Love Bites

The next day started off like any typical Monday. That is until just after second period started. Cory, Kayla, and Lily were called to the school office. All three sat outside the principal’s office without being told anything more.

The vice principal asked Kayla to enter the office first. After ten minutes, Cory was called into the office. Kayla hadn’t come out and she wasn’t inside the office any longer. He finally noticed her in the adjoining office, sitting alone.

Inside the office he was in now was the principal, the vice principal, and a Sherriff’s deputy. They vice principal directed Cory to sit and was told that the deputy would like to ask him some questions. While not expecting this, Cory answered the questions truthfully, although leaving out the part where his sister was attacked by the person now missing. Yes, they went to the movies on Saturday, followed by ice cream and a walk in the park. Max left by himself, leaving the three of them together in the park, where he walked, ahead of the two girls, home. Upon arriving home, his mom talked to him, and he told her that his sister and Lily were walking behind and would be following shortly. After his sister got home, about 20 minutes later, he went to bed. He still hadn’t seen or heard from Max.

They thanked him and asked him to go into the next room and sit with his sister while they were talking to Lily. He complied, going into the next room, sitting next to his sister, and taking her hand. They just say there holding hands while Lily was brought in and questioned.

Since they hadn’t discussed Saturday night with Lily, neither was sure what she might say. After she was finished, questioned the shortest of the three, she joined them in the next room saying, “We can go back to class now. They are finished here.”

The twins stood and the three of them walked out of the office in silence. Once out in the hall, Lily quickly said, “We’ll talk after school. For now, don’t fall asleep in class.” She gave both of them a quick hug and walked off.

The twins looked at each other and Cory said, “I guess she has no worries about the story being the same.”

“Guess not,” Kayla said, and shrugged.

“Okay, well, see you after school,” he said as they headed off to different classes. They had different lunch periods so after school would be the next time they would have time to actually talk. All three had sixth period P.E. since they were all on a sports team, but different sports. Kayla and Lily had English together, but neither talked nor passed notes.

Cory finished practice first he thought, since he saw neither Kayla or Lily, as he left the courts and headed to the locker room. Trading his tennis racket for his backpack, he headed back outside, pausing only briefly at the door to peek both left and right so not to be surprised. No one was waiting outside for him, so he left walking down the length of the locker room. He turned the corner parallel the gym only to find Lily leaning up against the wall waiting for him. He jumped a little, not expecting her.

Halting, he said, “Do you do that on purpose?”

She raised an eyebrow as if to ask What?

“Position yourself so it appears you come out of nowhere, out of thin air,” he told her.

“I’m just standing here waiting for you,” he said, innocently.

It was his turn to raise a questioning eyebrow.

“Or Kayla,” she added. “Whichever of you finished first.”

“I assume it was me,” he said.

She just nodded in agreement. “Shall we go see if my dear sister is finishes batting her birdie around?”

“Let’s,” she replied, taking his arm as they started for the gym door. They both heard the squeak of tennis shoes on the gym floor before they arrived at the door. “Sounds like they aren’t quite done yet,” Lily said, stating the obvious.

They watched the end of the badminton team’s practice standing just inside the gym door. When they finished, the team filed out of the gym with Kayla at the tail end. This was normal for her; as the team captain she was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.

The trio walked to the girl’s locker room together in silence. Lily said that she would wait outside with Cory since she had already changed after swim practice.

Kayla said she’d grab her stuff and be right out.

Cory looked at Lily and said, “Changed?” She was wearing her typical after school attire: one piece swimsuit with sweats (todays were baby blue), and her windbreaker.

“Okay, I guess changed isn’t quite right. More like added to. It’s easier to head home, jump in the shower with my suit on and wash the pool chemicals out. I kill two birds with one… well, shower.”

“Hum, I guess I see your strange logic in that.”

Kayla came back out, having changed and retrieving her backpack. They started walking home and Lily said, “Okay, since I know both of you are dying to ask, I assumed that neither of you mentioned…well, the unfortunate events of Saturday, to anyone, so I certainly am not about to. Even though that shit deserved to be punished for what he did. I’m also assuming that our stories matched since they let us all go, seemingly satisfied. We all told the truth about what happened, we just left out the part, which is none of their business unless, and until Kayla decides to tell someone about it. Until that happens, well, the rest is irrelevant. Am I correct in my assumptions?”

