Love Storm (5 page)

"Later," he said with a half-wave.

I pushed him outside, not bothering to put on my shoes. The moment the front door closed, I grabbed on to his jacket sleeve and dragged him down the driveway to where his car was, parked by the sidewalk.

"Whoa, slow down," he complained, his backpack banging into my arm. "What's the hurry?"

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, pushing him none too gently into the car door.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Do you really like Eva?"

"Do
you
?"

The way his questions caught me off guard so easily thoroughly irritated me.

"What?! She's my
best friend
," I said angrily.

"I know. Do you like her?"

"That's not the point!" I yelled. "Of course I like her. Why else would we be best friends?"

He shrugged. "Best friends come and go."

"They do
not
," I said, dangerously calm.

"Of course they do. It doesn't matter as much if you were best friends in the past, what matters is if you are best friends now."

"We
are
best friends now! You don't know what you're talking about!"

He shrugged again, daring enough to have a trace of a smile lingering on his lips. "Do you think I like Eva?"

"All I think is that you came here today on the pretense of helping us out just so you could spend time with her! And thanks to your little charade, we got less done than we usually do! Homework with the kids took twice as long because you were playing with them."

"They loved me," he said, dark eyes twinkling. "And they liked dinner a lot."

"Yes, who knew the omnipotent Zackary Crowne could make lasagna?" I said sarcastically.

"As you said, I'm omnipotent," he said, looking pleased.

"Tell me why you came today."

"Your hypothesis isn't too far off."

I gave him a disgusted look. "You can ogle her at school, just like everyone else. Go home."

"Told you already, not much of a home to go back to," he said quietly. "So don't say that."

His eyes, darkened by the night, bore into me, mysterious and intriguing as ever.

I was taken aback by the swirl of indecipherable emotions I saw there. We had both frozen in place, and the silence was so deafening it roared in my ears. I finally said softly, "I'm sorry." It felt like the right thing to say at the moment. I was humbled by the unreadable expression his dark golden eyes held.

"Do you want to go for a drive?" he asked, breaking our eye contact and looking away, down the street.

"What time is it?"

"Ten fifteen or so."

"Do you really want me to come?" I asked doubtfully.

"Would I have asked if I didn't?"

I sighed. "Okay," I agreed, not at all sure why I was doing so. "Let me run in and tell Eva I won't be back until later."

"Just tell her you'll see her tomorrow. I'll drive you home," Zack said. "I think Tristan's pretty tired right now."

I nodded.

Chapter Six: A Treat

Zack

She was sitting quietly, hands folded in her lap, backpack on the floor between her feet. We were parked in the back lot of a warehouse outside of town. Out here, there were few city lights.

"Have you figured out why we're here yet?" I asked softly. I still had yet to figure out why I had brought her here in the first place.

"No," she admitted, her voice a breath of a whisper. Her head was tilted a little to the side, and she was looking out of the window at the warehouse. "Tell me why we're here?" It was a request. She turned her dark chocolate eyes on me. Her previous anger at me had subsided, and I wondered at her sudden mood changes.

"Come outside," I said, opening my car door.

Once outside, I hopped up on the hood of my car, and she followed suit. I glanced at Winter. Her arms were bare; she was only wearing a t-shirt with her jeans. She shivered a little, and I noticed she had goose bumps running the length of her arms.

"Here," I said, taking off my jacket.

She shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said, holding it out to her. "You'll freeze."

"If I don't freeze, then you will."

"I won't freeze. Just take it."

"No," she shook her head again. "I'm fine."

"No, you're
not
," I said, frustrated. "Come off it, just take it already."

"I won't," she said stubbornly, adamant. I cursed her pride and shoved the jacket into her arms, seeing as that was the only way she would take it.

She took it grudgingly, but all the same, seemed a little grateful. "
Now
will you tell me why we're here?" she demanded after she slipped it on, cordial disposition gone by now. It was too big on her, and the sleeves concealed her hands completely. She shivered a little and drew it about her torso tightly, despite her declaration that she would be fine.

"Look up," I said simply, at the same time as when she said, "It's still
warm
–"

She broke off and gave me a strange look, but complied, and then – "Wow," she suddenly whispered in awe, her head tilted back to look at the night sky. She was at a loss for words for a long moment, mesmerized by the black velvet spread above us. I let her look without interruption.

"It's amazing, Zack," she finally said after a few minutes, turning her head to smile at me.

"When's your birthday?" I asked, clearing my throat, wanting to be cross with her but unable to hold on to that safety base after she had smiled.

"January 18th," she replied, eyes returning to roam over the bright constellations.

"Of course," I said softly to myself. "Stupid of me, really, seeing as your name is Winter. You won't be seeing be seeing Capricornus today, though."

I pointed my finger toward the uppermost left corner of the sky.

"See that?" I asked, pointing out four stars. "Equuleus, The Colt. Turn it upside down. Do you see the muzzle?"

"A baby horse," she whispered in delight.

I moved my hand down a little.

"Delphinus," I taught her. Five stars.

"Dolphin," she said.

