If I Never Knew You (If I Never Knew You Series) (6 page)

I thought about it for a few seconds, before nodding and getting out of the car. I watched him pull out of the driveway and disappear around the corner before I went inside.

"Where have you been?" Mom asked, almost instantly. "I know you and Orion went go-karting, but does it take that long??"

"We were at the arcade, too," I said. "We ran into Nora and her boyfriend Colby, so we hung out with them for a while."

"Oh," Mom said. "Well Damian called a few times. I told him you were at work."

"Oh, thank you so much." I said. "Good thinking. Have you eaten yet, by the way?"

"Yes, Andy and I had left over Chinese," Mom said.

Andy now walked into the room. "Uh, your work called for you. They were wondering if you could do the night shift, eleven to seven."

"I guess so," I said. "Do I need to call them back?"

"Yeah," Andy said. His eyes looked dreadful.

"You okay?" I whispered, when mom left the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Andy said. I raised an eyebrow. "I just don't like you working that shift."

"Andy, nothing really happens," I reassured him. "I just help with some cleaning and stuff like that."

"I know, but there are always the drunks who come in and they always hit on you." Andy said.

I laughed. "I promise to stay away from the drunks," I said. Andy just nodded, although I knew he wasn't happy with the idea. I was at least glad that he didn't tell Mom about the drunks. She would probably want me to quit and get another job, as she was a worrier like Andy. I was more carefree like my father. "Hey, I'll be home when you get home from school."

"No, you won't," Andy said. "Remember, you're working three to eleven tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, right," I said. Geez, I don't go to work for almost two days, and then I forget the majority of my shifts! I called the restaurant and told them I could do the shift. I then went and got a couple of hours of sleep before coming down the stairs in my uniform at ten.

"I asked Orion if he could pick you up tomorrow morning," Andy said.

"Andy...you didn't," I started.

"He agreed instantly," Andy said. I glared at him. "All I did was ask if he would do you a favor, and he said, 'Sure, what does big sis need?' So he'll be here at seven tomorrow morning."

"Andy, stop trying to get us together. It's not going to happen. Even if he does break up with Crystal, there's no way I'm getting away from Damian, unless he gets bored of me or something like that."

"Hey, I can hope and pray, can't I?" Andy asked. I rolled my eyes and kissed his forehead. "What was that for?"

"Just cause," I replied. I put on my work shoes and jacket.

"Do you have your key?" Andy asked. I took my keys out of my bag to show him, before putting them back.

I headed for the front door and opened it, but jumped back when I saw Orion there with his hand raised, ready to knock. "Orion!"

"Sorry," Orion said, putting his hand down.

"Oh, Madison," Andy said. Orion and I looked at my brother. "I'm sorry I forget to mention he also agreed to drive you to work too." I gave Andy one of my looks.

"Well, now you don't have to leave this early," Orion said.

"Fine, fine. Come on in, Orion." He and I watched some TV for a while with Andy and Mom before they went to bed. Then Orion and I left for my shift at Wayside.

On our way to the restaurant, Orion asked me, "Do you know how to drive, Madison?"

"I took the test." I said. And I passed. I'm just not fully licensed yet, but I can drive. "Why you ask?"

"I was just thinking that I might as well start teaching you, if I'm going to be teaching Andy," Orion said. "If I start with you soon, then you can help me help him."

"Okay," I said. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Orion said. "Like I told you earlier, we're all friends who help each other out."

"Do you have a job, other than playing in the band?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Yes I do, and you'll find out about it eventually," Orion said. I was curious, but didn't press the matter.

A FEW DAYS later, I walked into my house just after midnight, exhausted from another day of double shifts. For the last few days I had been going crazy with work and I felt as if my whole body might crumble into pieces at any moment. I was lucky that I was young had lots of energy when I needed it, even if I was dead tired when I finished work.

"Madison?" I looked over at the couch to see Mom waking up.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I was watching TV and I must have fallen asleep." she admitted. "Let's both go up to bed, okay?"

When we got to the top of the stairs, Mom noticed Andy in front of his computer in his room.

"You have school tomorrow," she said.

"No, I don't," Andy countered. "Tomorrow's a teacher work day, remember?"

"Oh, right," she said, rubbing her eyes. "What are you planning to do tomorrow?"

"I am going to spend most of the day with Warren. His family is going on vacation around my birthday, so he won't be here then. We're hoping to go to the arcade."

Mom and I said goodnight to Andy and retreated to our rooms exhausted. I was so tired I think I even slept in my dreams. I remember Orion making an appearance or two. Mom and Andy were both in my dream, as usual. But that's all I remember, really.

I woke up at ten the next morning. I sat around for a while before taking a shower. I went downstairs and took my uniform out the dryer and put it into my bag. After changing into dark blue jeans and a black, long-sleeved shirt, I styled my hair, put some library books into my bag, got my shoes on, and went to the bus stop. The great about the library was that it was only a few minutes away from the restaurant, so I could linger for a while if I wanted and not have to worry about rushing off to work.

At the library, I dropped the books into the return slot then I browsed through the novels in the Fiction section. There wasn't really any particular book I was looking for, but I wanted to read something on my breaks.

"May I help with anything, Mad?" I turned and smiled, as my eyes met a pair of very familiar brown ones. "I haven't seen you in a while, Madison."

"It's only been a few days," I said.

"A few days is still a long time for not having seen you," Orion said, smiling. I felt myself blush and quickly looked back at the shelf next to me. "What type of book are you looking for?"

"Just something light to read on my breaks this evening. What are you doing here?"

