Before the Dawn (3 page)

"Yeah, sure," he nodded. "As long as you
don’t spend all night dancing with him till your shoes get worn. Or
the pregnancy test comes back positive."

"Dad!" She was truly scandalized. And
thoroughly embarrassed. She and her dad were close, but they
weren’t so close to the point that she confided in him about any
baseball stats she had achieved. He knew she had snuck past second
base because he caught her one time with a boyfriend making out in
their living room, but she could still wrangle unicorns if any ever
decided to show up in town. Aline glared at him. "You know, you
shouldn’t be so liberal about these things with your only child.
You’re supposed to put the fear of God in me when it comes to teen
pregnancy and sex. This open and understanding attitude you have
about the whole thing is not helping me to develop a guilt complex
about exploring my sexuality."

He gave her his most benevolent and innocent
look. "But that’s exactly why I’m using this tactic on you," he
said smoothly. "In due time, you’ll become so sick of my trust and
support for healthy expressions of sexuality that you’re just going
to give up on the whole thing and become a nun. Then I will finally
and truly be a happy father."

"You know, you’re not as cool as you think."
She tried to look sullen, but his expression of saintly wisdom and
love was too ridiculous that she couldn’t help but smile.
Mercifully, he changed the topic then and started talking about her
birthday. Her dad had been the one to reserve the Ballroom for the
party. It was generally acknowledged to be the coolest spot in
town, though Aline preferred to hang out in Trees, the coffee shop
slash club where local bands often played. However, Trees didn’t
really have the right atmosphere for a birthday celebration, so she
had agreed to settle for the Ballroom.

"I want you to have a great birthday, honey,
but please," he said, "
please
don’t go crazy on the drinks.
I told the management to watch out for any alcohol-influenced
shenanigans your friends might pull. I don’t want anyone getting
into an accident during or after the party."

"Dad, please," Aline said, imitating his
tone. "We’re not stupid. We’ll be responsible, I promise. Why don’t
you go to the party, too, so you can be chaperone since you’re so
worried?"

"And look after a bunch of drunken
teenagers?" He grimaced. "No, thank you." He gave her a hard,
probing stare. "I trust that you’re going to be careful. So, be
careful, all right?"

She gave him a playful salute. "Si,
capitan."

"I’m a bit surprised though," he then said
without quite meeting her eyes, "that you only wanted this party.
Don’t sixteen year old girls normally ask for cars for their
birthday?"

Aline made sure she kept the smile on her
face. "Oh, you know I hate driving," she reminded him softly. "And
I don’t really want a car."

There were a few minutes of awkward silence
between them filled with the weight of their family’s tragedy, then
her dad coughed and asked her something else about school and the
awkwardness passed. They enjoyed the rest of their dinner, joking
with each other the whole time. Once the entire pizza was gone,
Aline started to clean up but her father offered to do it instead,
so she thanked him then went to her room.

She had left her cellphone on her bed and she
now saw that she had missed two calls from an unfamiliar number.
Wondering who had called, she hit redial and hummed a melody that
had crept into her head earlier while she waited for someone to
pick up on the other end. After a few rings, she got an answer.

"Aline?" a familiar voice asked.

She was surprised, then thrilled, then
incredibly nervous. "Uh, Trevor? Hi!" She felt her heart pound
faster all of a sudden.

"Yeah," he said, sounding pleased that she
had recognized his voice. "I got your number from one of the guys
in our homeroom. Sorry I didn’t ask you for it earlier."

"Oh, that’s fine," she quickly assured him.
"So, uhm, hi. Again. What’s up?"

"Well, I realized something after we spoke,
but I had already left the cafeteria and I didn’t want to look like
a dork in front of your friends by coming back," his tone sounded
embarrassed. "The thing is, I don’t know where you’re gonna be
having your birthday party after the dance," he admitted.