Kayla nodded and simply said, “Yes.”

“I figured. Now that that is out of the way, how are you holding up, sweetie?”

“I’m fine,” replied Cory with a grin. Cory, who was walking in between the two girls was on the receiving end of two elbows to his arms.

“Not you smarty-pants,” Lily said sardonically.

“That’s gonna leave a bruise,” he mumbles, rubbing both arms.

Kayla spoke up, saying, “Thanks to the two of you, I’m actually doing okay.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Lily told her. “I was worried about you.”

“Both of you helped me through it in your own ways. If it wasn’t for what you did, I’d probably be a basket case still.”

“More than normal, you mean,” Cory added, and quickly stopped short, barely missing the two elbows that came at him. “Geez, no sense of humor – either of you.”

“Anyway,” Kayla continued, “I’m through with him.”

“Good for you,” Lily said. “As long as you’re okay. Once Max shows his face, you can decide what to do from there. Until then, just live one day at a time.”

They walked up to the front of the twin’s house and Lily said to Cory, “You’re looking a little tubby. You can walk me home to work off Saturday’s ice cream,” adding to Kayla, “As long as you’re okay without him for a little while.”

Kayla looked at Cory and said, “Keep him as long as you want. You’ll have to put up with him, not me.”

Lily laughed and Kayla took his backpack before Lily led him away by the hand. After they had walked a block and were plenty far away, Lily asked, “Okay, how is she really?”

“Actually, I think she is going to be okay. She had a hard night Saturday, and Sunday was quiet but not totally withdrawn. Since she’s still functional, it was more of an initial shock than a lasting effect.”

“I’m glad.” They walked hand-in-hand in silence for a mile or so before Lily steered Cory up the walk of a homey white house.

Lily fished out a key from her backpack and opened the door for them. She pulled Cory in and dropped the keys back into her backpack, then closed the door.

Setting her backpack down, she said, “Welcome to my humble abode.”

Cory looked around the comfy home. The entry opened into a living room with a large flat screen TV, couch and loveseat, a bookshelf with books along one whole wall, and a fireplace on the other.

“Want something to drink?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, “whatever you’re having.”

She walked off to what he could only assume was the kitchen and returned with two sodas, handing one to him.

“Thanks,” he said. “So where are your parents, at work?”

“Yeah, you can say that. Currently they are somewhere in Iceland. My dad is an archaeologist, and my mom is a cultural anthropologist. They left about a week after we moved here and won’t be back for months.”

“Wow,” Cory said. “I’m not sure if that’s cool or if it sucks.”

“A little bit of both,” she said with a sigh. “Come on, follow me.” She led him down a hall to the end, opening a door.

He walked into the room and looked around. “Your parents have a cool room,” he said.

She giggled and told him, “It’s my room silly. Since my parents are gone so much, I get the master bedroom as a consolation prize.”

He looked around the room again. In the middle of the far wall was a four-poster bed, done up in all white. The wood, the bedspread, the canopy, even the gravity mesh curtains were all white. To one side was a set of powder blue four drawer dressers with a full-length mirror between them. The opposite wall contained an entertainment center with both a TV and stereo. Along the wall with the door set into it was a desk with a computer sitting on it.

The room contained two other doors; one that led to the outside, made obvious by the window in it, and the other he figured was to the master bathroom. All-in-all it was a mix between young woman and grown-up. There were none of the typical posters of any boy bands or teenage heartthrobs, but it wasn’t devoid of the teenage feminine touches of color and randomness.

“Okay, enough scrutiny for now, come on,” she said bouncing out of the room. He followed her back down the hall and through a doorway leading into the kitchen.

The kitchen was done in black and white, and brushed stainless steel. Over the sink was a large window overlooking the backyard, which Cory noted contained a pool and a built-in barbeque island.

There were three other doors in the kitchen. One led outside and being nosy, Cory opened the second, which contained a small pantry which was stocked with your typical food items from the looks of it.

Lily was looking in the fridge for something, so Cory moved to the third door and opened it. He had only opened it about three inches when the door stopped. Looking around for the source of the stopping, he saw Lily standing next to him with her hand on the door.

