Sweet Harmonies (27 page)

Karina nodded, “Yeah, I just realized that I
never really made clear to you who he is to me, or who he WAS,
rather...”

Ryan nodded, “Karina, as long as whatever's
between you two is firmly in the WAS and not the IS category, you
don't need to explain yourself to me.”

Karina nodded gratefully, “I appreciate that,
Ryan. But I did just want to address it head on before we go hang
out with him, because he seems to be having trouble differentiating
between the was and the is, if you see what I mean.”

Ryan nodded, “Yeah, that guy...it's the
weirdest thing. It's like he just imagines the world he wants to
live in, and acts as if it's real. Oh, I'm a pool shark. Oh, I'm a
basketball legend. Oh, I'm a golf pro. POOF! It's true to him.”

Karina exclaimed, “I know, right?!”

Ryan shook his head, “The weirdest part is,
it's like the laws of physics just cooperate with him. He's like,
honestly, the best pool player or basketball player I've ever seen
with my own two eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if Sam got a shock
about how good he was at mini-golf. It's like, he decides on a
reality and goes with it, and reality just falls in line!”

Karina laughed delightedly, “I know right!
You have no idea how amazing it is that someone else besides me
sees the absolute ridiculousness of that!”

Ryan smiled, “I guess that's what makes him
good at his job. And that's great. As long as...”

Karina touched his face encouragingly,
“What?”

“
As long as he can't decide on a
reality where he and Karina Blackstone are in love, and have
reality conform to that idea...”

Karina drew back in surprise, “Oh, no! No,
Ryan, trust me, that will never, NEVER happen.”

Ryan smiled, drawing her back to him, “That's
all I needed to hear, sweetheart!”

With that, they walked through the double
glass doors hand in hand, happily and confidently.

However, the whole thing turned out to be a
moot point, because when Karina spotted the group at a long table
in the middle of the food court area, only Amanda, Justin, Lauren,
and Eric were in evidence.

As she and Ryan took their seats at the
table, she inquired, “So where are the, I'm certain, mini golf
champs of NorCal/Nevada hiding themselves?”

Lauren shook her head wryly and let out a
short bark of laughter, “Oh, yeah, you got that right. They
finished the course in record time, and in a record low amount of
strokes. They've been off challenging each other to arcade games
for the past hour.”

“
HOUR!?” Karina exclaimed, “How could
they possibly finish that fast?”

Amanda laughed and teased, “Well, to be fair,
the course does move along at a slightly speedier clip when you're
not stopping between every hole to make out.”

Lauren smiled, “Amanda, if you're going to
try to burn someone, you may want to use a slam that couldn't
equally be applied to you and Mr. Fiance over here.”

Justin smiled and kissed Amanda long and
hard, “Yep, and proud of it!” he said when he finished, waggling
his eyebrows comically. The table chuckled appreciatively, and
Karina felt Ryan squeeze her hand under the table.

When the pizza arrived, Eric wondered,
“Should I go find Sam and Kyle? They'll miss the pizza...”

Karina shook her head, “Nah, don't bother.
I'm sure they're having fun, and neither one of them will eat
pizza, anyway.”

Lauren carefully cut her slice of pizza into
bite-size pieces with her knife and fork and then brought one of
the small bits up with the fork and delicately popped it into her
mouth. She shuddered, “I can't imagine not just being able to eat
like a normal person!”

The other five people at the table stared at
her for a beat, and then burst out laughing.

She looked puzzled and a little offended,
“What? Why is that funny?”

“
Gee, I don't know, Miss Manners. Do
normal people eat pizza with a fork and knife?” Karina managed
amidst the laughter.

“
Yeah, yeah,” Lauren conceded, “Make
fun if you will. True, I like to eat neatly. But at the root of
that sentiment is that I like to eat!”

As they were finishing up the slices, Sam
finally made a quick appearance at the table, snatching a few
cherry tomatoes off of the top of the big bowl of communal salad
and munching on them.

“
That guy is unreal!” she enthused in
an amazed voice.

“
Are you winning, Sam?” Karina
asked.

