Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (8 page)

“Aw, now I wanna color.” Brian spotted the bright blue fold-out kids table covered in coloring book pages, crayons and markers.

His comment made me laugh pretty hard.

We always had a separate table for the kids since they preferred to doodle and do their own things. Kevin had graduated to the “big table” this year. It was only Sandy by herself now, and she seemed perfectly fine with that. I worried about her eating all of the crayons, though.

“Here.” I turned and presented to Brian a big plate of freshly baked cookies. “Chocolate chip. Oatmeal. Double dark chocolate. And, everyone’s favorite, decorated sugar cookie stars.”

He lifted his hand to take one and paused, letting it hover a moment as he contemplated his choice.

“You
can
have seconds,” I said.

With that, he snatched a chocolate chip cookie from the edge and thanked me.

One bite in and he closed his eyes and sighed, a warm, content smile stretching across his lips.

“Mmmm. Oh, God. These are delicious,” he said softly, savoring the taste.

“Glad you like it. I helped make them.”

“Even better.” He shoved the last piece of cookie into his mouth and raised an eyebrow. “I could eat them every day for the rest of my life.”

Heat flushed through my cheeks.

Chapter 11

B
ig Uncle Teddy had fallen asleep on the couch, remote in hand, his hairy bare feet propped up on an ottoman, the TV tuned to a basketball game. Sandy, pretending to be a mole, had buried herself in a pile of clean blankets in the laundry room. I caught Kevin peeling back a piece of tape to peek at a Christmas present and shot him a dirty look. He scuttled back off to his puzzle after discovering a dress-up set meant for his sister.

All of the girls were chatting in the kitchen, so I excused myself to show Brian around the rest of the house. Oddly enough, I hadn’t heard from Sam yet. She always looked forward to the Christmas party and had been raving about it since last year.

“You need to call Sam?” Brian caught me checking my phone. Pretty obvious, I guess. I’d done it three times in the past fifteen minutes.

“Yeah. I think I should. If you don’t mind.”

“Go right ahead.” He sat down at the base of the carpeted staircase and folded his hands in his lap. “No rush.”

I sent her a text.

WHERE R U?

Waited for a reply…

Checked my signal.

Five bars.

I sent another.

U OK?

Another minute…

“Anything?” Brian asked, looking at me through the handrails.

I shook my head.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” he said. “Her parents would have called you if something had happened. Right?”

He had a point.

“Yeah. I guess so. It’s just weird.” I shrugged it off for the moment and took Brian upstairs to my room.

I flipped the light switch and the shadows came to life with color. I turned my desk lamp on to make it brighter. I liked keeping it dim, though. My teenage girl version of a man cave.

“You
really
like purple, don’t you?” Brian said with a tilt of his head, fixating on my purple writing desk. A matching upholstered purple chair had been pushed up to it.

A flowery skin on my laptop’s lid. A string of purple Christmas lights permanently affixed around the perimeter of my ceiling. It occurred to me how girly my room looked.

“Yeah. Apparently.” I chuckled, feeling really stupid about it all. I was fourteen, not six. He probably thought I
…

“It’s pretty,” he said with a nod. “Very… calming.”

“You think?” I bit my lip to stifle a sigh of relief.

“Yeah. It’s different. Creative. My mom would never let me do something like this to my room. I start adding some color or get too artistic and suddenly I’m
turning gay
.” He heaved a sigh and shook his head.

“That’s terrible! What does being creative have to do with someone’s orientation anyway?” I couldn’t believe a mother would say that kind of thing. Brian was an amazing artist.

And that kiss… definitely
not
gay. I nibbled my lip, reminiscing.

“I’m sorry, Brian. Your mom really shouldn’t judge you for something like that.”

“I know.” He pressed his lips together.

“Oh! Before I forget.” I slid open a desk drawer, pulled out a flat, wrapped gift, and handed it to Brian.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking unsure. “I wasn’t expecting anything. I didn’t get anything for you. I—”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about. It’s something little. I… hope you like it.”

“I feel bad now.” He hesitantly took the present and then spent a moment admiring the wrapping paper and shiny silver bow I’d stuck in the upper corner.

