Summer's Desire (25 page)

A few times, I notice Andy and Joe
staring at Seth and me: Andy increasingly bewildered, and Joe as if he knows a
secret he's not sharing and that he finds half-amusing, half-pleasing.

Finally, at about 5 P.M., Seth gets off
work. After making our goodbyes to Joe—Andy had already left a couple of hours
ago—Seth and I walk hand in hand back to his car. I've taken the mystery book
with me; I've only a couple of chapters left to read, and I plan to finish them
this weekend.

It's a beautiful day at the end of April,
the sun is still shining down on us, and the way I feel, all warm and tingly on
the inside, it's as if I have another sun glowing inside me too.

"Sunny, what do you say we go and
catch a movie?" Seth's smile is made of pure mischief.

I fake-groan. "Judging by your
satisfied smirk, I guess it's safe to assume that you remember whose turn it is
to pick the movie, right?" I try to act put out, but I don't think I
manage to be very convincing.

His grin grows wider. "Sunny baby,
it's finally payback time!"

Wow, he really does remember our last
cinema outing and the awful romantic comedy to which I dragged him when he was
thirteen and I was eleven, the week before we lost Grandma. Obviously, he also
remembers that he promised me revenge at the time, in the form of his next pick
being a gory, disgusting horror movie.

Seems like he's determined to finally
make good on that long-ago promise.

Having reached the car, he opens my door,
and after I sit down, he closes the door and circles the front to take his own
seat. We head to the cinema.

Oh, better we had gone straight home!

Chapter 18

Seth and I are in the foyer at the
cinema, standing in line for tickets. We're holding hands, grinning like fools
because he's been whispering naughty jokes to me. He's delighted at having made
me blush, and I'm drunk on his happy, smiling face.

Once more he leans down close to my ear,
his breath falling hot on my neck and making me shiver. "What's six inches
long that women love?"

Red-faced, I shake my head, signaling
that I'm
not
suicidal enough to attempt a guess. His nose rubs teasingly
over my temple, and I shiver again.

He tells me, "Folding money."

I burst out laughing, and he chuckles in
my ear.

It is at that precise moment that my
gaze falls on a group of people at the end of a waiting line to my far left—and
oh crap, I catch sight of Jessica and two of her cheerleader friends. They're all
glaring at me, the cheerleader minions with disdain and Jessica with pure,
unadulterated hatred.

Seth feels my sudden stiffness and turns
to see at what I'm staring. All three cheerleaders, Jessica included, beam at
him. On recognizing Jessica, his body goes rigid and his face darkens with spine-chilling
fury.

He starts to take a step toward the girls,
but I grab hold of his arm and plead in a whisper: "No, Seth, don't go
there! Now is not the time."

Jessica's smile for Seth, I notice, has dissolved
into shock. I guess it's the first time she's ever seen him directing such rage
at her. Her two followers merely look confused.

Seth turns back to me and circles his
palms possessively round my upper arms, then regards me so intensely it's as if
he's trying to fill his entire field of vision with me. He inhales deeply a
couple of times and seems to calm down.

"Sorry, baby. I wasn't expecting to
meet her here and I lost it. But you're right; this isn't the time or the place
to settle this."

Then it's our turn at the ticket counter,
and Seth buys the tickets to the threatened horror movie. Next we head into our
movie theater, with our hands clasped together—and we don't look back.

* * *

We've just exited the cinema a few minutes
ago after watching the grossest scary movie one could ever imagine, and we're
sitting in Seth's car, talking. We're holding hands again. In fact, I don't
think he's let go of me for more than two minutes total since we left Joe's Garage.

"Eww, Seth, that film was really
repugnant! I mean, after the murderer gutted that dumb tourist with the sickle,
they actually showed sectioned intestines! May I just say again: eww!!"

He's shaking his head, laughing at my disgusted
pout. "That should teach you not to mess with a man's manliness by making
him watch unmanly movies."

"Ha! I can't believe you're
actually carrying a grudge over a stupid film from five years ago!" Then I
smile widely because—"Even so, I don't feel the least bit sorry for having
made you watch that awful Rom-Com at the time; the expression on your face during
and even after the movie was so totally worth it!"

His eyes gleam with humor. "Now
you're just being mean."

"Yep. As for the future... don't
imagine I'll so easily give up my favorite pastime of making you squirm!"

"Okay, Sunny, have it your way
then. If it's war you want, war you'll get." An anticipatory grin appears
on his face. Then he sobers slightly. "You want to grab something to eat?
There's a place nearby where they serve some awesome spicy food."

I don't hesitate to agree. "Sounds
good."

* * *

We choose to walk to the bistro since
it's just a block away from where we parked the car. As we enter the place, it
only takes me a quick glance to conclude that this must be a popular local
hangout. I see a lot of familiar faces from school, and drat it!—they've all
turned toward Seth and me, aiming stares of disbelief at our entwined hands.
The tables immediately start buzzing.

Seth seems impervious to it all. He's
been looking around for a free table and it seems he's found one, for he's
suddenly tugging me away from the entrance area.

We've only taken a couple of steps, however,
when we hear someone shout his name. We both turn in the direction of the
voice, and I spot the four jocks who were with Seth the first time I ever saw him
at Rockford High, as he was crossing the cafeteria. They're sitting at a nearby
table together with four pretty girls.

"Hey, Seth!" Carter calls
again, in a carefully neutral tone. "What you doin' here?"

Seth pulls on my hand, taking us closer
to his friends. Oh, lordy! The girls are watching me with emotions ranging from
curiosity to scorn, and the boys are all goggling at me with poorly masked
disbelief. All with the exception of Jacob, that is, who seems downright
cheerful.

