The Haunted (35 page)

Ben showed up at seven forty-five and gallantly hauled my suitcase out to the car, while Caspian stood around casting moody glares at him. I gave him a warning look, but he just ignored me, and I suddenly found myself wishing for some of Aubra’s mom’s Xanax. This trip was going to be
anything
but relaxing.

Before we left, Mom reminded me again to call her as soon as we reached the hotel, and Dad reminded me again that he’d made separate room reservations. On opposite sides of the hall.

I just nodded and tried to keep a cheerful look on my face, praying that I wouldn’t break out into hives or anything. All I had to do was get in the car and leave the house. They’d never know.

Dad slipped me a fifty-dollar bill “for emergencies” after I hugged him, and then pulled out his wallet to give me two more twenties.

I looked down at the wad of bills in my hand.

“For fun,” he said. I tried to say thanks, but Mom pulled me into an anaconda squeeze and wouldn’t let go.

“Mom.” She was cutting off my air.
“Mom.”
My arms were going numb. “Okay, Mom! I need to breathe.”

She squeezed me for a second longer and then reluctantly let go. Her eyes were wet, and there was a slightly panicked look in them as she pulled back. She tried to hug me again, but I stopped her.

“Mom, I have to go. We need to leave.”

“I know, I know. Are you sure you have everything? And you promise you’ll take pictures?”

I nodded. Of course, my camera had “accidentally” been left in my room, but she didn’t need to know that.

She pitched her voice lower and cast a worried look over at Ben’s Jeep. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? With the… other thing? Do you have Dr. Pendleton’s number, just in case?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Bye, guys.” I turned away from them before Mom could latch on again, and started walking to the car. Throwing my messenger bag into the backseat, I left the door open long enough for Caspian to climb in.

I had to cover my laugh with a fake cough when he whispered, “Anything but
Star Trek
. Please, dear
God
, anything but
Star Trek
.”

Shooting him a quick
Behave
glare, I climbed into the front seat.

Ben started up the car, and we both waved as we pulled out of the driveway. Once we were completely clear of my parents, he turned and smiled at me. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Ready,” Caspian called from the back.

I pulled down the visor and flipped it open, using the pretense of fixing my hair in the mirror. Caspian met my eyes and winked. With an inward sigh, I shut the visor and steeled myself to play invisible referee.

Ben and I talked about the upcoming school year and what teachers we hoped we’d get, and the first two hours passed pretty quickly. Then the conversation moved on to our future plans and what we’d be doing
after
high school.

“I think it’s really cool that you want to have your own store, Abbey,” Ben said. “But why are you going to rent that dinky place downtown? You should open up a store in Manhattan.”

I could practically feel Caspian’s scowl from the back seat.

“Because she doesn’t love
Manhattan,
you idiot,” he growled. “She loves Sleepy Hollow.”

Trying to pretend that I didn’t hear him, I said, “I guess I’m just really attached to the town.”

“Which you’d
know
if you spent five minutes actually paying attention to her,” Caspian added.

“I don’t know.” Ben shook his head. “I just don’t get it. The statistics are much better there. More volume, more customers, more profit.”

“Higher overhead, higher taxes, less history,” I rebutted. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, Ben. Trust me. Plus, it’s something that Kristen was going to help me with.”

Caspian leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “I think it’s a great idea, Abbey. Don’t listen to him. He’s a schmuck. And by the way, have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

Ben was talking too, and I had to fight not to shiver at Caspian’s words. I tucked a stray curl behind one ear, getting lost in the moment of having him so near.

“… did you ever find that out?” Ben asked. He looked at me expectantly.

“Sorry,” I said. “Got distracted by a car. What was that?”

“I asked if you ever found out who that D. guy was, since you thought I was him.”

Bad memories immediately clouded my mind, and I frowned. “Oh, yeah. I did. He was… a jerk.”

“But Kristen was seeing him?” Ben said.

I looked out my window. Trees and houses rushed past in a never-ending blur. “She was seeing him, yeah. But I think she knew it was a mistake. When she wrote about him in her diaries… I think she realized that she was in over her head.”

