Hale Maree (11 page)

The pressure on my arms suddenly disappears
and I blink open my eyes. Oscar is still hovering over me, his gaze
digging into mine and his mouth curled into a grin.

“
You’ve been kissed, Hale,”
he says. “You can have the phone.”

“
No,” I whisper back,
threading my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, drawing
him back down to me. “More.”

“
I’d like that too,” he
says. “But we’ve got a nosey house guest downstairs, for one, and
for two, I don’t like to be rushed when I start kissing you. What I
plan on doing with you is going to take time. Hours. Days, even.
And since it’s going to be all new to you, I want you to learn how
to enjoy it.”

I drop back onto the mattress with a puff.
Oscar takes the phone from the nightstand and lays it beside
me.

“
All yours,” he says. “Are
you ready to be all mine?”

“
Stop it.”

“
I’m serious,” he says and,,
since his expression reflects it as much as his tone, I just ignore
him as I hold the phone over my head and dial Sher’s
number.

#

“
Where the hell are you? Are
you okay?” Sher blasts through the phone as soon as she hears my
voice. I have to pull the phone away from my ear for a
second.

“
I’m fine. I’m at a beach
house.”

“
With Ocker?”

“
Yeah,” I say as Sher
inhales dramatically.

“
Oh my God oh my God, oh my
God! Did Ocker kidnap you? Wait. Did you dad just let him take you
away? Your dad didn’t even want you dating! Are you married? Oh my
God, Hale, you’re like one of those captive brides! Is this perv
building a harem or something? Are you a Sister Wife? Oh my God,
he’s in a cult, isn’t he? Wait. Are you still a virgin?”

“
Slow down,” I say the words
slowly for emphasis, but my cheeks heat up. Oscar is reclined in
the catcher’s-mitt-chair, a finger on his temple and one on his
jaw, watching me. I hope he can’t hear Sher across the room, but
when I hold the phone away from my ear, I can hear her loud and
clear. I flip over onto my other side, putting my back to
him.

“
I’m just staying here for a
while,” I say.

“
Staying or tied to a closet
bar?”

“
Staying. He invited me to
his dad’s beach house and we’re here with his friends.”

“
What about the whole
marriage thing?”

I drop my voice. “I don’t know about that
yet,” I say, and then, I feel Oscar slide onto the bed beside me.
He curls himself against my back and murmurs into my hair, “Ask
your friend if she wants to meet us at town hall to be our
witness.”

His proximity makes me forget everything we
were just talking about. On the other end of the phone, Sher says,
“Was that him? Did he just say that?”

“
Yes,” I say. “Ignore
him.”

“
He’s got a totally sexy
voice. Who’d expect that from an Ocker?”

“
Did she just call me
Ocker?” He chuckles near my ear.

“
Oh my God, did he just hear
me?” Sher squeals.

“
Yup,” Oscar says over my
shoulder. He puts out a hand for the phone. “Let me talk to
her.”

“
He wants to talk to
me
?” Sher’s voice rises
to chipmunk altitude. I shake my head, but Oscar grabs the phone
from me and swings away to sit on the edge of the bed.

“
Hello?” he says and his
voice is all deep and caramel-y. I know Sher is probably peeing
herself on the other end.

“
Uh,” I hear her giggle,
“hi.”

“
So you’re Hale’s best
friend?” he asks. He’s met with more rapid-fire giggles.

“
Mmm hmm.”

“
It’s good to meet you
then,” he says. “I was wondering if you could tell me a little
about Hale?”

I swoop over his shoulder and try to shout
into the phone, “No, don’t tell him anything, Sher!”

I doubt she can hear me through all the
giggling. I doubt she’s even breathing properly. She doesn’t really
answer, so Oscar just goes ahead and asks anyway.

“
Can you tell me what her
favorite food is?”

Sher bubbles, “Apples!”

“
Interesting,” Oscar says,
turning to give me a raised eyebrow. “What are her
hobbies?”

