Arcadia's Gift Part 15

"If you two are going to make out all night, I'm staying home," Aaron warned.

I flashed him a dirty look.

"We should go anyway," Bryan replied. "Monica's back at my house. She wasn't quite ready, so I offered to swing back to pick her up on our way to dinner. Besides, my mom wants to meet you."

My heart did a somersault in my chest. Meet his mother? Good thing that would be before dinner, so I wouldn't accidentally hurl on her shoes.

Bryan helped me into my jacket, and the three of us walked out to the car.

"Nice ride," Aaron commented with genuine appreciation while sliding into the back of the dark, s.h.i.+ny SUV.

"It's my mother's," Bryan explained, backing out of the drive. "She let me borrow it for the night. I thought it'd be more comfortable. I think it looks like something a Secret Service agent would use to tail the President."

I sank into the leather pa.s.senger seat and listened to the boys talk about their favorite cars. I'd never been to Bryan's house before, but I had a pretty good idea from the neighborhood that Bryan's parents had some major cash. His street was lined with huge homes with sprawling, manicured lawns. My nervousness returned as he pulled into a circular driveway in front of a modern, two-story house made of pale brick. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon, but every light in the house was on. These people obviously didn't have to worry about paying their electric bills.

"Wow, you live here?"

"Yeah," Bryan replied with a sigh. He felt embarra.s.sed, but I wasn't sure if that was due to his ostentatious house or his mother standing in the doorway waving at us.

I climbed out of the SUV and straightened my skirt before following Bryan up the walk.

"Mom, this is Cady and her brother Aaron."

"It's nice to meet you both," his mother said with a warm smile. "I've heard so much about you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Sullivan," I replied, shaking her cool hand. She was taller than me, but not by much, and her eyes were exactly the same dark pools as Bryan's. Sensing a faint stirring of nerves coming from her went a long way toward easing mine. She wanted to make a good impression on me, too.

"Call me Joan, please." She stepped aside and gestured for us to enter. "Come on in. I told Monica you're here. She'll be right down."

The foyer was as big as my whole bedroom and twice as tall. An open staircase of dark, polished wood stretched up to the second story. It looked like the kind of staircase a Disney princess would float down on in a frothy gown to meet her Prince Charming for the ball. Knowing that was just the entrance that Monica would make soon didn't cheer me at all.

Bryan wrapped his arm loosely around my waist while Joan made polite conversation with my brother about his college plans. As far as I knew he didn't have any, so I was surprised when he mentioned applying to a graphic design program in Minneapolis.

"I've never seen you in a dress before. You look beautiful," Bryan whispered into my ear, making my neck tingle. "Maybe we could drop Aaron and Monica off at the dance and find some place to be alone."

"Shhh," I replied, my cheeks burning. Not that it didn't sound like a good idea, but the last thing I needed was for his mother to overhear him talking to me that way.

"And how about you, Cady?" Joan asked. "Have you given any thought to college yet?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but the words caught in my throat at the sight of the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen walking down that fabulous staircase. She was built tall and willowy with legs that went on forever. She wore her blond hair in a short pixie cut, the kind only fas.h.i.+on models could pull off. Her dress was a strapless jade green with a short skirt that might have looked trashy on anyone else, but on her was glamorous.

"Hi," she called out. "Sorry to keep you waiting." She strolled past me to Aaron. "So you must be my date."

Aaron stared at her, corsage in hand and lips parted. You didn't need to be an empath to feel the heat coming off of him. My foot itched to kick him in the s.h.i.+n.

"You're Monica?" he asked, his voice cracking like a thirteen-year-old.

She nodded and gave a sly grin. "I sure am. Is that for me?"

Aaron looked at the corsage in his hands as if he didn't know how it had gotten there. "Uh, yeah."

Her corsage was one meant to be pinned to the dress, meaning the only place to attach it was directly above her breast. His fingers fumbled with the pin, obviously struggling to keep his mind out of the gutter and on the task at hand. The combination of his terror and arousal was making my hands tremble. Monica seemed to be enjoying his discomfort a little too much for my tastes.

"Let me do that before you stab yourself," I said, stepping forward to take the pin out of his hand. Aaron looked relieved.

I stood in front of Monica uneasily while she grinned down at me. She had to be at least five foot ten and in her heels, she towered over me. Her feeling of superiority made my jaw clench. The differences between us were glaringly obvious, and I didn't appreciate having to look up to speak to her.

"Here you go," I said, securing the flower to her dress.

"Thanks," she replied, refocusing on my brother. I knew I'd been dismissed.

I stepped back to my place beside Bryan again, needing to get some distance from Monica's vibes of over confidence. Seeing me, she obviously didn't feel any need to worry. It made me wonder if she truly was over Bryan or if she just didn't see me as compet.i.tion.

I didn't have to wait long to find out the answer. When Monica turned her gaze on Bryan, I was struck by a heady combination of desire, jealousy and yes -a little bit of love. Not that her face betrayed any of this. Monica's lips curled into a cool smile. Her pa.s.sion made me feel like vomiting.

