Unbound (15 page)

“You have a brother?”

“Yea. We’re twins actually. He’s a whole twenty minutes older than me.” Ethan took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to look at me.

“Does he look like you?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. He’s probably almost as tall as you and is blonde with blue eyes. My mom and dad are both blonde too. I don’t look like anyone in my family.” I didn’t really know what else to say after that, and apparently neither did Ethan because neither of us spoke for a few minutes. It wasn’t an awkward silence though.

“Turn left at the next light,” I instructed. He nodded. “So how long did you live in Chicago?” I decided I better break the silence before it got awkward.

“My whole life, pretty much. I lived in the suburbs growing up, but after college I decided to stay in the city.”

“Where did you go?”

“University of Chicago.”

“Oh, what did you major in?”

“Biology.”

So he was smart. “My mom would like you, I bet,” I said mostly to myself. “What did you do after you graduated?”

“I was a martial arts instructor, nothing to do with my major really. But that’s what I’m good at, I guess.”

That explains the muscles. I felt strangely more attracted to him. “I took karate lessons for four months when I was like twelve, but that’s the extent of my kung-fu skills. I wanted to start again, but I never had time with the horses. Maybe you can show me sometime.”

“I do owe you now from your horse riding lesson.” He looked at me with a smile.

“Turn right into that little plaza; the restaurant’s right in the middle.”

As I got out of the car, the glowing red and pink sunset caught my attention. I didn’t even realize I stopped to admire it until Ethan asked, “What are you staring at?”

“The sunset. It looks like the sky is on fire.”

He walked over and stopped close to me, following my gaze to the sherbet colored sky. The blazing sun was perfectly centered in a patch of beautiful orange clouds that gradually turned to red and pink. Deep purple wisps disappeared and melted into the darkening periwinkle sky.

“Isn’t it amazing how something so common can be so beautiful?” I asked quietly. I saw Ethan look at me out of the corner of my eye.
 
“I mean the sun sets every day, so it’s not at all surprising. But still…it just makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?” I looked at him. I couldn’t read his expression but we locked eyes for a few seconds.
 
His lips curved into a slight smile.

“Think about what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How mysterious and wonderful the world is?” I smiled the big smile that takes over my face when I didn’t know what to say, feeling kind of embarrassed. “Come on let’s eat.”

We were seated right away and got our food rather quickly. It was easy to talk to Ethan. He seemed curious about me; he asked a lot of questions about my horses and friends. He didn’t like to talk about himself; whenever the conversation turned to him, he quickly asked me another question.

“How long have you and Laney been friends?”

“A long time,” I said with my mouth half full of fried rice. I help up my hand to show I would finish talking after I swallowed. “We went to the same preschool together, so I guess I met her when I was like two or three. Obviously she has a horse too, and we’ve been going to horse shows since we were like five. We’ve been best friends ever since.”

“Wasn’t there another girl with you that night of the party?”

“Yea, Marie. She moved here from upstate a year ago. She’s not into horses that much. She’ll ride with us every now and then, though. She was the new girl and didn’t know anyone. Laney and I were in an art class and had an empty spot at our table.” I pushed my remaining fried rice into a pile on the center of my plate. “We’ve never had much in common but we got along really well. And, well, the rest is history I guess.” I scooped the rice up and finished it off. I put my fork on the plate and pushed it a little in front of me, signaling that I was done.
 
I looked around the restaurant and was surprised to see that we were some of the only few remaining people there. Shoot, what time was it? Right on cue, the waiter brought the bill. Before I could grab the check and pay for what I ate, Ethan slid it over in front of him. I wasn’t sure if I should offer to pay or not. I hate potentially awkward situations like this.

“I got this, don’t worry” he said.

“You sure? You don’t have to pay for me if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sure.” Ethan said, chuckling. “Let’s go.”

“What’s the weather like in Chicago this time of year?” I asked on our way back to the barn.

“Very similar to here.”

“Good. I’ll know what to pack for the weekend.” I groaned, “I hate packing though. Well, the packing isn’t so bad, but the unpacking sucks.”

“Yea it does,” Ethan agreed. “You have a funeral to go to?”

“No, as weird as it sounds I was told my Aunt didn’t want one. I, uh, actually inherited her house.” And a ton of money, but I’ll save that tidbit of information for later.

“Huh. Well, that’s good, I guess.”

“Yea, it’s just weird. I don’t really understand why I got it because, like I said, we’re not close. But, oh well. You can’t look a gift horse in the mouth right?”

Ethan shot me a sideways glance.

 
“It’s an old proverb, I think,” I explained. “It means be thankful for what you get.”

“Makes sense,” he said, though I didn’t know if he really got what I meant or not. We were at the barn already. Ethan parked next to my car. He got out and met me by my door.

“Shoot,” I said, remembering something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just remembered that I left my IPod and bag inside. I’ll get it after you leave, it’s no big deal.”

“I can come with you. It’s dark and scary in there,” he said in a joking way. “I think you need someone to protect you.”

“You’re right. I’m just a defenseless girl. I need your karate-kid skills in case of an attack.” I didn’t want to turn the lights on and bother the sleeping horses, so I left the door open to cast the security lights into the aisle. I grabbed my IPod and headed towards the office, Ethan in toe.