“
No way, he's wiping the floor with
me!” Sam responded cheerfully.

“
And...you're OK with that?” Karina
followed up carefully. Normally Sam, an athlete whose talent and
competitive spirit had catapulted her to the Olympics, was not a
happy camper if she wasn't winning. But she seemed in fine
spirits.

“
Oh, yeah, it's the weirdest thing,”
Sam confirmed, “It's like he's...magic or something. He blew my
putt putt score out of the water. Like...it wasn't even close! And
I'm the best in Hope Falls, by far! And he's never even played
mini-golf before. And he's, like, phenomenal at every single arcade
game! How is that even possible?

“
I don't even feel like I'm competing
with the guy, really,” she concluded, “How can you compete with
Kyle Austen Reed? I'm really just sort of watching in amazement at
this point. Anyway. Gotta get back. It's Skeeball time!”

Lauren said, “We're leaving in a few minutes,
Sam...”

Sam shrugged, “Yeah, go ahead. We're gonna
stay and play. We'll figure out a ride.”

And with that, she was off, jogging back into
the cacophonous forest of arcade games.

As the rest of the group wandered out into
the parking lot, Ryan pulled Karina to the side a few inches, “Hey,
do you need a ride home?”

Just at that moment, Karina heard the chime
of an incoming text message, “Hold that thought, loverboy,” she
said with a sideways smile.

Looking at the screen of her phone, her brow
scrunched up in consternation.

“
What is it?” Ryan asked
worriedly.

“
Oh, probably nothing,” Karina said,
annoyance and worry shading her voice in equal measures, “My
grandmother just texted me that she wants to see me right
away.”

“
I'll take you,” Ryan
volunteered.

“
Oh, no,” Karina said quickly, then,
seeing his hurt expression, rushed to explain, “It's just – it's
hard for her to get used to new people. Amanda and Lauren will take
me in the van, I'm sure.”

Ryan nodded, and was suddenly seized with an
overwhelming urge not to let her go before he knew exactly when he
would see her again.

“
Do you want to go ice skating with me
tomorrow?” he blurted out.

She smiled, a little surprised by the sudden
shift in topic, “Ice skating, huh? You're big on date locations
that begin with the word 'ice' aren't ya?”

He began to flush with embarrassment, and she
quickly put in, “I'd love to!”

He smiled, showing off the dimple that was so
prominent and so endearing every time he cracked that smile. God,
Karina thought, if it's that easy to put that beautiful smile on
his face, and by extension that scrumptious dimple, I'll accept
dates with him all day, every day.

“
Pick you up at 11,” he said happily,
leaning down and quickly brushing her lips with his.

She was electrified. She sighed. She loved
the fact that Ryan, with just the tiniest word, the tiniest glance,
or the tiniest phrase, could absolutely set her body and soul on
fire.

Chapter 18

Barely twenty minutes later, Karina burst
through the front door of her grandmother's house, her fingers
fumbling with the key due to the sheer stress caused by her
grandmother's text. Renata was not one to either summon Karina
without a good reason, and she certainly wasn't one to use text
message technology. On the drive over the combination of the
summons and the way that it had arrived via text had set her nerves
jangling.

She rushed into the living room, Amanda and
Lauren behind her, and found her grandmother sitting stiffly on the
couch.

“
Grandmother! What's wrong? Why did you
text me?”

Renata barely inclined her head to
acknowledge Karina's entrance, or her inquiry.

“
Grandmother?!” Karina repeated her
panic growing.

Renata responded with only a stiff, “Your
friends can wait outside.”

Karina glanced back at Amanda and Lauren,
puzzled, to tell them not to worry about that, but all she saw were
their retreating backs as they headed out the front door. Although
she knew all of her friends loved her grandmother, there was no
question that she also scared them. Karina rolled her eyes and
muttered, “Wimps.”

She turned back to her grandmother.

“
That was kind of rude, grandmother.
They probably feel bad, now,” Karina said, in a tone that was
respectful but showed the slightest hint of reproof.

