Arianna Rose: The Gathering (Part 3) (13 page)

“Hey!” Scott said cheerfully as she opened the door.  “You look incredible.”

Arianna felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  “Thanks,” she replied coolly.  “You look nice, too.”  And he did.  He wore boot-cut jeans that sat low on his hips instead of skinny jeans, a darkly colored hooded sweatshirt with a winter vest over it.  He looked like a
J Crew
model that had fallen from the pages of a catalogue and landed on her doorstep. 

“Thanks,” he said and shifted nervously.  Scott looked as anxious as she felt. 

He walked beside her to his SUV.  The back of his hand brushed against hers more than once along the way.  The feel of his cool skin grazing hers drew the faintest hint of energy.  Each time his hand swept hers, she felt an odd sensation crawl up her wrist to her arm.  She could not decide whether it was pleasant or not.  It was unlike when Desmond touched her.  Desmond’s touch whispered warmly through her body in calming waves that thrummed in time with her heartbeat.  But Scott’s touch felt different.  It crept and prickled unfamiliarly.  Regardless, she decided to not waste another second lamenting about the difference in their touches.  Especially since Desmond had made it clear that touching her was off-limits.  Of course, that information would have been far more useful before he’d begun touching her and arousing her as he had.  Scott knew of no such rules.  He was just an ordinary teenager.

“Sorry, but George called shotgun,” Scott said and ge
stured to teen Herman Munster perched in the passenger seat.

“Oh,” Arianna said and didn’t mask her surprise at the sight of George.  “I didn’t know he was coming with us.”

She wanted to ask him why they were always together.  Under normal circumstances, she would have ribbed him and asked, “What are you two, a set of balls?” but she knew the friendship was new, that she needed to refrain from being her usual self until she got a better handle on their personalities.  She assumed Scott could handle her sense of humor, but George was another story entirely.  Something about George just seemed off. 

“Yeah, I hope it’s not a problem,” Scott said and
drew his dark brows together.  “I thought we were going alone, but he needed a ride.”

Scott seemed so nervous, so normal, Arianna wanted to pinch his cheeks.  The look on his face screamed, “Oh no! I’m blowing it!”  Little did he know there was nothing to ruin.  They were not on a date. 

“Don’t worry,” Arianna assured him as she opened the rear passenger side door. 

The interior light revealed that George was not the only one who’d hitched a ride with Scott. 
Meg and Paul were crammed in the back seat as well. 

Arianna slid in and said, “This is cozy,” as she quirked a brow at them.

They laughed and greeted her.

“Oh my God, I love your boots,” Meg gushed.  “
Those are vintage motorcycle boots, aren’t they?”

“You could say that,” Arianna answered and thought,
Yeah, vintage Arianna circa two weeks ago
.  

“I love them.”

“Thanks,” Arianna replied and smiled to herself.  She never dreamed she would have a group of friends to go to parties with, and girlfriends to talk about clothes and hair with.  Okay, so she’d never had much interest in either clothes or hair, but she would talk about whatever they wanted to, as long as they kept talking to her.  Hell, she would even research hair and beauty topics, buy magazines if she had to, anything to keep herself where she was at the moment.

“And your hair,”
Meg continued.  “Do you flat-iron?”

“No, I just shower
, comb and let it air-dry.  Though, if I’m in a hurry, I blow-dry.”

“Wow, you’re so lucky.  I
went to the salon in town and they suggested a straightening treatment and,” Meg began but was cut off by Paul who was sitting between them.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but let’s switch seats ‘cause I don’t give a
crap about hair treatments and all this girlie bullshit,” Paul grumped.

Arianna laughed out loud.  “
Damn, Paul.  Don’t hold back, tell us what you really think,” she said.

Meg and Scott laughed and so did Paul.  Arianna felt satisfied that she’d allowed a bit of herself to leak out and everyone had been okay with it.  Everyone laughed, except George.  Surly, unsociable George could not muster so much as a “ha!”  Arianna did not know what to make of him.  But something about him unsettled her. 

