Cross My Heart, Hope to Die (27 page)

“Ethan, I’ve never felt this way about anyone,” she whispered. He wrapped an arm around her, and she snuggled closer to his side. The gearshift pressed into her rib cage, but she didn’t care. “From here on out, let’s trust each other. Deal?”

“Deal.” He looked down into her eyes, his heavy lashes drooping with emotion. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell you that you look amazing.”

She self-consciously tugged her short dress further down her thighs. “So do you.” He’d worn a light gray V-neck sweater, the white collar of the button-down beneath jutting up around his neck. She liked his usual eclectic look, but Ethan definitely cleaned up well, too.

He touched her cheek, placing a tentative, lingering kiss on her lips. A soft sound of pleasure escaped from the back of her throat. She arched her body toward him.

Ethan pulled back and studied her face, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Want to drive farther up the mountain to see if there’s a place to stargaze?” he asked.

Emma nodded, surprised at her boldness.

They didn’t speak as he turned the ignition and guided the car out through the Chamberlains’ high iron gates. Emma watched the curving lines of the mountain road appear and disappear again in the headlights. Ethan’s retro Cure CD crooned out dreamy, sad music as the car climbed higher. Ethan kept his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, but she could feel the magnetic pull between them, heavy and urgent.

Finally, high on the mountain, Ethan parked in a shallow lookout at the side of the road.

The lights of Tucson twinkled far below them, as though it were a small toy town. The moon had risen in the sky and paled to a yellow crescent. Emma unbuckled her seat belt, and without a word climbed over the console into the backseat. She kicked a battered paperback copy of
On the Road
to the floor and curled her legs up under her while Ethan climbed back to join her. Without hesitation they reached for each other, one kiss blurring into the next, their hearts seeming to beat in perfect sync.

Emma put a hand on Ethan’s chest, pushing him gently away. She sat up and slowly reached behind her head to untie the knot of her halter. The silk tumbled down around her waist, as soft as flower petals on her skin. A flush swept her cheeks, but she looked up shyly to meet his gaze. His eyes were full of a tenderness that took her breath away. He pulled her to him, running his hands slowly over her shoulders and then her back, tracing the lines of her body one by one. Outside the car, the stars burned bright against the dark sky.

29

When Emma woke the next day, the late-morning sun poured through the sheer curtains of Sutton’s room. She blinked in the light, stretching across the bed. She’d been blissfully nightmare free for the first time in weeks.

Her memories of the night before came back to her in a flood, and she flushed with pleasure, wiggling her toes down under the covers. Ethan had been amazing—tender and thoughtful, sweetly awkward at first, and then passionate as their inhibitions faded one by one. It was perfect. She lay across the bed, smiling, for a long while, not ready to break the memory’s spell.

I tried to remember my first time. Had I even had one? Garrett had seemed to think we were going to lose our virginities together, but I hoped I’d been with Thayer before I died. I hoped we had had a perfect moment together, somewhere in the middle of our tumultuous relationship.

A high peal of laughter from Laurel’s room broke through Emma’s reverie. It sounded like Madeline. She cocked her head and listened. Then she remembered—the Lying Game girls were there to work on the prank.

Emma rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of yoga pants, then padded through the bathroom and opened Laurel’s door.

All the girls were scattered around Laurel’s room in T-shirts and jeans. Lili and Gabby lay sprawled across Laurel’s bed, both typing rapidly on their iPhones. Laurel sat at her desk, applying mascara in a magnifying mirror, while Madeline and Charlotte organized art supplies on the floor. Nisha was there, too, setting up a microphone and an old-fashioned audio recorder. Emma was glad to see that the other girls seemed to have accepted Nisha so easily.

“Good morning, Cinderella,” Charlotte said. “I brought you your glass slipper. And sustenance.” She pointed to the desk, where Emma’s gold heels—the ones she’d abandoned on Charlotte’s driveway in order to run barefoot after Ethan—sat next to a steaming coffee. Emma picked up the cup gratefully, blowing at the steam. She sat down on the floor and hugged Charlotte tight.

“Char, I’m so sorry about last night,” she said. “I hope the fight didn’t ruin your party.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone’s talking about it on Twitter,” Lili said without looking up from her phone. “Between that and my totally newsworthy conquest of Danny Catalano, this is the party of the year.”

Madeline snorted. “No one is talking about Danny Catalano but you. He’s been untouchable since that awful haircut.”

“It’s growing back,” Lili protested. “Plus, he’s an awesome kisser.”