Annn-ieeee

I whirled around so abruptly it startled Ethan. “Did you say something?”

“No.” He looked at me incredulously.
This is not happening
I thought to myself. I felt a wave of familiar panic.
Bob, if this is you finally trying to talk to me
…I shut my eyes to block it out. Suddenly, Razzle—whose stall we were in front of—spooked. Thunder, in a stall next to Razzle, reared up defensively. As if that set off a chain reaction, all the horses moved nervously around in their stalls.

Haaaaa.

The cryptic whisper was close to my ear.
Ok, I couldn’t block that out. Ethan moved quickly in front of me.

“Why don’t you run and get your bag now.” His eyes darted around the dark barn and he held is arms a bit out from his sides. He looked like he was ready for a fight. I nodded and ran into the office to grab my bag. Ethan put his hand on my back and ushered me towards the door.

It was quiet out in the parking lot. A few crickets chirped and the slight breeze rattled the trees. A star studded sky sparkled above us. The energy was different out here; it felt normal and safe.

“When are you leaving tomorrow?” Ethan asked. He had walked me over to my car.

“Right after school.” A question popped into my head. “You do know that I’m still in high school, right? I mean ‘cuz you saw me at the university, so you might have thought I was in college.”

“Yea, I know. You must have told me that night. You’re a senior.”

“Ok, good.” I dug back in my mind and couldn’t recall telling him that. I must have though, and emotions and alcohol flooded my head that night. I’m not surprised to not remember every detail. “But anyway, I leave right after school. I should be back sometime Sunday. I don’t really know what I’m going to do. Probably sign more stupid papers.” I looked into Ethan’s brown eyes and our gazes locked again. There was something different about him. The energy he gave off was just…different.

 
I tried not to smile. “Thanks for coming up here.”

“Thanks for asking me.” He took a step closer. My heart sped up. Was he going to kiss me goodnight? For a moment he looked like he wanted to, but then he took a step back and opened my door for me. “See ya soon,” he said with a smile as I got in. And I smiled the whole way home.

***

That night, I had everything packed and ready to go. I typed up a page long list of care instructions for Hunter and Romeo, just to make myself feel better. I needed to shower and then I could finally go to bed.

I had just stepped out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy yellow towel around myself when my phone rang. I was surprised to see it was Ethan.

“Hello?” I wondered if he could hear the excitement in my voice.

“You were right.”

“I usually am.” I tiptoed with wet feet over to my bed. “But what am I right about this time?”

“My legs hurt. Just a little bit though.”

“Told you.” I tucked legs under the comforter.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I? I just realized that it’s late.”

“No, I just got out of the shower, actually.”

“Nice. Did you get all your stuff packed?”

“I think so. I’m sure I’ll realize I forgot something when I get there.”

“Always seems to happen, doesn’t it?”

“Yea, that’s why I tend to way over pack.” Hunter bumped against the door. I groaned. “My dog needs to go out,” I said.

“What kind of dog do you have?”

“Guess.”

“Hmmm…I would guess something little, like a Yorkie.”

“You’re wrong. But why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” Ethan said. “You’re pretty and pretty girls like little dogs they can dress up.”

“Well thanks, I think. Hunter is a German Shepherd and I don’t really like little dogs. If I wanted something to carry around I’d get a cat.”

“You’re full of surprises, Anora.” It sounded like he was smiling.

“Oh, if only you knew,” I said with a smile too because it was all too true.

“I guess I’ll let you let the dog out now. I’m glad you’re safe. Night.”

“Night,” I said and we hung up. I smiled again as I quickly pulled on a pair of pink pajama pants and an old faded blue hoodie. “Come on, boy,” I said to Hunter as I opened the door. The wind had picked up causing the nighttime air to take on a characteristic fall chill. I looked around the yard for signs of danger before I let Hunter run down the deck stairs and into the yard. I pondered over the last part of Ethan and my conversation. ‘I’m glad you’re safe’ he had said. It seemed like a weird thing to say. Sweet, but weird.

***

All of the sunlight had vanished by the time the plane landed. Nerves raced through my body as I exited the plane. To my relief, I easily spotted James. He had on another mud colored suit, and looked strained and anxious again.

“Good evening, Anora. I hope your flight went well.”

“Hi, and it did, I guess.” I had been delighted to find that James had booked me a first class seat.

“Come on, let’s get your suitcase and get going before it gets too late.”

About a half an hour later we were in a limo driving to Indiana. I eagerly looked out the window but was disappointed to not see the Sears Tower or any other famous Chicago landmarks nearby. I almost forgot to call home to let Mom and Dad know I landed safely. The drive to Aunt Estelle’s house, well, technically my house, took over an hour. I began to feel tired and the silence between James and I was a bit awkward. I tried to pay attention to what streets we were on, but it was just too dark. I was surprised at how incredibly flat the land was. In all of our driving I don’t think we went over any big hills.

“This is your street,” James’ voice came out of the darkness, causing me to jump. I looked out the window and saw absolutely nothing. The moon gave off just enough light for me to see that I was surrounded by cornfields on both sides. The limo slowed and made a right turn onto a gravel driveway. A lone porch light loomed in the distance. The driver angled the limo so the lights would illuminate the house.