Hoax (8 page)

             
I didn’t text her back, not wanting to distract her while she was driving. I drove home and showered.  I sat on the couch, watching TV and waiting for my parents to come in.  The meeting was always at five thirty, no matter what.  I heard them come in and we sat down for our meeting.  And as I predicted, they told me that next month they would be taking a three week cruise to the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Belize, and Cozumel.  I quickly excused myself after their talk about the trip led to talk about their room and what would be done in that room. 

             
I called Corinne after going back into my room but she didn’t answer.  I started to worry a little and set the time on my phone to call her in an hour.  I gathered some laundry and went downstairs making lots of coughing and clearing throat noises to insure that I didn’t interrupt any more of their ‘trip planning’.  After cleaning my room and putting the laundry over into the dryer my phone alarm chirped and I called her again.  Nothing.  Now I was really concerned.  I grabbed my keys and ran out, reassuring myself that she was home, safe and sound, and just turned her ringer down or left her phone in the car. 

             
Ten minutes later, I pulled into the drive to find a dark house and as I looked into the garage I found the Stephenson’s BMW still gone.  I called again, and again, nothing.  There was only one main route between the house and Monroe so I got in my truck and got on it.  I made it fifteen miles before I saw a tow truck on the side of the road and spotted the silver BMW being hoisted onto the truck.  I got out and didn’t see Corinne anywhere.  I came up on the tow truck driver, he was from Sibley, Travis I thought, and asked where she was. 

             
“She got a ride home with that Bailey kid.  You know him?  Black hair, glasses, skinny little guy.”

             
“Sean Bailey?  Yes, sir, I do.  He took her home?”  I walked away as I confirmed the details.

             
“Yeah, that’s the one.  He stopped to help her, brought her home.”  He turned his back to me and finished loading the car onto his truck. 

             
I got into the truck, u-turned it, and headed back towards the Stephenson’s house.  I let out a long sigh, a breath I had been holding since I left the house.  I must’ve passed them on the road.  I pulled into the driveway and sure enough, there they were and as my headlights curved with my car and came to a stop on them, a small wave of jealousy ripped through me.  It tingled through the nerve endings on my face, down my shoulders and waved down my arms.  And the green monster lit the top of my ears on fire.  She hugged him, not close, not anything but friendly appreciation.  But he was a guy.  And any guy with his hands on Corinne was not thinking friendly, definitely appreciation, but not friendly. 

             
Then it all faded as she shaded her eyes with her hand cupped over her brow and a smile lit up her entire face.  The sight of me brought a smile to her gorgeous face?  Yeah, I’m good.

             
I parked next to Sean’s car and got out.  They were still saying their goodbyes and I decided somewhere in between shutting my door and reaching Corinne that I was going to pull a serious caveman move.  I walked up behind her as she thanked Sean again, wrapped my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder after I placed a few pecks on her neck.  I may have well just grunted, smacked her with my club and dragged her into the house.  But at the same time I couldn’t help it, he needed to know that he wasn’t the first to lay eyes on her—and it was too late to try now.

             
I thought she would break away from my hold and berate me for my homo-cavemanus macho move but she didn’t.  Instead she weaved her fingers in with mine across her stomach and turned her head slightly to say ‘hi’.  She introduced me to Sean but we laughed as we already knew each other.  I reached out to shake his hand and thanked him for bringing Corinne home.  Sean got back into his car and backed out waving at us as he tore down the road.  I straightened out, willing to let her loose since he left but as I did she tightened my arms around her and leaned her head back against my chest. 

             
“How did you know?” She asked as she turned her head.  I could feel the warmth of her breath against my Adam’s apple.

             
“You didn’t answer your phone.  So I got worried and drove over here to make sure you were alright.  The house was dark and you still didn’t answer your phone so I decided to drive the route you would’ve taken to Monroe.  I saw the tow truck with the BMW on it and asked Travis where you were.”

             
She turned towards me within the circle of my arms and wrapped hers around my torso.  “You were worried about me.”  It wasn’t a question but I confirmed the statement with a nod of my head.  What I wanted to say was ‘of course I worried about you.  I think I will always make your well being my priority’ but I didn’t.  I showed her.

             
She must’ve had the same train of thought because she pressed her face in between my throat and my shoulder and squeezed me around my middle as hard as she was capable of.  This was not the time for a smoldering kiss or the time for a passionate make-out session.  For some reason confident, self assured, independent Corinne was melting into me.  I didn’t know why and I wouldn’t ruin it by asking her, so I put one hand between her shoulder blades and one on the small of her back, pressed her to me and kissed the side of her face, her temples, her hairline trying desperately to convey that this was simply the tip of the iceberg of what lengths I would go for her.

             
“You better get inside Corinne.  It’s late.  Come on.”  I turned her so that she would walk still encircled in my arms and I still encircled in hers but she was beside me now and her face was still glued to my chest.  She progressively let me go as we neared the door and I made sure she got all the way inside before I turned to go. 

             
“Ok, I’m glad you’re safe.  We’ll talk more tomorrow.”  I walked down the steps and as I reached the last one she grabbed my hand.

             
I looked at her and tears glistened by the glow of the moon and threatened to break if she blinked. 

             
“It’s because you came after me.  You came to make sure I was okay.  It means everything Abel.”

             
I nodded, unable to say much of anything.  She walked back into the house and the lock clicking into place was my cue to go home in peace. 

