Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) (14 page)

I saw Lucas differently after April told me what a ladies’ man he was. If I were the kind of girl who was used to having boys flirt with me, I would easily have seen that his behavior was more than just friendly attention. He dropped whatever he was doing to offer me a leg up when I was leaving the barn and always materialized from out of no where to grab my horse when I returned after a ride. If he saw me struggling to reach a saddle on the top rack, he would easily retrieve it for me without my asking. He always had the next horse I was supposed to ride waiting in the cross ties for me. The only problem was I didn’t have the first clue what to do with his attentions. So I smiled sweetly and thanked him like I would any other boy.

We were riding Penny and Prince one afternoon when a rain shower sprinkled down without warning. He shook the rain droplets from his curls as we took shelter under the canopy of trees. His t-shirt was soaked, and it showed the rounded muscles of his arms and chest. He caught me looking and grinned. It wasn’t a smile I had seen before. It was welcoming and warm and slightly...
seductive?

My heart gave one hard beat. I bit my lip as I looked away and kicked Penny forward.

There was a town festival
at the end of June. I quickly learned that in the summer, a teenager’s world revolved around these monthly gatherings in Clonlea. They were originally created as a way to boost tourism, but after the first summer they also became the most important social events of teenage life. April and I spent the entire week leading up to it scouring the village shops for the perfect outfits, and Rose closed the bakery early that Friday so we could run to April’s house to get ready.

We giggled and laughed and smoothed our carefully chosen outfits into place as we made our way to the village of tents set up along the shoreline. The sun was settling along the ocean’s horizon, casting an orange glow on everything. We could hear the music as we approached, which sped up our pace, fearing we may miss something.

Spinning dancers occupied a make shift dance floor lined with string lights and paper lanterns. The floor was dangerously close to the cliff side, giving the swaying dancers a beautiful view that painted them in bright orange and dark shadow at that hour, illuminated by the sunset’s fading glory. I could only imagine how beautiful it would be to dance on that floor once the moon was high overhead. Secretly, I hoped anyone would ask me to dance.

April grabbed my hand as we pried our way through the crowd gathered in the first tent to admire the sunset and dancers. She had a death grip on my hand, but I never would have been able to push my way through the crowd without her pulling me along.

The festival was divided into three sections. The dancers and band were up front, so the noisy crowd sounds wouldn’t interfere with the music. Next came a food tent were tables overflowed with every kind of fried carnival food one could imagine, all free for the taking, and big wooden beer kegs with taps on the side. In the middle of this tent ran green and white-checkered tables with mason jars of wildflowers blowing in the soft breeze. The last tent was reserved for booths the local vendors set up to attract tourists. Beyond that, untented like the dancers up front, were festival games and pony rides.

“Oh! You’ve got to try this!” April said, shoving something fried in my face as we walked past a table overflowing with treats. “Ooh, ooh and this!” She handed me another fried something and grabbed two plates, filling both of them with food as we went down the line.

April steered me towards a table of girls about our age, who sat studying their nails in boredom and people watching. The bored looks vanished when we appeared, every eye looking me over, obviously knowing I was the new girl in town. My cheeks pinked under their scrutiny, immediately worried they would see right through me.

One by one, April went around the table, introducing the curious faces, some sizing me up, others genuinely smiling. I struggled to remember the names April rattled off.

“So you’re staying with Rose and Phin?” a blonde girl asked me.

“Yeah, they’re my cousins,” I smiled with the enthusiasm of a cheerleader, desperate for these girls to like me.

“And you work at Ennishlough with Lucas?” another girl asked. I wondered for a moment if she was one of the friends who had kissed Lucas.

“Yeah.” I brushed an errant piece of hair, checking my eagerness a bit.

“And
Dayne
,” a dark haired girl beside me said without bothering to look at anyone. I looked closely at her and recognized April’s friend as the girl I’d seen the first night in the tavern, the waitress who was so obviously in love with Dayne when she brought him a beer. She fiddled with her hair, feeling to be sure every piece was in place. She fidgeted with her outfit, adjusting the top to be sure it looked just right.

“Tara, not everyone at this table is obsessed with him,” April rolled her eyes for effect before turning back to the girls to catch up on the gossip of the night.

“Because you know he’s mine,” she hissed absently under her breath for no one’s benefit but her own. My head spun toward her so quickly it nearly twisted off my neck, but I realized her insane claim was more of a self-affirmation than anything else when she didn’t even notice my gawking stare.

I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation at our table. I was too busy watching Tara from the corner of my eye. She squirmed in her seat, turning this way and that, surveying the room, looking for something and never seeing what she wanted. She stood up and straightened her skirt, brushing out any wrinkles that might have gathered. Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out a mirror to inspect her make up and be sure it was still perfectly in place. Tara was so beautiful and so immaculately dressed for the night, I couldn’t imagine what could possibly make a girl like her so self-conscious.

I wanted to hate her, knowing she would obviously be the one Dayne would choose to twirl around the moonlit dance floor if he came. There wasn’t a man there who wouldn’t; she was that pretty.

“Tara, are you going to hang out with us or throw yourself at
him
all night?” A girl from the end of the table teased nastily. Even I knew who
him
was.

Tara didn’t seem to hear the comment, or if she had she ignored it.

Her body froze and she smiled. The mirror clicked shut and went back in her purse.

“How do I look, girls?” She interrupted the chatter that had resumed as she stood up from the table.

The girls turned to her with a chorus of mumbled admirations tumbling from them like trained parrots vying for a cracker.

An electric smile spread over her face, and she tured in a bouncy way, tossing her hair behind her shoulder with an exaggerated flourish. As she walked away, it was clear her bee-line ended right at Dayne’s feet.

