Dark Secrets (25 page)

“
Thanks, Dad.” I
hugged him softly, squeezing once before backing up. “I do know
that.”

“
Okay.” His concerned
smile dropped for the warm one I always loved. “Well, you go on now
and have a good night. Promise?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I
promise.”

As I closed his door,
the gentle hum of piano followed me out into the hall
again.

“
Are you okay, Ara?”
David called from downstairs.

“
Uh, yeah,” I called
back. “Just gotta throw on some jeans. Won’t be long.” I slipped
into the cleanest-smelling pair of jeans I could find on my floor
and grabbed the blue zip-up sweater from my dresser, then scrunched
my hair up a few times and grabbed my purse as I stumbled out the
door.

“
You won’t be needing
this.” David took my purse, appearing out of nowhere, and ditched
it back into my room. I heard it hit my bed with a dull,
leather-sounding thud.

“
Why won’t I need
that? Don’t they sell food there? I’m starving.”

He shook his head,
unamused. “You know I won’t let you pay for your own
food.”

“
Why? Is my money
dirty?” I followed him down the stairs, my careless feet thumping
loudly behind his barely audible footfalls.

“
No.” He opened the
front door. “But when a guy takes a girl on a date, he should pay.
It’s the way I was raised.”

“
Well—” I sauntered
past him; he closed the front door behind us, “—it’s
weird.”

“
Don’t pretend you
object to me treating you as a lady.”

“
Maybe I
do.”

Despite that, he still
opened the car door for me. “Why do girls always do
that?”

“
Do what?”

“
Spill that equal
rights nonsense—argue that we’re taking their independence by
opening a door for them. That’s just not the case.”

“
Well, what is the
case?” I sat down on the front seat, leaving my feet on the
driveway.

“
Simply that we’re
demonstrating good breeding; showing the girl we’re worthy and
capable of taking care of her—that we’re polite, considerate,
nurturing.”

I folded my arms.
“Women don’t need nurturing—or to be taken care of. We can fend for
ourselves. We’re equal to men, you know.”

“
Ara.” He stared down
at me, the skin under his eyes tight. “I’m not disregarding
equality by being a gentleman; I’m exercising chivalry.”

“
That’s outdated,
though, isn’t it?” I challenged, with a grin.

“
Never,” he said in a
high tone. “Why should courtesy be outdated—or offensive? Is it not
polite to offer a pregnant woman your seat on a bus?”

“
Yes, but that’s
different.”

“
Why?”

“
Because she’s
pregnant.”

“
Then, if you want
equal rights for all, it would only be polite for me to also offer
this to a woman who is not pregnant. Or to the man playing Angry
Birds on his iPhone.”

“
This is getting off
topic.” I swung my legs into the car. “The point is—” Argh! What
was my point? ...Oh yeah. “The point is that I should be able to
pay for my own food if I want.”

“
And you can, but not
when you come out with me. I have rights, too.”

“
So…I’m taking away
your
rights by buying my own food?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
What a load of
rubbish.”

“
Think of it like
this; some girls believe exerting independence by denying a man his
own rights to be respectful demonstrates strength. But women are
incredibly strong. We already know this. So, unfortunately, by
labelling chivalry to be insolent, she is merely robbing the next
generation of civility—ensuring the extinction of well-mannered
men. It’s my right and duty to preserve the tradition.”

“
Not all women
consider it good manners when a guy forces her to accept a free
lunch.” I tightened the fold of my arms.

“
Oh, really?” He
looked down at me with one brow arched. “Yet, if I neglected to
wrap my jacket over your shoulders on a cold evening I’d be
regarded as a jerk.”

“
I—”

“
I’m a gentleman,
Ara. Get used to it.” He closed the door on my retort and appeared
suddenly in the seat next to me.

“
How do you move so
quick?”

“
I don’t. You just
faze out all the time.”

David pulled into an
angled space outside the buzzing corner café and shut the engine
off. “Welcome to the best burger joint in town.”

Beyond the flashing
pink and blue signs on the windows, the generation gap seemed to be
left behind; kids sat on chrome-rimmed stools by the milk-bar,
singing Elvis songs loud enough to hear from here, while others
gathered around the white billiard tables on the lower level. Even
the staff, in their flaring poodle skirts and sneakers, seemed to
have jumped right off the Grease film set. “David?”

“
Yeah.”

As I looked back at
him, he smiled softly, comfortably, as if he’d not taken his eyes
off me the whole time. “I’m sorry about the whole independence
thing. I think it’s really sweet that you’re a
gentleman.”

He nodded, taking my
hand delicately. “I know.”

“
You do?”

“
Yes. I can see right through your
girl power
act, young
lady.”

“
Oh, really.” I
leaned back in the chair, my eyes employing a defiant glare. “And
what exactly do you see, Mr Know-It-All?”

“
I see…” He leaned
forward, luring me into his private little world. “I see a young
girl who just wants to be loved by a man worthy of her.”

Several retorts came
to mind, none of them sassy and creative like I wished. I went with
“Aw, how romantic,” squeezing my fists tightly to stop from
launching myself into his arms.

“
Come. Let’s get some
food.” He turned slowly and hopped out, closing the door quietly
behind him, then appeared by my door, offering his hand.

As my fingers touched
his, blood rushed up with a quick skip of my heart, and I drew my
hand back. “Wow, you are really cold tonight.”

“
Yeah. I know.” He
looked at his hand, rubbing his thumb over his fingertips. “They
get cold when I drive.”

“
Mine get cold when I
do homework.”

“
Maybe you should
avoid it then.”