“Did these diaries mention anyone else?” He gave me a hopeful look, and I felt bad for him. I resisted the urge to reach out and put a hand on his arm.

“No, she didn’t mention anyone else. Sorry, Ben.”

“What about you and that guy you were dating?” Ben asked. “Are you still together? How come I never see him around?”

Fidgeting with my seat belt, I looked down. “It’s… complicated.”

“Complicated as in you guys broke up? Or complicated as in you’re still together?”

“Um, I don’t really know how to describe it.”

Ben’s face changed. “
Oh
. I get it. Friends with benefits.”

“Good Lord, no,” I blurted out. My face felt like it was on fire, so I opened the window to suck in a mouthful of fresh air. As soon as my face felt normal again, I turned back to Ben. “We’re not, um, like that. It’s just… complicated.”
Drop it. Please drop it,
I mentally commanded him.

“I see,” Ben said. Then, “Okay, no I don’t. But I guess it’s none of my business.”

“Ding, ding, correct answer for ten bonus points,” said Caspian.

I waved my hand in his direction to gesture for him to stop talking, and Ben glanced at me funny. “Bug… flying… gnat… thing.”
Oh God, how much longer
do we have until we get there?
This car ride is going to be the death of me.

“I thought he was an ass.” Ben said. “You seemed really upset by him at school last year.”

“It’s cool now.” I reached down to the radio, and held my finger over the power button. “Do you mind if I put on some music?”

He shrugged, and I scanned through the stations, trying to find
something good. I paused when I came to a familiar voice. Steven Tyler sang for a couple of seconds before Ben changed the station.

“Hey,” I said.

“What? That song’s almost over.”

“Yeah, but I like it.”

“Isn’t it from an asteroid movie?
Doomsday
or something.”

“
Armageddon
. The song is called ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’” The memory of dancing with Caspian tugged at me, and I closed my eyes. A sudden lump rose in my throat.

“Going to sleep?” Ben asked.

I took the excuse. “Yeah, wake me up in an hour.”

He changed the station again, and classical music filled the car.
Ugh
. I hated classical music. I wouldn’t have a hard time falling asleep for real with
that
on the radio.

“Abbey. Hey, Abbey. Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” Caspian’s voice was soft in my ear.

I picked my head up, neck muscles screaming in pain. I must have slumped over while I was sleeping. The driver’s seat was empty. “Where’s Ben?”

“He
left
you,” Caspian said, sounding angry. “You were sleeping, and he didn’t wake you up. And he thinks
I’m
the ass.”

I looked around me. We were at a gas station, and I spotted Ben inside the store. “He just went in there.”

“He should have woken you up,” Caspian said. “Who just leaves someone alone like that?”

“But I’m not alone. I have you.”

“
He
doesn’t know that.”

Caspian sat back and crossed his arms, glowering as Ben exited the store carrying a small paper bag.

“Be nice,” I whispered.

“Tell that to
him
,” he retorted.

Ben opened the door and sat the bag between us. “Oh, good. You’re awake.” He reached down and pulled out a bottle of Coke. “I wasn’t sure what you’d want, so I got you this and diet. Oh, and a bottle of water.”

I took the Coke from him. “Thanks, Ben. That was really
nice
of you,” I said. Caspian made a rude noise from the back.

Then Ben pulled out a green and yellow bag and held it up, giving me a goofy smile. “Got some Funyuns.”

I smiled back, and he started the car, heading onto the highway.

Popping the bag open, he held it out to me. “Want one? Come on, try ’em.”

“Funyuns make you fart,” Caspian said, and I exploded in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Ben asked.

I tried to stop laughing, but Caspian was leaning forward now, his face stuck right in between us. “Funyuns give you bad breath, too. Not very attractive to the ladies.” He paused. “On second thought… enjoy your Funyuns, Ben!”

I had to bite the side of my cheek to keep from giggling. The fact that Ben had no clue what was going made it even harder to stop.

Caspian winked at me, and I took a sip of soda. Sternly telling myself to calm down, I tried to think up some excuse for why I was laughing. “I just thought that the name was funny,” I said. “Funyuns. Are they fun onions or faux onions? It’s funny…”

Ben shrugged. “Yeah, I guess the name is funny.”

