The Touch Series: Initiation (8 page)

              His jaw was tense but his eyes showed the opposite. “Goodnight, Miss Turner.”

              I got in and waved to him which awarded me a slight grin.

              For once,  I was happy I joined The Club.

                                                                      CHAPTER six

              I was sitting in my Art History class which I usually enjoyed but today I was immensely distracted. It had been three days since I'd seen Josef or even Artie. I was curious to know when we would all go out again. Heck, even if that meant having to spend a night with Gwen. I really didn't care anymore.

              I sat near the end of the class, which consisted of around a hundred students so it was okay for me to text in class and get away with it. After checking my messages and email for any update, I finally  took the initiative to text Artie myself.

              Quinn: Hey :)

              I waited for his response which made me even more agitated.  After a minute, I began to bite the  side of my pencil. The professor was in the middle of covering Impressionism and I could barely make out what he was saying between his mumbling and the sound of a pair of students whispering in front of me. I dropped my pencil onto my desk when my phone buzzed.

              Artie: Hey! How's it going?

              Quinn: Just in class. Super bored :( What r u doing?

              Artie: In a meeting. Super bored too :(

              Quinn: Ooops. Sorry for texting then....

              Artie: No it's fine. It's not really important. Just going over our business schedules.

              Quinn: Is Josef there?

              Artie: Yes...he's the CEO. DUH.

Of course he was there. I'm an idiot.

              Quinn: LOL. My bad. Can you tell him I said hi?

Artie didn't respond quickly this time. Oh no, did I cross a line? Did he suspect something? I let out a sigh and began biting my pencil again. The whispers in front of me continued and it increased my agitation. It wasn't until a minute later that my phone buzzed again.

              Artie: I did. He said hi back. So you two are getting along?

              Quinn: I think so... Which is good.

              Artie: ???

Damn.
He knew something was up. It was hard to lie to Artie but I had to in this case. He would kill me if he found out that I was crushing on his friend – and hard, at that.

              Quinn: It would suck if he hated me and was mean. Would make me hate “The Club” more.

              Artie: You hate it?

              Quinn: I just don't like Gwen and some of the other girls. That's all.

              Artie: Not gonna argue with you on that one. Janel is nice though.

Okay, this time I was gonna tease him. I noticed how he looked at Janel at the club. He couldn't keep his eyes off her after their conversation about law school. He was a huge flirt and I knew he wouldn't back down for anything if he really liked a girl, not even if it meant breaking the club's rules.

              Quinn: ???

              Artie: What?

              Quinn: So...Janel...huh?

              Artie: You lost me.

              Quinn: You're breaking the rules. #BadBoyArtie

              Artie: Don't know what you are talking about? #HashtagsAreStupid

I was about to respond when he sent another text.

              Artie: Gotta go. Meeting clients for lunch. Talk later.

Damn it. I wanted to ask him whether there were anymore plans. I'd have to ask him later. I couldn't go on being constantly distracted over it all.

I ran my fingers against the sides of my pencil, and all the dents and holes gave the once-smooth yellow piece of wood a new textured surface. I added more to the new landscape as I bit on it once again.

                                                                                    ***

              When I got home, my mother was preparing dinner in the kitchen. Nicholas was sitting at the bottom of the stairs enjoying a slurpee while reading a comic. I winked at him as I past him to go upstairs to my room.

              When I came into my room, I closed the door behind me and threw my bag on the bed. I quickly got my phone out of my coat pocket and jumped on the bed. I was about to call Janel to see if she wanted to hang out.

              Just as I was about to dial her number, Artie was calling me. I quickly responded.

              “Hi”

              “Hey, are you free this weekend?”

              “Yes.” I said it way too quickly.

              “Good. Because we want to get out of here for the entire weekend.”

              “The entire weekend?” Where were we going?

              “Yep. We are dying to go golfing. How does Oahu, Hawaii sound like?”

              My heart stopped. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.” He had to be playing me.

              He laughed. “I knew you would say that. You'll love it. Start packing. It's all been paid for and when I pick you up on Friday afternoon I'll compel your parents.”

              “I can't believe this. Hawaii!” I was practically jumping up and down on my bed like a little kid. I had never left the state of Illinois before, let alone to a place like Hawaii. I had only ever dreamt of it.

              There was a knock on my door and I immediately knew it was my mother. “Hey, I'll call you back later. It's my mom.” Just as we hung up on each other, she walked in.

              “Mom, I didn't say 'come in'.” She always did that. There were no boundary rules with her.

