The Guardians (17 page)

A small crack appeared in Lauren’s tough veneer, and I saw tears glisten in her eyes. “And what if I do? Are you going to do something about it? Save me or something?”

“I’d like to make you see differently about yourself—to make you like yourself a little bit more.”

She raised an eyebrow questioningly at me. “Why? Why would
you
want to help me?”

I didn’t know if I had an answer I could give her. I certainly couldn’t tell her she’d been assigned to me, but then of course there was this huge mix up. I searched within myself to find some common ground to connect us. “Because I know what it’s like to feel all mixed up inside and not be able to be comfortable in your own skin. And I know what it feels like to wish for a different life because you don’t know how to live the one you have,” I answered honestly.

Something about my response seemed to resonate with her.

“So could you give me a chance?” I asked.

“For what? Like friendship or something?”

I nodded. “Yeah, why not? We’re going to be spending a lot of time together on the play.”

Her whole demeanor opened up like I was offering her the one thing she needed so badly.

At that moment, Zach strode out of the back with his guitar in hand. His face registered the same kind of disbelief AJ’s had when he saw the two of us sitting together. His eyes scanned us, silently gauging our emotions, before a small smile spread across his lips. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I came to see Lauren. You know about the musical.”

“Oh, I got ya,” he replied. He looked back and forth between us with a hopeful expression. “So are you guys, like, friends now or something?”

Lauren raised her eyebrows. “Why are you asking?”

Zach shrugged. “I was just thinking it’d be really cool to all hang out together.”

I wasn’t sure Lauren was ever going to give me a chance at friendship until I saw her eyes light up at the prospect of spending more time with Zach. Her skepticism over my offer quickly turned to acceptance as she said, “Yeah, Cassie and I are kinda becoming friends.” Instead of seeing my reaction, she looked to Zach.

He grinned. “Hey, that’s awesome! After my set, we should plan something to do this weekend.”

“Yeah, we should,” she said, a little more enthusiastically for his benefit.

Zach glanced at the clock over the counter. “Well, I guess I better get going. I’ll sing something for you guys.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you,” Lauren murmured.

I nodded in agreement.

“Catch ya later, then,” he said as he grabbed up his guitar and headed for the stage.

Lauren watched him go. “He seems different.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s not as depressed like he used to be. He seems almost…happy.” Her eyes narrowed almost accusingly at me. “What did you do to him?”

I cocked my head, watching as Zach got comfortable on the stool. “I don’t think it was really anything I said or did.”

“It had to be something. It wasn’t me,” Lauren said, her voice strained.

Before I could protest, she bolted from her chair and sprinted to the bathroom. I sat in shock for a second before hurrying after her. When I pushed open the door, I had such a feeling of Déjà vu come over me. This time she wasn’t in a stall. Instead, she hung her head over the sink, sobbing.

“Lauren?” I questioned, tentatively.

“Just leave me alone.”

“No, you’re upset.” My hand hovered over her back, unsure of what to do. Finally, I pressed my palm onto her shoulder. “Please don’t cry. It’s going to be all right.”

My words only made her sob harder. For the millionth time since being a guardian, I felt completely helpless. “Just tell me how I can help.”

Lauren shook her head. “That’s just it. You can’t help.
No one
can.”

“I could try,” I protested.

She threw her head back. “I’m in love with him, don’t you get it? He thinks we’re just friends, but I love him with everything in me.”

Deep down, I knew she had a crush on Zach, but until that moment and even with my file, I didn’t realize the depth of her feelings. Her pain made me think of Elijah and how he probably loved—rather than liked—Abby.

Using the back of her hand, she wiped away the heavy mascara staining her cheeks. “I’ve done everything I can to get him to like me that way. I even started sleeping with him because I thought it might change things between us.”

My brows furrowed. “Well, there’s nothing really wrong with him sleeping over when things get bad at his house.”

Lauren snorted. “I don’t mean sleepovers, Cassie. I’m talking about sex.”

Heat rose in my cheeks at the thought of Lauren and Zach together in
that
way. I hated being so naïve that things like that went on.

Her sniffles brought me out of my thoughts. “I just want a boyfriend so bad—I want someone to love
me
.”

“But you do have people that love you. Your mom and dad—”

She sighed exasperatedly. “Yeah, my dad really loves me. He loves me so much he walked out on us two years ago to shack up with some bimbo!”

“No matter what happened between your parents, I’m sure he still loves you and wants to be a part of your life.”

“Whatever.”

I chewed on my bottom lip before continuing. “Maybe you could try to talk to him or go see him?”

Lauren shrugged. “What does it matter? I mean, you think if I see my dad and forgive him everything else in my life is just going to fall into place?” She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“It might. You won’t know until you give it a chance.”

“But don’t you get it? I don’t really care about my dad right now. I want a
guy’s
love. Someone who is crazy about me. Somebody I get up for in the morning and go to sleep thinking about at night.”

Feeling overwhelmed and defeated, I leaned back against the wall. Not only were the issues with Lauren and her father problematic, but finding someone to fit her requirements, especially if it was Zach, seemed as elusive as finding the Fountain of Youth. “But what if there’s someone else out there for you besides Zach?”

“There’s no one out there like him,” she protested.

