Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1) (12 page)

You (9:43pm):
This is my number –Rini :)

I then opened the text message I had missed. Sarah’s name was bolded as the sender.

Sarah (7:02pm):
Hey there! :) Are you dead? ?:o

You (9:44pm) :
Hey! So sorry I missed your text, I was in the forest trying to find the wolf again, and then I ended up meeting a naked guy named Jett and now I have his number, and today has just been really weird!

Jett (9:44pm):
Sweet! Thanks beautiful ;]

You (9:46pm):
Um. You’re welcome? ?:l

I nearly dropped my phone from the sudden burst of sound it made as a call came in.

“Hello?” I said, trying not to sound too startled.

“I stopped reading your text after
naked guy named Jett
, Go on!” Sarah squealed.

I lied on my bed as I told her of my encounter with the wolf and how it had thrown the meat on me, then licked my hand and let me pet it when it got close.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just tasting you?” Sarah joked. “ A little sample before digging in.”

“Oh Ha-ha,
very
funny.”

“Okay, now proceed to the nudeness,
por favor
? I need details, elaborate details! How big was it?” Why is that always the first question asked?

I carried on, giving every single detail I could, from his body description to his family, and even the wink he gave me before leaving. But I left out the size or
guesstimate
of what I assumed was his—
aghem!
—
penis
.

“I’m so jealous right now!” Sarah gawked. “You got a hot love interest ripped straight from a movie, and I’m over here Photoshopping pictures of me and Johnny Depp together.”

“Well, don’t be. He has brothers,
and
he invited me and you to go swimming at the lake behind their house this weekend.”

Silence.

“Hello?” I said. There were only the muffled sounds of a drawer being opened and stuff being shifted around. “Sarah?” I asked, hearing the phone on the other end hit against something. “You okay?”

“Oh, sorry about that,” her voice finally broke through.

“What are you doing?” I questioned on the random bit of silence.

“I’m looking for my bathing suit so I can start packing already!”

“You’re such a dork, Sarah!” I laughed.

“And proud of it!”

Beep, beep, beep

I looked at the screen of my phone and saw the words:
New Text Message
. “All right, I’ll let you go then—I got a text.”

“Laters, lucky!” I ended the call and read the awaiting message:

Jett (10:00pm):
So, if you’re still awake we can carry on that conversation we were having.

You (10:01pm):
Hmm, like what? :P

Jett (10:02pm):
I don’t know. Let’s just ask each other questions. That’s what people usually do.

You(10:04pm):
Okay, but it’s gonna take a while by text. I’m a slow typer :\

Jett (10:05pm):
Hmm, well there is another alternative.

My phone suddenly rang to life again as I was in the middle of typing a message to send. “Hello?” I answered, a little disoriented.

“Go on with your questions,” his deep refined voice, which sounded even more alluring over the phone, came through. “This way is a bit
easier.” Jett sighed a relaxing sigh, like he was stretching somewhere comfortable, like his bed. Just like I was. Lying down and staring at the ceiling.

“True. Hmm, let me think,” I kicked off my shorts and pulled the covers over my legs. “What’s something you like to do for fun?” I shut the lamp off—letting in the darkness, but somehow it felt less lonely and eerie. I didn’t feel the need to read tonight. I didn’t feel the need to triple check that everything was locked up, either. No. Tonight, I wanted to stay right in this moment.

“That’s easy. Swim, watch movies, play sports,” he laughed, “—eat. All that good stuff. How ‘bout you?”

“I
love
movies as you saw with my DVDs, and of course I love to read. I like to swim too. I can be in the water for hours. When I was younger they used to call me a fish.” I could hear him laugh again quietly on the other end. “And apparently, I like to meet nude guys in their early twenties in the middle of a forest and exchange numbers.”

“Oh yeah?” Jett laughed, filling in the silence. “What else ya’ got?”

“I like to bake.”

“Bake what?”

“Cakes, pies, pastries, cookies, you know—
bake-
able things.” I yawned.

“Sounds good. Are you tired?” he asked.

“Well, remember the wolf I talked to you about?” I said, hoping not to annoy him by how persistent I was about the bipolar animal that tried to kill me for some reason, then liked me all of a sudden and let me pet it—then sprinted off and lead me to a nude man. The same man on the other line.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. Almost cautiously. He might as well of said,
“oh great, what now?”
and hung up. Instead I heard, “Well, what about it?” from the other end. I was surprised that he actually sounded like he cared about what I had to say. Even if it seemed a little farfetched.

