She downed the
champagne and tossed the plastic flute on the ground.
Earlier, as they were
setting things up, Parrish had cracked open the windows in the formal
living room. Now, she found a soft spot in the grass just below the
open window and lay down, happy to be alone and away from the judgey
eyes of her parents and their friends.
Her long dark hair
fanned out behind her. She spread her arms out to either side, as
though she were trying to make a snow angel in the green summer
grass. It felt good to stretch out. To be herself without worrying
what anyone thought of her.
Parrish closed her eyes
and breathed deep, waiting for the rich sounds of Zoe’s violin
to flow through the window and fill her up. Instead of music, she
heard footsteps rustling through the grass.
“Parrish?”
She sat up so fast it
made her vision blur. Her heart lifted into her throat and she tried
to swallow it down. She blinked, a tall frame towering over her.
“Noah?”
He stepped forward into
the light streaming from the porch, and Parrish’s breath
hitched in her chest. His hair was freshly washed and damp blond
curls fell across his forehead.
“Hey,” he
said. He hooked his thumb toward Karmen’s house next door. “I
was about to head over to Karmen’s party, but I thought I saw
you here in the grass. What are you doing out here in the dark?”
Parrish glanced over at
the neighbor’s house. Of course, he was going to Karmen’s.
Parrish hadn’t even had any idea Karmen was having a party
tonight, and she certainly hadn’t been invited.
Not that she wanted to
go anyway.
Just then, the first
clear sounds of her sister’s violin streamed through the open
windows. Parrish looked up at him and he smiled. She motioned toward
the window, then raised a single finger to her lips.
There was something
truly magical about the way Zoe played. How someone so small could do
something so impossibly complex and beautiful was a complete mystery.
It had to be a God-given talent. Zoe had been playing since she was
just five years old and she’d taken to the violin like a fish
to water. As if the instrument was just an extension of her self.
Parrish had never taken
to anything like that.
She expected Noah to
head off toward the party, but instead, he sat down in the grass
beside her. Close.
Her heart beat faster.
She stretched her legs
out onto the grass and crossed one over the top of the other. She
propped her hands against the grass to keep them from trembling.
What was he still doing
here? Did he need something from her? Or was he just wanting to hear
Zoe play?
“Who is she
playing for?” he asked in a whisper. His eyes swept over the
line of cars down her driveway and along the street.
She nodded and picked
at the skirt on her pink dress. She never wore pink. She was more a
black kind of girl. Weird how a color could make someone feel so
vulnerable.
“My parents
invited all their music friends. It’s sort of a going away
thing for Zoe,” she whispered back. “She leaves on her
world tour tomorrow afternoon.”
“Oh yeah, I
forgot about that,” he said. “I bet you’re really
going to miss her.”
Parrish rolled her
eyes, then caught herself. She covered her mouth with her hand and
immediately wished she could take it away.
Noah narrowed his eyes
at her. “You’re not going to miss her?”
Parrish ran her hand
through her hair, then twirled a strand around her fingertip. “It’s
not that,” she said. She sighed. She hated telling people how
she felt about her family. The older sister being jealous of the
younger prodigy was so boring. She didn’t want to be that
person. “It’s complicated.”
Noah nodded. “I
understand.”
She turned to look at
him, an eyebrow raised. “You do?”
He shrugged. “It’s
family. You’re supposed to love them and hate them at the same
time.”
A laugh escaped her
lips and she clamped her hand over her mouth again.
Noah smiled and looked
at her with those sky-blue eyes that seemed to see right down into
her soul. “You have a nice laugh.”
A shiver ran through
her body and she looked away. The warm fingers of a blush crawled up
her neck.
He didn’t look
away, sending butterflies fluttering through Parrish’s stomach.
She bit her lower lip. She didn’t like not being in control of
her emotions. She liked it better when people kept a safe distance.
She let herself fall
back onto the grass. Maybe if she pretended to be listening, he would
leave.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he lay down
beside her.
