Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (5 page)

I put a hand on my hip, narrowed my eyes and stared at her. She stopped jumping in place long enough to show it to me.

Freshman Holiday Dance
, it read. Sam pointed a finger at the line below it.
Better than a stocking full of coal! Buy one ticket, get one FREE!
Her fingers trembled with excitement.

“Can we go? Please? Pretty please?”

“
We
?”
I sighed and glanced past Sam.
Brian was nowhere in sight. Only a handful of students still loitered in the hall.

“Well, yeah. You and me. Unless you and your
boyfriend
…”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I clenched a fist, locking my knees. “Sam, I’m fourteen years old. If my dad heard you talking like this, he’d ban me from ever seeing Brian again.”

“He’s one to talk.” She blew a raspberry. “You haven’t seen him in for
ever
.”

“Sam, please.”

“Really! He left your mom years ago and you’re worried about what
he’s
going to say about
you
having a boyfriend? I’d be more worried about your mom than—”

“He works a lot, okay? And even Mom might… Ugh.” I growled.

Years after it had happened, bringing up the divorce still made my
stomach turn. I wanted
to curl up into a ball under a bridge and cry my eyes out. Maybe Dad wasn’t in my life as much as he could have been. Or… at all anymore for that matter. But that didn’t mean he had stopped loving me or wanting to spend time with me. He was just too busy with work. And his new wife…

“Sorry.”
Sam hung her head and
scuffed her shoe against the floor. “I didn’t mean to be a jerk.”

I took the paper from her hand. The dance was right before Christmas break—exactly three weeks from today. Ever since elementary school, all Sam had ever dreamed about was going to a real school dance. This was her first chance and she was psyched. I, on the other hand, could have thought of a dozen other ways to spend my time. But it wasn’t about me right now. I couldn’t let my best friend down.

I bent
to look her in the
eye. “Guess we’re going to have to go dress shopping soon, huh?” I put on the best enthusiastic smile I could, eyes and all.

Chapter 6

T
here was Sam, smack-dab in the middle of the auditorium doing the chicken-wing like there was no tomorrow. She looked like she was about to take off any second. Zoom! Right out of the building. It’s a bird. It’s a plane! Nope, it’s just Sam. Goofy, lovable Sam.

I’d managed to convince my mom to let me go to the dance. Sam and I had bought beautiful, glittery dresses at the mall. Mine had cap sleeves and a full-length princess style skirt in cascading gradients of pink and teal. Not Christmas-y, but I wanted something that—if growth spurts allowed—I’d want to wear again.

Elegant. Magical. Didn’t fit in with all of the green and red streamers hanging from the ceiling, but that didn’t matter.

Sam had paired her knee-length—even in winter—red-velvet, rhinestone accented party dress with black tights and matching flats. She’d told me she didn’t want anything to get in the way of her dancing. I wasn’t at all concerned with the dancing part. Sam had basically paid for my evening’s worth of snacks and punch in return for tagging along and playing dress up. All I had to do was stand on the sidelines and keep an eye on her.

“Hey, Alice.”

The voice startled me and I jerked my head toward the sound.

Oh my God. I should have worn nicer shoes.

Should have done my hair up.

Should have…

“Hi, Brian. I… I didn’t even know you’d be here.” My cheeks grew warm.

He looked nice, donning a black suit and navy-blue dress shirt. No tie, but it worked in his favor. His brown hair had been swept back out of his face and tucked behind his ears. He had been cute before, but now…

My pulse raced and a lump formed in my throat. My hands got cold. I clasped them together.

“Nice dress.” He skimmed over it. “Sparkly. It’s very New Years… esq.”

“That’s what I was going for,” I stammered, lying.

He had two plastic cups of pink punch in his hands and offered me one. I went to reach for it but hesitated.

“Something wrong?” he asked, looking down at the cup. “Did you not want anything?” He glanced at my empty hands.

“No, it’s just that…” The voice of reason—Mom’s—reminded me not to take a drink from someone when I
hadn’t seen where it
had come from. He
seemed
trustworthy.

“Oh, wait. I get it. I’ll get you another one if you want to come with me. I just… well, it’s getting kind of stuffy in here and I wanted to ask if you cared to step out for a few?”

