Landlocked (A water witch novel) (8 page)

A hiss reached my ears. “Maribel!”

I groaned. Clarissa really was annoying.

“Come on, before she has a heart attack.”

“Or before someone punches her in the face for interrupting such an important film,” he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine as I stifled a laugh.

We climbed up the steps in the dark and I tripped a few times because the owner of the old theater hadn’t decided to splurge on step lights yet. Jaron seemed unperturbed by the dark and patiently waited for me. The movie was just starting. I awkwardly shimmied down the aisle
, excusing myself. After a moment, I realized Jaron had stopped. He was a few yards behind me hovering above someone. I squinted and realized who he was standing over. Brad and two of his friends were there.

I hurried back down to him. Jaron’s eyes looked distant. “Come on, Jaron. They aren’t bothering anyone.” He didn’t move. “He already said sorry.”

Jaron nodded and walked forward with me. I noticed that everyone in the theater had their eyes on us instead of the screen. If I thought I was embarrassed before, I was one hundred times more so now. As we walked away, I heard Brad’s hushed voice.

“Jeez, that’s the new guy, right?”

“He’s huge.”

“He’s not that huge…
But it looks like Maribel’s finally got a boyfriend.”

I hoped that Jaron hadn't heard that last part, but my instinct told me that if I could hear it, he could too. I took my seat next to Clarissa, my overly nosey and straight shooting friend. Nothing in our long history made me think that she would leave it alone, but I was hoping against all reason that she wouldn’t bring up the little outburst that had peaked the entire audience’s curiosity. I was once again reminded never to hope against reason.

“What happened? Seemed like Jaron was about to box a dude,” she said in an all too audible whisper.

Jaron took a seat next to me, still appearing irritated. I studied his face in the soft changing light reflecting off of the screen. His masculine features cut through the light like knives leaving shadows lying on his skin. Under his high cheekbones dark triangles stretched out to his jaw, and a little black diamond nestled into the deep cleft in his chin. Though his beauty was undeniable, he looked worn, like he'd been through a lifetime’s worth of work and hardships. His mouth seemed comfortable being tugged down at the corners, which surprised me since in the short time that I'd had with him, his plump lips had always been pulled up into a winning smile.

“Well since Maribel seems to have temporarily gone mute… what happened back there, Jaron?” she asked. I had never seen her pay that close attention to anything; she seemed almost as protective as Aunt Sylvia would have been if she had been there.

His normal happy-go-lucky demeanor was back when he turned to her. For an instant I pictured him slipping on a mask—but shook out the thought, not sure why it had run across my mind in the first place.

“Just a boy being stupid, makes me feel like I need to apologize for my gender,” he said, unable to put humor in his voice—though I knew that’s what he had intended.

“What do you mean…?” Her eyes lit up in realization. “Did one of them touch you?” she demanded, no longer attempting to quiet her voice.

“No, no, no, no,” I said quickly, trying to calm my best friend/verbal volcano before she could spew molten lava on anyone. “Yesterday at the art fair, Brad kind of grabbed me… But Jaron stopped him before he got out of hand.” Clarissa’s face turned from red to purple and I guessed I'd said the wrong thing. At that moment, I really wished the movie was actually not a total bomb so people would shush her. But it must have been pretty bad, because if anything, the interested faces around us looked like they wanted her to speak up so even the cheap seats could hear her.

She stood swiftly from her chair and pointed t
o where we had stopped. “You think it’s okay to touch a girl whenever you want, you think my friend here is some kind of possession of yours?” She started walking down the aisle, shaking off my hands as I attempted to hold her back. She stopped in front of the group of boys, who thought they could somehow evolve into turtles and pull their heads into their chest cavities, or so it appeared. “Here I am, Brad,” she bellowed. “Go ahead and touch me, see what happens.”

I was shocked and embarrassed beyond belief, but not too shocked too notice the real smile dancing across Jaron’s face, or too embarrassed to see the amount of love that Clarissa’s over-the-top display showed. In the middle of her colorful tirade, I was glad that we weren’t at a children’s movie, knowing that their presence wouldn’t have had an effect on the number of expletives she used. At last all three boys got up and headed for the exit, with Clarissa booing and hissing at them as if they were old timey villains.

She plopped back into her old squeaky chair. “What did I miss?”

“Only the most dramatic performance ever,” Jaron said theatrically. “Yours, that is. You didn’t miss anything in the movie. It’s pretty awful… in fact I think we need candy to get through it.” He paused, looking toward the exit. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” I said, smiling at him. I was pretty impressed that he could handle the full force of Clarissa in stride. Most guys couldn’t.

“What do you want?” he asked then added, “And no this isn’t a date if I buy you candy. That’s what totally platonic friends do, right?”

“Junior Mints, just as long as it’s strictly platonic,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

“I’ll have some Dots, thanks for asking,” Clarissa interjected.

Jaron walked out of the theater and I nestled into the chair to try and enjoy the movie. After five minutes I picked up on the fact that the writers must have been shooting for a merger of
Harry and the Hendersons
and
Young Frankenstien
, two of my favorite movies. Unfortunately their goal fell terribly short and the movie consisted mostly of poorly executed physical comedy. It would have been a total bust if I had come by myself, but with Clarissa bouncing in her chair and snorting out laughter, it was still a fun evening. I looked toward the entrance, expecting Jaron to be walking in any second, but he wasn’t there.