Together, they let the
music of Zoe’s violin wash over them. Parrish’s took a
deep breath in, held it as long as she could, then slowly let it out,
feeling her heartbeat finally calm as she sank deeper into the
ground. She spread her fingers out across the spiked blades, willing
herself to concentrate on the feel of the earth beneath her body
instead of the boy beside her.
His head turned toward
her, the scent of his soap fresh in the air. She didn’t dare
turn toward him. She wanted to run away. To never feel like this
again.
But at the same time,
she wanted to be someone else. She wanted to be the kind of girl who
knew how to handle this.
Noah’s hand
brushed against hers and she sucked in a shallow breath. She froze,
an unfamiliar warmth deep in her stomach. She was drawn to him. She
wanted to turn to him. She wanted to know what it would feel like if
he kissed her.
“Parrish,”
he whispered.
Her pulse racing out of
control, she swallowed and turned her head toward him. Just as their
eyes met, a loud groan sounded from the street.
Noah jerked up and
Parrish scuttled backwards, fear rising up in her chest. The sound
scared the crap out of her. It was unnatural. Pained.
Her eyes quickly
scanned the dark pockets of shadow in between the street lamps. From
between two houses on the right, a man emerged, limping toward them.
He groaned again and clutched his stomach.
Noah stood and stepped
in front of her, arms out as if trying to protect her. “Who is
that?” he asked. “Do you recognize him?”’
Scrambling to her feet,
Parrish peered around him and watched as the man moved closer. “No,”
she said. “I’ve never seen him before.”
The injured man had
made it across the street, and just as he stepped on to Parrish’s
front lawn, he bent over and began to throw up.
Parrish winced and
turned away. She would have paid not to see that. Her stomach turned
and she shuddered, but then she looked back at him again anyway,
curiosity getting the better of her. “Should we go check on
him?” she asked, taking a step forward.
The man collapsed, then
his body began to convulse.
Parrish’s eyes
grew wide with fear. She took a step toward the man, but Noah reached
out and locked his hand around her wrist.
“Don’t,”
he said. His mouth was tense and his grip was firm. Serious. It
scared her. With his free hand, he pulled his cell phone from his
jeans. “I’m going to call an ambulance.”
She shook her head and
looked back toward the man. “Shouldn’t we try to help
him?”
Noah released her
wrist. “I don’t think you should go anywhere near him,”
he said. He glanced toward her house. “Go inside. Stay away
from anyone who looks sick.”
The image of the woman
near the shrimp bowl flashed through Parrish’s mind. She
swallowed hard. “What’s going on?”
Noah shook his head.
“I’m not sure, but—” His words broke off and
he put his mouth against his phone. “Yes, a man collapsed in
front of my house and I think he’s having some kind of
seizure.” He paused, then gave the address for Parrish’s
house.
Parrish backed away,
but didn’t go inside. What the hell was going on?
Noah’s dad was
some kind of doctor, right? Was something going around? She crossed
her arms in front of her chest and waited, but as soon as Noah hung
up the phone, he made another call.
“Dad?”
That was all she heard
before Noah sprinted toward the sick man. His body had stopped
convulsing, but she couldn’t tell if he was still breathing or
not. Fear pulsed through her like fire and she tapped her toes
impatiently on the grass.
Soon, the wail of
sirens sounded in the distance.
As the ambulance pulled
up, Zoe’s music stopped and the guests from the party poured on
to the front porch.
“What’s
going on?” her father asked, coming up by her side.
“I don’t
know,” she said. “This man, he just appeared out of
nowhere. He’s really sick.”
Her father took off in
a sprint toward the man’s body, but Noah lifted his hand to her
dad’s chest and said something Parrish couldn’t make out.
Her father turned to look back at his guests, his face gone white as
a sheet. He nodded at whatever Noah was saying, then jogged back
toward the porch and started telling everyone to stay back.
