Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (11 page)

“Are you trying to tell me he’s not good enough for me? What has he done to make you feel that way?” I put my hands on my hips and tilted my head. “Mom?”

She took a deep breath. “It’s not that I don’t like him, Alice. He seems like a nice boy. If you say he treats you well, then I’ll believe you. It’s important we trust each other. Now more than ever. But you two seem to be moving so quickly. Kids your age don’t act like kids nowadays. You’re my little girl, but, when you’re with him…”

“We’re not sleeping together if that’s what you’re worried about.” I leaned back and pulled my knees up to my chest. “I’ll make that crystal clear to him if I need to. I’m not ready to handle the consequences of
that
.” I shook off the icky feeling crawling all over me. Sex? No.
I really liked him, but…

“When do you think you will be ready?” She crossed her arms and stared at me. The look on her face was not so much one of skepticism as it was of honest curiosity.

I shrugged, uncomfortable. “Geeze. I don’t know. When I’m eighteen. Once I graduate. Maybe. I don’t know, Mom. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Until you were married would have been better, but at least this gives me a few years before I really need to start worrying. Things are different for you guys than it was for my generation. You’re growing up so quickly. I just want you to know you can talk to me about anything at all. Okay?”

“I wouldn’t hide things from you, Mom.”

Things that didn’t involve aliens.

She smiled as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. “I love you, Alice. I only want what’s best for you.” She squeezed my hand.

“I have that now.” I wrapped my arms around her and hugged tightly. “I have loyal friends and the greatest mom in the world.”

Chapter 16

B
rian and Kareena…

I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Horrible images of her hanging off him, talking with him, making out with him, or whatever she wanted to do, kept flashing through my head. It made my stomach turn. I trusted Brian. I did, but…

I grabbed my phone and called Sam.

“Hi.”

“
What’s up?”

“Would you mind if I came over for a bit? I’m
really
bored.”

“Sure. I’ll ask my mom to come get you. It’s getting dark already. Stupid winter. Let me ask. One sec.”

She went quiet for a moment but left her phone un-muted. I heard her in the background talking to her parents.

“Okay. We’ll come get you in a bit.”

“Thanks, Sam. Bye!”

“Hey, Mom.” I’d come downstairs to find her sitting on the couch watching the evening news. “I’m going to Sam’s for a bit, okay? Her mom’s going to pick me up.”

“That’s fine. Be back by 9:30. Got that? It’s a school night.”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll make sure.”

Mom never had a problem with me going to see Sam. She lived a few blocks away, unlike Brian, who lived near the end of the bus route. It would have been nice to live closer to my boyfriend.

It had taken a lot of guts on his part, but Brian had made me proud when he’d worked up the nerve to talk to my mom. Knowing he had smoothed things over with her made me happy. He was a nice guy—responsible and determined—and I knew she’d like him if she gave him a chance. Just like I had. Still, the whole Kareena business had me ruffled and uncomfortable. She was just so pretty. It wasn’t fair.

Sam and her mom showed up shortly after I called and they took me back to their house. We spent the next few hours channel surfing and streaming random internet videos to kill our boredom. No homework and nothing else to keep me busy with Brian being gone at Kareena’s.

“You seem distracted.” Sam waved a hand in front of my eyes. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Why?”

“You look like you’re somewhere in space right now. It’s Brian, isn’t it? I just can’t catch a break with the boy taking up every second of your brain. Can you spare a minute, Alice? Please?”

“Sorry, Sam. I’m just preoccupied.”

“Ya think
?” She cocked her head
to the side and shrugged at me. “You can’t even focus on the TV right now. You’ve got it real bad.”

“Brian’s hanging out with Kareena tonight.”

“WTF! You’re kidding me! But I thought you two were…”

“We are. Apparently she invited him over and he humored her so he could ‘get
to know her better’ or
something.” I stuck out my tongue and made gagging sounds.

“Ew! I wouldn’t want
my
boyfriend getting to know that skank at all.”

“He’ll be fine. Whatever. I trust him.” I didn’t want to tell her the real reason why Brian was hanging out with Kareena in case we were wrong.

