Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) (31 page)

He considered
what I said. “You're right. I won’t bug you anymore,” he said quietly.

I downed my
burger and started on my fries.

“So do you have
any plans for the summer? One last hurrah before college?” he asked after he
swallowed his burger and fries.

“Actually, Emma
and I were planning to ask my parents if we could use our cottage for a week or
two.”

“Where is it?”

“A couple of
hours away in a place called Crescent Lake. It’s so beautiful. It’s right on
the beach with a big deck that faces the water. It’s really peaceful there. My
parents only go for about two weeks a year since my dad works. They do go on
most summer weekends, but I was hoping I could have it with some of my friends
for a week.” I looked out the window. We were driving by an apple orchard, the
fourth one we had passed.

“Do you think
they’ll let you?”

“I hope so.
They know I’m usually responsible. Present actions excluded.”

“Sounds like
fun,” he said quietly.

“What about
you?”

“Well, I hope
to go with you. I also planned to work as much as I can, to save money for
school. My parents are paying my tuition, but it won’t hurt to have some extra
cash.”

“Very
sensible.”

We smiled at
each other. It was nice to get along for a change. We drove for a few more
miles until we came up to the “Welcome to Renford” sign.

The town looked similar to ours, about the
same size. There was a large rock formation just outside of the town. A creek
ran down the center of a park right in front of city hall. To the left was the
Renford Library. That was our next stop if we failed at the school.

We turned down
a street and came to what looked like the main business area. There was a
theater, a few clothing stores, a hardware store, and some specialty shops. I
noticed a couple of restaurants I might want to try for dinner. At the end of
the main road, there was a sign that said “Motel” and an arrow.

We followed it
down the street, finding a small white motel, and parked in the lot. I waited
in the car while Lucas checked in. The hotel was older looking, with the white
paint cracking in some places along the stucco. He came out of the building
smiling, tossing the key up in the air and then catching it.

The room was
small but clean, smelling of fruity air freshener. There was only one bed—that
was going to be interesting—and a dresser against one wall. A desk with a large
mirror above it sat beside the dresser.

Lucas laid our
bags on the blue blanket and then sat down at the desk and opened the phone
book.

“What are you
doing?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Looking for
the address of Renford High School,” he mumbled, flipping through the book. His
lips moved as he read. “Here it is, are you ready? We should get started before
it gets too late.”

We pulled up to the school about ten
minutes later. There were a few cars parked in the lot. We weren’t sure if they
would let us in, but we had to give it a try.

Lucas opened
the door, and we wordlessly walked in. Our footsteps were quiet, but in the
empty hallway, the sound echoed all around. I cringed with each squeak from
Lucas’ sneakers. There was a sign at the front door with a map of the school,
showing the office, library, and different departments. The library was between
the office and one of the science labs, so we headed in that direction.

The library
door creaked as he opened it, making us turn around to make sure no one had
heard. With the coast clear, we tiptoed into the empty room, splitting up into
different directions to look around.

On the back
wall, near the librarian’s desk, I saw a sign that said “School Spirit.” I
walked over and saw that it was lined with yearbooks dating from last year back
to nineteen eighty-seven. All I needed was last year’s, so I picked it up and
coughed quietly, hoping Lucas would know that I was trying to get his
attention.

When I heard
his footsteps coming toward me, I took out my list of names.

I flipped
through the pages, looking for the kids from mine and Lucas’ list. I found the
first person, and of course, he looked nothing like Tony. He had black hair,
not dark blond. The rest of the names were the same. One was obviously a
relative, just not close enough. I put the book back where I had found it, and
we slipped out quietly.

Standing on the
step in front of the school, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was afraid someone
would notice us. I didn’t know how we would explain looking through a yearbook for
a school we didn’t attend.

Our next stop
was St. Mary’s High School. There were only two cars in the lot. Lucas opened
the front door for me, and we stepped quietly toward the library. We slipped
inside, thinking we would be able to sneak in and out again without being
noticed.

Standing near a
desk at the back of the library was a nun. She was wearing a black skirt and a
white blouse. Her red hair was pulled back, and mostly hidden under the wimple
she was wearing on her head. Around her neck was a long chain with a wooden
cross hanging from it. She looked up when she heard us enter. Her smile was
welcoming. She was a lot younger than she appeared to be before I saw her face.

“Can I help
you?” she asked, her voice soft and calming.