“Well, call me crazy, but for the past few days I’ve gone to sleep by hearing its howl.”

“You’re crazy,” he said bluntly.

Wait a minute
. “What?”

“You said to call you crazy,” he laughed.

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean it,” I said, taking offense.

“Neither did I.”

I was glad he couldn’t see me. I was blushing.

“What about you?” I asked, returning to the questions.

“Uh,” he thought for a long moment before finally saying, “I’m a collector, so I like to collect things.”

“Really? What things?”

“Not really specific things, just
things
. Things that I find and like. You know,
collect
able things.” He changed the subject, “Anything else I should know about you?”

“Well, I guess you can say I like meeting new people.” I smiled.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, there are many different types of people out there—that I have yet to meet.” I yawned midway through the sentence, breaking it into two run-ons.

“Have you ever met someone like me before?” he asked silently, as if he were trying to keep his voice down while others slept.

“Hmm. Nope. Can’t say that I have,” I laughed. “What about you? Ever meet someone like
me
before?”

“Never. You’d have to be the first, and I’m glad I found you. Like stumbling across a rare object, or a diamond in the rough-,” each tender word he uttered could make frozen butter melt, “—a
collectable
.”

I was probably the color of a tomato by now. If love were a game, he knew exactly what buttons to push in a specific order to win, while
some
other guys just slammed their hands down on all the buttons and improvised along the way.

“Thanks? I guess?” I didn’t know how to respond.

“You’re welcome…I guess,” he replied, playfully mimicking me.

My eyes felt heavy. “I should probably get to sleep.”

“Sure thing,” he said. “Goodnight, Rini,” his voice was soft, almost like a lullaby. I couldn’t help but feel as though he didn’t want our conversation to end. Secretly, neither did I. I liked this attention. It felt, good.

“Goodnight, Jett. Call me tomorrow, if you want.”

“Will do.”

After I hung up the phone, I closed my eyes. Multiple thoughts running through my active mind kept me from my slumber as I debated with myself.

Was I being hit on or was he just being flirty like he probably is with everyone?
Even so. It felt great.

Where did that damn wolf go?
Oh yeah the wolf! I had forgotten about
that
jerk.

Why do I feel weird?
It’s nothing, it’s probably gonna be that time of the month soon.

What is this feeling?
Am I in
love
? No.
Hell
no. I couldn’t be. I
just
met the guy. But did I have a crush on him? Aha! Now
that
is a more plausible question, self. And I’ll answer it with another question.

Is the ocean made of water?

Yes.
Dammit. I think I’m in
like
with the naked man I met today.

Somewhere, in the very distance of the forest, a soft howl sounded. It had a different tone in its voice tonight. Different from its usual mono-toned call that embodied loneliness.

Tonight, it sounded—happy.

8

Friday

March 11th, 2011

Spring break weekend had come faster than I’d expected. No school for a whole week! I had spent the last few days, really two—or three, after school texting Jett or talking to him on the phone until I had to sleep. Like a nighttime phone buddy. Someone to keep me company throughout the day. Naturally, things got a little flirtatious at times, but I came to understand that that was just the way he spoke, and I didn’t exactly keep from flirting back or calling him on it. It’s only human, right? He was a great friend, and
only
a friend.

Before I knew it, Sarah was at my door. “Ready for this sleepover,
amiga
? I come with high in fat and high in deliciousness treats to kick off what shall be a
kick-ass
Spring Break!” She held up a white plastic bag filled with goodies for us to indulge in.

“Nice.” I let her in and shut the door, only to hear it knock several seconds later. Sarah had disappeared into the bathroom to change. Ever-expanding Celeste and George stood on the other side yielding boxes of cheesy pizza goodness and plastic bags.

“Hey Rini, we brought you girls some pizza from the place Cel and I went to eat at earlier.” He wiggled a blue bag in his hand, “Put these drinks in the fridge so they can be nice n’ cold for tonight.” I took the bag and made my way over to the fridge in the back.

Celeste disappeared into my room then emerged saying, “I put the bag of movies on the bed. We didn’t know which ones to get you, so we just brought a couple that we wouldn’t mind watching ourselves when you’re done with them. They were on my wish list of movies to buy anyway. Except one about a mad scientist—that was George’s pick.”

“Thanks Cel,” I called over my shoulder, hearing both she and George’s footsteps travel down the hallway to me.