“
Maybe I like cold
hands,” I said, walking beside him, and when he smiled down at me,
I caught sight of his fangs.

“
Why are you looking
at me like that?” he asked.

“
I was just
thinking.” I braved rejection and reached for his hand again; he
let me take it. “With those pointy canines and cold hands—you could
pass as a vampire.”

His sudden boisterous
laughter made me smile. “Better watch out then; we are on a
dinner
date, after
all.”

“
Hm,” I said. “Guess
I better order garlic then—or maybe a steak.”

“
A steak?”

“
Yeah, you know…?” I
prompted, stabbing my heart with an invisible stick. “As in…a
stake?”

David shook his head,
but a warm smile sparkled in his eyes as he opened the café door
and the nineteen-fifties time warp enveloped us.

“
I would guess, by
the look on your face, that you like it,” he said.

“
It’s great. Crowded,
though.”

“
When you taste the
food you’ll see why.”

My stomach
groaned.

“
Ah, I see the very
mention of sustenance has awakened the ogre.” David grinned at my
belly.

“
Stop laughing,” I
said, covering it.

“
Make me.”

“
I can, you know.” I
looked up at him. “I’m tougher than I look.”

He pinched my bony
wrist between two fingers and held it up. “Yeah. So much
muscle.”

“
Shut up.” I laughed,
punching him softly in the arm.

“
Ouch.” He rubbed it.
“That really hurt.”

“
Really?”

“
No.” He smirked,
offering a seat nearby. “I was just trying to be nice.”

I slid into the booth,
shaking my head, and David shuffled in beside me, coming closer
each time I moved over to give him more space. It wasn’t until my
shoulder and arm pressed against the cold glass that I realised it
wasn’t more space he wanted, but less between us. I looked into my
lap, smiling to myself. “Have you…” I cleared the nerves from my
throat. “Have you seen the others yet?”

“
By the pool table.”
He tilted his head in their direction, without taking his eyes off
me.

“
Hm. Didn’t even see
them when we walked in.” I leaned around him and watched Emily and
Alana—covering their mouths, giggling at Ryan. “Are they checking
out his butt every time he takes a shot?”

David nodded,
smiling.

“
Do you think we
should go say hello?” I asked.

“
No, they’ll come
over when they finish. For now—” he shrugged, “—I kinda like
this.”

So did I. In fact, I
kinda hoped they didn’t notice us at all.

The corner of David’s
mouth twitched, breaking his face into a grin.

“
What? Why are you
smiling?”

“
No reason,” he
said.

I turned my face away,
feeling heat rise up in my cheeks. Sometimes it felt like he knew
exactly what I was thinking.

“
Why do you do that?”
He cupped my chin, turning my head.

“
Do what?”

“
You turn your face
away when you blush,” he said delicately. “I wish you
wouldn’t.”

“
It’s
embarrassing.”

“
It’s
sweet.”

My breath fluttered as
our eyes locked together for an awkward moment. Well, awkward for
me—he seemed perfectly at ease. “You know, you have an irritating
quirk, yourself.”

“
I do?” he
said.

“
Yes.”

“
And what might that
be?”

“
That!” I pointed to
that smile—the one evident only by the two dimples above the
corners of his lips, while his gaze drifted downward. “It’s like
you…I don’t know, it’s like you have a secret or a joke, and it’s a
good one, but you don’t want to share it.”

“
Oh.” He nodded,
hiding the smallest hint of humour. “I guess I do, maybe do that—a
lot.”

I nodded.

“
You’re very
observant, Ara-Rose.”

“
So, what is it? Why
do you do it?”

“
I just spend too
much time in my own head, that’s all.”

“
Like me?”

“
Yeah, except…it gets
pretty boring up here, so I find ways to amuse myself.” The bright
smile dropped instantly and his lost words hung in the air as I
folded my arms and stole his smile for my own.

“
So, am I boring
you?” I asked.

“
I didn’t mean it
like that.”

“
Hey, you two.” Emily
bounced up beside the table.

“
Hey, Em.”

“
Check it out.” She
inclined her head to one side in a quick movement, hinting with her
eyes.

“
Oh my God, you
guys,” I beamed, seeing the joined hands of Alana and Ryan. “When
did this happen?”

“
Well.” Ryan swept
his fingers through his hair. “I kinda got the hard word put on
me.”

Alana raised her
eyebrows in Emily’s direction.

Emily shrugged. “You
weren’t there to talk with me about David this afternoon, so I had
to find
something
to do.”

David looked sideways
at me, his radiant smile gleaming. “You talk about me?”

I blinked a few extra
times, feeling pretty sheepish, and chose to ignore him. “Well,
that’s really cool, guys. I’m glad you finally got
together.”

“
Yeah.” Ryan
shrugged. “I’m pretty happy about it.”

They slid into the
seat opposite us, while Emily slid in beside David, leaving a less
than reasonable gap. I all but got my ruler out and measured it to
the last millimetre.

“
What can I get you
guys?” a waitress said, popping up out of nowhere, pulling a pen
from her ponytail.

David handed me the
menu; I placed it back down, shaking my head. As the others rattled
off their orders, he leaned in and whispered against my ear,
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you ordering?”

“
I am,” I said
enthusiastically, logging the cool, minty scent of his breath in my
memory. “I just don’t need the menu.” I looked at the waitress as a
tray of burgers and fries passed her head. “I’ll have that,
thanks.”

She turned around,
then smiled when she looked back. “Okay, Betty Burger, fries and
shake?” She wrote it down and looked at David.