“This should be good,” April said at my shoulder. The entire table was watching Tara’s approach.

“Well, hey there, Dayne, I had no idea you would be here tonight,” one of our tablemates said, imitating the high-pitched softness of a girl’s voice.

“Oh, hey, Tina,” a girl at the end of the table answered in a low-pitched man’s voice. Everyone giggled.

“It’s Tara,” the other girl answered.

“Oh, right. Say could you get me a beer?” The gruff voice at the end of the table asked.

“Sure, anything for you, Dayne!” Another girl sitting across from me answered, and the whole table roared with laughter.

I thought they were being overly cruel until I looked up and saw Tara walking away from Dayne with an empty beer mug. Unbelievable. Tara could have any guy in the place. How could she be happy fetching beer for him? I looked from her back to Dayne in amazement. His eyes flickered to mine like I had called his name.

For the first time, I was not carried away by the rush of my crush beating the heart right out of my chest. His hair hung loosely around his face. It made him look younger, a little more boyish, innocent almost. His eyes didn’t sparkle or burn with the intensity they normally did. Instead, they were dull and sad, pained in some inexplicable way as he held my gaze across the crowded tent, moving slightly to hold my eyes when a tall man obstructed his view. He was alone, leaning against the wall with a foot propped behind him. I knew right then that April had been completely wrong about him.

His eyes glanced around like he was looking for a friend, but found none in the crowd celebrating around him. I saw myself as I looked at him and I suddenly felt very sorry for the man Clonlea loved to hate. I knew what it was like to spend your life holding up the walls while you watched life dance by.

He looked at Tara when she returned to his side. I didn’t blame her for loving Dayne. Some guys just trigger a girl’s need to nurture, and there is no way to control that most basic of instincts.

“I’m Christine,” a soft voice spoke to me from the chair Tara had emptied.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Faye.” I did a double take when I turned to look at her. She had the sweetest smile, and I recognized her as the daughter of Rose’s best friend. The crazy lady who had wrapped me up in hug before we’d been introduced my first night in town. “Wait, aren’t you Mary’s daughter?” Christine and I hadn’t spoken that night, both to shy to start a conversation, but I had certainly felt she was a kindred spirit when her cheeks flamed the same color as mine.

“Yeah, I didn’t know if you’d remember me.” Her sweet smile grew even bigger and she blushed just slightly. “Don’t pay any attention to them. They love to pick on people.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that.” I laughed and rolled my eyes.

“So, you’re visiting for the summer? That’s exciting. Do you have a boyfriend you had to leave back home?” She asked in her sugary sweet voice. I loved to hear her talk.

I shook my head and blushed. To my amazement, she blushed, too.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t any of my business,” she said.

“No, it’s fine. I just have a blushing problem,” I tried to dismiss my red face.

“Me, too,” she giggled.

“What Christine really means is that she has a boy problem, too,” one girl said, interrupting our private conversation. “She is obsessed with everyone else’s boyfriends because she is too shy to talk to a boy herself.”

“Alana, that’s not very nice.” Christine looked down at the table as her blush went from cotton candy to crimson in a matter of seconds. Clearly, she was embarrassed by her innocence.

“Do you have a boyfriend?’ I asked Alana, trying to defend Christine.

“No, but at least I’ve kissed a boy! That’s more than she can say.” Alana proclaimed as she laughed at Christine.

“You’ve kissed Lucas. Who hasn’t kissed Lucas?” The girl from the end of the table corrected her.

“Christine!” another girl answered and began laughing. Christine jumped up and ran from the table. The girls cackled even louder at her as she ran away. I was sitting with the Mean Girls of Clonlea.

“Come on, Norah, that really wasn’t necessary,” April scolded like a schoolteacher. Norah shrugged her shoulders at April and exchanged smiles with Alana.

“Hey April, want to go look at the booths?” I asked, wanting to get away from the girls.

“Sure.” We were well out of earshot when April turned to me. “Don’t mind them. Those girls are always trying to impress Tara and show her they can be just as cruel as she is. Poor Christine makes a easy target because they know she’s too sweet to stick up for herself.”

“Should we go find her?” I was worried about Christine. She was probably locked in a bathroom stall crying her eyes out.

“Nah. She’ll be fine. Trust me, we’re all used to it.” She rolled her eyes and looped her arm through mine, dragging me into the last tent of booths leading out into the games out back.

We slowly made our way around the collection of folding tables where the local shopkeeper’s displayed their goods and tried to coax as much money as possible from the unsuspecting tourists. The scent of freshly cut grass, French fries frying, homemade confections baking and nuts roasting mixed the salty sweetness of the sea breeze into a delicious smell that made me hungry despite the food I’d just stuffed in my mouth. Traditional Gaelic music drifted through the air from the band up front, making everyone tap or move something with its infectious rhythm. Townspeople smiled and waved to April as we passed, everyone enjoying the excuse to spend a Friday night outside of the town tavern.

The tourists were easy to spot as they reached in their wallets to buy a trinket to remember the over-hyped, and totally untrue, fairy myths that surrounded Clonlea. The locals took their money, but it was very obvious they had little use for the interlopers when they didn’t try to chat them up with normal Irish hospitality. We had just pushed our way past two very annoying tourists who were haggling over the price of an item when April dug her elbow deep into my ribs and turned her head to hide a devious smile.

“There’s Lucas,” April gushed as she looked at a group of guys gathered around some game. “No! Don’t look! He’s watching you!” She exclaimed under her breath as she quickly grabbed my arm and turned me back around. Sure enough, Lucas was staring right at me and I was amazed at how cute he looked when he wasn’t caked in mud and who knows what else from the barn.