“If you say so. You do know she lives, like, down the block, right? At the end of the cul-de-sac?”

“No way! Why have you never told me this before?”

“Uh… Because she’s a jerk and we hate her.”

“Why don’t we ever see her on the bus?”

“She drives to school.”

I threw my hands up. “Seriously?” What did she NOT have?

“Daddy and Mommy bought her a car when she turned sixteen last year. She’s been driving it to school ever since. She’s too good for the bus, apparently.”

I huffed. “Brat.”

“Yup.” Sam nodded, popping the ‘p.’

“And now she wants my Brian.” I grumbled beneath my breath. “Tramp.”

“Well, we could do some reconnaissance and check in on them.” Sam smiled a deviously toothy grin. “No one has to know.” She pulled a nearby blanket up over her head, wrapped it around her face and peered at me through a gap between the wrinkles. “Sneaky. Sneaky!”

“Won’t
your
parents freak?”

Sam shook her head, still covered in the green mink blanket. “They won’t care. We’ll just step out for a minute.”

A minute? That could work. A little peek here. Some spying there.

I took out my cell phone and swiped it on. I silenced the ringtone. If we were going to stake out Kareena’s house, we had to be quiet about it.

. . .

Sam was right. Kareena lived at the end of the block and her house was even bigger than Sam’s.

“Wow,” I said quietly, taking in the stupid-large house she lived in. I imagined it having a heated indoor pool. Sauna.
Marble
hot tubs.
Elevator
. Gold
-plated sinks. I couldn’t see anything beyond the short, white picket fence out front or through the window blinds, which were closed tight at this hour.

“This was a stupid idea,” I said, looking back at her. She had a
black scarf wrapped around her
face like a ninja. She’d taken this mission thing way too seriously. “We can’t see inside the house anyway.”

“You’re right. Sorry, Allie. Let’s go back.”

We turned and started walking back up the sidewalk toward her house when I heard a familiar voice.

Brian!?

It
was faint, but I heard him
talking. Then I heard a girl’s voice. Kareena. Definitely. No mistaking that diva accent of hers. I turned and caught the two of them walking through the grass of the front yard. They were heading our way!

I shoved Sam ahead of me and we ducked down behind a line of hedges in the neighbor’s yard. A stick poked the top of my ear and I grunted.

Please don’t come this way. Please.

I couldn’t begin to imagine explaining myself to either of them if they spotted us. Kareena would have a cow for sure, and Brian… well… I could only hope he’d understand.

They took a few steps across the driveway and Brian sat down on the curb. Kareena sat beside him. The streetlamp overhead provided enough ambient light to watch.

I held my breath. Sam scooted behind me.

“What are they saying?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” I put a finger to my lips. “Shh.” Then I pushed her away from my face.

I listened hard. Harder than I’d ever listened in my life.

“I just needed some air, alright?” said Brian, shrugging.

Kareena pushed
him playfully on the
shoulder and added a fake girly giggle. I scoffed.

“Are you sure you didn’t want to take me out here because it’s dark… and private?” She tipped her head and batted her lashes.

“Why would that matter? Your parents aren’t even home.”

My eyes widened.
Her parents weren’t home!?

Kareena shook her head and looked off toward the distance. “Wishful thinking.”

“Sorry. By the way, I should really be going.”

“Aw, so soon? But we hardly had time to do anything.”

“We’ve been talking for the past two hours.”

“Oh, I know. But…” She reached up and combed her fingers through his hair.

Sam gasped.

I clenched my fists. Hell if I’d I let her touch my boyfriend like that. I moved a step forward and Sam grabbed my arm. I gave her a dirty look but she shook her head and yanked me back.

I took a deep breath and tried to cool down.
Focus. Listen
.

“Kareena.” He moved her hand away from his face.

“I love the way you say my name.” She grinned.

I tried not to gag.

Brian came to his feet. “Kareena, please, I really need to go. Can’t you just take me back home?” He walked over to a red sports car parked in front of the driveway.

