Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series (41 page)

   Devia picks up the magazines, “Don't be ashamed of who you are, Mother. Enjoy who you are. Embrace what you enjoy. And to hell with the rest of them. They’ll probably end up there anyway.”

   The sales rep notices Julianna's periodic glancing to the magazines within her hands.

   “Did we get everything?”, Devia intuitively questions.

   “Can I see that one again?”, Julianna points.

   “Sure.”

   Devia patiently watches as Julianna thumbs through the pages. The girl stops on the desired page and points.

   “Is there any way to change her hair to like mine?”, Julianna shows a pair of jean shorts to Devia having a she-devil on their rear.

   “And maybe her eyes, too?”, Devia questions.

   “Can you do that?”, Julianna answers with excitement.

   “Hold on,” Devia instructs with a knowing smile. She turns and walks over to her locker. Julianna observes the woman reaching into her purse to retrieve her smartphone. Devia walks back over to the table, flips the magazine to the inside front cover, and dials the customer service number.

   “Yes. I need to speak with Jim Travers please,” Devia explains to the female operator at the other end of the line, “Tell him it's Devia Stratton.”

   “Thank you,” she answers. A few moments later, she speaks again.

   “Hello, Jim. It's Devia. Listen, I've got a beautiful young woman here who needs your help,” Devia explains. She pauses to hear the man's greeting and then continues.

   “Yes. On page twenty-two of your last issue you have these adorable jean shorts with a girl devil on their backside. Could you do me a favor and see if the manufacturer will embroider her with black hair to her waistline. She, also, needs red hair where her side bangs are and green eyes. No cartoon eyes either. We need them to pop.”

   Devia listens while the man gives her his response.

   “Uh-huh. I see,” Devia takes her turn with a response, “So shall I just go ahead and pull all of my other accounts as well?”

   A few seconds later, Devia winks at Julianna.

   “I do appreciate it, Jim,” the woman lightens her tone as though she were speaking to a dear friend, “Thanks for your help.”

   Devia abruptly ends the call, places the phone back into her purse, and returns to the table.

   “Done,” Devia grins triumphantly.

   “How'd you do that? Thank you so much.”

   “You are very welcome, Mother. As I said, if you can dream it up, I can get it.”

   Julianna shifts uncomfortably within her chair as the woman looks at her with those star struck eyes once more. She doesn't want to disrespect the woman, but she can't stand to be viewed as someone's mother.

   “Can you please call me Julianna?”

   Devia bows her head reverently, “Yes of course.” When she looks up again, her expression causes Julianna to feel like she just slapped the woman across the face.

   Julianna stands up apologetically, “I understand how long you've been waiting for the Mother. It's probably been a very long time. But my friends will always call me Julianna. And I consider you a friend.”

   “Thank you, Julianna,” Devia says while shaking the offered hand from the girl.

   “You're welcome,” Julianna releases the woman's right hand and looks towards the curtain.

   “I've had gram's car out for quite a while.”

   “Yes of course. Don't let me keep you. Everything will be shipped to Martha's house in care of you. Enjoy the rest of your morning.”

   “Thank you, Devia. You, too.”

    Julianna heads out of the department store and takes a detour by the food court. She buys a burger, some fires, and a soda. She finds an open table, seats herself, pulls back her long hair, and ties it off with a thick light-green stretchy ponytail holder.

   Julianna glances around with guilty eyes as it occurs to her that she must look like a pig getting ready to feed from the trough. Her green eyes freeze in horror when she sees a hot guy smiling at her. She returns a partial smile before staring down to her bacon double cheeseburger, cheese-covered french fries, and Mountain Dew.

  
Good job, moron. You look like the Mother of pigs.

   Julianna swallows her pride, wraps her hands around the cheeseburger after dousing it with ketchup, and takes a large bite to show the boy she's not one bit nervous. Her overcompensation causes ketchup to drip onto her left hand while the grease dribbles down to her chin. She sits the burger down, grabs a handful of napkins, wipes her fingers and mouth clean, and then throws the messy wad of paper onto her tray. 

   “Hello,” a male's voice speaks.