“Don’t feel bad.” I smiled, sitting on the edge of my desk. It seemed like he didn’t want to open it. “Please. Go ahead.”

He turned over the present and started carefully tearing the paper along the seam.

“Seriously?” His eyes widened.

He unlatched the buckle and flipped open the leather journal.

I couldn’t tell if he liked it or not.

“This is amazing!” He fanned through the pages, closed the book and latched it shut. He took a big sniff of the cover and grinned. “Suede. Wow! Thank you, Alice. Though I kind of feel like a jerk for not thinking to get you anything.”

“I’m not upset.” I stood up from the desk. “Besides, being able to spend today with you makes me happy. You do like it, right?”

He set the journal down on my desk, letting his fingers drag over the cover before letting up.

“Yeah. It’s one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve
ever
gotten,” he said, licking his lips. “And you know, I’m really glad you’re with me, too.” A subtle reminder I had agreed to be his girlfriend. “I’ve been thinking about you ever since the day I left the hospital. Since we ‘talked’ on the porch.” He cracked a smile.

“Me, too,” I said beneath my breath.

He stepped closer and I stepped back.

“Tell me you feel it, too,” he said.

It was dead quiet besides the soft whirring from the fan on my laptop. “Feel… what?”

He reached up to take a lock of my hair between his fingers.

“That tightening in your gut. Anxious nerves that won’t settle. You try to fight it—tell it to go away, but it won’t.”

I did.

He released my hair.

“Your pulse racing,” he continued. “What you felt when we were downstairs by the coat closet earlier.” His thumb caressed my chin again.

Yes.

Lightheadedness.
Knots in my stomach
. The same whirlwind of emotions I had felt at the dance. A restless drive to be closer…

“Aren’t we moving a little fast?” I shuddered, bumping into the wall behind me.

“Do you want to slow down?” he asked, his eyes glinting with anticipation.

I should have lied, but I couldn’t. Excitement coursed through me, electric. Free.

My conscience warned me not to let go, but…

“I asked you a question, Alice.” His voice softened and he pinned me against the wall beside my desk. A bold move. It lit me on fire.

“Brian?” I couldn’t hide my eager, fluttering breaths. His warm scent clouded my mind. I wanted him so much, my whole body trembled.

One more step. His hazel eyes devouring me.

His face lowered and I tasted his breath. A hint of
chocolate.

He brought his hands up to clasp my face and then
kissed me.

I tangled my fingers into his belt loops and tugged him closer so our bodies touched. The back of his hand dragged down the side of my neck, making my knees weaken. He lingered, teasing my lower lip with the tip of his tongue. A quiet groan escaped me. I pushed up off my heels and kissed him back, plunging my hands through waves of his soft hair. The smell of his skin. The tension. The need to keep him near. His heat against my own feverish body.

“Alice,” he whispered, pressing his lips just behind my ear and again on the side of my neck. I shuddered. He grasped my shoulder and pressed gently. “Alice.”

“Wh-what is it?” I opened my eyes and gasped.

Fluorescent white-blue light tinted his left hand, glowing and spreading through his veins, skittering halfway up his arm, exactly as it had in my dream. He slid his fingers down my shoulder and watched as the green light beneath my skin chased the path of his touch, twinkling on contact and then fading away.

“You have it, too?”

His eyes narrowed and a wide, satisfied grin stretched across his lips.

“You’re… you’re not afraid?” I asked, shaking.

He slipped his other arm behind my waist. Our glows resonated in sync, two colors pulsing in harmony.

“Why would I be afraid? What happened at the dance wasn’t the first time I’d almost died,” he said. “It probably won’t be the last. But whatever this is, it fixed my heart. You had the dream, too, you know. It’s pretty obvious we’re together for a reason, Alice.”

He lifted my arm and pressed it back against the wall, dragging his glowing fingers up my wrist, circling my palm, and then taking my hand. The skin glimmered with soft turquoise light.

“With you, I feel unstoppable.” He folded his fingers around mine. “As if there’s nothing to fear anymore.”

“But, what if my mom…”

“She won’t.” He leaned in and kissed me again.