Kareena stood and heaved a sigh. “You could have
anything
you want from me, Brian. Anything at all.” She marched over to join him near her car. “My parents are out of town and I have practically thrown myself at you. But no, you have to be all noble. Worrying about your little—”

“Is that what you want, Kareena? For guys to treat you like crap? Because I can do that if you really want it, but I don’t think that’s what you need.”

“What would you know about my needs!?”

“Enough to know you’ve never been touched by another guy who didn’t want to sleep with you.”

“Ugh!” She huffed, stamping her shoe on the ground. The stick-thin heel snapped off and she tumbled forward. Brian lunged to catch her.

“Let go of me!” She shoved him away and stumbled over the curb.

“I’m sorry, Kareena,” he said. “But it’s the truth and you know it. You can’t keep living like this. Letting people use you. Filling some kind of void with meaningless sex.”

“What kind of guy are you, really? Are you gay?”

“You know exactly the kind of guy I am. Who do
you
want to be? Do you want to be seen as a whore for the rest of your life? Or do you want people to respect you and actually care about you? How many people do you know would be there for you if you needed them? I mean really, actually
needed
them to help you for nothing in return?”

She leaned against the hood of her car and crossed her arms, pouting. “I’m not getting used. I chose this life. It’s always been this way.”

“No one
wants
to be used, Kareena. Stop fooling yourself.”

“Well, maybe I don’t like being alone. How do I make friends if everyone hates me?”

What a joke.
I almost laughed.

“Everyone doesn’t hate you.” Brian sat beside her on the car hood.

“Yeah, right. Even in my stupid-ass dreams, I’m alone. Trapped and freaking alone. I was so damn scared. I…
” She crumpled over. “I called out for help and no one could hear me.” Her voice trembled. “It’s not fair.” She covered her face with her hands. “Please, just don’t look at me like this. Jesus…”

I leaned forward, holding a clump of hedge branches down to keep them from obstructing my view.

“So you had it, too, Kareena?” Brian moved closer and gently pried her hands from her face. “That was you buried beneath all that rubble?”

Her eyes widened. “How do you know about that?”

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about, but you didn’t…”

Sam’s phone chirped—e-mail. I swerved around. My jaw dropped. “Sam!” I
mouthed angrily. She shrugged
and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“I thought I silenced the ringer,” she whispered frantically, scrambling to change some settings.

“What the hell was that?” Kareena turned, raising her voice. I swallowed hard and ducked down behind the hedges, backing up a few feet. Her heel clicked against the pavement. She staggered closer and closer.

“Probably nothing,” said Brian. “What I was trying to say was—”

“Oh, hell no!”

Kareena had spotted us. I froze in place, holding my
breath.

“I see you. Come out
of there right now!” she roared.

Sam and I crept out from behind the bushes.

The appalled look on Brian’s face made me feel like an idiot.

Kareena turned toward him and propped a hand on her hip. “Oh, don’t act like you didn’t know about this, Brian. You had to bring along your little lame parade, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know about them, I swear,” he defended.

She pointed at him accusingly. “You know what? You can walk your lying ass home. In fact, why don’t you take your little sisters with you? I am done here.” She threw up her hands and turned away.

“Maybe if
you
weren’t such a bitch all of the time, people would actually like you,” he retorted. “I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

“I am.” She stuck up her nose and marched back up her driveway, tripping once on her broken heel.

Brian looked at me, disappointed, and my heart sank.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking down. “I really am.”

“
I asked you to trust me,
Alice. What were you so worried about that you had to stalk me?”

Sam came out from behind me and held up her hand. “It was sort of my idea. I’m sorry, too.”

He shook his head. “Jesus, Alice. I was kind of hoping you trusted me just a little bit more than—”

Kareena shrieked.

We veered our heads toward the sound but she had already disappeared from the driveway. Brian darted up the brick walkway toward the front door of her house and vanished into the shadows.

“Guys!” he called out.

I ran to meet him and my heart plummeted into my stomach. Brian was kneeling on the ground at the base of the porch, Kareena sprawled lifelessly across his lap.