Ice (23 page)

I frowned at her again, but I didn’t relax my face this time. “Please stop calling him that. It’s embarrassing.”

She raised her eyebrows at me and said, “I couldn’t help but notice those big arms of his. You had him for over a year in California and you never made a move?”

“He had a girlfriend,” I said as I quickly began drying my hands so I could leave. I didn’t want to talk about that time in my life anymore, or Marcus, for that matter. Fortunately, I had been spared at lunch, because Molly was too busy drilling Marcus. Marcus had happily humored her, answering every question. He was used to that kind of attention, since he was one of the popular kids back at our previous high school.

When the last bell rang, I let out a heavy sigh, glad the day was coming to an end. When we walked out to the school bus, Marcus was in awe that it was still snowing on top of the mounds of snow we already had. We piled into the bus and sat near the back, me by the window and Marcus next to me, while Molly took a seat across the aisle from us. The surrounding chatter was loud and the engine even noisier.

I looked out my window at the grocery store across the street and saw Kavick walking through the parking lot with a slender girl who only came up to his shoulders. I squinted my eyes in an effort to make out who the other person was across the distance, but I had to keep wiping the fog on the glass that would come up from my breath. Upon closer inspection, I recognized the girl. It was Anana. The big yellow eyes tipped me off. Her grayish-tan hair hung down out of the Laplander hat she was wearing, only barely brushing the shoulders of her gray coat. She was talking to Kavick, not paying the school bus any attention, but I saw Kavick look my way. And then she looked over, too. She said something again and he nodded. And then she waved at me. I was so surprised to see it that it took me a moment to wave back. Kavick waved and I returned it, too. It was strange how a very awkward situation could turn to friendly and casual so quickly. I hadn’t experienced that much in my time. I had been afraid Kavick was going to avoid me, or that Anana would act rude and over-protective like Marcia had.

Marcus gave me a curious look and leaned forward in his seat so he could see out the window.

“Who are you…?” And then he saw Kavick. “That’s your friend from last night, isn’t it? What was his name again?”

“Kevin,” I said carefully, since it was hard to remember sometimes that not everyone knew him as “Kavick”. That got Molly’s attention.

“Like Kevin Skarling?” she asked with more than just an innocent air of curiosity, but downright nosiness.

I leaned around Marcus’s big form to get a better look at Molly. She was shoving up her glasses in anticipation of juicy gossip. “Yeah.”

“I didn’t know you were friends with him!” she said as if it were something I should have told her.

I blinked, surprised by her reaction, and then nodded. “Yeah,”
I said again. It was all I could think to say since I didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t about to say I couldn’t tell her because of a secret, or that it was none of her business.

“Is that why you were asking me about him before?” she asked loudly. I’m surprised people weren’t turning their heads at her. Marcus was certainly listening, though.

I couldn’t help but give Marcus a nervous glance as I responded to Molly’s questioning. “Back then I had just seen him around town here and there, you know. It was later we became friends.”

“How did that happen?” She wasted no time asking.
God, Molly was persistent. The military should hire her to interrogate war prisoners.

“Uh,” I faltered, clearly uncomfortable from the Twenty Questions session. “Molly, why is it so important?”

She widened her eyes at me like it was obvious. “Because I didn’t know you were friends with the cute outcast!”

I nearly glared at her for that comment, because one would think her reasoning was because she was something like a friend to him in the past, just like I was something like a friend to her now. But no, it was always about the shallow things with her.

“Well, you didn’t know I was friends with Marcus, either, so what’s the big deal?”

Then Marcus looked at me. “I would like to know how you met him.”

His words were innocent enough, but I couldn’t help but look at him surprised. I didn’t think it would matter so much to him.

I quickly got my thoughts together and recovered, replying nonchalantly, “We met at the diner, or something. There isn’t any big story behind it, Molly.”

“I didn’t know Kevin likes to hang out there,” she said, intrigued, like she was storing it in her mental database that had information on everyone in town.

“Look how small this town is. It’s about the only place to hang out.”

Molly grinned at me. “Touché, Birch.”

Luckily, the ride home wasn’t filled with more questions about Kavick, since Marcus started asking questions about Riverton.
I worried what would happen once we got home. Marcus and I would be alone in the house for nearly three hours until Justin got home.

T
he walk from the stop sign to the house was filled with idle chit-chat about teachers and students, though. Marcus didn’t seem to dislike the school.

“I don’t think I’ll have any problems getting used to it…” he said with an optimistic tone.

“That’s good,” I said automatically, watching my boots slowly walk across the thick sheet of powdery ice.

“…S
ince
you’re
there.”

I nearly stopped walking at those words. I gave him that surprised look again like I had on the bus. He just smiled down at me.

“Thanks.” I forced a small smile. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

I thought his smile faltered a little at that response. What was he expecting, for me to kiss him? I looked away, unable to keep eye-contact with him anymore. It was too hard to lie to his face. “Having you there makes it easier for me, too.”

Well, once we cleared the air about our feelings I was sure my statement would be true, but right now his presence was just stressing me out.

I glanced up at him from the corner of my eye for a second and saw that his smile had fixed itself at those words. I was glad my lie had the desired effect
. That’s when I noticed Justin’s truck.

“Why is Justin home so early?” I asked out loud. I was relieved that I wouldn’t be alone with Marcus for so long, but I was baffled by it. Never had he been home so early before.

Marcus didn’t find it strange at all. He just shrugged. “Could be he was sent home, or maybe he just wants to spend more time with you.”

The only reason I could think of them sending him home early was if he had been hurt on the job. I immediately picked up my pace. Before I knew it, I was running to the house. Marcus was calling after me to slow down, fearing I would fall like he had earlier. I managed to keep from falling, sliding to a halt at the front porch. When I opened the door, Big John leaped at me, wagging his tail and bouncing his front paws off of my legs. I ruffled his fur and looked around. Justin came walking out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. “Welcome home. How was school?”

