Meant to Be (21 page)

He didn’t fool us, something was going on. We
let it rest though until we were all comfortably situated in my
sitting room with bowls of ice cream.

“Okay, out with it. In case you forgot,
Krista and I can practically read the emotions of anyone, and we
can definitely tell when we’re being lied to,” Sam said.

Shawn looked at Mark, who shrugged his
shoulders. “We may as well tell them, they need to be on the
lookout anyway,” Mark said.

“We noticed on the way to the airport before
we left, that someone was following us. We tried to pull over a
couple of times to get a look at the driver, but every time we did,
the car would speed by us. Neither one of us got a good enough
look, but we could tell that it was a guy. It just doesn’t seem
like a good idea to be walking around a park at night,” Mark
explained.

“Who do you think it is?” Sam asked
intrigued.

“We don’t know, like I said, we couldn’t get
a good look at the driver,” Mark answered.

“Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination?” I
asked. “We were pretty stressed out after my mom freaked out on
us.”

“Maybe, I just think we should all be a
little more cautious for the next few days,” Mark answered.

“Hey, let’s change the subject. I don’t want
to ruin the good mood. Why don’t we play a game?” Shawn
suggested.

We agreed we didn’t want to ruin the mood,
just when things seemed to be normal again. We pushed it to the
side and decided to ignore it for at least the night.

I got up and turned on some music and got out
our monopoly game.

The mood began to lighten up again as Sam
kept us laughing at her usual antics. She took the game lightly and
thought it was funny every time she landed in jail. She was
generous with her money and kept giving it away. When one of us
would buy a property that was the same color as hers, she would
give us hers. Shawn kept telling her she had the game
backwards.

“You’re supposed to accumulate property not
give it away,” he would tell her every time she gave one away. She
laughed and told him that was the way she played the game.

We finally gave up on the game when Sam ran
out of assets and money. I put the game away, and we lounged around
chatting until my mom came up to tell us it was bedtime.

Sam and I grudgingly walked the guys down to
the porch and said our goodbyes; we weren’t looking forward to the
separation. I felt a little panicked that my emotional health would
regress again, once Mark wasn’t with me. Sensing my unease, he gave
me a searing kiss before he left.

“I will see you in the morning,” he said
quietly, not bothering to mention that we probably wouldn’t see
each other in our dreams tonight.

I didn’t try to hide my despair. I could
control the emotions, but I was still sad over my loss.

Now that Mark was unemployed, he and Shawn
were going to continue their research, trying to locate the others.
Shawn had given the Boardwalk his notice; we all felt for the time
being that our time should be dedicated to the search. Mark told
Shawn he could crash at his house and save money that way. They
planned on spending part of their morning watching the Boardwalk on
the off chance that Lynn and Robert were there.

Sam and I talked long into the night. Not
about the disturbing stuff, like the strange guy that might be
stalking us, or the twist my dreams had taken, but about the love
stuff. We joked about my talk with my mom, and Sam died laughing as
I told her the trick I played on Mark. Sam then filled me in on how
her walk went with Shawn.

“We talked about marriage,” she
confessed.

“You did?” I asked surprised.

“After the way the separation made us feel,
we decided we never want to go through that ever again. He didn’t
officially ask. We just talked about it. You know how it is, we
made comments like, ‘when we get married we’ll do such and such
thing.’ Don’t you and Mark do the same thing?” Sam asked.

I thought about it. I did assume that we
would eventually get married; we just hadn’t talked about it yet.
It all seemed so sudden. It was funny to think about how fast
things were moving. A week and half ago, I had no friends and no
boyfriend. Now, I had the very best friend, and I had thoughts of
marriage swirling around in my head. I shook my head at the irony
of it all.

True to his word, Mark and Shawn were on my
doorstop thirty minutes before school started the next morning. I
threw myself in Mark’s arms the instant I swung the front door
open. I felt no shame for my exuberant reaction when he crushed me
to him. The loss of our dreams seemed more pungent this morning. We
gave no notice when Sam and Shawn gave us privacy and headed for
Mark’s Navigator.

