Karma Bites (11 page)

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure.”
Please don’t let me get in trouble. Please don’t let her make me quit my job.

“I want to apologize for last night. You have to understand this isn’t easy for me, Abbs, but I know you’re getting older, and I can’t keep you under my thumb forever.”

I’m shocked stupid by her words. She’s sorry? It feels like we’re saying that a lot lately and I hate it. “Mom.”

She holds up her hand. “This doesn’t mean it’s okay to speak to me the way you did last night. I won’t allow that, Abigail, but I am sorry and you’re taking the car to work tonight. I promise I won’t come down there. You’ve never let me down before, and I’m trying to make myself remember that.”

Guilt socks me in the stomach. Mom is finally giving me the respect I crave and it has to be the first time in my life I did something wrong. Karma really does hate me. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll be home by nine-thirty every night. I know the dangers and the rules. I promise I’ll be careful.”

Mom gives me a weak smile, so I walk forward and hug her tightly. “I’ll be okay. Thanks for trusting me.” My grip loosens, before I pull away completely. There’s no way I can hold back the huge smile on my face as I race to my room to get changed for work.

I think about Caleb the whole time I bus tables. Yeah, I know I did the same thing my first night, but this feels different. Now, I remember the feel of his hand on me. How he looked when he asked me not to go into the woods alone. That has to mean he cares, right? But why doesn’t he want me out there? It doesn’t make any sense. But…he
cares
, right?

And I obviously need a life since I haven’t stopped thinking about him. Over and over the same thoughts run through my head. The only reprieve is when I thought I saw Gabe outside, but he never came in, so I assume it wasn’t him after all.

As I look at the clock to see it’s seven, Liz comes up beside me. “Things are a little slower than usual, Abby, so I’m going to let you off at eight instead of nine for the next few weeks.”

“Okay.” I’m a little bummed. My second day of work and my hours are already getting cut? Why did she hire me then?

“Things will pick up again. They always do,” she tells me. “Why don’t you spend the last hour getting caught up on dishes?”

I start the dish water and wonder what I’m going to do with my free hour. Well… not a lot to wonder, really. It’s just another hour to spend at home. I turn on the sprayer and start the mountain of dishes in front of me when I hear a soft rapping on the door.
Gabe.
When he didn’t come in earlier, I didn’t think he’d show. I know it’s only a matter of time before he starts meeting people around Karma and our little get-togethers will stop. Which is a bummer, because I like him.

The rapping starts again, so I peek around the corner toward the front of the restaurant to be sure no one is there. After confirming I’m alone, I open the backdoor a sliver.

Just because I don’t believe in vampires doesn’t mean I’m just opening this door all the way without know who is on the other side.

“Abigail?”

I recognize the smooth tone of Gabe’s voice. “Yeah.” I pull the door open further. “Hey. I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”

“Sorry, I had a few things I needed to take care of. Is it okay if I come in and talk again?”

With one more glance over my shoulder, I motion for him to come in. I’m becoming a regular rebel! Sneaking people in the restaurant and skipping school. Who would have thought?! “I’m blaming you if I get in trouble.”

Gabe steps inside, leaving the door slightly propped open again. “I would never do anything to get you in trouble. I promise you, nothing will happen.

I start on the dishes again half in awe by his confidence, but the other half a realist. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” So he knows I’m kidding, I wink at him.

“I’m not.”

Cue eye roll. Men. They think they know everything. Of course, I hope he’s right, but I know there’s no way he can make that statement. “Oh, guess what? I get off at 8:00 for the next few weeks. I guess it’s kind of cool, but really, just means I’ll be bored earlier.”

“And washing dishes is fun?”

“No, but being home is worse.”

“You shouldn’t go home, then. At least you know people around here. I’m bored all day long with nowhere to go. Now, you’ll see how I feel.”

His words lit a light bulb inside me. Mom thinks I’m getting off at 9:00 every night, but I’m getting off at 8:00! I can do whatever I want! It’s not as if I have anything to really do, but I have that freedom.

It would kill her if she finds out. I’m finally getting some kind of freedom, but something in my belly just doesn’t feel right about lying to her though.

What will it hurt to take one teeny, tiny hour and run with it? I won’t cause any trouble. Maybe hang-out with Caleb or Gabe. What could go wrong?

“You’re awfully quiet over there. I obviously did something wrong again, but I can’t figure out what it is this time. You remind me how rusty I am with people. Hard to have friends when you’re home schooled.”

I suck in a deep breath. It’s like he said the perfect thing because I feel the same way. I’m always screwing up with people and I don’t have home schooling as an excuse like he does. We’re more alike than I realize as he stands there, staring at me. “You, um, you never really had many friends?”

Storm clouds darken his blue eyes. “Nope. My parents were too busy with their parties and people much more important than me. The housekeeper was—
is
my teacher. She’s the only one who gives a shit about me. Especially when I started getting into trouble. They definitely didn’t,” he shakes his head, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. They
don’t
want anything to do with me since that.”