Okay, so it was pretty easy to see what choices I had. It was going to be hard to get Lauren to think better about herself—to get her to stop trying to make herself into the perfect girl—until Zach liked her as much as she liked him. And even though I had angelic powers, playing Cupid and making people fall in love with each other was not part of the deal. Besides, her problems were the kind that needed real professional help—the kind that was out of my realm of angelic assistance, but the kind I could find and get for her. But there was no way I could do that until she trusted me more. So in the mean time, there were things I could do to get Zach and Lauren together—to get him to see how great she was and that if he had a brain in his body, then he would want to date her.

I drew in a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was about to do. “What if I tried to get you and Zach together?”

Lauren stared at me with a dumbfounded expression. “Huh?”

“You know, what if I tried to get you guys to date? Like go out together in groups for a while, make little hints to get Zach to see what a wonderful catch you are.”

She reached past me to grab a paper-towel. The sound of her blowing her nose echoed through the quiet bathroom. Finally, she met my gaze. “You’d really do that for me?”

“Of course I would.”

“But why? I mean, I kinda thought you had a thing for Zach.”

I shook my head. “I promise. There’s nothing between us.” She still looked skeptical, so I sighed. “Well, there’s definitely not any feelings there for me.”

Lauren leaned back against the sink. “So you’re really willing to help Zach and me get to together?”

“Yep, totally.”

A smile hovered at her lips as she stared at me—still unsure if she really believed me. “Then I’ll let you.”

I beamed. “Great!”

“You know, Cassie, you’re kinda weird. But a good weird.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!”

Lauren laughed. “Whatever. Come on. We better get out there before Zach thinks we fell in or something.”

Chapter Sixteen: CASSIE

One afternoon as I started out of the back stage door after rehearsals, Zach stood waiting for me. I skidded to a stop and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see you.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Part of me wished he had come to see Lauren, but then something was different about him. Guilt rippled through me that rehearsals had occupied my mind for the last two hours, and I hadn’t focused on his emotions. Frustration and sadness tore through me, and I brought my eyes to his neck. There were red fingertip marks. “What happened?” I asked, reaching out to touch them.

He jerked back, and when he met my worried gaze, his eyes flashed dark and angry. “Nothing.”

“Zach,” I whispered softly. “Just let me touch you.” He stared at me as I brought my hands to his neck. I closed my eyes and concentrated, sucking out the pain as I also searched for the answers to what had happened. When I saw it vividly in my mind, I gasped. “He choked you?”

“Not really. More like shoved me against the wall to prove a point,” he mumbled. Then his eyes changed to disbelief. “Hey, what did you just do?”

I snatched my hand away. “Nothing,” I lied.

He turned his neck from side to side, then ran his fingers where mine had just been. Then he stared at me. “My neck was throbbing until you touched it.”

I quickly stared down at my feet. “Oh that, it’s just a little healing touch. This weird thing I have.” I could still feel Zach’s hot gaze burning down on me. “Um, I don’t like to talk about it since people give me the kind of looks you are,” I admitted.

Finally, Zach laughed. “You’re kidding me right?”

“Um, no. It’s truth. We all have it,” I said, before I could stop myself.

He raised his eyebrows. “Rafe and Elijah?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“But I thought you said you guys weren’t natural brothers and sisters and that your parents had adopted all of you.”

I waved my hand dismissively at him. “Healing isn’t a hereditary thing, silly. It’s a taught thing.” I peeked up at him, hoping he was buying my story.

He must have because he shook his head and grinned. “Damn Cassie, just when I think I have you figured out, you go and tell me something else like that.”

Forced laughter escaped my lips. “Yep, I’m one more woman of mystery, huh?”

He nodded. “Yep, you sure are.”

“So, you gotta work tonight?”

His face darkened a little. “No, I don’t. That’s kinda the reason why I’m here.”

We started walking towards the parking lot. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He brought his hand to his eyes, shielding them from the intense setting sun.

“Um, you didn’t answer my question.”

His hand dropped to his side, and he looked over at me. “I ran out of my house after a fight with Bruce. I couldn’t go to the coffeehouse because AJ would’ve flipped out if he’d seen my neck.” He shook his head. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go, Cassie.”

I stared into his broken face. “You could’ve gone to Lauren.”

He jammed his hands in his jean pockets. “No, I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because she doesn’t make me feel like you do.”

My eyes closed in defeat at his declaration. This was not going the way it was supposed to. “But I know how much Lauren cares about you, and she would do anything to help you.”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” We stood in an awkward silence—me with my arms crossed over my chest, and Zach swaying back and forth on his feet.

“So you wanna hang out this afternoon?” I finally asked.

A slow smile stretched across his face. “Yeah, sure, that would be awesome.”

“Okay, why don’t you go get your stuff while I see what Elijah and the others are doing?”

“Sounds good to me.” He then trotted off to his car. I pulled my cell phone out of my purse. Before I could hit speed dial, the sound of someone behind me made me jump.

“Was that Zach?”

I turned around to see Lauren staring expectantly at Zach’s retreating form. “Uh, yeah, it was. I thought we could all hang out this afternoon. How does that sound?”

She smiled. “Sounds great. Just let me freshen up really quick.”

I nodded as she headed back inside. Elijah picked up on the third ring. “Hey, what are you guys doing this afternoon?”

***

When we pulled up to
Stars and Strikes
, Zach raised his eyebrows. “Bowling?”

I grinned. “But not just any bowling. Thursday night is
Cosmic
bowling and karaoke.”