Cave of Terror (17 page)

"Oh."

"She said to call her if you needed anything. Or if you had any problems you needed to tell her about.” He looked me up and down like he noticed me for the first time. “What happened to you? What's that all over you?” He crinkled up his nose, making a ‘yuck’ face.

"Yes, what did happen to you?” Mom chimed in.

I looked down at my shirt. “Oh, that. I went by Starbucks and got a frappuccino. When I walked out, it slipped out of my hands and smashed onto the ground. And I just happened to be in the way."

"I see,” Dad said.

"You better go get changed. I bet you're rather sticky,” Mom added.

Yep, sticky was an understatement. I felt like a caramel covered apple.

"Cheyenne, is everything okay? Do you need help with anything?” Dad asked, sympathy shining bright in his eyes.

I knew there wasn't much they could do. Unless they could make me human again—or at least back to when I
thought
I was human. “No.” I was going to have to deal with things on my own for the most part. Besides, I didn't want to worry Mom and Dad anymore than needed.

"Okay, but we're here if you need us.” Mom smiled.

Since the commercials finished and Moonlight was back on, Mom and Dad were once again glued to the TV, so I left without another word and headed to my room.

Well, so much for my parents noticing I got my braces off. I guess they were too worried about vampire issues to notice such a normal thing.

No sooner had I plunked down on my bed, my iPhone rang.

"Hello."

"Hey, Sparkie. This is Ryan.” My heart accelerated at once. The pulse in my fingers throbbed against the phone. Like I didn't know who it was. I think I'd have known even if he hadn't said a word. I swallowed, but all the spit had evaporated from my mouth, leaving cotton in its place. “You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here,” I managed to strangle out.

"Wanna go get some coffee or something?"

I could honestly say I really didn't want coffee, but I did want to see Ryan. And since I didn't have a session with Nicoleta and it was a Friday night, no reason I couldn't go for an hour or so—plenty of time before my 11:00 curfew. “How about dessert at Chili's?"

"Okay, great! I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes."

Glancing in the mirror across from the bed, I panicked. “No! I mean, I'm all sweaty from gym. Give me a little bit of time, so I can shower."

"Sure, no problem. How about 9:15?

"Umm ... okay. I can do that."

"Great. See ya in a bit."

I took the quickest shower of my life, blow dried and straightened my hair, and put on my make-up in twenty-five minutes flat. That had to be some kind of record. I whizzed down the stairs and rounded the corner into the living room. Apparently, Moonlight had ended because Mom and Dad weren't quite so mesmerized by the TV. They both glanced at me.

"Where are you going?” Dad asked.

"I'm going to Chili's with Ryan."

"Ryan?” Dad asked.

"A new guy at our school. He's really nice. He should be here any minute, so I better go."

"Excuse me, young lady. You're going nowhere until we meet him. You can't be too careful, especially considering what's happened lately. And he's a boy,” Dad lectured.

"Ah, come on Daaad. How embarrassing. He's going to think I'm a dork."

"And who said you could date?” Mom asked.

"I'm sixteen and besides, it's not a date. We're just going to Chili's to have dessert. No big deal.” My attempt to reason obviously failed to impress my parents by the looks on their faces.

"Sixteen or not, we'd like to meet him before we allow him to drive off with our daughter.” Dad fixed me with his most serious look—his right eyebrow highly arched, his lips compressed.

"Okay, fine.” I turned to leave, muttering to myself. God, parents could be such pains in the butt.

"Cheyenne,” Dad called.

I walked back into the room. “Yeah?"

"Smile for me."

Did he finally notice? I spread my lips apart, not exactly a smile.

"Glad to see all that money we invested paid off. You look beautiful.” Dad winked.

Mom covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, my little girl is so grown. First she gets her braces off, then she has a date."

I rolled my eyes. “It's not a date.

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"Where could he be?” I muttered as I paced back and forth across the entry way. He should be here by now. Unless he changed his mind or found something better to with his time. I chewed the inside of my already raw cheek. No, he wouldn't do that. Not without calling. Or so I tried to convince myself. I leaned over to peer out the window next to the front door.

Ding. Dong.

