The House of Wood (10 page)

My brain didn't register the
part about the underwear. “Where are you going again?” My reasons
for asking were more than just curiosity.

“We’re going to catch a horror
flick at the cinema and then probably grab a bite to eat at the
diner. Why do you ask?”

Nathan had stopped slurping the
last dregs of his milkshake. He looked at me with his inquisitive
eyes. There's a reason he became a police officer. “Why do you need
to know what they're doing tonight? It's Saturday. I usually come
over for DVD night.”

“I know, but I was hoping we
could give it a miss for one night.”

He pushed the empty glass away
from him across the table. He didn't once look up. “What else did
you have in mind?”

“Well,” I began, turning to
Chelsea. “I was hoping I could go with you and Tim to the
cinema.”

Chelsea looked puzzled. “Why
would you want to come with me and Tim? I thought you hated being
the third wheel.”

“I was hoping you could ask Tim
to bring Justin along with him. You know, make it a foursome.” I
had never been a forward, or pushy person in my life. I don't know
what came over me. Even Nathan looked bemused.

“So, you like him then?”

“He seems okay. I guess.”

Chelsea was over the moon “I
was hoping that you would. I'll see what I can do.”

She slid out of the booth and
rushed out the door. Nathan put his baseball cap on. I'd forgotten
he was there.

“You going?” I asked, feeling a
little guilty for brushing him off.

“Yeah, Pa’ll wonder where I am
if I don't get home soon.”

“Are you okay about us skipping
DVD night?”

“It’s cool. I've got things to
do anyway. We can do it another time.”

“Sure thing.”

“Well, have a nice time, pretty
lady.”

“Bye, Nate.”

I watched him wheel his bike
down the road, as I sat alone in the booth. There were so many
things that we could, and should, have done differently. But we
were kids looking to have some fun. What do kids know? Instead of
going after him, I sat and waited for Chelsea to return, hoping for
an answer that would make my dreams come true.

***

The beginning of the night
couldn’t have gone any better. As a group we decided to go and see
Hitchcock’s
Psycho
, which was playing at
the cinema on Main Street. The others had seen it, but I hadn't.
Not that it mattered to Chelsea anyway; her and Tim spent the
majority of the film making out. Justin and I didn't. I sat next to
him and shared some popcorn. A few times during the film, I
flinched; his strong arm wrapped around my shoulders, letting me
know he would protect me. I felt safe with him.

After the film had finished, we
spilled out onto Main Street and made our way to the diner. The air
was close. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The stars
sparkled like cats eyes.

As it was getting late, the
diner wasn't very busy. It was one of those fifties diners where
the waitresses bring out the food trays on skates. The interior was
full of silver seats with red leather covered cushions. There was a
jukebox on every table and the walls were adorned with icons of the
era; there were the likes of Elvis, Buddy Holly and James Dean
watching the customers stuff their faces full of greasy food. It
was nice. Fun. We ordered two baskets of cheesy fries to share and
a Cola each.

“Where are you guys working
again?” I asked, wanting to know more about this stranger that had
come into my life.

“We’re at that old place up on
the hill,” Justin replied, taking a handful of fries. “My father
bought it for a steal and wants to fix it up. He thinks he can flip
it and make a few bucks.”

“Do you mean that house made of
wood outside town?”

“That’s the one. It's an
amazing building, with a bucket load of potential. I've been given
the job of renovating it while my dad’s out of town. It's hard
work.”

“Since when has drinking beer
and getting high been classed as hard work?” Tim butted in through
a mouthful of cheese.

“That place gives me the
creeps. I've heard the strangest things go on out there. People
going missing, ghost sightings, that sort of stuff.”

“Ooo, I heard those stories
too,” Chelsea added. “It’s such a sorry sight sitting out there all
alone. I think somebody should bulldoze it and build a mall.”

“No way,” Justin snapped. It
was as if he had been personally wronged by her remarks. “There’s
no way anybody could do that to such a beautiful building. You wait
until we've finished fixing it up. You’ll soon change your mind
then. It's going to look awesome.”

