
, before the engine turned over
,
roaring to life grumpily.

“That doesn’t inspire
a lot of confidence with a six-
hour drive ahead of us,” Luke commented.

“No, it doesn’t,” Arianna agreed.

They drove for less than ten minutes, chatting lightly about their respective days, until Arianna’s trailer park came into view.  A depressing display of metal, synthetic turf and plastic ornament
s
intended for rolling green
living
lawns, it resembled a junkyard with paths carved though the mountains of debris.  Tires of varying brands and
sizes littered nearly every front
porch
,
and clothing lines laden with atrociously patterned clothes spanned as far as the eye could see.  To many who enjoyed a more lavish lifestyle
than she
, her community was the
material
of nightmares, offensive and tasteless.  To her, it was home.  After years of living in one trailer park or another, she’d grown tired of apologizing for where she lived and what she didn’t have.  She
’d
made peace with the fact that belongings, were just, well, stuff. 
And stuff was not what made a person interesting or exciting or worthy of respect, character did. 

Luke stopped in front of her trailer and turned the engine off.  He reached a hand out and was about to pull the lever on his door when Arianna asked, “Oh, you’re coming in?”

He froze for a moment.  “Not if you don’t want me to.”

“No, nothing like that.  It’s just that this place is cramped and smelly.  It belonged to my uncle and he was either a slob or had rented it to slobs.”

“Arianna, you saw my drugged out mother unconscious near a pool of her own vomit. Nothing in your house could be as bad as that,” he said sincerely.

“Fair enough,” she said then added, “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Th
e walked together, up three worn wooden steps, to the front door.  Arianna unlocked it and they st
epped inside.  The small living-
room area was free of fat men sleeping on the couch and there were no fast-food boxes or bags cluttering the coffee table.  That was always promising.  They walked past the living room and a quick glance at the pea-colored vinyl flooring made Arianna suspicious.  A strong lemon scent hung in the air and the floors looked freshly mopped suggesting that her mother had cleaned.  And Cathy Rose cleaned for one reason and one reason only: for a man.  A man was either coming over in the next few hours or had just left.  Either way, a new man in her mother’s life did not bode well for them remaining in Herald Falls for long.

“This isn’t bad at all,” Luke said from behind her.  “No drugs, no vomit.  Already it’s an improvement from my place.”

She reached behind her and took his hand in hers, gave it a gentle squeeze before releasing it.  They walked down the short, narrow hallway past the bathroom to her room.  She emptied her backpack of books and began grabbing things she’d need.  A change of clothes was chief among them
,
then underwear and something to sleep in.

“So this is your room,” Luke smirked and sat on the sleeping cushion that served as her bed.

“Yep. And that thing is not where I sleep.”

“Good ‘cause it stinks like mold or something.”

“I know.  It’s gross.  Most nights I crash on the floor or the couch.  That’s
when
I can sleep at all.”

“I hear you.  I know what that’s like,” he nodded somberly.

She smiled sadly because he hadn’t the vaguest idea what she was talking about.  He’d assumed she had referred to her life with her mother
, about the hard times she’d had.  But he’d been wrong.  Of course, she did not blame him.  How could he, or anyone else for that matter, guess that being a witch with untapped phenomenal powers could cause so many sleepless nights?  Having a group of people hunting you with the intent to murder you didn’t make for a good night of sleep either.  But Luke had no way of knowing those were problems that existed in the world, let alone in her daily life.

“Let me grab my toothbrush and some cash and we’ll get out of here,” she said.

In the bathroom, she lifted the lid of the toilet tank and reached her hand inside.  Her fingers felt the cool, smooth surface of a plastic bag.  She picked it up, but not before allowing as much water to drain from it as possible, and opened it.  Inside was
a roll of money, mostly twenty-
dollar bills.  She took three hundred dollars from the bag then returned her saving
s
to the toilet tank.  She washed her hands, grabbed a brush and her makeup bag and opened the bathroom door.

“I’m all set,” she said.

“Really?” Luke asked surprised.  “I thought we’d be here for hours.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.  Every time my sister packs, she takes forever.  I thought all girls were like that.”

“Well, I’m
not
like other girls, and I’m not like your sister,” she said and winked at him.

“No, no you’re not,” he said seriously.  “And I’m really glad you’re not.”

He moved toward her, slowly closing the distance between them.  She stepped back instinctively and found her back flush against a wa
ll.  He placed both hands by her ears, trapping her between him and the wall.  But she did not feel trapped.  Her heart raced excitedly.  He stared at her, allowed his gaze to drop to her mouth.  She ran her tongue over her lips, readying them to be kissed, tempting him to ki
ss her.  Luke dropped one of his
hands and placed it on her hip.  He pulled her close to him so that her chest pressed against him.  She felt the planes of his body, warm and hard, touching the softness of her own. 
Kiss me already
, her mind screamed.  He
slid his hand from her hip up the side of her body grazing the side of her breast and cupped her face in his hand tenderly.  She felt his hot breath on her face and did not want to wait any longer.  She tipped her chin up and kissed him. 

She did not kiss him with the tenderness he’d touched her with.  Instead, she kissed him with abandon
, wrapping both arms around his neck then raking
her fingers
through his hair.  He lowered his hand and grabbed her backside.  She could feel his excitement through his jean
s
pressing against her belly.  She writhed against it and heard him moan. 

“Do I need to get a hose in he
r
e
, or something
?
” she heard her mother’s voice say suddenly.