Her misgivings about George were distracted by Meg’s backside being thrust in her face as she stood, hunched, and switched seats with Paul.

“Sorry, pardon my ass in your face,” Meg joked and Arianna laughed.

“Not a problem,” Arianna said.  “At least it’s a good ass.”

“Ooh, I like where this conversation is going,” Paul teased and raised both brows mischievously.

“Give it a rest, perv!” Meg fired back.  “You guys and your girl-on-girl fantasies!”

“Yeah,” Arianna chimed in.
“Like we’d ever let you watch.”

Everyone laughed, except George, then Scott said, “I’m in love,” and clutched his chest dramatically which drew even more laughter.

Arianna had panicked as soon as the words had left her mouth.  In light of her recent run-ins with Beth, she did not want to start rumors about herself with a joke.  But luckily allowing more of her personality to seep from her had gotten a good response.  She began to loosen up and found herself feeling completely comfortable.

Meg resumed her salon story while Paul and Scott chatted about sports.  The conversations were flowing so smoothly, so effortlessly
, Arianna hadn’t realized they’d been driving for quite some time.  She’d lost track of time and was shocked when she looked at the clock on the dashboard and saw that more than forty-five minutes had passed since Scott had picked her up at her cabin.

“So where are we headed?” Arianna asked
and addressed the entire group.  “Where is this party?”

“
It’s in Jettison,” Scott answered and looked at her in his rearview mirror.  “We have about ten or fifteen minutes before we’ll be there.”

“
Jettison?” Arianna asked and couldn’t mask the surprise in her tone.  She wondered why the hell they were traveling nearly an hour to go to a party, and on a school night no less.

Even in the darkness of his SUV, she could
see amusement dance in Scott’s eyes as he said, “Yeah, Jettison.  Is that a problem?  I mean, do you have a curfew or something?”

The notion of her having a curfew was ridiculous to her, yet Scott had asked as if it were to him, as well.  She’d never had to answer to a parent, but just assumed everyone else in the car did.

“No, not at all, actually.  Don’t you guys?”

Scott laughed bitterly, a sound that did not quite fit with his
squeaky-clean appearance.  “Curfew, what’s a curfew?” he joked and glanced at her again in the mirror. 

“I don’t know.  Never had one,” Paul added.  “And Meg here doesn’t either, right Meg?”

“Nope, never,” Meg said and shrugged.

“Shit,” Arianna commented.  “This is a first for me.  I always thought I was the only one.”

She scanned the faces in the car and saw that everyone nodded somberly.  When she looked up, Scott’s eyes watched her from his mirror again.  “You’re not alone anymore,” he said levelly and held her gaze.  He paused a moment and she was about to question what he’d said, whether it had more meaning than what was on the surface, but was glad she did not as the conversation quickly returned to normal when Paul belched loudly.

“Dude, that was nasty!” Scott said and fanned in front of his nose with one hand.  “What’d you eat today?
  Damn!”

“A burrito,” Paul replied.

“Smells like shit, dude,” Scott said then lowered the window.

“And there are ladies in the car,” George shocked her by adding
in his monotone voice.

“
Oh, you mean me?” Meg chimed in as if she’d just been roused from a nap.  “Oh don’t worry about me, I’m not a lady,” she smiled sweetly and a ripple of laughter swelled through the car.

Arianna felt like an idiot for thinking Scott had some kind of insight into her psyche moments earlier, when he’d locked eyes with her and told her she was not alone anymore.  How dumb could she be?  What other possible meaning could his comment have had?  He was a regular
teenage boy for heaven’s sake!  Her reading into it was proof positive that she’d spent far too long in the company of supernatural or otherwise damaged people. 

“How about you, are you a lady?” Meg asked and returned Arianna to the conversation.

“Uh, I’m gonna have to give you a
no
on that one,” she said and crinkled her nose as she shook her head.