I yelped and jumped back, almost tripping over Roxie in the process. The stupid doorbell about gave me a heart attack.
Oh, God, he's here.
Butterflies took flight in my belly. I swallowed, then slowly opened the door.

Even
knowing
Ryan stood on other side of the door, I still wasn't prepared for his overwhelming presence and my reaction to him.

Roxie barked, then whined. Apparently, he had an effect on her, too.

He grinned, showing off his straight white teeth. “Hi, Sparkie. You ready?"

I just stared into his blue eyes, my heart thudding against my ribs.

Waving his hands in front of my face, he said, “Hello ... you ready?"

I shook myself out of the goofy trance I'd apparently been in. “Well ... yeah, but you have to meet my parents first."

He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and glanced down. “Sure, no problem."

"Come in.” I opened the door wider and motioned for him to enter.

We walked back to the living room without saying a word. Roxie pushed her way between us and whined, glancing back at Ryan as if sizing him up. Weird. Then she made little yelping noises. I wrinkled my nose. What the heck was her problem? Her odd behavior had me puzzled.

I looked down at Roxie and back at Ryan. “Sorry about that. She doesn't usually act this way."

Ryan brushed his hand in a downward arc as if dismissing my concern. “Ah, don't worry about it. She probably smells my dog on me."

"Oh. Right."

When we entered the living room, Mom and Dad were both perched on the edge of the couch. It was painfully obvious they had been anticipating our appearance.

"Mom, Dad ... “—I flicked my wrist toward Ryan—"this is Ryan. Ryan ... “—I motioned toward Mom and Dad—"these are my parents."

"Nice to meet you.” Ryan stepped forward and shook hands with both my mom and dad.

"Nice to meet you, too,” they both said in unison.

Roxie sat back on her haunches next to Ryan and barked.

"Roxie, no!” I reprimanded.

Dad lowered his voice and commanded, “Roxie, lay down.” He pointed to the spot in front of him and snapped his fingers.

She quickly obeyed, settling down in front of Dad but keeping her eyes firmly set on Ryan. Why was she acting so strange?

"She's just protecting Cheyenne.” Dad laughed, but I knew there was more to it. “Apparently, she's just as concerned as me about Cheyenne being around another male.” He flashed a look at Ryan to let him know he really did mean what he said.

I knew it! “Dad!” Omigod! I about died. Parents are so embarrassing. I half expected him to be cleaning his shotgun for Ryan's benefit. Thank God for small favors.

Ryan smiled. “Well, that's completely understandable. I have a little sister, and I feel sorry for any guy who even thinks about going out with her when she's old enough to date."

Dang! Ryan handled that perfectly, but during Dad's scrutiny of him, I noticed a flicker of something odd in his eyes. Not disapproval exactly, but it was something. That much I knew. And I caught him sending Mom a silent message, too. The way they always do when they can't voice something out loud but want the other to take notice.

"So, y'all plan to go to Chili's?” Dad's gaze remained firmly set on Ryan.

"Yes, sir,” Ryan answered.

"Have you shown him your new smile?” Mom asked, embarrassing the complete crap out of me.

"It's my mom's way of saying I got my braces off today."

"You did?” Ryan turned to face me.

"Yep, sure did,” I said, making sure not to draw any more attention to my mouth.

"Smile for me, Sparkie.” He over-exaggerated a grin.

Omigod! He called me Sparkie in front of my parents. Could it be any more embarrassing?

The expectation on his face signaled he waited for me to show him.

I turned my lips up into a half-smile.

He sucked in a breath, the goofy look fading from his face. “Wow."

Talk about uncomfortable. I decided to make a hasty exit before I turned an even brighter shade of red. “Well, you ready to go?"

"Sure,” Ryan said, continuing to stare directly into my eyes.

"Y'all have fun. And, Cheyenne, I want you home by eleven,"

Dad said.

"I know, Dad."

"Bye.” Ryan held his hand up in a farewell gesture. “It was nice meeting you both."

As we walked out of the room, Roxie started to bark again.

"Roxie, hush!” Dad said.

Her barks turned to whimpers by the time we reached the front door.

I followed Ryan outside, then stopped dead in my tracks. Oh, my God! He drove a black Mustang. I couldn't believe it.