“
She reads everything. All
the time.”

“
She did mention reading,”
he says. Sher giggles even more. “What’s her favorite
color?”

“
Purple!” she
squeals.

“
Purple,” Oscar repeats. I
make a grab for the phone, but he twists out of my reach. “Lavender
or violet?”

“
Violet!”

I groan and drop my hand over my eyes.

“
You definitely know Hale,”
Oscar says. Sher finally stops giggling.

“
Well yeah, she’s my best
friend,” she says.

“
Since you are, would you do
us the honor, Sher...” he begins, but Sher shrieks into the phone,
“YES!”

Oscar laughs. “Would you be a witness when
we get married?”

“
YES, YES, YES!” Sher
shrieks again. I tear the phone out of Oscar’s hand and he lets it
go with a smirk.

“
Hello!” I bark into the
phone to calm Sher down.

“
Oh my God, you’re getting
married! I’m going to be your bridesmaid! I can’t believe it!”
Sher’s screaming. She’s so excited that I want to just float along
on the whole fairy tale with her.

“
Nice, bestie,” I mumble at
her, trying to press down my smile. “Whose friend are you
anyway?”

“
Yours!” she squeals. “And
his! I think I love him already!”

Oscar struts across the room. “My mission
here is complete,” he says, as he reaches the top of the stairs. He
flashes me the peace sign. “Ocker, out.”

His smile beams, satisfied, as he tromps
down the stairs.

#

After whatever the kissing led to, between
Amy and Landon, by the time I come downstairs, Amy is sitting
primly at one end of the couch, as if she’s being punished. She
looks up when I step into the living room and frowns at me.

“
Do you know where Oscar
is?” I ask. Amy’s gaze makes goose bumps jump up on my arms. She
gives me her hard stare a moment before she shakes her
head.

“
Where did you come from?”
she asks.

“
Upstairs...”

“
No, I mean, where did you
meet him? Who are you?”

“
Our fathers knew each
other...”

“
How long?”

“
They grew up
togeth...”

“
I’ve known him for the last
two years and he’s never mentioned you,” she says. Her eyes narrow.
The guilt of what’s happened to Sophia overwhelms me, as her best
friend stares me down.

“
I didn’t mean for anything
to happen between Oscar and me,” I stammer.

“
Hard to believe,” Amy
snaps. “Especially since you’ve got him wrapped around your pinky.
He doesn’t even seem to notice there’s anyone else in the room
besides you.”

“
It’s not like that,” I say,
but I have to look away to lie, because I know how Oscar’s eyes
follow me. Amy doesn’t buy any of it.

“
It’s exactly like that,”
she says. “He didn’t even look at Sophia like that and he was so
totally into her—but you—he’s enchanted with you. It’s like you’re
a witch or something.”

It’s not the kind of thing you say ‘thank
you’ to. Amy’s face remains pinched as she drills me with her eyes.
We stay locked in our positions: she, staring bitterly from the
couch, and me, frozen on the braided rug until I hear a car door
slam. At first, I’m scared to pieces that Oscar might abandon me to
go to the store with Landon that the two of them might leave me
behind with this viper of a girl, but then something even worse
happens.

The front door swings open.

“
Ames! Where’s OC? Aren’t
you guys making dinner yet? One of you could’ve given me a ride up
here, you know!” Sophia says.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

SOPHIA FOLLOWS AMY’S UNWAVERING GAZE to me,
like a trail to dynamite. Her eyes travel up my legs slowly,
pausing at my waist, again at my boobs, assessing my hair and,
finally, resting on my face. I do the same to her. Sophia of the
Pretty Names should also be Sophia of the Pretty Faces. I expected
her to be pretty, but expecting is nothing like seeing her standing
in front me.

“
Who are you?” she
asks.

“
Hale,” I say weakly. Sophia
gives me a confused grin and looks back to Amy.