Corinne

              He probably thought I was a basket case.  As soon as he pulled into the driveway I knew what occurred.  Either he had come looking for me or he came to the house checking on me.  I didn’t care.  I had never had anyone show they cared like that.  Girls and teachers at school asked me how I was or how I was feeling from time to time but when I got into a jam, no one ever helped me or went out of their way to make sure I was ok.  He didn’t know how much that meant to me, how it caused the core of my being to warm.

             
I drew a hot bath and soaked in it until I started to get sleepy.  When he found out tomorrow that I had run out of gas he would probably laugh at me.  Although to my credit, the gas gauge was on F for full.  It must be broken.  Sean was a sweetheart.  He stopped on the side of the road and waited with me until the tow truck arrived and then brought me home.  He was a ball of nerves, it was cute.  Of course, as soon as I hugged him in appreciation, Abel shows up and staked his claim on me.  I should be offended.  My feminism teacher at Wellsley would be so pissed that I let him do that.  But truth be told, I didn’t mind letting Sean think that I belonged to Abel.  It was a wistful thought. 

             
I drug myself out of the tub and threw some pajamas on.  I plugged in my phone, which had died sometime on my drive home.  And I had left my car charger in my truck.  I set the alarm on my phone for early.  I needed to call Angela and tell her about the car and go get her curtains from the trunk at the repair place.  I don’t even remember putting the phone down or turning off the lamp.  I just passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              I called Angela at seven in the morning, it was eight in Florida where they were staying.  I thought she may be angry with me but she exuded sympathy and concern.  She said she would call the repair shop and make sure the car was safe for me to drive before it was returned.  She must’ve asked me thirty times if I was ok.  I appreciated her worry.  It was better than her being pissed off.  I grabbed the keys to my truck and rode over to the repair shop and retrieved Angela’s beloved, whatever expensive fabric they were made from, curtains. 

             
I jumped back into the truck and noticed the flashing ‘hot donuts’ sign from the hole in the wall town’s donut shop.  I passed by the drive thru and picked up a dozen and two coffees.  I parked in the driveway right next to Abel’s truck and got the curtains out first.  For the price Angela paid for them, I was almost afraid to touch them.  I ran back out to get the donuts and coffees but didn’t see Abel yet, so I texted him.

             
Me: I have hot donuts and coffee and me
.


             
He didn’t answer me so I washed my hands and sat at the island and got one of the hot fried rounds and bit off a huge bite.  I heard the side door open and smiled.  I knew he couldn’t stay away for long.  I slid his coffee to the other side of the island and waited for him to sit down.  He sauntered in.  I looked briefly and he wore a pair of navy blue basketball shorts paired with a gray t shirt and his signature navy baseball cap.  His longish honey colored hair curled upwards at the back of the hat and wasn’t that just the cutest thing.  And his shirt—in all my life I’ve never loved a plain gray t shirt as much as I did in that moment.  It was made for him.  He smiled and straightened his cap under my observation.  Before I knew it, he was next to me.  I tried to hand him his coffee and he shook his head ‘no’.  So I picked up the box of donuts and tried to hand him one of those. Again, the negative head shake.

             
“I don’t have anything else Abel!” I threw my hands in the air in a sign of giving up.

             
“You said, coffee, donuts, you. I’m just switching the order.”  He closed the distance between us and when he kissed me this time it was as if he were a man deprived of something, deprived of me and he was making sure that he got his fill.  He slowed it down until he was placing light, gentle pecks on my now swollen lips.

             
“Good morning.” He whispered.  His lips moved against mine as he said it.

             
“Good morning.” I croaked out.  I repeated what he said but in reality I didn’t even know if it was dusk or dawn at this point. 

             
He grabbed a donut and his coffee and sat across from me all casual-like, as if he didn’t just make my day.  Hell, he just made my year.

             
“So spill the whole thing.  What happened yesterday?” He said before he took the first bite.

             
“I got into the car and drove home.  I’ve only been a handful of places in their car so when the gas gauge said full, I believed it.  Well, apparently it was broken because that’s what happened.  I ran out of gas.”  I shrugged, embarrassed plus I felt extremely girly about the whole thing.  I mean seriously?  Sounds like one of those dumb cheerleader things to do.

             
“And your phone?” He got up and grabbed a bottle of water instead of drinking his coffee.

             
“It died and I left my charger in my truck.” I hid my face in my hands.  When I said it out loud I sounded awfully—well, stupid.

             
“Do you know how worried I was?” He took another bite of his third donut and waited like he didn’t just ask the sweetest question I’d ever been asked.

             
I bunched my eyebrows together and answered, “No.”

             
“You should know that I worried myself sick until I knew you were ok.  You should also get used to it because it’s not going to change anytime soon. So please be careful.”  He got up and went to the sink and as he washed his hands I did another very girly thing, I started to cry.  Not gasping, hiccupping, choking crying, just big monster tears flowing down my face. 

             
I got up and hugged Abel around his middle while he stood at the sink. “No one has ever worried about me before.  Thank you.”  He turned his head and simply said, “You’re welcome.”

             
I dried my eyes with a paper towel and handed him one for his wet hands.  He threw his away and wiped one more runaway tear with his thumb. 

             
“I’ve got to go mow the grass.  Wanna come?” 

             
“Do I get to drive?” I bounced and clapped like a child about to receive a brownie.

             
“We’ll take turns Danica, come on.”               

             
We spent the morning and most of the afternoon mowing the grass and then weed-eating and cleaning up afterwards.  By the time we were finished, I was whipped.  I threw my shoes off outside the back door, not wanting to trample in shards of grass all over the clean floors.  I walked into the living room and laid on the cool wood floors, face down, letting them be the icepack for my sun-charred face.