Parrish moved toward
the shadows again, watching as the paramedics placed the man on a
white-sheeted gurney and lifted him into the ambulance. They were
wearing masks and for some reason, the sight of it mixed with the
fear in Noah’s eyes kept her up for the rest of the night,
unable to sleep.
Noah stood in the
kitchen and stared at the door to the basement.
He cracked open a can
of soda and downed half of it without taking his eye off the door.
What had his dad been doing down there this whole time?
He’d been in that
stupid basement for twelve hours straight without a break. Noah
hadn’t even seen him come up to grab food or a shower or
anything. Last night when Noah called to tell him about the man on
the street, his dad had rushed home like a maniac. He’d pulled
one of the paramedics aside and convinced him to let him take some
samples from the sick man.
Noah had never seen his
dad do something like that. It was weird. Paranoid.
His dad had put on a
mask, then spent about five minutes in the ambulance with the sick
man before finally coming out with a bag full of who-knows-what. He’d
barely said two words to Noah. He’d just pointed toward the
house and told him to stay put. That’s when he disappeared into
the basement.
Noah hadn’t seen
him since.
He downed the rest of
his drink, then set it down on the counter.
He took two steps
toward the basement door, then stopped. He ran a hand through his
hair. Crap. He wasn’t allowed down there. How many times had
his dad lectured him about it?
Any time he was working
down there meant he needed peace and quiet and a sterile environment.
Noah knew that.
But he hated not
knowing what was going on. Was this virus really that dangerous?
His dad always got
over-excited about new strains and potentially deadly viruses, but
there was also some level of caution, too. He was trained to stay
calm even in the face of the worst kinds of disasters. The last thing
the CDC needed was for one of their own doctors to start freaking out
and telling everyone the world was ending.
Speeding up to an
ambulance and demanding tissue samples or whatever was definitely not
in the CDC handbook of things that were okay to do.
So why would he do it?
Noah had been up half
the night thinking about it. He’d been sitting here in the
kitchen for hours just waiting for his dad to come out. It was
driving him insane.
He needed a break from
staring at that damn door wondering what on earth had his dad so
spooked. He opened the kitchen trashcan and looked inside. Half-full.
Good enough.
He lifted the bag and
tied it off, then opened the garage door and stepped outside.
The afternoon sun was
bright and warm. He stood there for a moment and let the heat sink
into his skin. Maybe he’d take the car and drive out to the
lake later when it cooled off some. He could use a good run. This
whole thing had him freaked out.
He walked to the other
side of the driveway, opened the lid to the large trash can and
stuffed the bag inside, then wheeled the whole thing out to the curb.
The trash didn’t come until tomorrow, but it wouldn’t
hurt to get it out too early.
He couldn’t help
but glance across the street. The spot where the man had collapsed
looked the same as it did every other day, but the whole place felt
different. Scary. It was one thing when his dad said there was a new
virus he was researching. It was something else entirely when Noah
saw that virus in full effect right here in his own front yard.
He had to assume that
was what this was all about. Why else would his dad have gone so
crazy?
In the driveway across
the street, six suitcases of different sizes were piled up behind the
Sorrows’ SUV. Probably Zoe and her dad getting ready to fly out
for her music tour. The kid really was talented, but he’d
enjoyed talking to Parrish more than listening to her sister play the
violin.
And she’d
actually talked to him some last night. He’d come so close to
asking her out. And he would have if it wasn’t for the sick
guy.
Noah kept one eye on
the Sorrows house as he moved the rest of the trash cans to the curb.
He wanted to see her. He’d just run off last night without even
saying goodnight. She was probably just as freaked out as he was.
There was something so
strangely intoxicating about her. She was so different from any girl
he’d ever known. All the girls at school were the same. They
talked about the same things. Wore the same kinds of clothes. And
they always agreed with him. Half the time he didn’t even think
they were really listening to him.
But Parrish wasn’t
like that.
The door inside their
garage opened and his heart jumped. He squinted against the sun,
trying to act casual as he rearranged the cans.