Chapter 12

T
he doorbell rang and I pulled away from Brian. He stepped to the side so I could pass, but grasped my fingers, reluctant to let me go.

“It’s probably Sam,” I said, clearing my throat. “Oh, geeze.” I took a deep breath and combed my fingers through my hair to smooth it down the back of my neck, trying to pull myself together quickly. My heart pounded in my chest. My palms were sweaty.

“Can you keep her busy for a sec?” I asked Brian. “I need a minute.”

“So do I.” He shrugged and looked away, sweeping a hand through his disheveled hair.

Oops.

I shook my head and left my room. I didn’t feel like spilling our new relationship status to Sam just yet. Not while my relatives were around.

The doorbell rang again.

Oh, Sam…

I ran into the bathroom, brushed my hair and splashed cold water on my face. Deep pink colored my cheeks but faded fast. The green glow had disappeared.
Thank God.

By the time I’d popped back out, Sam stood in the living room, bent over, shaking one of the presents under the tree, her ear pressed to the side.

“Sam?” I leaned on the railing.

“Alice! Hi!” She looked up, dropped the present and jogged toward me.

“Where were you? I was really worried, Sam.”

“Oh yeah, about that.” She bit her lip. “Yeah. So I accidentally sorta kinda dropped my phone in the toilet.”

“Ew!”

“Well, it would have been fine, but the screen got cracked and water and stuff got in it.”

“That’s gross.”

“Yeah. Dad took me to the mall to get it replaced and then… well, you know. I had to get a new case, too. And, you know how that goes.”

I knew very well “how that goes.” I’m pretty sure I know why the dinosaurs went extinct. They were waiting for Sam to pick out a cell phone case.

“Hey, Sam.” Brian came out of my room, looking as cool and collected as he had when he’d arrived.
Boys had it so easy.

“Brian?” Sam’s eyes widened and her lips pursed. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“Well, you took soooooo long, Sam,” I joked.

She shot me an angry glare, but then laughed it off.

“Actually,” I went on, “Mom invited him and his mother since they are new in town.”

“Oh. Really?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Okay then. I’ll believe that,
for now
.”

Brian walked past, trying to play it cool by not looking me in the eye. I followed behind him and we met Sam in the living room.

. . .

Dinner couldn’t have gone better. My family really liked Brian, and that made me happy. I needed them to like him.

Afterward, Brian joined me in the kitchen to help with the dishes. Mom didn’t appreciate guests doing dirty work, but he’d insisted—anything to spend another minute alone with me, I think.

“Hand me the forks, please?” I gestured toward the pile of dishes on the other side of the sink. Mom always used her best dishes for this get-together, so we had to be careful.

Brian chuckled, setting a stack of buttering knives in the sink water. “So, uh, your Uncle Teddy.” He reached for the forks. “Does he offer beer to everyone or am I just special?”

“He’s been doing that for years.” I shook my head. “Uncle Teddy thinks we should all appreciate the wonderful nuances of beer the way he does.”

“I thinks it tastes disgusting,” Brian said. “If that’s not weird to hear from a guy my age?”

“No.” I hated the smell of the stuff anyway. One less thing to worry about and one more reason Mom could appreciate Brian.

I twisted the faucet toward hot and turned it on high. At the same time, Brian passed a dessert plate in front of me and steaming water splashed off it. I yelped, dropping a coffee mug. It hit the countertop and tumbled toward the floor. I couldn’t grab it fast enough.

Brian knelt down. “Alice?”

“Don’t pick it up. The pieces will be sharp.” I closed my eyes and silently hated on myself. Hopefully, Mom would forgive me. It was part of her favorite set.

“Alice! You need to see this.”

“What?” I turned. My jaw dropped.

The coffee cup hadn’t even stopped falling.

I bent down. It hung, suspended in midair, rotating so slowly I could barely tell it was moving at all. Caught in time, floating inches from the floor.

“Hey, Mom!” I called out.

I poked my head into the dining room.

Everyone was moving in slow motion. Nearly frozen.

“Brian. What’s going on?” A lump formed in my throat and I panicked.

He came to his feet and took my hand. “I don’t know,” he said.

The floor disappeared out from under us.

Blinding white light flashed.