Catching Fireflies (34 page)

Dr. Fullerton’s gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Everybody hates me now,” Misty said, near tears.

“Let me see,” Ms. Reed commanded.

Misty regarded her with dismay. “Do I have to? They’re pretty disgusting.”

“We need to see them,” the doctor said. “It’s okay, Misty. We’re not going to believe them. Have a little faith in us. We both know the kind of person you are.”

She knew if they went online themselves, they’d be able to find the sites on their own, so she finally sighed and showed the posts to them.

“I just don’t understand how this could keep happening now that the court’s involved,” Misty said miserably. “Surely Annabelle’s parents wouldn’t allow it, and the other kids should be smart enough to see how severe the punishment is. Look at what’s happened to half the football team.”

“It’s not Annabelle,” J.C. said, after studying the posts. “I’d bet money on that.”

“But that’s her screen name,” Misty argued. “She’d stopped using the page, but today it was back up.”

“I have a hunch she’s given someone else access to her account,” J.C. said. “Laura, you read papers all the time. I imagine you look to see if an essay sounds as if it was written by the student who turned it in. What do you think?”

Ms. Reed glanced at the posts and nodded. “There’s definitely something different about these.”

Misty was completely thrown by their reaction. “Are you sure? How can you tell?”

“An expert would have to compare them, but there’s a difference that seems apparent to me,” Dr. Fullerton insisted. “Laura, do you have anything more specific?”

Ms. Reed studied them with a thoughtful expression. “There’s a different vocabulary for one thing, and the grammar isn’t quite the same.”

“But who?” Misty asked, then sighed. “I guess there are plenty of kids who really hate me now. It could be any of them.”

“Or it’s not a kid at all,” Dr. Fullerton said, looking angrier than Misty had ever seen him.

Misty blinked at him. “You don’t think it could be Annabelle’s mom, do you?”

“She would have access to the computer,” Ms. Reed said, though she looked as stunned by the possibility as Misty was. “I just can’t see Mariah resorting to this, though.”

“Okay, then what about Greg Bennett?” Dr. Fullerton asked. “He’s one angry kid. He’s lost a lot. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he figured out a way to retaliate. And Helen says he’s the one who was behind the pictures posted right before the rally.”

Misty stared at him in shock, then stood up, practically shaking with fury. “That does it,” she said furiously. “One bully was bad enough, but I will not allow a creep like that to freak me out.” She looked at her English teacher. “I’ll be back at school tomorrow and I’ll be in class.”

Both adults seemed startled by her announcement. Misty understood their reaction. She’d been a shaky mess when they’d gotten here. In fact, for weeks now she’d acted as if the things being said about her were true and she had a reason to hide. No more. She was done with that.

Maybe it was standing on that stage on Saturday after all that had given her a different perspective. Even though things had gone horribly wrong at the rally, she’d seen a few people look at her with understanding and sympathy. Some people had gotten it, just the way Ms. Reed had said they would.

Just walking onto the stage and facing the crowd had taken more courage than she’d ever imagined she possessed. Now she would draw on that strength and face the kids who’d made her life miserable. They were the ones who should be ashamed of themselves, not her.

Ms. Reed smiled at her. “Misty, I could not be more proud of you.”

“Me, too,” Dr. Fullerton said, then grinned. “Want a ride to school?”

“Nope,” Misty said decisively. “I’ll go with my friends. I still have some, despite what’s happened. They’ll back me up.” She gave Ms. Reed a knowing look. “You know they will.”

The teacher smiled. “Yes, you have some very good friends. They’ve just been waiting for you to say you needed them.”

“And one of them took matters into her own hands. I know that, too,” she said. “I know Katie’s been feeling guilty for ratting me out to her grandmother, not that she’s admitted that she did it, but come on, who else would talk to Mrs. Vreeland? It’s about time for me to tell her she did the right thing. I haven’t been willing to admit that before.”

“I know she’ll appreciate that,” Ms. Reed said. “And if you need any extra backup at all tomorrow, you can count on me.”

“You two have been great through all of this,” Misty told them, then gave them a sly look. “So when are you going to go out on, like, a real date instead of pretending that you’re together all the time because of me?”