At that point he could have
swept me off my feet and ran away with me. He was so full of
passion for his project. It didn't matter how dilapidated, or dead
the building looked; I believed every word he said.

I looked over at him. He was
smiling at me. I smiled back, trying to hide my embarrassed
cheeks.

“Do you have any brothers, or
sisters?” He asked with genuine interest.

It was as if we were having a
date on our own; Chelsea and Tim were far too busy with each other
to worry about what was going on around them. “No, there's only
me.”

“I wish I could say the same.
I've got an older brother that's a pain in the ass, but I barely
see him these days. He's away at college. I've no idea what he's
studying.”

I sounded like Chelsea, as I
let out a tiny girlish giggle. Jesus, I'd have laughed if he told
me my hair was on fire.

“Maybe next time we could do
this without the gruesome twosome?”

My heart almost leapt out of my
mouth. I didn't know what to say. The palms of my hands were
soaking. Was he asking me out? My brain just couldn't grasp the
concept that this amazing guy wanted to see me again. I stared at
him, dumbfounded.

“Are you okay?”

“I-I-I‘d love to,” I blurted
out. He must’ve thought I was an idiot. “See you again, I
mean.”

It was his turn to laugh.
“Awesome.”

We hung around at the diner for
at least another hour or so, laughing and joking, swapping stories
about how we had grown up in the same sleepy little town. As it
turns out, Tim had only met Justin a few weeks beforehand at a car
rally in Stockton. He really was a complete stranger. The thing is,
it didn't matter. Not to me anyway. By the time we had finished
eating and they had driven me home, it felt like I'd known him my
whole life. He was so open and honest about everything. It wasn't
until my head hit the pillow and I’d drifted off into peaceful
slumber that I realised something in me had changed. I had fallen
in love.

Chapter
Ten

Two weeks had passed since we
had all gone to the cinema as a group. They were probably the most
amazing two weeks of my life. Officials had gone on record to
declare it as one of the hottest summers in history. More
importantly, I had seen Justin near enough every day since that
first meeting. What had started out as a chance introduction by a
friend had blossomed into a budding relationship. Of course, I only
saw him in the evenings; he spent most of the day working up at the
house. To me, looking at it from a distance, it didn't seem any
different; still the same forlorn structure that locals tended to
stay clear of. Justin insisted they were making steady progress
though.

Chelsea came strolling into my
bedroom, her wet hair wrapped in a towel. She often stayed over
when my parents were away on vacation. It was a good job too. The
rest of her was totally nude.

“Will you please put some
clothes on, girl,” I said, hurling a fluffy yellow pillow at
her.

“I like to walk around as the
good Lord intended,” she replied, throwing the pillow back at me.
“Not making you jealous, am I?”

“With
your
chicken legs, no chance.”

“Bitch,” she replied
lovingly.

“You really should put some
clothes on though. You never know when Nathan might pop through the
window.”

“That guy is so annoying. Why
do you still let him climb through your window?”

I didn't bother to give her an
answer. It wasn’t weird to me; it was something we had always done
since we were children. I think it's nice how old friends do things
that no one else seems to understand. It's what friendship is all
about.

Chelsea got dressed. The entire
time she kept checking the clock. I realised she was waiting for a
call from Tim. She had informed me earlier in the day that he and
Justin had gone off to a rally together. I hadn’t told her that I
already knew because I'd been seeing Justin without her knowledge.
She would have gone schizo if I had. She was always one for knowing
everybody else's business. My keeping a secret from her would have
been seen as a personal vendetta.

She sat down on the bed next to
me, crossing her legs. She picked up a pillow and began hugging it,
as if it was Tim.

“What do you think the boys are
up to?” she asked, lying back on the bed.

“I don't know. Looking at cars,
drinking and doing whatever else guys do on those rallies.”

“Do you think Tim loves
me?”

“How am I supposed to know?” I
replied, taken aback by the question. “What makes you ask?” It was
totally unlike her to care whether a guy had feelings for her, or
not.

“No reason,” she said with a
sigh.