Char turned to Emma. “It’s okay, Sutton. I know that craziness wasn’t your fault. But Twitter-Dumb is right—it did liven things up. Before Ethan went all Incredible Hulk on Thayer’s ass, the most exciting thing to happen was a spray-cheese fight some of the morons from the wrestling team got into on the back patio.”

Before Emma could say anything else, Madeline pointed at her accusingly. “So what’s going on with you and my brother, anyway? I thought you said you were through with him.”

“I
am
through with him, I promise.” Emma lifted her hands defensively. “We were talking, he kissed me, I didn’t pull away quickly enough, and Ethan saw. End of story. It was an accident.”

Madeline snorted. “You’re quite the safety hazard. Thayer sure seems to have a lot of
accidents
when you’re around.”

“Is he okay?” Emma asked. She felt a little guilty that she’d run after Ethan last night without checking on Thayer, but it had looked as if they hadn’t had enough time to do any serious damage. Plus, Ethan was her boyfriend, not Thayer.

“He’s fine,” Laurel said without looking up from her makeup. One eye was painted with bright teal glitter shadow, and the other was still natural, giving her a weird
Clockwork Orange
squint. “I drove him home right after the fight and helped him clean up. As usual,” she added pointedly.

Emma cringed. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” she said softly. She picked up a stuffed fox from Laurel’s bed and hugged it to her chest.

“You can’t help it. You’re basically catnip to boys,” Charlotte said dismissively. “Speaking of boys, did you make up with Ethan all right?”

“Um, yeah.” Emma hid her face behind her coffee cup, her cheeks burning. Charlotte’s eyes narrowed.

“Sutton, is there anything you’d like to tell us?” she asked, a wicked smile slowly stretching across her face. Madeline looked up curiously from the magazine she’d been leafing through. Even the Twitter Twins put down their phones.

“Is she, like, glowing?” Charlotte asked the others.

“I’d say she definitely made up with Ethan okay.” Madeline grinned.

Emma hugged her knees to her chest and beamed through her blushing cheeks. Laurel poked her in the side. “Talk, woman!”

“Okay, okay!” Emma said. “Ethan and I … last night, we … you know …”

The end of her sentence trailed off, but it didn’t matter. The room roiled with shrieks and giggles. Only Nisha was looking at Emma with concern. Emma cringed, remembering how she’d spilled the story of Ethan’s file to Nisha last night.

Emma ducked, trying to fend off the girls’ demands for details. “Use your imagination, ladies,” she said.

Madeline smirked. “You don’t want us to do that,” she deadpanned.

After that, all was forgiven, and the Twitter Twins started typing away on their phones, alerting their followers to “stay tuned” for a big event that night.

“Don’t give it all away,” grumbled Madeline. “If Celeste catches wind of anything, the whole thing is blown.”

“I don’t think she gets Twitter feeds on Mars,” said Gabby.

Laurel put on the new Rihanna album, and soon they were all sprawled across the floor, making various props and chatting about how the séance would turn out.

Emma went downstairs to grab a bag of pretzels and some Diet Cokes from the kitchen. She stopped in the living room, where Drake was curled up happily atop a sofa he definitely wasn’t allowed on. His tail flopped lazily against the cushions as she stroked his neck. For the first time in ages, she felt as if she was where she belonged.

“Hey.” Nisha’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She came over and rested a hand on Drake’s ear. “I love this dog,” she said, scratching him. “My dad’s allergic, so we’ve never been allowed to have one. I’d probably get something little that I could put clothes on, though.”

“You could wear matching tennis outfits and carry it in your duffel,” Emma said. They both laughed at the image.

“So did you and Ethan talk about … you know?” Nisha asked.

Emma flushed and craned her neck to look up and down the hall. Mrs. Mercer was in the backyard gardening, and Mr. Mercer was out playing golf. She pulled the key card from her pocket and handed it back to Nisha.

“Yeah, he explained everything to me. It’s not a great story—things haven’t really been easy for him.” She blinked uncomfortably. “I’m sorry I unloaded all of that on you, and I’d really appreciate it if you could, you know, keep it to yourself.” She lowered her gaze. “But thank you for checking on me,” she added. “You’ve been a really good friend.”

Nisha opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then closed it again. They stood looking at each other, secrets still hanging in the air. Then another burst of laughter came from Laurel’s room.

“I guess we’d better get back to work,” Emma said.

Nisha looked down, suddenly shy. “Sutton—thanks for letting me do this with you guys. I’m really excited about it.”

Emma hooked her arm through her friend’s and straightened her shoulders. “No, thank
you
. For the idea, and for all your help with my mom. Now, let’s go put on a show.”

“Let’s punk this bitch,” Nisha agreed. And arm in arm, my twin sister and my former archrival went upstairs.

30