“I missed you so much,” I murmured into his
neck.

“Me too,” he said, leaning in to kiss my lips
one last time. I wound my arms around his neck and deepened the
kiss. I couldn’t tell if the ache that filled me was a normal
teenager hormonal ache, or just another side effect of the loss of
our dreams.

“I better drive you to school before you’re
late,” he said, ending the kiss.

I sighed in disappointment.

I yelled good-bye to my mom who was already
in her art studio.

The guys filled us in on their plans for the
day on the short drive to school. The plan was for them to hang out
at the Boardwalk for a while on the off chance that Lynn and Robert
showed up. We knew it was unlikely, but we hoped they would run
into the other two. After that, they planned on spending the rest
of their time on the internet searching for clues on the last
two.

Sam and I were envious that the guys would be
doing something productive while we were stuck at school. We were
tempted to skip, but knew my mom would freak if she found out. We
were going to have to toe the line for awhile if we hoped to stay
out of trouble.

The guys promised to be back as soon as
school let out and then we would all head back to the Boardwalk
before it turned dark and continue our mock stakeout.

Sam and I were both quick to notice that once
again we seemed to be the center of attention. Obviously, our pizza
appearance the night before had given the gossip hounds new meat to
gnaw on.

“Looks like you two are quite popular this
morning,” Shawn commented wryly.

“I think you should give them something to
talk about,” Sam said.

“You mean like this?” I said, suddenly
feeling mischievous; I looped my arms around Mark’s neck and
planted my lips on his.

I meant it as a joke, but once I started
kissing him, my lighthearted mood disappeared and I was lost in the
kiss. After twelve hours apart, my body craved his touch. Finally,
just a little breathless, I broke the kiss.

“That’ll show them,” Shawn said, chuckling.
Sam joined in.

“I guess I went a little overboard,” I said,
just a little bit embarrassed. God, when had I become so brave?

“It was just right,” Mark said, dropping
another light kiss on my lips.

Shawn and Sam said their goodbyes. They tried
to outdo our kiss, but Sam was attacked by a case of the giggles,
which ruined the effect.

Sam and I were still giggling when we headed
up the stairs toward our homeroom class. We found our seats and
were chatting away as the room began to fill. We both felt
lighthearted and were in high spirits.

“Are you feeling better?” a voice asked from
behind us.

Looking up, we were surprised to see that one
of the gossip hounds was actually talking to us.

“Much,” Sam replied, turning away thinking
the conversation was over.

“That was a cute guy you were with last
night. Have you known him long?” she asked nonchalantly.

Of course, she was only talking to us because
she had seen us out with the guys. She was trying to fish for
information that she could pass along to all her cronies. They were
all the same; they were only interested in getting all the
dirt.

“My whole life,” Sam quipped, dismissing the
girl by turning back to me.

She stood behind us for a few seconds more. I
could tell she was shocked that we hadn’t bowed down because she
had shown us some attention. She walked off in a huff. Sam let out
a snort of laughter as we watched her retreating back.

It was much the same the whole day. Everyone
was suddenly interested in Sam and me. More people talked to me
that day than all the other days I had been at school put together.
The only one who had nothing to say was Matt, though I caught him
watching me throughout the day.

The attention of all the other students got
old fast and I regretted going to the pizza place the night before.
For someone who preferred to fade in the background, I felt like I
had a spotlight pointed at me the entire day.

Finally, the last bell of the day rang; Sam
and I exchanged a look of relief. The stares had sapped all the
cheerfulness out of Sam’s normal demeanor.

“I feel like I’ve been in a fish bowl the
whole day,” she said, sounding annoyed.

I agreed with her. I hoped that this new
popularity would wear off soon. I didn’t know how many more days I
could put up with all the attention and mocking glances.

Mark and Shawn were waiting for us on the
front stairs. Their day hadn’t gone the way they had planned
either. They had lost track of time at the Boardwalk.