"Oh. Oh!" She blushed for some reason, though
she was only talking to him on the phone, so she was very grateful
that he couldn’t see how red her face was right now. How did he get
her to act so weird about him? "I’m sorry. I can’t believe I forgot
to tell you, too. Well, uhm, after the dance, my friends and I,
along with some other kids from school, are gonna be going to the
Ballroom. That’s where my party’s gonna be." Mentally, she cursed
herself for sounding so nervous.

"Oh." His tone suddenly became odd. "That’s,
well, kinda funny."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, yeah, remember I told you I had to
work a late shift at my job? Uhm, actually, I work in the
Ballroom." She may have imagined it, at least she hoped so, but he
seemed sort of defensive when he said the last part.

"Then you’d really have to be there, huh?"
she said, and suddenly giggled. Then she grimaced to herself. Why
was she being such a dork?

He didn’t say anything for a long moment.
Then, "Yeah," he agreed, "I’ll definitely be there. Working." It
sounded like he was suddenly very far away.

Aline didn’t know what to say anymore. So she
just sat there with the phone against her ear praying that,
somehow, she could figure out what she may have done to turn him
off so fast. If this was how spectacularly she messed up over the
phone, then heaven only knew the nuclear devastation she could
cause in any future real life interactions between the two of
them.

"So," he finally broke the silence that had
been stretching on for forever, "I guess I’ll see you then."

"Yeah. Yes. I guess. Uh, Trevor?" She
hesitated for a second, then plunged right ahead. "I’d really like
it if you’d be there for my birthday. ‘Cause I know we’re
practically still strangers, but—I really like you." There. She had
said it. She held her breath for his reply.

"I really like you, too, Aline." He spoke so
softly she thought for a second that she had only imagined him
saying that. "You make me wish..." his voice trailed off.

"What?" she prompted when she couldn’t stand
the silence between them any longer.

He sighed. "Things. Certain things. Stupid
things." He didn’t explain what he meant by that and she was left
confused. "I’ll see you around, I guess. Goodnight," he whispered
and hung up.

She stared at her phone for countless
minutes, fighting the urge to scream in frustration. Then she lay
down and hugged one of her pillows close, feeling miserable as she
looked out at the night pressing upon her bedroom window. For the
first time ever, she really liked a guy in a way she had never felt
before. And, also for the first time, it was proving really
difficult to make that connection that used to be so effortless
with other guys. Being around Trevor made her feel all tingly and
awkward, and she was never quite sure what to do or say.

She didn’t know how long she must have
obsessed about the situation, thinking about the phone call, going
over every moment she could remember, and reflecting on every word
spoken again and again in her head but, eventually, her lids
started getting heavy and she felt sleep slowly creep throughout
her body. Just before she closed her eyes and started to dream, she
thought she saw a raven alight outside her window.

***

Chapter 4

Dancing. A ballroom full of shadows. Round
and round and round while her heart burned within her chest. The
sound of sleepy violin music and smoky laughter. The gentle
pressure of a warm hand against her waist. Fingers tracing languid
patterns on her arms. A voice whispering into her ear. Lips like
silk against her skin.

Come back to me...

Her cellphone woke her up. Before Aline
opened her eyes, she had the oddest thought that the sound of
dawn's bells seemed wrong somehow, and it was then that she
realized she was actually hearing her ringtone. Still groggy, she
reached out a hand to grab her phone from her nightstand, but she
couldn't find it. Then she felt a hard, squarish shape dig into her
side when she moved a bit and she wriggled around lazily for
several minutes until she was in the right position to place the
phone against her ear without having to raise her head free from
the little mound of pillows that covered her body.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"Good Lord!" Meran's voice came sharp and
clear through the phone. "Did you just wake up? It's almost two
p.m. I've been getting ready for the dance since eleven."

"
What?!
" She was so startled she
became fully awake in a second. "It's that late? I can't believe I
slept in that long." In a bit of a panic, she scrambled out of bed
then yelped when she felt something sharp pierce her left foot.
Ignoring Meran's worried questions for the moment, Aline bent down
and pulled out something slim and shiny that had lodged its fine
edge quite firmly in the fleshiest part of her foot. She stared at
it in some kind of stupefied wonder for a long minute, not minding
the bright red blood that was oozing from the wound it had
caused.