I considered
lying, but I was afraid that if I lied to a nun, I’d go to hell. “Excuse me, we
don’t mean to disturb you, but we’re looking for someone, and we were wondering
if we could search through last year’s yearbook.”

“Of course, but
I am closing up soon.”

“Oh, that’s okay;
we’ll only be a few minutes.”

She gestured
with her hand in the direction of the yearbooks, in the back row of the small
library.

She gave us
privacy while we searched. We found the names, and just like the last school,
the faces were completely different. Lucas put the book back, and we headed
back to the nun, who was now going over papers on the desk.

“Thank you,
Sister, we really appreciate your help,” I said, starting to walk toward the
door.

“Did you find
what you were looking for?” I heard her ask.

I spun around
again to face her. “No, but we have a few more schools to look through.” I
didn’t want to say any more about it, and I could tell she sensed that.

“Well, good
luck,” she said with a smile, turning back to her work.

“Well, that was a waste of time. We’re
never going to find him. Maybe he isn’t even a relative of Tony’s. We have no
way of knowing,” I complained once we were back inside the car. I was
frustrated, and now I was in a crabby mood. Hunched in my seat, I crossed my
arms in front of me, staring out the window, pouting.

“It’s not a
waste of time. Now we know it wasn’t any of them. We’ve narrowed the list down.
It might not be a relative, but it makes sense that he is since we are.” Lucas
leaned over to brush his hand softly against my cheek. The touch startled me,
and I straightened in my seat.

He pulled his
hand back and muttered, “Sorry.”

After starting
the car, he drove out of the parking lot. “I’m hungry, do you want to have
dinner at a restaurant, or order in?” he asked, once we had driven a couple of
moments in silence.

“Restaurant,” I
mumbled, still sulking. The less time we spent alone in a small hotel room the
better. He drove to the main street where most of the businesses were. It was
dusk, the lights were coming on, and the streets seemed to be coming alive.

He pulled into
a restaurant that looked one scale up from a diner. The name on the front said
Millie’s.

We climbed out
of the car, and the first thing I noticed was the music. It sounded like a live
band was playing inside.

Once Lucas
opened the door for me, the air exploded with sound. At the back of the
restaurant, there was a dance floor with a few people moving awkwardly to the
beat. Up front, there were rows of booths, and in between them were tables
scattered here and there.

On the walls
were fish nets, rods, and stuffed fish. But the oddest thing was a picture of a
man and woman. The man was standing behind her holding a fishing rod, which was
hooked to her collar as she was running away.

A waitress
approached us. She had curly auburn hair, pulled loosely in a ponytail, and she
was wearing a red-checkered dress uniform with a name tag on it that said Pearl. “A table for two?” she asked, smacking her gum.

Lucas nodded,
and we followed her to a booth near the window. She walked away silently after
we were seated.

“Well, this is
colorful,” I said with a smile.

We watched the
dancers for a while until the waitress came back with our menus.

I looked at
mine and noticed that all the meals seemed to have lobster in it. “What are you
going to order?” I asked Lucas loudly. It was difficult to hear above the banjo
and fiddle.

He stared at
the menu. “You know, it’s a hard decision. There are so many choices. How about
lobster?” he answered, a small grin appearing on his face.

“Hey, me too,
what a coincidence.” We laughed. It felt good not to worry for five minutes.

Pearl
came to take our order. She didn’t speak, just glanced in my
direction.

“Um…I’ll have
the lobster bisque.”

“And I’ll have
the lobster pot pie, and we’ll have two colas,” Lucas ordered. She nodded and
walked away. “I wish she’d shut up, she’s giving me a headache with all her
chatter,” he said with a chuckle. His obvious sarcasm brought another smile to
my face; he was pulling me out of my cranky mood against my will. Maybe I
wanted to be angry, wasn’t I entitled? Who wouldn’t be with a crazy stalker
after them?

We turned
around to watch the band. It was country music, which I never listen to, but
they sounded pretty good. “You want to dance?” he asked. I didn’t know if it
was a good idea, but I had been pushing him away all day, and one dance
couldn’t hurt. Even though it was a slow song, I agreed.

We had never
danced before, so when he put his arms around me, I was a little uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, I began to relax. We hadn’t been this close in over a
month; it made me question why I kept pushing him away. I melted against his
warm, hard body, swaying to the music. Soon nothing existed but us. I laid my
head on his shoulder as my body molded into his. We moved slowly, no longer
dancing to the rhythm.