Renata did not address this at all, but
merely said bluntly, “I suppose you've seen the video.”

Oh, God, the video, Karina thought to herself
crossly. I suppose I don't need to ask which video, there's only
one video that anyone can seem to talk about lately.

“
I've seen it,” she replied
neutrally.

“
When is it being taken
down?”

Karina was taken aback, “What do you mean?
It's not getting taken down.”

“
You need to contact your lawyer and
have it taken down immediately.”

Karina felt herself becoming annoyed, “I
don't need to do anything of the sort. Why do you even care?”

“
It's stealing from you. People are
watching it, but you're not making any money from it.”

Karina shook her head, “I don't care. Anyway,
I make the majority of my money touring...”
“It's bad for your career.”

“
Even if that were true, I don't really
like my career all that much, so that would be fine with me. But it
doesn't even matter, because...the video being bad for my career?
How? In what universe? It's exposure, it's letting people see a
different side of my artistry, it's great exposure for
Ryan...”
“There it is!” Renata cut in, pointing her finger at Karina in an
accusation, “This is about that boy!”

Renata got up and began pacing. Karina was
confused.

“
Is that what's really bothering you?
You don't like Ryan for some reason?”

“
You are NOT to see that boy!” Renata
shot back explosively.

This took Karina aback, she stumbled
backwards, feeling the words hit her like a physical blow.

Her first instinct was to jump in and defend
Ryan, and her right to have a relationship with him. After all, she
was an adult, and capable of making her own decisions. Even putting
that aside, Ryan was wonderful, and Karina didn't like hearing him
talked about like this, even from her well-loved and much-respected
grandmother.

But Karina's cooler head prevailed, and she
realized that a much smarter strategy would be to just put off that
conflict with Renata until it absolutely could not be put off any
longer. After all, right now she was not even 100% certain where
her relationship with Ryan would end up. Why pick a giant fight
with Renata if she and Ryan weren't even meant to be?

Karina took a deep breath and said, “Look,
grandmother. I don't know what you think is going on, but I'm not
seeing Ryan. It was a performance, that's all.”

Renata snorted, “Oh, please, give me a small
amount of credit. I know about your little 'ice cream date.' Don't
lie to my face.”

“
Yes, we had ice cream, but it's not
like we're going steady or something. It's not like he's my
boyfriend. I'm concentrating on me right now. My music, my life, my
future. That's what I am focusing on.”

“
I am not blind, nor am I stupid,
Karina. I see what is going on and I forbid it,” Renata's voice was
as firm as steel, and left no room for interpretation or
argument.

Karina sighed, “Is this all you wanted to
talk about, Grandmother? Because Amanda has to be up early in the
morning, so we have to go.”

Renata looked directly into Karina's eyes and
said, in no uncertain terms, “I forbid it, Karina Blackstone.”

Karina shook her head in exasperation and
kissed her grandmother on the cheek before exiting the house. She
sighed to herself. Now what the hell was that about?

--- ~ ---

Ryan stumbled blindly into his bedroom and
fell face down onto his bed. Between his sleepless night, working
all day in the cafe, then basketball followed up by mini golf, and
the majority of that powered by the human adrenaline rush that was
Karina Blackstone...he truly understood, for the first time in his
life, why utterly exhausted people described themselves as feeling
like 'the walking dead.' He truly did feel like he was only capable
of the blocky shuffling of a zombie, and his brain felt about as
useful as that of a mindless zombie, as well.

It vaguely occurred to him that he should
probably undress, he should probably turn down and climb under the
covers...he should probably at the very least take off his tennis
shoes, for God's sake. However, as he drifted off further into
sleep, these things seemed of very little importance, and he found
he could not possibly muster the will to rouse himself enough to do
them.

Instead, he fell fast asleep where he landed,
face down and fully dressed on top of his comforter, his
sneaker-clad feet hanging off of the end of the bed.

He was jolted awake a short ten minutes later
by the insistent buzzing of his cell phone. He flipped over and sat
up in one smooth movement, planting his feet on the floor and
scrambling desperately to get his bearings.