We lay there for some time
looking up at the ceiling. Back then my room was covered with
posters of my favourite pop stars, or my favourite movies. I
suppose you could say it was a typical teenager's bedroom; a
haphazard concoction of trinkets and piles of clothes scattered
everywhere. It was my own little cave of wonders.

Chelsea rolled over on to her
side facing me. “So,” she said, that familiar sly look in her eyes.
“What do you think of Justin?”

My breath caught in my throat.
Did she know? Maybe Justin had told Tim and then he passed the
information on? “He seems okay.”

“Just okay? He's absolutely
gorgeous. Girl, if I didn't have my man already, I'd be jumping his
bones like there's no tomorrow.”

“Thanks for the image,
Chels.”

“I’ll have to get you two
together again. One meeting clearly isn’t enough.”

Justin had kept his promise and
said nothing. I don’t know why I was so intent on keeping it hidden
from the world. It was my secret, no one else’s. I coveted my time
with him. I didn't even know what it was we had between us. I’d
tell her eventually. I guess I just didn't want to jinx anything
before it’d been given a chance to begin.

A loud bang at the window
announced Nathan's arrival. His spiky gelled hair appeared over the
top of the windowsill, followed by his beaming suntanned face.
“Howdy folks.”

“Hey Nate,” I called back over,
noticing a flicker of disappointment wash over him as he saw
Chelsea next to me. It was gone as quick as it appeared.

His long legs stretched in to
the room, as he climbed through the window. His foot stuck. He
hopped around and tugged at it, trying to free himself. After one
almighty pull it came loose, causing him to trip. He lay face down,
sprawled out across my pink shaggy rug. We all laughed.

Time seemed to fly past in my
bedroom, as the three of us chatted away the evening. I remember we
consumed a lot of pizza, as we laughed and joked together that
Friday night. We were happy. Things were as they should be; three
teenage friends hanging out, having fun. None of us could’ve known
the terror that was waiting, lurking out there in the dark night.
In all honesty, I think it was the last time I felt normal; not
sullied by memories and night terrors. It was the last time I felt
anything.

The Hello Kitty clock on my
bedside table blinked 23:00. Chelsea was by now running out of
finger nails to bite.

“For God’s sake,” I said to
her. “He’ll phone at some point.”

“You can catch diseases from
doing that,” Nathan added.

“Shut up, Nate,” she spat,
leaping off of the bed. He went back to surfing through the T.V.
channels. “What if something’s happened? An accident? Those two are
always drinking beer. Anything could’ve happened to them.”

My heart sunk to the pit of my
stomach. The thought that they might be in trouble had never
occurred to me. I took a deep breath to clear my head of the sudden
fear welling up inside. “They’re no doubt just out having fun and
Tim’s forgotten to call. You know what he’s like. I’m sure it’s
nothing.”

“Why don’t you call them?”
Nathan said, this time not looking away from the T.V.

Chelsea snatched at her cell
phone and began dialling, her fingers working the buttons like a
woman possessed. She placed it to her ear. A few seconds passed. I
sat on the edge of the bed, crossing my fingers behind my back. A
few more seconds passed.

“Why isn't he picking up?”
Chelsea asked. She had begun to pace around the room like a caged
animal.

“Give him a chance, he might be
driving.”

“It’s okay for you, Rach. It’s
not your boyfriend.”

“I -“

Her face was a sudden fury.
“For Christ's sake, Tim, where the hell have you been? I've been
worried sick.”

My heart finally had a chance
to stop beating at one hundred kilometres a minute. I let out a
sigh of relief under my breath and went to sit on the floor next to
Nathan. He had been watching some police chase show on T.V.,
oblivious to the unfolding drama.

“Sup, Chica?” he asked, as I
crossed my legs.

“Nothing much. Chelsea got hold
of Tim.”

“Shame.”

“Hey,” I said, giving him a
playful slap around the back of the head. “Don’t be mean. I thought
you liked Tim?”

“I can't stand him. He’s a
complete and utter douche bag. Guys like that are always bad news
and I don't suppose that friend of his is any better. You're better
off staying away from them.”