The music
stopped, waking me from the spell I was under. I glanced up into his eyes; they
were smoldering. He slowly bent his head, and when I realized what he was about
to do, I panicked. “I wonder if the food is ready yet.” I backed out of his
arms, turned, and rushed to our table. When I sat down, I noticed he was
walking toward me with a grin on his face.

Our food was
delivered as he sat down across from me. It looked interesting, and after I
tasted it, I was surprised at how good it was.

We finished our
meal, and Lucas was considering dessert when a tall man with black hair came
over. He was wearing jeans and a blue plaid shirt. A woman with big blonde hair
was trailing behind him. “Come on, miss. In this place, no one sits out,” he
said, motioning his hand to the dance floor.

The restaurant
had gotten crowded as we were eating. The dance floor was packed, all the
tables were empty, and the patrons were line dancing. “Oh, no, thank you, sir.
I don’t know how to do that.” I gestured with my hand to the dance floor.

“That’s okay;
it’s easy, we’ll show you.” He took my hand, pulling me against him, while the
woman yanked Lucas out of our booth. Together, they dragged us to the dance
floor.

We stood beside
them while they demonstrated the steps slowly. I followed their lead and soon
realized it wasn’t all that hard. Even Lucas got it, and before we knew it, we
were line dancing with a bunch of strangers for the rest of the evening.

A few hours
later, we said goodbye to our new friends, and after Lucas paid the bill, we
went back to our hotel.

My bag was
beeping when we opened the door to our room. I had forgotten my phone, and when
I took it out, I saw that there were six messages. Two were from my mom and
four were from Emma. I dialed her number.

Lucas fell onto
the bed, turning on the TV. He lowered the volume so he wouldn’t disturb my
conversation.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Emma, you
called?” I sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Oh, thank God.
I’m running out of excuses. Your mom called a bunch of times to talk to you
because you didn’t answer your cell. I made up crazy reasons to why you weren’t
around. The latest one was that you’re sick. So when you call, act like it.
Call her now, bye.” And she hung up.

I dialed my
mom.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mom,” I
said, slightly above a whisper.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m
fine, I’m just going to bed now.”

“With who,
Lucas?”

My head jerked
up, spinning around to stare at Luke. He raised one eyebrow, wondering what was
wrong. “Why would you say that?”

“I know that
you lied to us and went away with him.”

“What do you
mean, I went away with Lucas?” I asked, still playing dumb.

Lucas sat up on
the bed. I thought I heard him mutter a curse.

“Do you really
think I believed all of Emma’s lame excuses about where you’ve been all day? I
thought you might be with him, so I called his mother. She told me that he was
at a friend’s house this weekend too. We compared notes, and she called Andy’s
mom. Imagine her surprise to find out Lucas wasn’t there. Where are you?” She
was angry.

“Mom we’re just
trying to figure out who is threatening me. We’re in Renford. We have reason to
believe the guy might be from here. All I’m doing is looking at pictures. It’s
not dangerous, and I’m with Lucas. We are not back together, so you don’t have
to worry about that either. We’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. We have one more
stop on the way. I promise I’m being responsible, and I’m sorry I lied to you.”

There was
silence on the other end while she considered my explanation. “Well, I don’t
want you driving tonight, but you’re grounded for the week. You got that?”

“Yes.” I was so
relieved, I wanted to cheer, but I thought that might be pushing my luck.

“Okay, be
careful.”

I hung up,
feeling that I had dodged a bullet. “Our parents figured it out. Did your
mother call you?” I turned around to face him.

He took his
phone out of his pocket and turned it on. “Yeah, I turned it off when we went
into the school.” He dialed his mother. That conversation was very different.
Lucas even smiled a couple of times.

After he hung
up, he put his phone down on the dresser. Leaning back on the pillows, he
turned his attention back to the TV.

“Are you going
to tell me what she said?” I asked, after several seconds of waiting for him to
explain.

“Nope,” he said
with a grin.

“What do you
mean no? Was she mad?”

“No.”

Now he was
starting to annoy me. “What did she say?”

“Nothing. Just
that I shouldn’t have lied. She would have understood. And she hoped this time
would give us an opportunity to get back together,” he added when I didn’t look
convinced.

“Well, too bad.
That’s not going to happen.” I stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door
behind me.

His whole smug
attitude was ticking me off. How was that fair, I get grounded for a week, and
his mother basically gives him a pat on the back for deceiving her?