My heart breaks a little for him. No matter what, I’ve always known Mom loves me. From the sound of it, he doesn’t even have that. For some reason, I need a minute so I turn toward the sink and work on the dishes. After what felt like only half a minute, but could have been longer because I’m somehow almost done with the dishes, Gabe speaks. “Listen, I know for some reason you’re not completely comfortable hanging out with me. But I like talking to you. One night, one hour, that’s all I’m asking.”

“No! I’m not uncomfortable spending time with you, Gabe. I
want
to. My mom’s a little overprotective though. She doesn’t really like me out at night by myself…” But I’m not going to be by myself. I’m going to be with a friend. And like I told her earlier, I know the rules. He needs a friend, and I know how that feels. There’s no way I’m walking away tonight. “I can’t go far and we have to be sure I’m home exactly when I would have been if I stayed at work.”

He smiles at me and it gives me a case of the warm and fuzzies. Now, I’m apparently not only a pervert, but a slut too, because for the first time, Gabe makes me feel like Caleb does.

“I’ll take care of you. Your mom won’t suspect a thing.”

This rebel thing is kind of fun.

Giddy, I glance at the clock. Yikes! It’s already 7:45. “I need to hurry and finish these dishes if I want to get off in time.”

Gabe takes off his jacket, and pushes up the sleeves on his dark, button-up, expensive-looking shirt. “Scoot over. We’ll get these knocked out in no time.”

I might have squeed a little inside.

My hands are shaky as I open the passenger door for Gabe. It’s weird seeing a guy in Mom’s tiny car. She’s never dated and of course I never got to know my dad.

“Is there somewhere you want to go?” Gabe asks me.

My answer is embarrassing. “No… I don’t really know where we should go.” I know there are places people my age go, but the last thing I want to do is risk seeing the LP somewhere. “You?”

“New in town, remember?” He crosses his arms. “Hmm, I have an idea.”

I’m a little shocked when Gabe tells me to drive to the parking lot of the grocery store. It only takes a few minutes and on his instruction, I park under a street lamp that’s out of the way, but not completely isolated.
What are we doing here?
My thoughts must show on my face because Gabe immediately answers my question.

“We don’t want to go anywhere completely public and risk seeing someone who might mention to your mom they saw you. I thought you might not want to go anywhere completely private either, so this is all I could come up with.”

I feel like an idiot. Like he has to wear his kid gloves with me because I’m the girl with no friends. “I wouldn’t have minded somewhere private.”

Gabe smiles. “I guess I’m being a gentleman for no reason, then.”

We both laugh. The urge to ask him more about his parents and his life bubbles inside me, but I’m not sure how to bring it up. I’m apparently not very good at this friend thing. But he just seems so different. Like he’s seen so much and I wonder if it’s because of the way he grew up. He said he’s eighteen though. Shouldn’t he have graduated by now, or if he does this year, is he leaving afterward?

“Want to play a game?” His blue eyes glint in the interior light and I notice the darker blond mixed in with his lighter yellow hair.

O-kay. Totally not what I expected us to do. “Um, sorry. I left my board games at home.”

“Very funny. I mean a get-to-know-you game. You ask me a question and then I ask you one.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d think he could read my mind. I’m of the thought that’s a little too close to believing in the impossible for comfort, so I don’t. “Sure. You want to go first?” Because I honestly don’t know what to ask him. I know what I want to know, but what if he’s talking about favorite colors and most embarrassing moments?

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He smiles. “What really happened to your forehead the other day?”

Ugh. Great. He has to go and start with a hard one. What happened to being a gentleman? What am I supposed to tell him? I’m known as the vamp freak and got cornered by Stacy Cavanaugh and her friends? But the lies are starting to pile up for me and I feel pretty bad about that, so I decide on a mostly-truth. “There’s this group of girls who don’t like me. They decided to show me how much. That’s all.”

The look on his face tells me he already knew it was something like that. “Why were you embarrassed to tell me that?”

“I don’t know.” Now that he mentioned it, it does seem silly. “I guess I just feel like an after school special or something. You know, being
that
girl in school. The one who’s teased all the time.”

“All the time? What about your friends?”

This sucks. Like deadly-vampire bite, suckage. “Really?”

Gabe touches my hand. It’s so different than when Caleb did it. They feel different. And with Gabe, it looks easier…like it’s not this internal war Caleb always seems to fight. “You agreed. It’s your turn next and I’ll be in the hot seat. You can trust me, Abigail.”

Does it make me naive that I totally want to? That I feel like I can? “Well…I’ve never really had any.”

He slides his hand away, but it’s still close to mine. “I’m sorry. I know how that feels. Guess it’s cool we’re changing that together.”

My heart jumps to my throat. I know it’s strange, to get so excited about
someone confirming they like me, but I can’t help it. In this moment, I’m no longer the freak with no friends. “Yeah. Very cool.”

“How did you get away from them? The girls?”

Did I mention weird before? It has nothing on how I feel about talking to Gabe about Caleb. Why? I’m not sure. “Well, there’s this guy, Caleb. We’ve hung out a little lately. He came and scared them away.” Talking about Caleb makes me smile and feel guilty even though it makes no sense. He makes me smiley. What’s wrong with that?