"Ali? Ali!" Meran was starting to sound
panicky when she didn't answer right away. "What happened? Are you
okay?"

She looked at the thing she held in her hand.
It was almost wafer-thin yet rigid, a curious object that was
formed perfectly in the shape of a leaf. It was made of something
metallic, and looked a lot like silver. Something cold slithered
slowly down her spine as vague memories of the strange dream she
had during the night flashed through her mind. "I’m okay," she
assured Meran, though she didn’t really sound like it. For a
second, the power of the strange dreams threatened to overwhelm
her. She shook her head to banish the images from her thoughts.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" Aline suddenly, desperately wanted
to talk about something else that would distract her from the fear
that had come over her.

"Tell me what happened to you first," Meran
responded. "Are you really okay?"

"Yes," she lied. "I just stepped on something
and it startled me."

"Well, all right. If you’re sure you’re
okay." Meran still didn't sound convinced, but she let it go for
now and told her friend her news. "You're not gonna believe this. I
went out earlier with my mom to do some shopping, and I met this
guy." The tone of her voice took on a strange note when she started
talking about him. It took a while before Aline could recognize it
for what it was: excitement. "He's tall and kinda thin, but not too
skinny, just right, I guess," Meran described. She was quite
giggly, which was a first in Aline’s memory. "He said he recognized
me as one of your friends and that we all knew each other years
ago. He does seem really familiar, but I just can't manage to
remember when and where we ever met him. I'm thinking maybe he was
someone we knew back in kindergarten or grade school, or whatever.
But he knows the two of us, and he knows that it's almost your
birthday. So I—kinda invited him to your party. I hope you won't
mind I did that," she finished sheepishly.

"Of course I don't mind at all," Aline
assured her. "If he's someone we used to know, then he's welcome to
hang out. Hey, if my ex-boyfriends got an invite, then ex-friends
or ex-schoolmates can get one, too. Did you at least get his name?
Maybe I'll remember him better."

Meran gave an embarrassed little laugh. "See,
that's what was weird about the whole thing," she confessed. "I
know that he told me his name and he mentioned exactly how we knew
him before, but I can't remember any details. I just come up with a
blank every time I try to think about exactly what he said to me.
But I think he said that his name was Ray something."

"Hmm." Aline frowned, searching her memory
for a former schoolmate or friend named Ray. "Can't remember ever
knowing anyone with that name. But, anyway," she shrugged, "if he's
gonna be at the party tonight, then I'm sure we'll get to talk to
him about old times." She hesitated for just a second before she
decided to go ahead and confide in her friend. "Hey, Mer. I've got
some news to share, too." Then she told Meran all about her
conversation with Trevor the previous night.

"Really? He said he likes you, too?" Meran
sounded really excited for Aline. "Then make your move during the
party! You've been crushing on this guy since he showed up in
school, and the sooner you two get together, then the sooner you
stop acting all weird around him."

"Well, yeah. That would be great. But what
if," she took a deep breath, "he doesn't want to get together with
me?"

"What are you talking about? He likes you,
right? He said it himself. So why wouldn't he be interested in
going out with you?" It was apparent in her tone that she thought
any guy in his right mind would definitely want to date Aline.

"It's just the feeling I got from him," Aline
said, miserable at the possibility that she may be right. "Like he
doesn't seem to want to like me or something." She sighed deeply.
"Anyway, I guess I'll know for sure by tonight. I'm gonna talk to
him, hopefully without sounding like a total moron, and I'm gonna
find out if I'm just wasting my time by liking him."

"All right. So that's a plan then. And I'm
sure you can get things worked out once you guys talk." Meran’s
voice became more cheerful and energized. "Well, we've certainly
gabbed enough. I'm gonna go back to fixing my hair and you start
getting ready for the night. Call me when the limo has picked you
up and you guys are on your way to my house. Bye. See you."