To her amusement, Ms. Reed blushed and even Doc Fullerton looked flustered. She laughed.

“You two are so busted,” she told them. She grinned at J.C. “There’s that silver lining thing, doc. The one you were trying to convince me is always there.”

He looked a little embarrassed, but he nodded. “No question about it, Misty. No question at all.”

Misty wondered if maybe she hadn’t found her own silver lining, as well. It turned out she just might be a whole lot stronger than she’d ever imagined. Tomorrow would tell.

21

“S
o, are we going to let a teenager call us on being a pair of chickens?” J.C. asked Laura as they left Misty’s.

“You’re the one with the lousy track record who wasn’t interested in dating,” she reminded him. “I’ve dutifully kept from labeling whatever it is we have been doing.”

“Maybe it’s time that stopped,” J.C. said. “Earlier today I was thinking maybe we should have some clarity about what’s going on here. Put our cards on the table, so to speak.”

“I certainly stress clarity in my students’ essays,” Laura said. “It might be nice to have some coming from you.” She gave him a considering look. “Unless you’re still not ready for that kind of conversation.”

J.C. smiled at that. “Willing to let me off the hook?”

“If need be,” she said. “I’ve discovered lately that I’m incredibly patient.”

“What if I admit that I’m starting to see the error of my ways? Not dating, at least right out there in the open and calling it what it is, isn’t really working all that well for me anymore. You deserve better.” Feeling vaguely bewildered, he added, “And it seems I want more.”

To his relief, Laura gave in readily. “Then I wouldn’t say no to another dinner at Sullivan’s,” she said.

“With not a single mention of Misty all evening?”

She held his gaze. “I can do that. Can you?”

He laughed. “I guess we’ll just have to give it a try and find out.”

Unfortunately, getting through the evening without the subject of Misty coming up proved to be impossible. Most of the patrons at Sullivan’s fell silent when J.C. and Laura entered. Then, one by one, many of them approached to offer a few words of support, both for Misty and for J.C. and the pain he’d suffered years ago on losing his brother.

Uncomfortable with all of the attention, he saw no graceful way to make his excuses and leave, but Laura clearly guessed some of the emotional turmoil he was going through.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze and hurrying off in the direction of the kitchen.

When she returned, she was carrying a huge take-out bag. “Dinner,” she announced triumphantly.

“How’d you pull that off?”

“I told Dana Sue what was going on out here and said we needed to leave. She put two meals together in no time, along with dessert and a bottle of wine.” She grinned. “Best of all, it’s on the house. She flatly refused to let me pay her. She said she owed it to us because our dinner plans were interrupted by her intrusive customers.”

“I should thank her,” J.C. said.

“Call her later,” Laura urged. “The kitchen’s a madhouse. Only for you would I have risked going in there uninvited.” She shuddered dramatically. “I’m lucky to emerge without battle scars.”

J.C. chuckled. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Trust me, it was downright dangerous.”

When they were seated in his car, he turned to her. “Thank you for recognizing that I was about to come unglued at all that well-meant sympathy in there.”

“I doubt you would ever come unglued,” she said, “but I could see that you were uncomfortable. Now, shall we go to my place or yours for this feast?”

“Yours,” he said at once. “I stared at my walls way too long over the weekend. I need a change of scenery.”

“Okay,” she said, “but the rules are back in effect. No talk of Misty, bullying or anything related to it.”

J.C. nodded, then gave her a wicked look. “What
will
we do?”

Regarding him with amusement, Laura tapped on the bag of take-out containers. “Dinner,” she replied at once.

“I’m a fast eater.”

“Then we can negotiate over dessert for what comes next,” she teased. “I have some thousand-piece puzzles if you’re interested.”

He looked into her eyes and held her gaze until the color rose in her cheeks. “The only puzzle I’m even remotely interested in is figuring out Laura Reed and why I can’t seem to stay away from you,” he said quietly.

A slow smile spread across her face. “Then that’s what we’ll work on.”

J.C. laughed. The end of the evening definitely promised to be a lot more intriguing and potentially satisfying than the beginning.