I gaze up at Seth to see how he feels
about his friends' reactions to us showing up here together, not to mention the
extreme amount of attention still directed at us from the other patrons of the
bistro. But he appears relaxed, completely unruffled by the situation in which
we've found ourselves.

"Hi, guys!" His tone, too, is
perfectly equable. "Summer and I are here to grab a bite. I convinced her
to try a spicy dish." Then, turning to me: "Summer, I think you
haven't officially met the guys yet, except maybe for Carter." He frowns
at his friend, who grins back. "Next to Carter is Tracy, then Adriana and
Jacob, then Alex with Susan, and Elle with Nick. Everyone, this is
Summer."

"Hi, Summer!" Jacob greets
jovially. A few others mutter hellos, but they haven't stopped gaping at me as
if I'm an alien. Or as if I'm a peasant intruding on royalty—which may actually
be a fitting simile, considering our respective positions in Rockford High's social
hierarchy.

One of the girls, the one with the strawberry
blond hair and bangs—Elle, I think—smirks cattily. "Summer, I just love
your hoodie! It really suits your body shape. Where in the world did you buy it?!"

I tense at the hit. Seth releases my
hand and his arm reaches around my waist, drawing me protectively into him. I
lean into his solid frame, drawing strength from the contact, and meet the
challenge in Elle's eyes straight on. "Actually, Seth loaned me this
hoodie."

Her surprised gaze jumps above my head toward
Seth, and an instant later she pales dramatically. "That was very nice of
him," she says a bit shrilly, but with no trace left of her former sarcasm.
What did she see on his face that made her change gears so abruptly?

Alex, a strapping boy with sandy-colored
hair and light brown eyes, asks hesitatingly, "So Lewis, do you, err... wanna
join us at our table?" He sounds unsure about the right protocol to follow
in this situation.

"Nah, guys, that's all right. Summer
and I will get our own table. Enjoy your evening."

With that, he turns away from the group
and leads me to the table he chose before and which luckily is still free. We disentangle
our hands to sit down. The next moment, a young, heavily made-up waitress
materializes with our menus.

"Good evening and welcome." She
flips her long brown hair and smiles broadly at Seth, devouring him with her
eyes. "Do you want to order a drink?" she asks him huskily.

Honest to God? Doesn't she see me
sitting right here beside him?

"Summer?" He seems oblivious
to the girl's barefaced flirting, which is fortunate since I don't have the
energy to contend with her brazenness right now. I'm more than a bit shaken by our
meeting with Seth's friends and by the many stares and unfriendly murmurs that I
continue to feel aimed at me from all around.

"A coke," I tell him softly.

"A coke and an ice tea," he informs
the waitress without glancing at her. She leaves, miffed.

He's watching me with absolute focus, worry
and frustration emanating from him in pulsing waves. "Sorry about earlier,
Sunny. I didn't think the guys would act like that."

I feel like crying. "Oh, Seth, you
don't have to apologize! It wasn't your fault. It's me who's sorry for
embarrassing you."

"You didn't embarrass me." He seems
taken aback. "Why would you even think that?!" His voice is suddenly
fierce, but kept at a low pitch.

Good heavens, is this boy for real? My
outfit alone is enough to make a beggar woman cry—except for his hoodie, which
is beautiful of course but looks weird on me, being so big.

"Seth, you have eyes. Surely you
can see perfectly well that, when you and I stand next to each other, we don't
match!" I'm upset but speaking just as quietly as he did earlier. We've
already created enough of a spectacle just by showing up here together, and at
least half the people in the bistro are still watching us. The last thing we
need is to further feed the rumor mill by raising our voices.

So it's probably not a good thing that
Seth is looking so obviously furious right now.

Just when he opens his mouth, most
likely to blast me, the waitress returns with our drinks and sets them before
us, glowering at me and then turning to smile hugely at Seth.

"Are you ready to place your order?"
she asks him alone.

The shameless witch! She's still not
giving up?

Annoyed at the interruption, or at the
waitress' rudeness to me, I don't know which, Seth looks at her coldly.
"Please serve my girl first." The waitress seems to shiver at his
frosty tone, and I barely manage to contain my smugness.

She recovers quickly, though. "Of
course." She grins at him toothily and turns to me with a sickly sweet
expression. "Are you ready to order now, Miss?"

I glance away from her. "Seth, can
you please choose for us both? You've been here before and know what tastes
good." Plus, I haven't had a chance to even open the menu, much less
select something.

"Okay, Summer." Then he
addresses the waitress. "We'll both have chili con carne and a basket of
salty bread sticks." The waitress writes it down and leaves, but not
before flipping her hair one more time.

Seth immediately goes back to scowling
at me. "You and I match perfectly! We're two halves of a whole, so don't
ever let me hear you say differently!"

I melt at once, moved by his fervor. He's
right, of course. He and I—we are not the same, but we complement each other
perfectly. We
fit
perfectly. I used to hold this as the absolute truth
when we were children, and I don't know why I'm suddenly doubting it now. He's
never given me any reason to do so.

Maybe my increased sensitivity is
because of the change in our relationship; as much as I try to ignore it, I'm
too deeply aware of the fact that my feelings for him are different than when
we were children. The attraction I feel for him is a relentless fizz in my
veins.

Wearily, I ask him, "Aren't you
ashamed to be seen with me the way I'm dressed?" I clench my hands under
the table cloth as I wait for his answer.

He looks sad now. "Sunny, I could
never be ashamed of you."

I nod, trusting the sincerity in his
voice. He really isn't ashamed of how I look, and I've done him wrong to even think,
much less suggest, differently. The problem lies with me alone. I'm the one who
was mortified because of how I looked tonight when his friends saw me, and I've
projected my feelings of inadequacy onto him.