“Don’t worry about the drink.” I snatched the cup from him and smiled with my eyes. Something inside kept pushing
me to
trust
him. “I need
some air myself. Of course…” I glanced at the exit. “There
is
Mrs. Prather.”

She stood in front of one of the exits, arms crossed, carefully guarding the door like a Doberman. Her beady eyes locking on to anyone who passed.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said, and headed over to her. I couldn’t hear what they said, but she looked really concerned, narrowing her eyes and nodding. A few seconds later, she darted through the crowd, whooshing right past me at record speed.

Brian jogged back over. “Come on.” We scurried toward the gym exit. He propped the door open just enough for me to get through. The door clicked shut behind us and the music muffled.

“Oh my God, we didn’t just dodge Mrs. Prather? Did we?” The brief adrenaline rush had me shaking. I laughed. “She’s gonna be soooo mad!”

“Maybe, but it was worth the risk to spend time with you alone.”

“Alone?” I brushed a stray curl behind my ear and smiled shyly.

“Uh, I meant… to
talk
to you,” he stuttered. “Really. I…”

“I’d love to see snow someday,” I said, changing the subject. “Do you think we’ll ever have snow for Christmas?” I shuddered. The temperature had gone down since we had arrived. The crisp smell of winter drifted through the air. I rubbed my forearms.

“Don’t know,” he replied. “But up in Montana, winter is freaking fierce.” He set down his cup on the concrete and slid his arms out of his coat. “Here.” He draped it over my shoulders and tried to stifle a nervous chuckle. “I know it’s stereotypical, but… you don’t need to freeze because of me.”

“Thanks, Brian. I brought a shrug, but left it on the coat rack inside. A lot of good it did me, huh?”

“That jacket was getting a little warm anyway.” He picked his punch cup up off the ground.

His body heat along with a hint of his pleasant scent lingered on the coat. Although a bit big, it helped and I’d stop shivering already.

The school baseball field was illuminated as if it were a game night, only the bleachers were empty. I’d taken for granted how pretty it could be without screaming cheerleaders
and
jocks
running around,
kicking
up dust everywhere. No megaphones. No noisy billboards.

I lifted the cup up in a toast. “To…” I thought fast but nothing came. “Something awesome.” I giggled, making him crack a smile.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “To something awesome!”

I tried the punch and my lips pursed. “Ew. This is sour!” I coughed. “Bleh!”

He took a sip and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Yeah. The punch is pretty terrible here, isn’t it? Here, let me get that.” He reached for my cup and then tossed both of our drinks into a nearby trash can.

“It’s kind of pretty out here with all the seats empty,” he said, staring off past the field. “Seems staged almost. Like something out of a movie.”

We sat down on the concrete steps just outside the auditorium doors.

“I guess so.” A bright white, almost-full moon lit up the sky. Shimmering stars flecked the deep blue nothingness. It
felt
like something out of a movie… One of those cliché boy-and-girl-at-prom scenes. I kept telling myself not to get nervous. Nothing was going to happen.

This wasn’t a movie…

“What is it?” he asked.

I’d faded out. “Nothing.” I cupped my hands together to stop myself from fidgeting. “You want to talk about anything?”

He shrugged.

I went back to watching my hands and we sat in silence.

Bass vibrated below our feet. The music playing inside—softer and distorted—was still audible. We’d barely escaped from the Electric Slide. Then a slow song started, the melody of a saxophone teased my ears through the concrete walls and the bass quieted below our feet.

I felt Brian’s eyes on me.

“Thank you,” he said.

I turned toward him. The stadium lights cast a shadow over half of his face but I could see a small smile curling his lips. “For the encouraging things you’ve said about my art. It’s really helped me push myself to work harder. In school and… at home.”

I had butterflies in my stomach and my face felt flushed.

“You’re welcome,” I replied. “You don’t have to thank me, though.”

“It was hard to make friends with all of the moving around we used to do, but I’m glad the teacher made me sit next to you.” He fell quiet for a moment and looked back toward the auditorium. “Hey, the music’s gotten a little better. Do you want to at least pretend we’re here to dance?”