“Maribel! You missed it—” Clarissa laughed. “He just put a fork in a power outlet!” She bent over in laughter and slapped her leg. “Oh, Frankenstiens…”

I glanced at the screen in time to see smoke coming out of the monster’s ears. “Yes, hilarious. Hey, don’t you think Jaron should be back by now?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it. It hasn’t been that long. Just watch the show. You’re missing all of the good stuff.”

I tried to get into the movie so that I didn’t offend her, but the longer Jaron took the more nervous I got. The movie was more than half over; he had been gone at least thirty minutes, maybe more. Would those three boys have tried to jump him? I didn’t think so; they looked scared and put in their place, not ready to fight. But, what else could make him take that long?

I stood up swiftly. “I’m going to go and check on Jaron. I’ll be right back.”

Clarissa grabbed the popcorn bucket from my hands. “Okay, if he bailed, bring me back some Dots,” she said, her eyes never leaving the screen.

“Bailed?” I asked under my breath.

“I’m sure he’s out there. Maybe there’s a long line.”

I shrugged, hoping that was the case, but I knew in my gut that even if every person in the theater had decided to get refreshments at the same time, it still wouldn’t have taken that long. I walked down the aisle, and when I made it to the stairs, it seemed darker than it should have been. I hurried out the door, wanting to get into the light of the hallway. I went straight to the popcorn stand. The sweet girl who had given me my bucket was still running it. There was no line, and no Jaron.

“Hey, have you seen the guy I came in with?” I asked her, attempting to keep my voice nonchalant.

She put on a frown that was all ‘poor girl’. “Yeah, he was getting some candy when some guy met up with him.” She looked over her shoulder. “I couldn’t pick up all that they were saying, but from what I did hear, I think that he left with his friend to go on a road trip or something.”

I tried to shrug off the pitying look she was giving me, like I was some weepy woman left at the altar. It wasn’t a big deal if Jaron had bailed to go see someone else. Who was he to me, anyway? I knew it shouldn’t matter. He was a stranger. So why did it feel like someone had knocked the wind out of me?

“Are you okay?” the girl asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stay all the way through the movie,” I lied. “I just wanted to come get our candy.” I grabbed the box of Dots and Junior Mints and put my money down, turning to go without waiting for change. I went back to the dark theater and sat next to Clarissa.

“Where’s Jaron?” she whispered.

For some reason, my first instinct was to lie to her and say I'd met him in the lobby and he'd told me he had to go. But I wasn’t normally a dishonest person, and Clarissa was the one non-family member I could be one hundred percent honest with. I had never been rejected and was embarrassed that she was here to experience it with me. “He’s gone. An employee said he left with some dude to go on a road trip.” I felt her tense up.

“What? Well, maybe it was something he forgot about and had to leave right away,” she reassured.

“Well even if it that’s the case, how am I supposed to read into the fact that he just totally ditched me without saying anything at all?” I asked, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. Even if Jaron had forgotten about a prior engagement, him leaving like he had could only mean one thing… he didn’t care about me at all. When she didn’t answer, I said, “I think I’m just going to go home—”

“Mari, don’t… Let me come with you,” she said.

“No, it’s okay. I’d just feel more pathetic. Here’s your candy,” I said, handing her the box of Dots. “I’ll see you Monday.” And him. I shook the thought out of my mind. I couldn’t believe he'd left without a word.

“All right, girl, just don’t let it get you depressed. The rest of us have had a crush shoot us down a dozen times. You can have any boy you want,” she said.

“Apparently not…” I paused. A lump formed in my throat. “Sorry to bolt, you can give me a rundown of the rest of the movie on Monday.”

I left, dejected
and tried to ignore the beautiful piece of art hanging on the side of the theater, but it was hard. I stopped to put on the jacket I’d been carrying. I wasn’t really that cold, but I was shivering for some reason. While I got my arms into the holes, I studied the large ornate sea sculpture. It spoke of everything I had within me. I'd thought he was going to be someone special, not the jerk he turned out to be. A tear cut a wet path down my cheek, and I wiped it from my face before briskly walking away. Was this what Clarissa and other girls went through all of the time?

It was dark outside, but Winnfield was always well lit until around midnight. Not many businesses were open later than that; we weren’t much of a party town. So I didn’t usually feel uncomfortable walking the streets by myself, but tonight I was. I didn’t know what was causing it, my seeding guilt for leaving Clarissa or just the terrible evening, but I kept glancing over my shoulder every couple of seconds with the distinct feeling that something wasn’t right. Just before I turned down my street, I gazed over my shoulder quickly and saw a long silhouette slide into the shadows on the opposite side of the street. The movement reminded me of the man in the theater who had been watching me and Jaron. Could it be the same guy? Was he sneaking around, or was it just my imagination?

I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and hit speed dial one and put it to my ear, not turning my back on where I had seen the man.

After a few rings, Dylan picked up. “Hello?”

I took a breath and collect my thoughts. “Hi, Dylan, could you meet me at the end of the street?” I heard some scuffling and then Aunt Sylvia’s voice.

“What’s the matter, Maribel, are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Where did Dylan go?”

“He’s running out to meet you.”

“Oh Jeez, you mean literally running, don’t you?” I asked, sorry I'd called.

“Yes, of course. Just stay on the phone with me until he's there, all right?” she asked.

I heard Dylan’s feet hitting the pavement behind me and glanced down the road. It was a relief, but out of my peripheral vision, I saw something flash out of the shadows. I turned my attention back to the other side of the street, but no one was there that I could see.