* * *

Laura closed her eyes and savored a bite of Erik’s triple-layer red-velvet cake. When she opened her eyes, she found J.C.’s gaze locked on her lips.

“Do you have any idea of how amazing that is?” she murmured.

“Hmm?”

She gestured toward the cake. “That,” she said. “It’s heavenly. Moist, delectable sex on a fork.”

“What?” J.C. asked, blinking. “Did you just compare that cake to sex?”

She nodded, grinning. “It’s pretty darn close.”

“Lemme see,” he said, motioning for her to share a bite.

She pulled her fork and the cake out of reach. “You have your own slice. This is mine.”

“But if you let me have just one taste of yours, I might be persuaded to leave that other slice here for you.”

“An intriguing offer,” she said, studying him. “How do I know you’ll do that?”

“It will take a certain amount of persuasion,” he told her thoughtfully. “I’m thinking a few kisses for starters, then we’ll see where that leads.”

She blinked, then chuckled. “You want to exchange actual sex for cake?”

“The way you were talking it would be a fair exchange. What do you think?”

“I think you’re nuts,” she said flatly, then shrugged. “But okay.” She offered him a taste of the cake. “Incredible, right?”

“Not bad,” he said, then gestured to his lips. “A kiss for comparison.”

Accepting the challenge, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his. He cupped a hand behind her neck and pulled her closer. What was meant to be a casual dare of a kiss turned into something deeper and far more compelling. She was pretty sure there was steam rising by the time he released her.

“No comparison,” he said, looking into her eyes. “That was
way
better than any cake ever made.”

“You have a point,” she admitted, setting the plate aside and reaching for him. “The cake can wait.”

She was pretty sure it would still be spectacular for breakfast.

* * *

J.C. walked into the kitchen the next morning and found Laura at the table wearing nothing more than his shirt, a cup of coffee in front of her along with the last few crumbs of the cake. The second slice, if he wasn’t mistaken.

“Was that on your mind all night long?” he inquired.

“Not all night,” she said with a grin. “You kept me pretty entertained most of the time.”

“Pretty entertained?” he repeated with a quizzical look as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Not exactly the rave reviews I was going for.”

She laughed. “Okay, it was a stellar performance. You drove every other thought completely out of my mind.”

“Better,” he said, leaning down to kiss her before peeking into the refrigerator. “Eggs? Bacon?”

“Sorry, not in this house. I have some bran flakes.”

J.C. shrugged. “That’ll do.”

When she started to get up, he pushed her back down. “I can track down a bowl, cereal and milk. You stay right there and look fetching.”

“Fetching?”

“My shirt becomes you. Come to think of it, are those bowls on a high shelf? It might be fascinating to see what happens if you have to reach for them.”

She grinned. “You wish. Get your own bowl.”

When he’d poured the cereal into a bowl and doused it with milk, he settled across from her.

“We never did have that clarity conversation last night,” he said.

“That’s okay.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I owe it to you to be honest about what I’m thinking.”

“Are you thinking that being good friends and having incredible sex isn’t a clear enough message?”

Startled, he met her gaze. “Is that all you want from me? Friendship and an occasional roll in the hay?”

She frowned at his sharp tone. Reaching for his hand, she said, “Hey, that’s not what I was saying at all. I just meant that what we have right now is good. It doesn’t need a label. I’m comfortable with where we are, if you are.”

“Well, I’m not,” he said, surprisingly irritated by her willingness to settle for what she’d made to sound extremely casual.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Then clarify.”

“Look, you know I wasn’t looking for a relationship,” he began.

“Abundantly clear,” she confirmed. “Almost from the very first words you ever said to me.”

He scowled at her snippy tone. This clearly wasn’t going the way he’d intended it to. “I’m trying to tell you that things have changed for me. The fact that I’m attracted to you is hardly a shock, I’m sure, but it’s a whole lot more than that. I like you. I really like you. And I enjoy being with you.”

“Still sounds a lot like friends with benefits to me,” she said, “which was all I was suggesting earlier.”

“We are not friends with any damn benefits,” he retorted, exasperated because she was making this all but impossible. “I’m falling in love with you, which you might know if you’d actually listen, instead of coming up with all these smart replies of yours.”