EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (12 page)

“Let me check with Lily.”

I looked over at her but it was too dark, so I couldn’t see her face. I shone the flashlight at her and she had a confused expression. "What?" she asked.

“
Daniel wants to know if we want him to come over. He’ll wait with us till your parents get home.” I tried to sound normal but I mouthed, “please” to Lily repeatedly, so that he didn’t hear.

She shrugged and said, “Sure, I guess … if he
wants to.” I knew she said yes for me, but she also sounded relieved. In this darkness, even the flashlights made menacing shadows. I gave him the address, hung up and started jumping up and down.

Lily reminded me
that we really didn’t know Daniel and that concerned her. Noelle looked apprehensively at me and asked how we met. I told her the whole story. Noelle rationalized that all three of us had phones to call the police and besides that, Lily’s parents would be home soon.

Lily called her m
om’s cell and left a message that Daniel was coming over. Knowing that someone knew, they settled down.

We ran upstairs
with all the candles to illuminate the living room. Lily and Noelle ate cheese sticks and sat on the couch waiting for him. I ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I had added so much garlic powder on my popcorn that I was afraid I’d kill him with my breath.

When I returned, Noelle asked
Lily if her parents would be okay with Daniel being there.

“With you guys here, it’s fine, but if I was alone, I’m not sure they’d handle it very well.”

Ten minutes later, we saw lights on the wall and jumped up to see a car pull into the driveway. Lily turned off the house alarm and I ran to the door with a flashlight to help guide him inside. He had a light on his keychain that he was using to maneuver around the walkway.

“Hello
,” he said as he grinned at me while I shone the flashlight at his beautiful face. “So I am getting to see you today after all.”

“If you call this seeing me,” I joked and was happy it was dark now because I felt like I was blushing.

Daniel chuckled and said, “How are you guys holding up? It’s really amazing how dark it is when there’s a blackout in the country.”

“
I know! I thought the same thing.”

He followed me into the living room
. The room looked cozy with all the candles and didn’t seem sinister anymore.

I introduced
him to the girls. At first, it was awkward, but Daniel started asking them questions about school. He was adept at getting people to talk, but said very little himself.

However, when Lily
asked about Australia, Daniel got quite talkative.

“Did you go there alone?”
asked Noelle.

“I did. I met
a friend for a little while, but then I went to the Great Barrier Reef alone.”

The
talk turned back to school. Since all of us would be seniors in the fall, college was always on our minds.

“Paige said you’re
taking time off and not going to college yet. Why?” Lily asked. I didn’t need to ask Daniel anything since Lily and Noelle were asking all the questions for me.

“
I want to travel around for awhile.”

“Are you working?” asked Lily.

“Yeah, part-time.”

“But how can you do that?” nosy Noelle asked.

Daniel
asked, “You mean financially?”

Noelle nodded and said, “Yeah.
How can you afford it and only work part-time?”

“
My parents died and when I turned eighteen, I was able to access the trust fund they set up.”

Noelle’s face crumpled and I could tell that she felt terrible
. I had forgotten to tell her about his parents. “I’m so sorry. What happened?” asked Noelle.

“They were in a car accident
in Utah. It was January of my freshman year. I had gone back to school after the winter holiday.” Lily and I looked at each other because we went skiing in Utah last February on break. “They hit a patch of ice and their car went down a mountain cliff.”

The mood was somber for a
while. Daniel got very quiet and I felt so bad for him. It must be horrible to constantly tell everyone his parents died.

Lily
glanced over at me and raised her eyebrows. She asked Daniel if he grew up in Manhattan in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

“No, I was raised in Washington DC
, went to school there till eighth grade. Then, for high school, I went to a boarding school in London.”

“
There are tons of boarding schools here. Why so far way?” asked Noelle.

“
My dad went there and I wanted to go.”

“Well, I guess if you hadn’t gone, you might’ve been with your parents on that ski trip,” Noelle said, insinuating the unthinkable.

I was so floored by what she said and asked, “Noelle, are you for real?”

“What? It’s true. Don’t tell me you hadn’t thought that,” Noelle accused.

I shook my head at her like she was insane. Before I could comment, Lily jumped in while Noelle remained oblivious to her inappropriate comment. “If you live in DC, why are you in Manhattan?”

“
I was going to work in DC this summer, but my uncle got called to New York last minute.” That was quite a coincidence since my plans had also abruptly changed. We could’ve been in different parts of the world and never met.

When the lights came on, the brightness
was jarring. Lily and Noelle finally saw Daniel in his full glory. He really was striking.

Noelle kept asking Daniel about his trust fund
and I prayed that she didn’t ask him how much money he had. I’d die. Before Noelle had a chance, we heard the front door open.

Lily jumped up and nervo
usly called out, “Hey, we’re in the living room.”

Aunt Cecile walked
in, saw Daniel and said, “Hello, I’m Cecile Hamilton, Lily’s mom.”

“Daniel Haydin, nice to meet yo
u.” He stood up and shook hands with Aunt Cecile as Uncle Ian walked in.

“We were wondering whose car was
in the driveway. Ian Hamilton.” They shook hands.

