Intrigue (4 page)

“Yes, you always find the weirdest and wildest things at these estate auctions. And everything has a story behind it. Then, you get to bid against someone, and pit your will against their will.”

“Calli, I’m guessing that very few of your friends call you on your antics. I promise you, I
will
be one of them.”

“Wow. What an incentive to pursue a friendship with you. What other sterling attributes do you bring to the friendship table?” I mocked this time.

Rafe was silent for a second before he really sold me with, “Well, I can kick your eyas in karate. I can beat you on every test and quiz in school. I can outrun you. I can outdo you in the use of sarcasm and vocabulary, and I have the prettiest display of feathers in the Detroit area.” Then he laughed in a deeply suggestive way that got my heart rate accelerating.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed too! When our amusement ceased, I finally said, “Vain much? You know, guys that act like they’re god’s gift to women are really a turn off.”

“As stimulating as this conversation has been, I’m gonna have to get some rest so I can kick your eyas tomorrow morning. So, good night, Mr. Vain.”

“And she retreats. Good night, Calli.”

Oh, I’m in Trouble. I remembered the wise words of
Harold Hill
from
The Music Man
(I am a show tunes freak, deal), as he thought trouble in something that started with P. He was only a couple letters off because trouble in my life started and ended with R for Rafe.

Chapter 4: Plane Friends

I was my bright and perky self when I headed into the gym after my dad pointedly told me not to be late this morning. Rafe seemed to be stretching when I came in, and I immediately started doing the same after a grumbled hello. We stretched in companionable silence. I finally felt sufficiently warmed up after stealthily checking him out about a dozen times. We started our kihon and kata, and I announced, “You can’t make me late today by grilling me with your questions.”

“Hello. Good Morning. How are you? These are all polite ways to start out conversations. Calli, were you perhaps raised by wolves?”

Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned. He did say he would call me on my antics. I replied with just a tinge of guilt in my voice, “I did say hello when I walked in.”

“No. I think you might have growled something. A greeting, it was not. Of course, it was followed by the world’s most civil conversation openers: an accusation. I am sure your mother taught you better manners than that.”

I paled a little. He was right that my mom had taught me better, but to admit I was wrong this early in the morning was not going to happen. I finally said, “I didn’t accuse you. I just said I can’t be late.
And
this is my early morning personality; either accept me for who I am or don’t be around me this early.”

“First, you did say, and I quote, ‘you can’t make me late today.’ Second, It was your blatant curiosity about me that made you late yesterday. Third, I accept you as you are but I distinctly remember telling you I would call you on your behavior. Finally, don’t issue ultimatums that you have no intention of carrying out,” he snarked back with a wink.

I turned to face him and pinned his gaze to mine. I announced with authority as if I had not heard a word he said, “Well, I’m glad we have that straight. Another thing we need to get straight is Thrace. Right now, he is unaware of our friendship. As soon as school starts that is going to change. If we are going to stay friends, you are going to have to make friends with Thrace.” I went back in my stance, and we continued on with practicing our kihon.

His voice turned serious, “Why is it you would like me to befriend your better half?”

I laughed and informed him, “He
is
my better half and has been a friend for over ten years. And you should make nice with him for several reasons. He’s Mr. Popular at DAI, and since Jazz and Key are going to be friends with you, it will make it easier all around if you befriend Thrace.”

His voice turned husky, and I had a hard time with my concentration as he asked, “So if he’s a social butterfly, what are you?”

“As you already pointed out, I’m a work in progress. I’m the one that will sit back and watch instead of come over and talk. I’m the one with an Irish temper and sarcastic sense of humor. I’m the one that will read a book before I’ll watch TV. I’m the one with a small group of
plane friends
instead of a large circle of back stabbers.”

We finished our kata as I finished my self-disclosure. He seemed to be pondering what I had just told him as he bowed to me. I returned his bow before he asked the inevitable question, “What are plane friends?”

I waited for his attack this time, and I was not disappointed as he started with a front kick-punch combination, which I avoided then countered. And we were off to the races again. We circled as I answered his question, “One of my very good friends, Clio, moved away to Cleveland my freshman year. She was in a car accident last year. When she called to tell me she was in the hospital, I jumped on a plane and took a taxi directly to the Cleveland Clinic. When I was at the airport, I started to think which friends of mine I would jump on a plane for no questions asked if they said they needed me. It’s a short list. Clio, Thrace, Jazz, and Key.”

He let me attack as he considered my revelation. He finally said in a thoughtful voice, “My list of plane friends wouldn’t even be that long. I have many friends, but only one true friend since my best friend died.”

I faltered then stopped my attack altogether. He had actually grabbed my wrist instead of blocking my last pathetic punch. “I’m sorry. That must have been really hard. How old were you when he died?”

He had let our hands hang down still connected. “
She
died awhile ago, and yes it was hard. It was like losing a piece of me. You actually remind me a little of her. Cora had a whole lotta spunk.”

“If it’s not too painful, do you mind if I ask how she died?” His hand slid from my wrist and entwined in my hand.

He stared off into space as if he was trying to distance himself from the loss. “She died in an accident. Your story made me think of it.” Then his hypnotic gaze held me in rapt attention as he whispered, “I would be honored to call you a friend, Calli. And maybe, someday even a plane friend.”

I took a deep breath while trying unsuccessfully to escape his hypnotic gaze as I shyly pronounced, “Somehow, I think I’ve already entered the deep end of the pool by being friends with you.”