"Good guess," I grinned. Her smile widened and it held a trace of a smirk. "Again, turn it upside down. The diamond is the head," I traced the stars with my fingertip, "And the other makes its body."

Slowly, we went through the rest of the constellations we could see that night. She liked Draco, because it was large and curved through a couple other constellations. We went on and on – Aquila, Sagitta, Cygnus, Ophiuchus, Lyra, Hercules, Lacerta, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Ursa minor, Corona borealis. I liked that she didn't ask how I knew all the constellations – she simply accepted it as a part of who I was.

It was perhaps an hour later when we were finished going through the stars, still sitting there next to each other on the hood of my car, and she gave a satisfied sigh.

"Do you want me to bring you home?" I asked.

"I don't want to go home yet," she said hesitantly, "But I suppose we had better go, anyway."

We were quiet for a moment.

"Where are you going to go… after you drop me off?" Winter inquired in a whisper. "Don't answer if you don't want to," she said quickly, dropping her eyes to her hands, which were resting in her lap, twisting the hem of my jacket nervously.

I sighed. That question certainly deserved an answer, especially after she had apologized for telling me to go home earlier. "To my house, I suppose," I said evasively.

She nodded, but didn't say anything else. I was grateful for her tact.

We drove to her house in relative silence. She gave me directions, and I noticed that the neighborhoods on this side of Branner City, where I rarely came to, were nice – very quiet and safe, a real family community. So different from where my own house was.

"Turn here," she said, pointing down a final street. I obliged, and saw that her street was a quiet little place – small houses, but comfy and secure, nestled into the ground with a reassuring permanence.

-
Winter
-

"Turn here," I said. He followed my directions, and we cruised to a stop in front my little house a few seconds later.

Zack killed the engine and turned his head to gaze at me.

"Thanks," I said. I didn't know if he could hear it in my voice or not, but I was truly grateful.

"You're welcome," he replied seriously. Somehow, I knew he meant it also.

"It's what I needed, I think," I said, looking down at my hands in my lap. "I mean… I don't know. Away from life for a while, I guess."

"I understand," he said softly. I marveled that he knew all along that I had needed what he had done for me tonight.

We sat quietly for a moment, before the feeling that I owed him an apology began gnawing at my insides.

"I'm sorry, Zack," I said. "I guess I… wasn't as nice to you as I should have been. It wasn't fair of me. You're all right." I looked back up at him.

He nodded. "You're quite all right too."

"So…" I started slowly. "Do you… like Eva? I mean, because if you do, I guess I could…" I trailed off. "I suppose I could ask her if she would be interested in a date with you. I'm sure she'd love to go out with you." Looking back on that moment, I know I must have been in a
really
good mood – Zack had gotten on my good side that night, otherwise I never would have offered him something he really wanted.

He looked at me, surprised. Then a slow smile spread over his handsome features. "That would be nice," he murmured. "Wait, though – before you process that thought completely, I just wanted to let you know that –"

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "You didn't take me out there today just to get me to give in to you, did you?" I frowned, interrupting him.

He sighed. "Man, I am so telepathic," he said to the roof of his car. "I was just about to tell you that you
shouldn't
think that. I didn't bring you out there tonight because I wanted to get on your good side. Just… just consider it a treat, alright," he said, shrugging one shoulder helplessly. I could tell he wasn't quite sure the way he had worded it was the way he wanted it to come out.

"Alright," I agreed.

"Come on, I'll walk you to your door," he said.

We trudged up the pathway slowly. When we reached the door, I realized I was much more tired than I had originally thought.

I stifled a yawn as I fumbled with the key, finally sticking it in correctly and turning the lock. One hand on the doorknob, I turned to him. "Thank you, again," I said. "I really mean it."

"I know you do," Zack said, the corners of his lips curving upwards. "Thanks, Winter. You're one cool cat when you're not pissed off at me."

I smirked in the dark. "See you tomorrow, Zack."

He backed away, dark golden eyes locked on mine. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "See you."

I watched as he ambled in that casual, yet decidedly graceful, gait to his car, got in, and drove off.

It wasn't until after I had closed the front door behind me that I realized I was still wearing his jacket. I brought the collar up to my nose and inhaled the scent that was Zackary Crowne. Something very deep and spicy, a little mysterious and enigmatic… I laughed softly to myself. Eau de Crowne.

"Yes, Zack," I whispered to my living room. "You're one cool cat too, when you're not pissing me off."

My parents were definitely asleep by now. I crept up the stairs as stealthily as the animal Zack had named me, and when I reached the safety of my bedroom, I dropped his jacket on my desk chair.

I changed into my pajamas and slid into bed. A minute later, I was lost to the world, my sleeping mind processing thoughts of my best friend and a certain curly headed enigma together.

xxxxx

I moaned softly, turning over in my bed and snuggling into my covers.

Nooooo… too early…

"Damn alarm clock!" I hollered, slamming my fist down on the abominable object with a vengeance. I glared at it through squinted, tired eyes.

My head dropped back on the pillow, and I would have conked out again had it not been for my mother, who has oh-so-perfect timing, as most moms do.

"Winter?" my mom knocked on my door. "You're home?" She sounded surprised.

I groaned and hauled myself out of bed.