   Julianna's breath stops in mid-inhale. Her heart races as though it is a top fuel dragster receiving the green light. Her hands immediately begin sweating.

   “Hi,” she greets while her eyes lift upward. Her voice is calm, but everything else about her is screaming to get up and run out of the mall.

   “You mind?”, the gorgeous guy asks confidently. His right hand is held out towards a table chair positioned directly across from her.

  
Oh come on. Really?

   “Sure,” Julianna responds with her faked confidence.

   The guy gently sits his tray upon the table. Julianna observes his shaky hand as he removes it away from the tray. Either he's as nervous as she is, or the guy has the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

   “I'm Matt,” the guy offers his right hand.

   “Julianna,” she greets while placing her hand into his. She shakes his hand firmly before releasing it.

   “Nice to meet you,” Matt says while seating himself.

   “Same here,” Julianna's lack of surety attempts to bleed into her voice's tone.

   “Those are really good,” Matt points to the largely bitten bacon double cheeseburger with sour dough bread.

   “I know,” Julianna's tension eases minutely, “It's my second time trying it.” She forces a nervous smile, butt Matt can see the embarrassment from his intrusion written all over her face.

   “I'm sorry,” Matt apologizes, “If I'm interrupting your lunch, I can...”

   “No,” Julianna interjects her opinion, “You're fine.”

   Matt smiles. Julianna smiles back, but the few silent seconds quickly passing between them feels really awkward. She is silently relieved when the guy picks up his bacon
triple
cheeseburger.

   “You have to do it like this,” Matt's thin lips instruct. He takes an enormous bite. Both of his hands become spotted with the barbeque sauce he soaked his burger in.

   Julianna laughs when Matt pulls the burger away from his mouth. Barbeque sauce covers his nose, mouth, and chin. A bacon strip hangs between his tightly closed lips. Matt's smile reveals the bacon strip wasn't part of his plan. He reaches up and takes a hold of the bacon as his teeth snaps through it. The rest is left inside of his chipmunk-stuffed cheeks. His struggle to masticate the cow within his mouth inspires Julianna to pick up her sandwich. Her eyebrows lift playfully.

   “Like this?”, she questions before opening her mouth wide. She takes a massive bite and drops the half-eaten burger back onto her tray. Ketchup covers her nose, chin, and lips.  But instead of bacon hanging from her mouth, an estranged pickle slice must be fingered into her stuffed mouth. She, however, has upped the blond hair boy by one. Ketchup spots the front of her cheeks.

   Matt swallows. He chuckles while observing the humorous sight.

   “Yeah,” Matt agrees, “Just like that.” He patiently waits for Julianna to take her turn with the struggling moment of chewing. After she swallows and takes a drink of her soda, Matt makes his challenge.

   “If I can do better than you,” Matt proposes, “Then you have to go out on a date with me. But if not, then I'll leave and you'll never see me again.”

   “Do I get to try again?”, Julianna questions the fairness in his proposition.

   Matt nods, “Until your burger's gone.”

   “You're on,” Julianna accepts the offer, “But no crying when I beat you.”

   Matt smiles. He takes his next bite, but doesn't even come close to Julianna's last bite. She laughs at his valiant messy attempt to sweep his princess off her feet. The boy swallows, takes a drink of his Coke, and swallows again. Julianna's smirk is a silent braggart’s right to her victory.

   “I think I've bitten off more than I can chew,” the boy's horrible pun is so bad that it causes Julianna to laugh out loud. She points with her left index finger towards Matt's burger.

   “Eat,” Julianna playfully commands. The dread across his face as he glances to the burger amuses her.

   Matt tries again. Again he fails. Julianna waits for him to take his drink before pointing again.

   “Eat,” Julianna commands with a little boast to reflect her impending victory. Matt hesitates.

   “What's wrong?”, Julianna criticizes, “You giving up on me so soon?”

   “Not a chance,” the boy defends with a mixture of pride and knowing defeat. He watches Julianna sit back against the seat with her arms crossed in front of her black tee shirt.

   “Then what's taking you so long?”

   Matt snatches up the burger and takes another bite. When he finishes, he can't close his mouth. Julianna covers her mouth and laughs. The sight is really disgusting; yet, she's quite amused at the same time.