"Is that
your
car?"

"Yeah, you like it?” Ryan beamed.

"Are you kidding? That's the exact car I wanted, but my parents wouldn't let me have it."

He walked to the passenger side and opened the door for me. Major points for manners! He impressed me more than a little. My dad almost always opens the car door for my mom. He says it shows respect. Guys my age just don't do things like that.

I slid into the seat, and he closed the door. Excitement coursed through my veins at the thought of finally being alone with him.

He crawled into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. The hum of the engine vibrated the car. He put it in gear and drove down the street, my pulse accelerating along with the car.

"Sparkie, you're stunning.” He bit his lower lip and stared straight ahead.

Stunning? That's what Constantine had said. I didn't know if I should be giddy that Ryan called me that or freaked out because Constantine had said it, too.

"So, how was gym today? Do anything cool?” he asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"I guess."

Actually, what I'd done in the gym rocked, but I wasn't about to brag about it to Ryan.

"You guess, huh? You're pretty good, you know? No need to be modest. If you've got, it flaunt it, baby.” He chuckled.

Heat infused my face. Thank goodness for the Sheer Cover make-up I had on, or I'd look like the blotch monster.

He reached across and took my hand, placing it on his thigh. Sparks zapped between our connected hands.

Omigod! I had so many thoughts racing through my head. He held my hand like I was his girlfriend or something. Were we like going out? Would he actually call me his girlfriend? Did he plan to go out with other girls ... like Val?

"What's going on in that head of yours? You look mighty serious over there.” One side of his lip raised into that hot crooked smile. He squeezed my hand for emphasize.

I chewed on my bottom lip. “Nothing."

"If you say so.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and placed a warm kiss on it, sending all coherent thoughts straight out of my head.

When we arrived at Chili's, Ryan held the door open for me, allowing me to enter without the door smacking me in the face.

He swished his arm down in an arc. “After you, my lady."

"Why, thank you, sir."

Another point in his favor. He acted so different than any guy I had ever known. He actually had manners and a sense of honor about him. As we followed the hostess to the booth, he rested his hand on the small of my back, sending shivers up my spine—a possessive gesture, like I belonged to him. An interesting thought. ‘Belonging’ to Ryan sounded kind of nice.

I slid into the booth. He made no move to sit on the other side of the table, but stood next to my seat. Oh! He planned to sit
next
to me. Omigod! What a dork. I completely missed that signal. Heat spread across my face as I glanced up and met his gaze. I scooted over and he sat. He closed the distance between us, pressing his thigh along mine. His heat seeped through my jeans, warming my whole body. It felt so weird to have someone sit next to me in a booth when the other side remained completely empty—really intimate.

Still reeling from the strangeness of the situation, I didn't know what to say.

A blonde waitress with enormous boobs appeared, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Hi, I'm Katy.” She glanced at Ryan and paused, checking him out like he'd turned into a giant lollipop. Drool practically rolled down her chin. Her voice lowered into a sultry murmur. “I'll be taking care of y'all.” She kept her gaze drilled into Ryan. I no longer existed in the ‘y'all’ reference.

"We're just going to have dessert,” Ryan said.

"No problem. Are you ready to order or do you need a minute?” She poised her pen over the ticket, never taking her eyes off Ryan.

He turned toward me, not paying the least bit of attention to the hot and bothered blonde bimbo. “Know what you want?"

"I'll have the chocolate lava cake.” I almost ordered the chocolate shake. I loved the chocolate sprinkles they add to the top of the thick ice cream mixture. But, gooey, warm chocolate fit my mood better.

She scribbled my order down and bent over slightly giving Ryan a nice view of her silicone cleavage. “And for you?"

"I'll have a chocolate shake ... with extra sprinkles."

Omigod! He ordered the chocolate shake. Sometimes I swore we were linked on the same channel. And he liked the sprinkles, too.

"I'll get this right out to you,” she said, flashing Ryan a huge grin.

At times like these, I thanked my lucky stars I could still eat and enjoy regular human food. How could anyone exist without chocolate? I shuddered at the thought of only being able to drink ... blood. Pills worked just fine for me, thank you.