“
There was a blackout tonight and the lights just came on,” Lily explained. “Daniel’s a friend of Paige’s. He’s in Chappaqua visiting his aunt and came over to keep us company.”

“I hope you don
’t mind,” said Daniel.

“No, of course not. I’m so
glad that Lily wasn’t home alone tonight,” said Aunt Cecile.

“I tried calling
, but your phones were off,” Lily said.

“Sorry, my phone died
. Your dad left his at home.”

“I bett
er get going. I’m sure my aunt is wondering what happened to me. It was nice meeting all of you. Good night,” Daniel said.

I
t had stopped raining so I walked him out to his car, which was a black BMW.

“Do you still want
to meet for breakfast?” I asked not sure if he still wanted to get together.

Daniel looked at me an
d said, “Of course, unless you don’t want to?”

“
I do. I thought maybe since I saw you tonight….” I stopped talking.

“Paige, what does the blackout have to do with breakfast?” He look
ed confused. “I’ll see you at ten. Pleasant dreams.”

I walked back into the house on cloud
nine.

Noelle was grinning
. “You’re right. He’s sooo cute and sooo nice!! So… what happened?”

“What do yo
u mean? I walked him to his car.” I was totally confused. I glanced at Lily with a look like what was she talking about. Lily widened her eyes and shrugged.

“
Did you kiss for heavens sakes?” Noelle asked sounding frustrated.

“Give me
a break, Noelle. We just met. I don’t even know if he likes me.”

It was almost
one o’clock. Noelle stayed with me in the guest room and kept talking about Daniel, so I pretended to fall asleep.




The next m
orning, while Noelle slept, I snuck out and went upstairs. I couldn’t believe that Daniel had been in Lily’s house. I wanted to pinch myself in case I was dreaming.

Walking into the kitchen, I found Aunt Cecile reading the paper. “Morning, Paige.
Lily told me that you are all meeting Daniel at Susan’s.”

I nodded.
“We were supposed to yesterday, but he got stuck in the city,” I answered, trying to sound very casual.

“He seems very nice, but h
ow old is he?” she asked.

I told her he was ninete
en and hoped that the questioning wouldn’t last too long.

“Does your mom know him?” she asked.

“No, she doesn’t. Aunt Cecile, we’re just friends. I’ll tell her when I get home,” I said trying not to seem upset even though I was. “Is Lily in her room?” I was trying to get away as quickly as possible and started walking down the hallway.

Aunt Cecile said, “S
he’s outside on the deck, talking on the phone.”

When I got outside
, I overheard Lily making plans to go swimming. She waved at me and finished her call. “Want to ask Daniel to come to the pool? It’ll be fun.”

“I’m
not ready for that besides he might think it’s juvenile to play Marco Polo.”

Lily said I was being ridiculous, but
she gave up trying to change my mind.

Aunt Cecile dropped us
off and we got the last available table outside at Susan’s. It was very hot, but all the tables inside were taken. The girls wanted to go swimming and I felt guilty dragging them out again.

Daniel’s car pull
ed up in front of the cafe just as a car pulled out of a spot. I saw that he wasn’t alone. When he stepped out of the car, he looked like a male model from a Ralph Lauren ad. He was wearing a white linen shirt and beige linen shorts. He seemed oblivious to the way he looked. His friend looked older and was dressed in tennis whites.

“Good morni
ng. You all survived the night,” he said in a mischievous tone.

“
You make it sound like you had doubts,” I joked back.

“Of course not,” he said and winked. “
This is my friend, Pierce. I didn’t think you’d mind if he joined us. I didn’t want to be outnumbered.”

“Are you afraid of us?” joked Noelle.

“You never know,” Daniel kidded back.

We ordered
food and everybody talked except Pierce. He looked like he wished he were somewhere else. Lily and Noelle tried talking to him, but he seemed very disinterested in anything they had to say. Maybe he didn’t want to bother with high school girls.

“How do you two know each other?”
Noelle asked. Her nosiness was usually annoying, but today I didn’t mind.

Pierce
looked over at Daniel to answer.

Daniel said, "Pierce lives near
my aunt. We met years ago."

“Where does
she live?” Noelle asked.

“
Near the Wampus Lake Reservoir."

"Is that nearby?" I wondered out loud.

"No," Noelle said. "It's on the opposite side of town."

Daniel excused himself and went inside and Pierce seemed nervous being left
alone with us. Noelle asked him questions but Pierce only gave curt responses. We learned that he was in his last year at NYU and lived in the Village. He was home this weekend for his mom’s birthday.

Daniel returned and said, “Paige, we have
to get going. I paid the bill so take your time.”

“Okay,” I said, flabbergasted by their quick exit. “Nice meeting you, Pierce.” He looked at me and nodded uncomfortably. What a strange guy!

Daniel
turned around and jovially added, “Be careful in the pool, ladies. Make sure to put on sun block.”

“Okay, D
ad,” answered Noelle. They got in the car and drove off. I hoped that he wasn’t spending a long time in Chappaqua. The city would seem so empty without him.