George spoke, even before he had made it all the way over. “Have a fun sleepover, and if you need anything just call us. We’ll be in and out of the house today and probably the rest of this week. I’m going to go meet with some people in San Antonio for some business talk and Celeste is going to go get a check up and spend time with my parents. They’re completely gaga waiting for the arrival of their first grandchild and want to help as much as they can.” I had only met George’s parents once. At the wedding. In their late fifties, and members to a country club. They are a very calm and reserved couple. Very friendly, but
very
different. Keeping to themselves and sitting very proper and poised. The complete opposite of my loud and sociable side of the family. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything. We’ll be up here in no time. It’s only a forty minute drive, but if Cel lets me, I’m sure we can be here in twenty.” He winked.

“I’ll be fine guys. I’ve got Sarah. And you all will only be gone a few hours a day, so it’s not like you’re abandoning me for the week. I’ve got plenty of books to read and keep me company.”

“Are you sure, Rini?” Celeste asked. “We’ll be gone pretty much all day this week. We will literally only come home to sleep.”

“I’ll be fine!” I said again, closing the now stocked fridge. I got to my feet. “Really.”

“It’s just this week,” Celeste said, probably feeling bad that we have yet to spend real time together like the old days when she’d take me cruising with her friends or shopping at the mall. “I promise.”

“I understand.” She hugged me, then disappeared with George out of the cabin and into their home.

“Did I mention that your cousins are the shit?” Sarah said as she came out of the bathroom dressed in her swimming attire, “I mean seriously, they’re awesome!” She walked into my room and studied herself in the mirror. Old torn T-shirt with some pink floral-printed swimming shorts. “Do you think I should just go in my one piece? I don’t want them to think I’m all weird swimming in a shirt. Especially if I’m trying to land one of them.” She let the tendrils of her hair fall free from a rubber band and ran her fingers through.

“You look fine, besides I’m going to wear almost the same thing.” I stood at the doorway, biting my lip for a second before saying, “Oh, and did I mention Mr. Luna is going to be there?”

“What?!” Sarah whipped her head around, almost like Linda Blair’s character in
The Exorcist
—only her head didn’t spin
all
the way. “You mean I’m going swimming with the substitute?! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier so I would have backed out and said I came down with a stomach virus or something?!”

“—and his family,” I added, making my way over to retrieve an old shirt and short black shorts from a drawer. “
—and
because I knew you wouldn’t want to go if you heard
that
part.” I made for the bathroom and shut the door behind me. “I was right, wasn’t I?”

Sarah stomped into the hallway and spoke from behind the closed door, “How the hell am I supposed to get my flirt on when a teacher is going to be there supervising! You were right! Now I really
don’t
wanna go!”

“He’s not supervising. He’s there to have fun. Like us,” I said from the other end of the closed door. “And besides, you don’t have to think of him as
Mr. Luna
, just think of him as
Martin
, any other man,” I exited the bathroom in full attire and threw the dirty clothes in a hamper, which was really just a small rectangular box that I dubbed
the hamper
. “You’re going, Sarah. You’re already dressed for swimming anyway.”

Sarah pouted, then reached into her duffle bag for a bottle of spray-on sun block. She spritzed it all over her body then passed to me. “Well, I, for one, am not going to be able to be myself with the fact that we have to see
Martin
five days out of the week until school ends. Honestly, I liked it better when your cousin was our teacher, she would at least give us fun assignments and show us movies after we finished the book.”

“I’m sure you’ll have fun,” I assured her. I fluffed my hair in the mirror, smoothing out a few fly-aways.

“
Psh!
I guess,” Sarah rolled her eyes and threw herself on the bed dramatically.

Really?
I laughed,
“
And the award for best dramatic scene goes to—”

“You finish that sentence and I’ll accept the award for the
Most Outstanding at Kicking Rini’s Ass
too.” Sarah sassed. “When is
Jeff
supposed to get here anyway?” She joked, “I wanna see if he is really as hot as you say he is so I can make up my mind and set out to become the mistress later on if you two ever get married.”

“It’s
Jett
,” I corrected. “Geez, Sarah. You should at least remember his name if you plan to steal him from me,” I joked.

“Oh,
sorry!
” Sarah said sarcastically, bringing my pillow under her head. She used her fingers to pretend to conduct an imaginary band as she sang her version of a childish tune. “
Rini and Jett, swimming in the lake...
”

As if planned, my phone vibrated to life.

“Hello?”

“Hey punk, you girls ready?” Jett’s alluring voice came through.