Mark of the Seer (2 page)

She sighed, her face blank. “I wouldn't know.”

“Wouldn't know what?” I finished balancing my drawer, placing the cash and credit receipts in a money bag. Time to disinfect the workstations.

“If he was going to the Bahamas.” Her voice quieted down, which concerned me. Kora was never quiet.

“Oh, I get it,” I said, a flood of comprehension washing through me. “You guys had another fight and are ignoring each other.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Why don't you guys just get it over with and break up?”

“Actually that's pretty sound advice, Clare. And I want you to be the first to know...” she grinned slowly, “I dumped him last night.”

I dropped the bottle of disinfectant, startled at her revelation. “No you didn't!” I accused, bending over to pick up the bottle.

She nodded, her grin growing wider. “Yeah. I did.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“No joke?”

“No joke.”

I raised my eyebrows. “For real?”

“UGH! Clarity, for real!” She threw her hands in the air, agitated. “I have dumped his sorry butt. I hung'em out to dry. I quit'em. I'm no longer
dating
him. I'm no longer
sleeping
with him. I'm no longer his
possession.
I'm no longer...”

“Okay okay okay,” I interrupted, shushing her. “I totally believe you.”

She let out a loud, exasperated sigh. A few seconds went by before she asked, “Are you happy for me?”

Was I happy for her? Oh man, let me count the ways. First, I was happy she'd finally grown-up and seen the real Nick Reece, who I could only describe as being the biggest douche bag in South Georgia. Second, I was happy that she was giving up being his possession, which he controlled with drugs, sex, and money. And third, it was about freaking time that she realized that she deserved much better than the egotistical King Nick. Was I happy for her? Yes. Yes I was. But instead of jumping for joy and shouting hallelujah in the streets, I decided to play it cool. Just in case she was down about it, which would tick me off if she was.

“Depends,” I answered.

She snorted. “On what?” she questioned, her forehead creasing.

I shrugged, my eyes regarding her facial exhibits. “On if, you know, you're bummed.”

“Oh,” she exclaimed with a laugh. “I'm
soooo
far from bummed. I feel like I've lost one-hundred and seventy pounds of jackass off my back!”

I laughed along with her, high-fiving her. “Well, if that's the case, then
WOOOOO-HOOOO
! Goodbye to the King of douche bags!”

Kora laughed. “He gets so mad when you call him that.”

“It suits him,” I told her. “He always calls me princess, and knows that I hate being called that.”

She sighed. “You've never liked him and he's never liked you. I used to cuss him out when he made fun of ya, calling you the most nastiest names in the book.” She paused as if recollecting her thoughts. “The whole time we dated he thought you were trying to break us up, saying you were jealous of him.”

“You know, Kora,” I told her with a smile, “I've never been jealous of him—I was just worried about you. He's the one that was jealous, and that temper of his? Talk about a looney! Also, I've never cared what Nick thinks about me. You know that. I'm just glad you've come to your senses.” I paused, a snarky gleam harbored my eyes. “Plus Brenton was not lookin' forward to going out with the two of you.”

Kora snickered. “No worries now—unless the next guy is an even bigger douche than Nick.”

My eyes grew wide with mock panic. “Don't even say that!”

She giggled, adding, “Hopefully the next guy will have a much bigger...”

“Stop right there, cowgirl,” I told her, holding a hand to her face, then dropping it to my side. “Hey, give me five minutes and I'll be done. Could ya...”

“Yeah, yeah, wait in the car,” Kora interjected, finishing my sentence. She was always doing that. “Just hurry up—I don't want all the fresh man-meat getting stupid drunk before my arrival.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, thinking to myself that this was going to be one interesting night.

Chapter Two

Arriving at the party, I pulled my late-model Honda into the field. The red barn was lit up like Christmas, lights hanging haphazardly all over the place. The smell of a bonfire lingered in the air and into the car. Music blared from inside the barn, vibrating everything in its path.

Ah, the three S's—sights, smells, and sounds—of a summer in the south. Gotta love it!

Kora and I quickly commenced our ritual of primping and smoothing. I applied pale pink lip gloss, and she added black eyeliner to her already darkened eyelids. A little perfume here, a little powder there, and we were ready and rarin' to go. Before we opened the doors to get drunk (a better term was get
stupid
), I wanted to talk with Kora about her new found singleness.

“Kora,” I began cautiously, “before we go I want to talk about something. Something you may not like.”

“Alright-ee,” she said wittingly. “Just hurry, because I'm single and on the prowl!” She growled at me, pawing the air.

I chuckled. “Yeah. Well, that's kinda what I wanted to talk about.”

She stopped pawing, confused, and gave me her full attention.

“Okay, here goes.” I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat, nervousness clutching to my lungs. “Remember the last time you were single? We were at Janey's birthday party, and her parents were out of town.”

Kora winced, her expression telling me she did not want that part of her life to be brought up.

“Yes,” she turned her head, gazing out the window. Now I was wishing I had the gift of time travel, so I could go back to five minutes before. Wishing I had not opened my big mouth.

Too late.

“Okay,” I continued, choosing my words carefully. “Remember what happened in Janey's bedroom between you...and three other guys?” She didn't answer, didn't look at me. “Remember how you felt after, uh, what happened...”

Jerking her head from the window, a scowl formed on her lips. “Get to the point...fast.”

Oh, I wished I could go back in time right about now!

“My point is...I don't want that to happen to you again. It killed me the way people treated you after that, calling you the nastiest of names. And I'm not trying to open up old wounds. I'm just lookin' out for ya, Kora. You are my bestie.” I smiled at her sincerely.

Kora relaxed, a sly grin appearing on her polished lips. “You're, um, not gonna try to kiss me, are ya?”