   Matt chews for what seems like forever before swallowing, taking a drink, and then swallowing again. Julianna's victorious grin is even harder for him to digest. He hadn't realized just how large that last bite if hers was. If he had of, he sure wouldn't have wasted his opportunity at asking out the most beautiful girl he's ever laid eyes on.

   “I'm not giving up,” he explains, “I just need a sec.”

   Julianna patiently watches as the boy takes another drink of his soda before letting out a long extended belch of relief. She grins, grabs her Mountain Dew, takes a drink, and sits back. She allows the carbonated soda to work its magic and belches longer and louder than the boy across from her.

   “Nice one,” Matt compliments.

   “I was raised by my dad,” she confesses her reasons for having no shame in the normally rude behavior for a female. Julianna points.

   “Now eat.”

   Matt sighs as he looks at the last part of his burger. He picks it up and folds it in half.

   “That's cheating,” Julianna accuses.

   “Is it?”, Matt projects innocence. He easily shoves the stack into his mouth with his right hand. Julianna enjoys the boy's conquering eyes. She glances down to her plate and knows for a fact she could clear the whole burger in one bite. After all, her last bite was for fun. Not competition.

   Julianna picks up the burger, folds it in half, sticks it partly in her mouth, and then fakes a gag reflex.

   “I can't,” she declares her defeat. Julianna throws her burger down on the plate to complete the boy's unearned victory.

   Matt raises both arms above his head. His white tee shirt hugs his biceps tightly. The shirt, however, isn't too small for him like some guys try to do. His biceps are just that big. Julianna grins in such a way as to make the boy feel like he's bested her.

   “Give me your phone,” Julianna answers the boy's response with her right hand held out.

   “Absolutely,” Matt says while lowering his hands. He stands up, reaches into his front right pocket, and retrieves his smartphone. Julianna's mouth opens when Matt nervously fumbles his phone right onto the ceramic tile flooring. The boy quickly bends down and picks it up.

   “You still have a phone?”, Julianna grins as Matt hands her his phone.

   “Yeah.”

   Julianna touches the screen and holds out the phone.

   “It's locked.”

   “Oh,” Matt takes the phone back and swipes the screen. His mind scrambles to remember the password he usually knows without question. He fills in the password's calling and receives
Invalid Password
in return.

   “Problem?”, Julianna questions.

   “No,” Matt moves his fingers, “I've got it.” He shakes his head when he sees the rejection once again.

   “I might have messed it up,” Matt speaks while attempting the password again.

   “I don't bite,” Julianna tries to lower the guy's anxiety.

   “Hope not,” Matt hands the phone to her with a grin, “I'm not into the whole vamp scene.”

   Julianna takes the phone, swipes the screen, finds his contacts, and adds her information. She holds out his phone.

   “That's good,” she smiles, “Because I'm the mother of the antichrist.”

   “Ha-ha-ha,” Matt laughs.

   “It was nice meeting you,” Julianna stands up with her tray of uneaten fries, “But I need to go. I'm late as it is.”

   “Don't worry about that,” Matt nods towards her tray, “I'll get it.” He reaches out with his right hand.

   Julianna sits her tray down and shakes the boy's hand.

   “It was nice meeting you, Julianna,” Matt's blue eyes sparkles against the white florescent lighting of the mall's ceiling.

   Julianna smiles and releases his hand. She turns and walks towards the food court's glass doors. Matt watches the beautiful girl with emerald green eyes leave out of the mall's entrance. He looks down and touches his phone's screen. Julianna's name and number is there. The high school senior smiles.

Ring-ring. Ring-ring.

   “Hello?”, Martha answers, “I'm still not used to this thing, dear. Whatever happened to good old fashioned cell phones? It seems a phone should have numbers you can push on and one button to accept the call.”

   “It didn't ask you if you wanted to accept the call?”

   “That's not the point ,dear,” Martha complains, “All this other stuff is just too stressful for an old lady.”

   “Grams, you promised you'd stop calling yourself old.”

   “I believe you promised that for me, Jules,” Martha counters.

   “I guess you have me there,” Julianna concedes.