He looked slightly startled then somewhat amused when he said, “Truer words were never spoken. But, somehow I think you’re rather adept at treading water.”

“I’m better at floating and evasion. So on that note, I was told by my dad not to make him late again, so I’m gonna have to bail.”

He glanced down at our hands entwined and looked like he truly regretted having to let mine go. He squeezed it once and said with a tempting smile, “Til tonight, Calli.”

I sprinted toward the exit to make sure dad wasn’t late again. He seemed less irritated this time so I must have just made it in time. I followed the same routine as yesterday with a quick run, a long shower, and a nap. This time I wasn’t startled awake by Thrace, but I did wake up snuggled up against his back. I kissed his neck right by his ear in the spot that I knew he loved and said, “Much better.”

He sleepily mumbled, “What’s much better?”

“Waking up like this rather than being startled awake,” I sat up and started to stretch.

Unfortunately, Thrace took the opportunity to tackle me back to the bed while he cajoled, “We should take advantage of our last week home without parental supervision. Calli, don’t you think it’s time?”

As he kissed my neck, I confessed to him, “Thrace, I know you have been patient, but I’m not ready. Your first time only happens once and it won’t be special for me if I feel like I caved to pressure from you.”

Thrace seemed a tad bit frustrated as he rolled over and stared up at my ceiling. This was an ongoing battle that Disney never clued me into when I landed the Prince. I felt so lucky to have finally got his attention that I was afraid that he would start looking elsewhere. “Calli, I have been patient for months. How long do you plan on keeping me waiting?”

“I just want to feel like our first time happens at the exact right time. I haven’t even scheduled an appointment to get on birth control.”

Thrace look horrified, “Calli, you don’t have to do that. I have us covered in that area!”

Both our mothers were nurses so this was a no-brainer, “You have us mostly covered. I will
not
take a risk every time just to avoid a little parental humiliation. Those percentages add up you know. Now, think about how my dad is going to look at you when he finds out, and if that doesn’t make you feel like you want to wait then nothing will.”

Thrace shuddered and actually jumped out of bed and said, “You hungry?”

I laughed and said, “Thought that mental image might be helpful for you.”

We were downstairs raiding the kitchen for suitable lunch food in under a minute. We settled on Spaghetti O’s and peanut butter sandwiches. As we were eating in the den, Thrace started talking like he was reading from a script he prepared. “I know you want our first time to be perfect. I think part of you not being ready is that sex is something you have to slowly work up to. For instance, there are about 21 steps between meeting someone and the first time that most committed couples go through.”

I shook my head and said with a dumbfounded expression still on my face, “Where are you getting this, and why are you acting like you are reading off a teleprompter?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Thrace said with embarrassment.

“Clearly, it
does
matter!” I laughed. No way was he going to brazen his way out of this one, especially since it was definitely going to be amusing.

“Fine. I found it online. You’re making me so desperate that I have been doing research.”

“What the Flock! What type of research?
Don’t
tell me you Googled how to persuade your virgin girlfriend to have sex with you. ” I said, slightly hysterical.

“No!” He huffily replied, which told me I wasn’t far off the mark.

“Back to my main point. Maybe we should just work our way through the list until you are ready,” he said desperately trying to get the conversation back to his main idea.

If this would make him happy, then I guess we could try it. “That sounds reasonable. But first I want to see the list and I want to know where it came from. Second, it’s not going to be one thing on the list per day, ok?”

Thrace nodded and gave me a grateful smile like he could actually see the finish line now.

Thrace didn’t want to hang out at the pool because we had practice this afternoon, and he felt it would drain his energy. I think he was secretly hoping that he would get to fight Rafe and didn’t want to take his chances on not being in top form. So, we kicked back and watched
Borat
until we left for class.

As usual, Thrace drove us to class. He actually put his hand on my back as we walked in the door, which he had never done before. Rafe was nowhere to be seen, so Thrace’s territorial gesture was wasted, although Jazz and Key definitely noticed and smirked as they followed me into the locker room.

“Hey, I distinctly remember telling you that you were to call me and provide details of your sparring sessions with our new eye candy.” Jazz announced in an annoyed voice.

“Yeah, we’re feeling no love from you. We share all our exploits with you!” Key jumped in to further shame me.

After I put my stuff in the locker, I filled them in with a few brief details. I started to change as they discussed the info. I finally gave them one more piece of information that would set them spinning as we walked out of the locker room door. I timed it perfectly because class was starting right then, so they wouldn’t be able to ask me 10,000 more questions that I could not answer. “Oh, and Rafe enrolled in DAI this year.”

I got a gasp and an open mouth as I smiled back at them when I stepped into my place next to Thrace to begin warm-ups. Next time I looked back, they were both glaring at me with retribution in their eyes. I smirked. I also noticed Rafe was in the front like Thrace and I at the far end of the room, so no awkward meeting of the eyes that Thrace would later bust me for. Slowly, I began to relax then focus on my form and movement. A lot of people said that yoga helped them find peace and relaxation. With me, it was karate. I was bullied pretty badly in elementary and middle school for my gangly height and my fire red hair. But instead of going postal, I channeled my anger into karate. After that, it only took one fight to get a reputation of someone not to be messed with. Of course, it also meant that I didn’t have very many friends.

As soon as we performed our customary bow at the end of practice, I heard, “Chica, you are in trouble,” coming from Jazz. I just smiled, but Thrace looked back and said, “Why is she in trouble now?”

“Calli failed to mention our new boy toy was enrolling in DAI until right before practice. You’re lucky you weren’t my partner today,” Jazz sneered.