"So, Bryan," she said, "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

A ripple of tension rolled off of him. "Oh, yeah. This is Cady. Cady, this is my friend, Monica."

"Nice to meet you," I choked out, hoping my plastic grin didn't look too unnatural. Monica surveyed me and that annoying confidence came raging back. My belly tightened with humiliation.

"Well, should we go?" She said it like a question, but we all sort of knew it was a command. Monica slipped a silk jacket on, and we all followed her out of the house like lemmings. Bryan's mom waved to us from the door as we pulled out of the drive.

Neither Bryan nor I said much on the way to the Italian restaurant where he had reserved a table for us. Monica prattled on in the back seat, asking my brother questions like she was interested in him, but I knew it was for show. I can't explain it really, but I could feel her trying to make Bryan jealous. She would be looking Aaron in the eyes and smiling at him as he spoke, but the waves of her emotions were rolling toward Bryan. It was the first time I realized I could actually sense the direction of the vibrations, adding a whole new level of insight for me. As far as I could tell, Bryan didn't seem to be reacting to her. He held my hand, stroking his guitar calloused thumb in slow circles on the back of my hand, and watched the road.

At the restaurant, we followed the hostess to a table in the back corner of the room. Bryan gave me a rea.s.suring grin as he held my chair out for me. I took a deep breath to clear the tension in my chest. Bryan likes me, I told myself. I have nothing to worry about.

The restaurant was busy, about half of the customers being other kids going out before Homecoming. It was a popular date option for students because the atmosphere was elegant, but the prices weren't too high. Bryan waved at a couple of guys from the jazz band, and Aaron excused himself for a minute to go talk to Trent, who was there with some soph.o.m.ore girl.

Monica was seated directly in front of me. I already knew what I wanted to order, but I scanned the menu anyway to keep from watching her. Monica didn't bother opening hers. The weight of her stare was making me itch.

"So, Cady," she said, her tone dripping with friendliness, "Bryan hasn't told me anything about you. What's your story?"

I wasn't sure what to say. My mind was completely blank, and I'm sure it showed on my face. Luckily, Bryan rescued me.

"Cady is the first friend I made when school started," he explained. "We have a cla.s.s together, but she never noticed me. For days, I stared at the back of her head and wanted to talk to her, but then I literally ran into her in the library. Not my smoothest move, but she didn't hold it against me."

My heart warmed at his admission that he was interested in me even before we officially met. Maybe I really didn't have anything to worry about with Monica.

"Did Bryan ever tell you how he and I met?" she asked.

Bryan never mentioned you, I thought to myself. "No, he didn't."

"We were only about seven years old. Our fathers were both working for the same investment firm at the time, and his family came over to our Fourth of July picnic. He was this scrawny little thing who wouldn't talk." She laughed with her mouth open, showing her pearly teeth.

Bryan gave her a mock glare, but then smiled. "I told you," he explained to me. "I was home schooled, so I didn't have a lot of experience with other kids, much less with girls."

"So, my sister and I thought it'd be fun to dress him up," she continued. "We took him up to our room and made him put on this little yellow dress. We clipped barrettes in his hair and put on some of our mother's lipstick. We wanted blush too, but couldn't find any, so we smudged the lipstick on his cheeks. He looked like some warped version of a drag queen!"

"Don't listen to her," he said squeezing my hand lightly. "I looked hot."

"I bet you did," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"When we had him all dressed up, we wanted to make a big production about showing him off, so my sister, who was like ten at the time got out her portable CD player and her Grease Soundtrack -"

"Yeah, yeah," Bryan interrupted. "They made me parade around the backyard in front of everyone to the song *Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee.' Real hilarious."

I had to admit, it was funny, and I giggled along with Monica.

"My brother never let me live that down either," he muttered.

Aaron returned to our table just as the waiter appeared. I ordered the veggie lasagna which came in a slice almost as large as the plate. Monica got a Caesar salad with the dressing on the side. She would dunk her fork in the dressing before stabbing her lettuce. I guess I understood now how she was so thin.

After dinner, we headed over to the high school. The cafeteria was transformed by the magic of the school Spirit Committee. The tables had all been folded away, leaving only some folding chairs in different areas of the room for people to sit in when they got sick of dancing. The florescent lights were off, the only illumination coming from thousands of white Christmas lights laced around the ceiling and dripping down the walls. A long table at one end had punch and soda being served by some student volunteers, and a couple strategically placed bins of dry ice sent billows of fog rolling over the floor.

"Do you dance?" Monica shouted to Aaron over the up-tempo pop music.

He nodded, taking her hand and leading her out to the dance floor. I'd never seen my brother dance before, but he managed to pull it off without looking any worse than anyone else. Monica undulated next to him, a little too closely.

Across the room, I spotted a photographer taking pictures of the couples. "Let's get our picture taken." I suggested.

"Sure," Bryan shrugged.