I glanced anxiously at his hands and then back into his eyes. Just thinking about touching him made my stomach knot up. Not that I didn’t want to be closer to him. I did… I really did, but…

Oh, forget it.

I took a deep breath. After all, it wasn’t the first time I’d
wanted
to touch him.

He stood and reached down. His warm hands cupped mine carefully. Then, he pulled me to my feet and I almost tumbled into his arms.

I swallowed hard and straightened up, smoothing down my skirt with flattened hands. Nervous, I rested one hand onto his shoulder as he entwined fingers with my other. He hesitated before placing a hand on my waist. We were both trembling, but I liked that. Brian’s anxiety was genuine. Reassuring.

I
didn’t know a thing about
dancing
. I’d figured it wouldn’t matter since I hadn’t planned on actually dancing. Brian didn’t know much about it either, but I didn’t care.

We made it up as we went along and simply swayed to the music. He stayed vigilant, not stepping on my toes while I made sure I didn’t smack him in the face when he let me go to twirl. We danced to a gentler, distant version of the music.

“You’re really pretty, Alice,” he said, gently squeezing my hand.

The bright golden glow of the stadium lights washed over his face, making his eyes sparkle. My heart thumped in my chest, fluttering like a hummingbird, drowning out the music. We stared into each other’s eyes. Still as statues.

He tugged me closer and I gasped. Our bodies touched and his warm scent drew me in, stronger than before. I lost focus, captivated by his lips.

Goose bumps rippled across my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood.
A surge of warmth swept
through me, making my fingertips tingle.

Brian flinched and his grip loosened.

“Brian?”
    

He froze, blinking. Dumbfounded. Lost.

He shuffled to the side, the lights illuminating the whites of his eyes. “Maybe… we should sit this one out,” he said and then stumbled backwards and let go of me.

“You okay?” I stepped toward him and took his arm.

“Yeah.” He sat down on the steps and coughed. “I…” He coughed again. “I can’t… breathe well all of a sudden.” He undid the top button of his shirt and stretched open his collar, clearing his throat as he did. “Probably the cold or…” He shifted as though he couldn’t get comfortable.

He fell silent, staring off at nothing.

My heart plummeted.

“Shit.” Brian doubled over and clutched at his chest.

“Brian!”

“I… ugh.” He grimaced, gritting his teeth.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I grabbed his shoulders. “Look at me!” A faint, intermittent beeping sound came from somewhere on him. “Brian!”

“I… ah, God! Al…” He gasped for air. Short, strained choking breaths. “Alice, call 9-1-1!” His terrified eyes finally met mine. “Now.”

I stopped breathing, too. So scared, I thought my heart might explode from beating so fast.

“Uh, okay.” I pulled out my cell and kept watching him. My hands shook. I tried to remember three stupid numbers. Clumsy from panic, I tried twice to get it right.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

“Uh, I don’t know. I’m with my friend and he looks like he’s in a lot of pain right now.”

Brian grunted hard and looked up at me, his breathing still labored. He pulled at the collar of his shirt hard and stretched it to reveal his skin. There was a small lump in his chest just over his left pec and a thick scar line above it.

“Oh my God! You have a pacemaker!” A lump formed in my throat.

“Ma’am?”
The 911 person waited for a reply.

“Uh, yes. I think he’s having a heart attack. He has a pacemaker and his chest is hurting. I’ve never seen him like this. Please. Please help us!”

The 911 person—who said his name was James—asked me if Brian was still breathing and if he was conscious. “Yes. Yes.” He was, but he looked like he might pass out any minute now. James informed me that the beeping noise was coming from the pacemaker—an alert that something had gone wrong.

I moved with Brian to help him bring his knees closer to his chest, just as James had suggested. I had to keep him alert until the ambulance came. James stayed on the line but I set my phone down beside us and put it on speaker.

“Brian?” I took his hand and held it tightly, scared I might hurt him further but more frightened of him slipping away without me there. That stuff inside me. It must have hurt him somehow. Shorted out his pacemaker. Just like Sam’s tablet.

“Stay with me.” I cupped the side of his face. It had become deathly pale. His skin colder than it was before.