“So, we didn’t get any research done,” Mark
explained to us apologetically.

“How did you lose track of time at the
Boardwalk?” I asked curious.

They looked sheepish. “Um, you lose track of
time when you go into the arcade and blow through fifty bucks worth
of change,” Shawn muttered.

“Oh, so you get to go play games all day
while were in school?” Sam said in mock anger.

They stumbled over themselves to come up with
excuses. “We would have left sooner, but Shawn kept challenging me
to rematches of Galaga,” Mark said, trying to defend himself.

We burst out laughing. “I was just kidding,”
Sam said. “We don’t expect you to be working all the time.”

“What a way to sell me out though,” Shawn
said, throwing a fake punch at Mark.

So the day wasn’t a complete loss, we decided
to scrap our plans of heading back to the Boardwalk and go to my
house instead to surf the web.

My mom came out of her studio as we all
stampeded into the house.

“Is it okay if we do some research up in my
sitting room?” I asked.

“Sure, I’m finishing up my project. Why don’t
you guy’s grab a snack and I’ll grab a couple buckets of chicken
later for dinner. I’m assuming all of you want to eat dinner
together?”

“That would be great,” we all seemed to say
in unison.

“But I can go get it,” Mark volunteered.

“That’s okay. I have a couple of other
errands to run anyway,” she said as she headed back to her
studio.

Mark and I grabbed chips and salsa while Sam
and Shawn grabbed sodas for everyone. I snagged a handful of
wrapped chocolates out of the dish on the counter on our way out of
the kitchen. Mark smiled when he saw me pocketing the candies.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t get my
candy fix at school anymore. I have to take the chocolate where I
can get it,” I said.

We spent the afternoon searching the web. It
was tedious work to go from one site to the next. Without knowing
where the last two kids had been abandoned, it was like looking for
a needle in a haystack.

The afternoon slipped away and soon my mom
called up the stairs to tell us that she was on her way out. We
continued to search for a while longer and I soon got sick of
following endless rabbit trails that led to nothing. I switched off
the computer feeling a little frustrated.

I stood up and turned on the stereo. I
cranked the volume up when I heard the new Katy Perry song
playing.

Mark pulled me to my feet and took me in his
arms. You couldn’t call what we were doing dancing, but more like
swaying to the music. Whatever it was, it was enough for me. I
loved every moment that I was in his arms. I knew that it was
important that we find the others, but at times I wished we could
be like any other ordinary couple. I rested my head on his shoulder
as we danced to the music.

I forgot and lost all meaning of time until
my phone rang.

I looked at my watch as I searched for the
phone. My mom had been gone a long time, where was she? I found the
phone under the Lazy Boy. It stopped ringing by the time I reached
it. I checked the caller ID and saw a number I didn’t recognize. I
punched the number in and waited for someone to pick up on the
other end.

“Memorial Hospital how can I direct your
call?” A chipper voice asked.

I felt a sinking feeling “I’m not sure, I
just missed a call from this number.”

“Do you know anyone who may be at the
hospital?” the voice asked.

Had something happened to my mom? “Um, can
you look up the name Cindy Miller?” I asked as my heart sank.

“Hold please.”

Mark came up behind me and set his hands on
my shoulders. I looked up to see Mark and Shawn standing by me
while Sam turned the music down.

The voice came back on the line. “A Cindy
Miller was just brought in an hour ago. She’s in the ICU.”

I thanked her and hung up the phone.

Before the emotions could attack me and
incapacitate me, I held my breath and smothered them out before
they could even start. I was not going to get sick when my mom
needed me.

“My mom was in an accident, we need to get to
the hospital now.”

Sam grabbed our purses and we all barreled
down the stairs.

Mark reached for my hand as he drove. I was
grateful for his touch, the breathing technique helped, but his
touch kept my emotions from getting out of control. The drive was
silent as the others sensed that I needed the time to think.