“
Josh’s girl?” she asks, but
Amy shakes her head. Sophia turns to observe me again, with a
curious, puppy-tilt of her head. “Who else did Oscar invite? Not
Rosen?”

“
No,” Amy says. The sunroom
door bangs, and we all turn to see Oscar and Landon.

“
Hey, Soph,” Oscar says.
Sophia doesn’t seem to hear the awkward casualness in his voice.
She lights up with a warm smile for him. “Didn’t expect to see you
up here.”

“
Bet your ass you didn’t,”
Amy grunts.

The excited light trickles out of
Sophia.

“
We were supposed to have
Landon’s birthday. I took off work,” she reasons softly. Oscar’s
eyes flash to me, and Sophia catches it. She glances at me, then
back to Oscar. “Who is she?”

“
This is Hale,” Oscar says.
“And you and I need to have a talk, Soph. In private.”

Landon crosses the room to the couch and
taps Amy on the shoulder. “We should go into town and get that
stuff we were talking about,” he says. Amy shrugs him off, but she
stands and grabs her purse off the corner of the inflato-bed.

“
You want to come with us,
Hale?” Landon asks. One sour glare from Amy reinforces how little I
want that to happen.

“
No thanks. I’m going to go
upstairs and read,” I say, even though I don’t have any books with
me. Sophia and Oscar remain like statues in the middle of the room
as Amy and Landon go out the front door. I escape up the stairs,
but Sophia’s voice chases after me.

“
Why is she going upstairs?
Who is that girl, Oscar?” she asks. I sprint up the steps and fling
myself onto the bed. I climb under the covers and hide from the
impending conversation, the way I once hid from monsters in my
closet.

“
Let’s go outside,” I hear
Oscar suggest.

“
You want me out?” Sophia
asks. There is a long pause, followed by their footsteps crossing
the floor. I hear the gritty scrape of the sunroom door and the
bang as it closes. I wait for the door to open again, for Sophia to
charge through and hustle up the steps to me, but after several
minutes, I creep out of the bed to the window. The overhang and
trees obscure anything right below, but I twist the handle on the
window and push it open. Their conversation washes in. I fold
myself up on the floor to listen.

“
I didn’t expect it to
happen like this,” Oscar says, “but I’m relieved it
did.”

“
Why do you keep saying
that?”

“
Come on, Soph. It’s over. I
know what you’ve been doing.”

“
Me? What am I doing? You’re
the one that snuck away and brought some girl up here. So what
exactly am
I
doing
to
you
?”

“
You’ve been cheating on me,
and I found out about it,” Oscar says flatly. “The guy tracked me
down to confront me.”

“
Who?” she
shouts.

“
I don’t know his name. He
didn’t give me one.”

“
What did he look like?
Because I have no idea what you’re talking about!” she shouts at
him. “You’re the one that disappeared, and I had to find out
from Amy
that you were up
here! And you’ve got a girl
up here with
you!”

The silence that follows makes my skin itch.
I lean my ear closer to the window. Sophia’s voice finally floats
up, weak and watery.

“
Oscar,” she breaks down in
hiccupping sobs, “Tell me what’s going on. I don’t get it.
Someone’s got to have me mixed up with someone else.”

“
The guy knew you by name,
Sophia. He knew my car. He knew my name. He
told
me that you two had been seeing
each other. He told me he’d been seeing you and he wanted me gone.”
Oscar says.

“
Don’t you know I would
never do that?” Sophia whispers through her sniffles. “None of this
is true. Why aren’t you getting that? Some weirdo says something
about me and you just automatically think it’s true? Why wouldn’t
you even bother to ask me?”

More silence. It drags out so long, I lean
my head on the window and the hinges squeak. I worry for several
seconds that Oscar and Sophia heard it down below, but then they
begin talking again.

“
Maybe you’re not lying”
Oscar’s voice sounds confused and distant.

“
Of course I’m not,” Sophia
says. “You know I love you. I’d never cheat on you. I don’t know
who that guy was, but it’s not true. It’s not.”