"This is where I work." I looked at him, wondering why he hadn't told me about this job. "I work from 3 to 8 four days a week-Tuesday through Friday," he explained.

"Come with me," Orion said, reaching out and taking my hand. "There's something I would like to show you while I'm on a half hour break now." I let him lead me away from the books to behind the checkout counter, and into another room.

Orion smiled mischievously, before leading me through a few racks of movies, before stopping at a red door. "Where are we?" I wondered.

"We are standing in front of my office," Orion said. "My dad runs the library services in Knightsbridge, so I was able to get this part-time job as assistant to the Head Librarian. Molly is the other assistant and we both share this office-but on different days, of course. Would you like to see?"

"That depends. What are you planning on doing?" I asked, surprised to find myself flirting.

"That depends on
your
reaction to my office." Orion said.

He opened the door and pulled me inside, before closing it again. Since Molly had worked there longer than Orion, she used the side of the room with the large window, while he got the side with the shelving. Each of them had their own desk. Orion's desk had a bunch of papers on it and, stepping closer, I could see that most of them were the beginnings of songs. On top of a filing cabinet was a stack of CDs and on the table next to it was a CD player.

"Well...this definitely screams you," I remarked, turning around to look at Orion. He was leaning against the door and still smiling. "What?"

"Nothing," Orion said..

I couldn't help but smile when he began to look nervous. "Orion?"

"Just," Orion started, "Would you be mad if I said you were beautiful?" I cocked an eyebrow. He slowly smiled. "I mean it."

I laughed slightly, but inwardly I was thrilled that such an attractive guy would also be so sweet to me. The next thing I knew, he leaned down and pressed his lips carefully against mine. At first, I was a bit nervous being where we were, but then I allowed myself to relax and pressed my lips harder against his. My arms draped over his shoulders as his wound around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I could tell he was restraining himself just as much as I was, since we both had partners. I guess we were cheating, but, somehow, that didn't really matter to us.

"Just don't let me fall," I whispered between kisses.

"Never," he whispered back.

Orion's kissing was definitely the best I'd ever had. I felt so relaxed around him and, even though I was joking, his promise to never let me fall made me feel the safest I had felt since before my dad left. He kept an arm around me and I heard the noise of papers fluttering through the air as he cleared off space on his desk.

Once he sat me on the desk, Orion didn't miss a beat. His mouth descended down to my neck, where he kissed me lightly. I wanted him to do more-I really did-but I knew it would have looked particularly suspicious to a lot of people if I had hickeys on my neck and my boyfriend was supposed to be out of town. Speaking of Damian, I had received only two texts and one phone call from him, so obviously he was not missing me very much, or he was just being thoughtless, which wouldn't surprise me. And you know what? I didn't really care anymore.

The thought of Damian flew out of my head just as quickly as it shoved its way in as Orion nipped at my skin ever so lightly. His hand began moving over my side and stomach, just barely avoiding my breasts. I didn't like this avoidance, so I put my hand on top of his and guided it upward until it was in the right spot

"Oh, you're getting into deep waters there, Mad," Orion whispered, trying to control his overwhelming lust. I just groaned as he lightly squeezed one of my breasts. We kissed again, this time more passionately than before. Any inhibitions and fears we might have had went out the window with our consciences. The hand on my back was moving in small circles, while the hand on my breast moved and squeezed lightly from time to time.

"Not that I don't absolutely love this, but if we don't stop soon, I'm going to do something extremely bad and possibly make you late for work," Orion exclaimed breathlessly.

"Okay," I managed to say, trying to get my breathing under control. We both sat down, with me in Molly's chair, which he had pulled over to his side of the room, and Orion in his. After a few minutes of down time, I told him that I had to leave for work.

"You still have about an hour," Orion said.

"Hmm, I need to change. I don't like changing at the restaurant now, since the staff bathroom's lock doesn't work anymore and no one is in a hurry to fix it.

"You can change in here. I won't look." He said. I gave him a look. "What? I promise to turn away and keep my eyes shut."

He stood up and went over to face the wall. I kept my eyes on him as I slid out of my jeans and shirt and into my uniform. There were some buttons on the back that I can get by myself, but I decided to throw Orion a bone.

"Hey, would you help me?" I asked. Orion turned around. "There are some buttons on the back that I can't reach."

"Sure," Orion said. I turned around and moved my hair out of the way as he came over. He did them up slowly, savouring the occasion, and then gently put his hands on my shoulders, before turning me around to be kissed again.

I finished getting ready by brushing strands of hair out of my face, and putting the clip back into my hair, after I had pulled it up and wound it into a French twist at the back.

"So, how do I look?" I inquired.

"Drop-dead gorgeous," Orion complimented me, leaning against the door again.

"Do I look like a girl who just spent some time making out with a guy?" I asked.

"Nah, you look like ya always do-great," he assured me. I rolled my eyes and smiled. Then I looked at his desk and casually picked up a paper, even though I probably shouldn't have.

"Which song are you looking at?" he asked.

"It doesn't have a name." I said. "It's just sheet music. Looks like the conductor's copy with all the instruments on it."

"Oh, I'm coming up with words for that one," Orion said. "But..." He came over and took the paper from me. "You can't find out about it until I play it."

"Aw, why not?" I asked. "What's it about?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Orion said. I raised an eyebrow, now very curious. "Don't start asking questions about it, Mad, especially when you've got to get to work."

"Right," I said, pouting.

"Want me to drive you over?" Orion asked.

"It's not that far, Orion," I said. "You can walk me over if you want."