“So how much longer until we get there?” I needed a change of subject.

“About two and a half hours. Unless we get stuck in a wormhole.”

I looked at him blankly. “A what?”

“Wormhole? You know,
Star Trek
? Because we watched the movie.”

“Is that your favorite movie?” I asked. “
Star Trek
?” He nodded, but I cut him off before he could say anything further about it. “Okay, favorite
comedy
movie. That’s not
Star Trek
.”

He changed lanes on the highway, and we passed a truck carrying huge spools of wire. “
Zoolander
. What’s yours?”

“
City Slickers
.”

He gave me a surprised look. “Really? I wouldn’t have picked that one for you.”

“I know, right? It’s such an old movie. But I love Billy Crystal. He’s
sooo
funny. I like pretty much anything he’s in.”

He nodded.

“Do you know what Kristen’s favorite movie was?” I said.

“No.”

“
Back to the Future
. That’s one of the things we had in common; we both loved old movies. But she loved Michael J. Fox, too. I mean, seriously, loved him. He came to New York City once for this promo project, some art show or something, and Kristen won tickets to go see him. She was
so
excited.”

“Did you go with her?”

“No. I really wanted to, but she only won two tickets, and since she was under eighteen, a guardian had to go with her. You’ll never guess what she tried to do, though.”

Kristen’s face swam in front of me, and my heart constricted painfully. Even the good things she’d done were still so hard to talk about.

“The night before they were supposed to leave, Kristen
called me and told me that she was sick so I’d have to take her place. I didn’t believe her, so I went over to see. She had actually
painted
red
dots
on her face and told me it was the chicken pox.”

Ben laughed.

“She felt so bad that I couldn’t go, she was willing to sacrifice her ticket and give it to me.”

“She really did that?” Ben said.

“Yup. Of course, I
made
her go, and she had a great time. Got to shake Michael’s hand, and wouldn’t wash it for a week. But I could never get over the fact that she was going to give up the
one
thing she wanted so badly, for me.”

Ben and I fell silent, and stayed that way for another hour, until Ben saw a sign for a McDonald’s. “Is this okay with you?” he asked, pulling into the parking lot. “I’m starving.”

“Yeah. This is fine. I’m hungry too. But let’s eat inside. I have to, um, use the restroom.” Unbuckling my seat belt, I glanced into the rearview mirror.

“Take your time, Abbey,” Caspian said. “I’ll wait here.”

I gave him a brief nod and then got out of the car, stretching my arms and legs as I walked into the McDonald’s. Handing Ben some money, I told him what to order for me, then hurried to the bathroom. Soon we were back in the car and on the road again.

“The guy at the register said we only have about twenty minutes until we reach Shepherdstown,” Ben said. “That’s where your dad made the reservations, right?”

Reaching for my bag on the backseat, I carefully maneuvered around Caspian’s leg and pulled out a piece of paper with the hotel address and confirmation number scribbled on it. “Yeah. We’re staying at the Shepherd’s Inn. I guess the town is too small for a Hilton.”

“Sounds cozy,” Ben replied. “Let’s hope the sheets are clean.”

“And the phones work,” I deadpanned. “Otherwise, if my dad can’t get through, we might have company tomorrow.”

Ben followed the directions I’d printed out, and turned off onto a long gravel road. We bumped along, hitting potholes every couple of feet.

“Do you think they could have made this road any bumpier?” I asked, as I jolted out of my seat.

“Maybe they saved their money for the hotel. Jacuzzis, PS2s, plasmas, and a wet bar in every room.”

“I’m
sure
that’s what they did,” I said. “Absolutely
positive
.”

We bumped along a little farther until the road inexplicably smoothed out and turned into shiny blacktop. Combination movie rental–tanning stores started popping up, and it looked like we were heading back into civilization.

Ben eyed one of the combo stores as we passed. “Why would you want to go tan and then rent a movie right after? Or, alternately, rent a movie, then go tanning?”

A bait shop–Japanese restaurant popped up, and he looked at me with both eyebrows raised. “If I don’t understand the tan-and-rent one, I
sure
as hell don’t get
that
one.”