“Nothing exciting in there,” she said. “It’s just the basement. Your typical dark and dank hold in the ground. Not to mention the light is out and I wouldn’t want you to fall and get hurt. Your sister would never forgive me.”

“I can change the bulb for you if you want,” he offered.

“That’s sweet of you,” she said, “but it’s okay. I don’t go down there anyways, so it’s no biggie. If I did need to go down there, I’ll just grab a flashlight.”

She pushed the door shut and said, “Come on,” and pulled him back to the living room. She sat on the sofa and pulled him down onto it with her.

Looking around at the expensive TV and stereo Cory said, “It looks like your parents make a good living doing what they do, but it must be hard to be alone so much even with all these nice toys.”

“It is,” she said. “I get the freedom that most kids only wish for, but the cost is loneliness. It was harder when I was younger. I had nannies who did the things my folks should have done. Read to me, show up at parent-teacher conferences, cheer for me at swim meets, things like that. When I felt old enough to take care of myself, I told my parents, who agreed, but had people look in on me. After a while, they stopped when they saw that I really was capable of caring for myself. So here I am. What about you?”

He sat quietly for a minute before he said, “It’s just my mom Kayla and me. My dad died six years ago when Kayla and I were ten. He worked at a shelter for the homeless and the abused. One night he was working late helping care for a girl that had been hurt we were told, and he was attacked and killed on his way home. A few days later the police found the guys who they think did it… dead. I was told it was a grisly scene. They had literally been ripped apart.” Cory stopped talking at this point.

Lily looked at him and saw his eyes were glassy. She took his hand and squeezed it and said, “Well, enough of that. I know what will cheer you up.”

Standing up, she unzipped her windbreaker and took it off, tossing it on the sofa next to him. Cory looked at her now standing there clad only in a nylon swimsuit and sweats.

She turned and walked to the stereo, turning it on. Picking out a CD, she put it in, and a slow, low key music started playing.

Make out music, he thinks.

She walks back over to him and holds out her hand. He hesitates, wondering where this was going.

“What’s the matter, scared?” she asked.

He replied, “I just don’t want to do anything that either of us might regret.”

“Hey, I’m not that easy, geez. Trust me, you won’t regret this,” she said and winked at him.

Hesitantly he took her hand, expecting her to lead him into the bedroom or something, but she pulled him to the center of the living room. She took his other hand and pulled him closer. Pulling his arms around her waist, she let go and put her arms around his neck. She laid her head on his chest and said, “Dance with me.”

“I don’t know how to dance,” he told her.

“It’s easy, just listen to the beat of the music and your heart.”

He thought that shouldn’t be too difficult since his heart was beating so hard, she could probably hear it through his chest.

They danced for several songs – his arms around her waist (conscious of his hands around her waist, not her butt), her arms placed one on his back, and one up his longish hair on his neck.

The music stopped, yet they continue to dance. After a few more minutes of silence, Cory said, “The music stopped,” and she replied, “Not inside. Can’t you still feel it?”

He, in fact, could.

Turning his head, he kissed her temple.

She stepped back finally, and looked him in the eyes and said, “For someone who can’t dance, you’re a natural.”

He broke eye contact, embarrassed, and dropped his eyes. In doing this, he noticed it was visually obvious by the protrusions in the thin nylon swimsuit the effect of their dancing had on her.

Knowing it had the same effect on him in a different location, he chose not to acknowledge what he saw. He didn’t want to ruin a relationship that he started by doing or saying something stupid.

Instead, he said, “It’s getting late, I better get going.”

“Okay,” she said morosely. “I had a good time. Thank you.”

“Me too.”

She stepped back into him, reaching up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “You’re welcome here any time,” she teased him with a wink.

She walked him to the door, and he headed home, feeling good.

Once home, he went upstairs to find Kayla in their study. “You look happy,” she said. “Get lucky?”

“Oh, please,” he said. Sitting on the desk next to her, he retells the story of Lily’s parents and her sad upbringing.

“Wow,” Kayla said. “It must get lonely. Well, she had us now, so we’ll keep her busy, won’t we?”

Cory agreed.