“See George, no need to get worked up,” Meg said and Arianna could hardly imagine George getting worked up about anything, least of all the manners of teenage boys.  “No ladies here.”

“Umm, but there are some there,” Paul said and pointed to a group of girls just ahead as Scott directed the SUV to a clearing just past a drive-in movie theatre that had been closed for the season.  “And fine ones at that.”

“You’re so gross,” Meg looked to where he’d pointed and rolled her eyes.

“Nah, just admiring the scenery,” he said and leered some more.

This was another aspect of friendship
Arianna had yet to adjust to.  She’d never had girls that were friends, much less guys who were friends.  She wasn’t sure how to respond.  She had no romantic interest in Paul, yet felt uncomfortable with him ogling the scantily clad girls they’d pulled up in front of.

The girls, seeing only Scott and George in the front seats, kept looking over their shoulders,
directly into the light of the headlights, and tossing their hair and arching their backs.  She assumed Scott was enjoying the view as much as Paul was and felt an unexpected sting of jealousy.  They were not on a date, just hanging out as a group.  Why she felt as she did was a mystery, an unpleasant mystery.

“Are we ready?” Scott said and twisted in his seat to look at her.

“Yep,” Meg answered.

“How about you
, Arianna?  You’ve been kind of quiet.”

Arianna felt the
fuck you
badge making its way back to her and fought it.  So she was uncomfortable, big deal, right?  She had been in far worse situations recently.  Spending a few hours watching a group of horny teenage boys try to get lucky would be a breeze compared to all that she’d been through. 

“I’m fine,” she smiled and hoped her smile didn’t look as tight as it felt. 

Scott eyed her, his face unreadable.

“So
whose party is it?” she heard herself ask. 

“No one’s I guess,” he shrugged and she realized he was right.  A party in the woods
was not one person’s party usually.

“Right, that was a stupid question,” she fumbled.  “What I meant to ask was who do you
know at this party?”

“No one,” Scott answered with a straight face.

“What?  You’re kidding me, right?” she asked and felt certain he was just messing with her.

“No.  I’m not kidding,” he said.

“C’mon!  Cut it out,” she laughed.  “Okay, you got me.  For a minute there I believed you.”

Scott smiled and looked at Meg and Paul.  “I’m serious.  I don’t know a single person here, right guys?”

“No, he doesn’t.  None of us do,” Paul said without a smile.

“C’mon!  Enough!  You got me!  I said it already,” Arianna waited for them to laugh, but no one did.  “Meg, c’mon, they’re messing with me, right?’

“No, we do this all the time, you know?  We hear about a party and crash it.”

Arianna couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Sure, on stupid reality shows about rich kids with nothing better to do
, people crash parties in mansions and it is fine.  But she doubted that was the case for regular kids from Hallowed Hills.  Driving an hour to crash a party in the woods was absurd. 

“You’re joking, right?” Arianna asked.

“No, what do you mean?  It’ll be cool.  We do it all the time.  We like to meet new people,” Scott said and smiled self-consciously.  Meg and Paul nodded in agreement.

Arianna felt her cheeks burn.  She did not want to insult them.  Maybe this was what everyone did, what normal people her age did.  Who was she to judge? 
Normal
was a term she’d never used to describe herself or anyone she’d ever known. 

“Yeah, you’re right I guess,” she said then chewed her lip nervously.  “Sounds like fun.”

In truth, it did not sound like it would be fun at all.  Arianna was about as outgoing as a turtle and would just as soon find a shell to dive under then saunter up to a group of strangers and start chatting. 

“Great, so you’re in,” Scott said then opened the driver’s side door and slid out.  George followed suit, as did Paul who was followed by Meg.  Reluctantly, Arianna gripped the handle and took a deep breath before opening the rear door she sat beside. 
As she did, another car pulled up alongside them.  The driver’s side door opened and the light inside revealed that Chris was the driver and Kit his passenger.  Josh and Jess were in the back seat.