Walking across the room, I tensed up at the onslaught of emotions coming from the crowd. Luckily, most of the students were in good moods. When I got within range of the dancers though, the elation coming off of them made my head dizzy. I clutched Bryan's arm. The direct contact helping to filter some of the emotional pollution out.

"You okay?" he yelled.

I nodded and led him away from the dancers.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You looked like you were going to faint for a minute there. Do you want me to get you something to drink?"

My body was still a little woozy. "Just some punch, I think."

"Be right back."

Bryan threaded his way through the crowd, while I staked a claim on the wall. This was only the second dance I'd been to, and the only semi-formal. Lony had made me go with her to the back-to-school dance at the beginning of our freshman year. It was okay until she latched onto some cute boy and left me alone for the rest of the night.

I spotted Shawn and Angelique coming toward me from the dance floor. They were both breathing heavy and damp with sweat. Shawn was dressed like a 1920's gangster and Angelique wore a vintage flapper dress, complete with the matching headband wrapped around her forehead.

"Hey, girl!" Shawn called out. "Where'd your hot date go?"

"To get me something to drink. You guys having fun?"

Angelique draped her arm around Shawn's shoulders. "Are you kidding? This DJ is incredible! Every song he has played so far has been killer!"

"How're your brother and the ex getting along?" Shawn asked, after Angelique excused herself to use the restroom.

I gestured for him to take a look for himself. Aaron and Monica were wrapped up in each other grinding like they've been lovers for years. Aaron had this stupid grin on his face like he won the lottery or something. I gave them five minutes before some chaperone went over and broke them up.

"Whoa!" Shawn replied. "She's cute."

"She's more than cute," I pointed out honestly, unable to mask the hostility in my voice. "She still has the hots for Bryan too."

"Did she say something to you?"

"She didn't have to," I answered. "Call it intuition."

Bryan returned holding two plastic cups of pink punch. I sniffed and noticed right away that someone had spiked it. Oh, well, I thought, raising it to my lips and drinking it anyway. The strawberry liquid burned down my throat.

"Woah, that's strong!" Bryan exclaimed after gulping his down.

"Yeah, I saw a few of the football players dumping Smirnoff in the bowl a while ago," said Shawn.

We talked for a few minutes more before Angelique returned and danced Shawn away.

Bryan took my empty cup and tossed it with his into the garbage. "Come on. Let's get our picture taken."

We walked over to the photography area and stood in the short line. When our turn came up, we positioned ourselves in front of a light blue backdrop and posed with our arms around each other. I knew from seeing other people's homecoming pictures in the past that they always turned out cheesy, but I didn't care. I was happy having Bryan by my side for the whole school to see.

A slow song came on and the crowd on the dance floor changed. New couples rotating in to rock back and forth with their dates as those who came stag sloughed off to find something to drink.

"Wanna dance?" Bryan asked.

I nodded and let him lead me out by the hand. I kept us on the edge of the crowd and my body in direct contact with his, so I wouldn't be overcome by the emotions of the crowd again. Bryan pulled me into his arms, and I rested my head on his chest where I could hear his heart beat in time to the music.

Being so close blocked out the vibrations from the others, allowing me to tap fully into him. The same calm glow that I was used to from Bryan was there, but also something else, something that made my pulse quicken and caused me to press against him tighter. I let out a little gasp when I felt the evidence of what it was.

My body stirred in response to his, and I lifted my lips to meet his. His fingers roamed lightly over the exposed skin on my back and down my side. Our breathing turned shallow.

"Oh, Bryan," I moaned as I pressed myself against him and rode the waves of his closeness.

"Thank you for coming with me tonight," he said into my ear, his hot breath sending a s.h.i.+ver down my neck. "I hated the idea of having to take Monica."

"Why?" I asked, "She's gorgeous. All of the guys would've been jealous of you."

Bryan shrugged. "She's pretty, but she's not you." Bryan drew back to look me in the eyes. "I'm being honest here...I dated her because she was fun, but I never felt for her what I feel for you." His hands tightened on my waist and his expression seemed to be waiting for a response. My head spun with the headiness of it all.

"I haven't dated much," I admitted. "But I've never liked anyone as much as I like you either."

His mouth broke into a grin, and he bent to kiss me again.

After two slow songs, the DJ went back to fast ones, so we left the dance floor. My head swam as if intoxicated by him. Bryan steered me over to introduce me to Jeff and Tim, his friends from the jazz band. I remembered Tim from a biology cla.s.s we had together the year before. He had a reputation for being a talented guitarist, and I'd heard he played in a band with some college guys. Tim's date, Kelly Locke, lives down the street from me. We used to play with each other sometimes when we were kids. I didn't catch the name of the mousey-looking girl standing next to Jeff. Her discomfort and self-consciousness was killing my buzz.

"What're you guys doing after this?" Tim asked. "My parents are gone for the weekend, so I'm having a few people over. You can stop by if you want."

Bryan looked at me and shrugged.

"I don't think I really have a curfew," I said. "My mom never notices me coming or going lately."