“NO! Jeez, Kora. You're a moron!” I laughed, shoving her lightly. That was Kora—never serious, always the joker. Unlike me who, mostly, got right to the point. “Just take it slow. Enjoy being single. Forget about boys and relationships, and just have fun.”

“OK, ma,” she spoke sarcastically. “I'll be a good little girl tonight.”

I wasn't too sure of that.

We got out of my rust bucket of a car, slamming our doors simultaneously. Walking arm-in-arm Kora whispered, “Thanks, Clare.”

“For what?”

She leaned her head on my shoulder. “For looking out for me.”

I snorted. “Somebody's gotta do it.” And I meant it.

Kora had no one else but me to look after her. Her mama was always home but usually too high from drugs and drinking to bother, and she'd never met her daddy, which was probably the reason she always felt she had to sleep with guys just to keep them. Made me feel guilty for always thinking my life sucked.

The scene was everything I'd imagined. Clusters of kids with open beer cans in their hands, ready to get their buzzes on. Smoke encircled one group, from cigarette or pot, I wasn't sure. It sure smelled like pot. I had tried the stuff a few years back and it made me so sick I thought I was going to die. So I usually go for the alcohol, which sometimes makes me sick, too. Not as bad as pot, though.

At parties, in any given situation, there're temptations. You know, the feeling of belonging. The need to follow the crowd, no matter how stupid the situation. I try not to fall into the crowd, even though it's the easiest thing to do. Most called it peer pressure; I called it being a mindless robot.

We passed some redneck guys leaning on a pickup, decked out in red and white trucker hats. They tossed us each a bottle of beer, which they retrieved out of their red and white cooler. I joked to Kora about how they probably got together before the party, planned ahead, and matched their hats with the cooler. Like how girls sometimes synchronized their outfits. We laughed until tears fell from our eyes. Before we made it to the entrance of the barn we downed the free bottles of beer the trucker-hatters had given us.

Then a realization hit me when my eyes found Brenton standing in front of the barn, talking to some guys. The realization told me that my time was up—it was time to tell him my true feelings. Anxiety picked at my stomach, unsettling me. I opened my mouth, surprised at the thunderous belch that slipped out.

Kora turned sharply, bemused. “D
aaang
. Always a lady, huh, Miller?” She let out a cackle. I was mortified.

“Do you think anyone heard that?” I whispered, looking around.

“I bet God in heaven heard that one,” Kora remarked, winking at me. My face was on fire with mortification.

“It wasn't that bad, Kora.” I rolled my eyes. But I was lying. If I had done that in a burping competition I would've won it hands down. No question—that belch was
huge
! Luckily no one could hear because of the rock music blasting from the barn.

We were almost to the entrance when Kora pulled me to the side, pushing me down to a kneeling position behind a bale of hay. Her nails dug into my arm. I yelped in shock.

“OW! What the heck, Kora?”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she told me, sounding like a broken record. She wasn't looking at me; she was looking straight ahead. “I didn't know there was a new guy in town.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What are ya talkin' about?”

Without looking at me she said, “I'm talkin' about that bronzed god standing next to Brenton.”

Carefully and cautiously, I stood up to peer over the hay. It was hard to see through the thick of people. I squinted my eyes, browsed the crowd until I found Brenton. When I found him, I found his friend. Uncontainable laughter bubbled out of me.

“What?” Kora inquired innocently.

I halted my laughter, cleared my throat, trying to look serious. “Kora. Are you pulling my leg?”

Her jaw dropped. “Clarity, are you serious? Look at that guy. He's totally
hawt
!”

I bit my lip, trying not to giggle. “Yep, you're right. He's definitely cute.” The urge to laugh was caught in my throat, ready to burst any minute.

“Told ya!” she exclaimed with a satisfied grin.

“Only one problem.”

“What?”

Cutting my eyes slowly and mischievously, I said, “That's Kevin Davis.” Her eyes grew the size of softballs at the revelation. I kept going—couldn't help myself. “You know that bronzed god!” The uncontainable laughter escaped again, splitting my sides.

She shook her head. “Uh-uh, no way.”

“Yes way.” I wiped tears from my eyes. “Kevin Davis,
Garlandton's
bronzed god
!” I had deepened my voice with the last three words, like an announcer at a football game.

Kora's face was a complete blank, uncertainty clouded her eyes. “Well, I'll be darned,” she commented, turning around and leaning her back against the bale, looking troubled. “How, uh, hmm.” I was thoroughly amazed. For the first time ever, Kora Dodd was speechless!

“Let me explain,” I began, leaning my back on the bale, too. “You see, Kora, when you live on a farm workin' twelve, sometimes sixteen hour days in the hot summer sun, it tends to change your entire form, giving you a tan and some massive muscles. What you are seeing is the product of hard work.”

Kora snickered, smiling wickedly. “All that work has sho' paid off—Kevin's a hottie now!”

The words
Kevin's a hottie
coming out of Kora's mouth disturbed me. Not that Kevin was a bad guy or anything. In fact he was a pretty decent guy and a hard worker. I guess I was disturbed because she sounded interested in Kevin, which sounded a little off to me.

Kora was known around town as being a party girl, drinking until she fell over and, sometimes, sleeping with the occasional stranger. Listening to her talk about Kevin being hot was just plain comical.

On the other hand, Kevin was a shy simple farm boy who attended church faithfully and had never had a girlfriend (at least not that I knew of). I mean, I doubt he'd ever kissed a girl. Thinking about a perverted Kora and a bashful Kevin—well, that would be an odd combo.

“So, Kora. Now you're interested in Kevin?” I didn't try to hide my astonishment.

She shrugged her shoulders. “A girl can dream, can't she?”

Before I could retort, a male voice broke into our little powwow.

“Hey.” Turning around to see who the voice belonged to, a smile took control of my lips. It was Brenton.