Justin seemed fine and was in his usual pleasant mood. I saw his eyes glance around me and I turned around, wondering if Marcus was behind me. He wasn’t there, so I stepped into the doorway and bent around to look down the driveway. “Marcus?”

He was only a couple
of feet away, walking very slowly, and his face was unusually straight and devoid of emotion.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’ll give you one guess.”

“You slipped again?” I asked in a little voice, afraid I had discovered the answer.

“Yup.”

“I’m sorry,” I said apologetically in the same small voice. I held the door open for him with one hand and extended my other to help him up the steps. He was holding his hip as he walked.

He took my hand. “How the hell did you manage to run across the ice? I take two steps after you and I’m already falling on my ass. I swear, you’ve got to have super powers.”

“I guess I’m just experienced?” I said unsure. I was leaning more towards dumb luck.

Marcus froze as soon as he came through the door, like he had been caught red-handed. I turned around and realized what Marcus had been caught doing: cursing. Suddenly, I noticed the wooden cross on the wall near the head of a deer that was mounted and the Bible on the end table near Justin’s recliner. Justin was crossing his arms.

I silently closed the front door while Marcus gave Justin his biggest (and most nervous) smile. “Hi there, Mr. Justin!” he said with forced excitement.

“Hello, Marcus,” Justin said with a tip of his head.

An awkward silence followed.

“I swear I’m a Christian,” Marcus blurted out, dropping his act. “I’m a good Catholic boy, I swear. I was just uh, uh…”

Justin grinned, losing his act, as well, it appeared. I felt my face fall, never seeing Justin pull a joke before. He patted Marcus on the shoulder
and I could see the relief flood Marcus’ face.

“Don’t worry, kid
. It ain’t anything I hadn’t said before. Feel free to get somethin’ from the kitchen to hold you over ‘til dinner.”

“Man…t
hanks, Mr. Justin,” Marcus said, still in stunned disbelief.

“You can call me Justin.”

“Thanks, Justin,” Marcus said as he slowly did his funny walk into the kitchen, holding his hip again.

Justin took a step toward me then and I took off my scarf. This was my chance to find out what was going on. “Why are you home so early?”

He lowered his head and took a step closer toward me. “Christine,” he said in a low voice. “I know you’re a good, smart girl and I trust you, and I know I said the other night that you’re responsible, but I don’t know him, so I can’t trust him. Trust has to be earned, you know?”

Suddenly, it all made sense. He really was acting like a parent now. I didn’t blame him one bit, but I had to stand up for Marcus, and since I did know him I had to let Justin know how he was. “Don’t worry. Marcus wouldn’t do anything irresponsible
, or inappropriate,” I whispered. I immediately corrected myself in my head, thinking,
well, not anything
too
irresponsible.

“I do worry. Most boys your age aren’t as smart and responsible as you, and that’s something I do know. I’ll talk to him about gettin’ a hotel room over dinner.”

I nodded, knowing that there was no sense in saying anything else; Justin was not budging on the subject. And, I was glad that he was seeing to it that Marcus would be staying elsewhere sooner rather than later. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so stressed. Before Justin could turn away, I smiled. “Thank you.”

It was too hard for someone as awkward with words as I am to say thank you for being so concerned, for being a responsible guardian who was looking out for their teenage niece. I wanted Justin to know that even though I didn’t think Marcus would be a threat like that, I appreciated what he was doing.

Justin looked like he wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from me. He looked completely caught off guard. “Thank you for what?”

I gulped
, because now I had to say the words that were hard to form outside of my own head. I spoke in a choppy, awkward manner with lots of shifting glances. “For just caring.” I topped it off with another smile to try to make it a little more casual.

His smile
d and wrapped his arm around my shoulders briefly. “No problem, kid.”

We walked into the kitchen to see Marcus’ mouth full of bread. He was ripping off pieces of crust and holding it above Big John in an attempt to make him do a trick. When he saw us walking in, he suddenly stopped playing with him and straightened up his posture. Poor Marcus was still terrified of Justin. He quickly swallowed his food and said in a low voice, “Uh, Justin, would you like some help with dinner?”

“That’s mighty nice of ya, Marcus, but I can handle it if you would like to spend some time with Christine. Maybe you two could help each other with your homework, or somethin’.”

“Sure. Thank you, Justin,” Marcus said in a stiff way that reminded me a lot of myself just seconds earlier. I couldn’t help but find his behavior hilarious, trying to hide the grin on my face with my hand. Marcus walked out of the kitchen and elbowed me on his way out, widening his eyes at me.

“It’s not funny,” Marcus muttered to me as we walked through the living room.

We went into my room and
spread our homework out across my bed, deciding not to try to share my little desk between the two of us. I was sure to leave my door open all the way, keeping in mind how Justin had said that trust needed to be earned. Honestly, it wasn’t just for Justin’s sake—it made me feel like Marcus would be less likely to have a heart-to-heart if Justin might hear. Like how Marcus was scared of Justin, I was scared of talking to Marcus about my feelings…whatever they might be.

I sat near the head of the bed and Marcus sat at the foot, each of us with a knee resting next to our books to serve as a steady surface for our notes. I was surprised by how easy it was to be with him after the tense day at school. It was just like old times. It felt strange that
Charlotte wasn’t there to chime in with her two cents on every topic we covered. Our on and off chit-chat was sometimes about our homework and rather helpful, other times it was probably more detrimental due to Marcus’ ADD attitude and ability to make a joke out of anything. We laughed at times, trying to keep from being too loud where Justin could hear us. It reminded me a little of Kavick’s playful personality.