              “I'm sorry, I just heard you yell and I wanted to see if everything was okay.”

              I'm just going to a dreamy island with a dreamy guy for the entire weekend, that's all. “Everything's fine, just heard a funny story, that's all.”

              She started to fold the clothes that had been thrown onto my arm chair. “Oh, okay. By the way, how's work?”

              She didn't really care about how my work was going. The only thing she really wanted to hear about it was that I would officially quit and work elsewhere. “Work is fine. Still there.”

              “You know, they will need a coordinator for some of the teen programs at the center. I think you would be good at that.”

              “Which programs exactly?”

              “There will be vacant spots for the Theater club and Abstinence for All. I think you would be perfect for that. All the young girls would look up to you.”

              Goodness, no! “I'm not sure about that.”

              She finished folding up the remaining clothes and turned to face me with her hands on her hips. “Quinn, you should really start to look into other arenas you could get yourself involved with, other than just dancing. What are you going to do if you can't make a proper living as a dancer? Be a housewife?”

              “That depends on how handsome my husband will be.”

              “It's not a joke, Quinn. If you don't end up going to college then you need to find a new career path.” She patted her hands against her cheeks as she realized something. “You know what, think of opening up a small business here in town. You once said you wanted to own your own bakery. Think of how lovely that would be in the town center. Especially with your taste in style, I can already imagine it  being a hip place.”

             
Hip?
She clearly spent way too much time at the youth center. “Mom, I said that  after you got me an Easy Bake oven and that was when I was... 8?”

              “Well, it doesn't have to be a bakery. Just think about it. Don't just write it off completely.” The house phone rang which, thankfully, prompted my mom to leave.

              How would she react if she knew what I was doing now? What would she say if I told her that I liked a vampire? My career status was difficult for her so recent current events would most likely not go down well with her. Artie would be able to compel both her and my dad, but that's not a
forever
solution.

              Would she
forever
accept me and my decisions, no matter what?

                                                                                                  ***

              It was Friday afternoon and I was packing things for the trip. I spent hours trying to figure out what to bring; which dress, which shoes, etc. And throughout the whole process, I could barely contain my excitement. I couldn't really believe that I was going. I thought, any minute now I was going to receive a call that the trip was canceled for some reason.

              Nicholas came into my room and pointed to my luggage.

              I smiled at him. “I'm going on a little trip. I'll be back Sunday night. I'll bring you back something nice. Make sure you take care of mom and dad.”. He gave me a thumbs up and at that moment it hit me that I was going to miss him terribly while I was going to be away. I wish I could take him with me. He would have liked it. We never went anywhere as a family, not even Disney World which was something I always wanted for Nicholas. I just figured it would cheer him up and more.

              He ended up passing me the clothes that I had chosen and placed on my bed, for me to put into the luggage.  And an hour later, I was finished with my packing and began to get ready to leave. I chose to wear a long white tunic blouse with palm-tree printed leggings and nude heels. I might as well arrive in Hawaii in style.

              Artie came to pick me up and compelled my parents to not question the trip or worry about me. Before we walked out, Artie handed Nicholas a package. He opened it quickly. It was an
Incredible Hulk
comic book. Judging by his surprised and happy face, it was an issue he wanted. Artie gave him a high five and took my luggage.

              “Thank you, Artie”

              “Of course. Now, let's go.”

              I thought we were going to use the airport. But of course we didn't. Turned out that Josef had his own plane at a private location. Of course, why didn't I think about that? We pulled up to the private lot and I turned to Artie.

              “He has his own plane?”

              “We fly in style, Quinn.” He brushed both of his shoulders in a sarcastic manner.

              I rolled my eyes and snorted when the door on my side opened. A tall man in a dark suit held his hand out for me. I greeted him which he reciprocated. He was kind and took my luggage to a small car with other bags placed in it. There must be others here now.

              Artie came from around the other side of the car and led me inside a small white building next to the plane. We walked in and the other seven girls were seated around the lounge area. Gwen was talking sternly to a stewardess. Josef and Jacob walked towards us from the other side of the room. Josef was wearing jeans and a white v-neck. He looked good in his fancy suits and in casual attire. I couldn't keep it together. I felt me knees go weak and I quickly regretted wearing heels.

              He gave me a mocking grin. “Miss Turner, you're on time.”

              I knew he wasn't going to let that go. “Yes. Well, I know how tight flight schedules are. And I didn't want to miss my lovely trip.”

              He was even more amused. “Lovely trip, huh?”

              “Yes, I'm going to Hawaii, Sir. I'm sure you've heard of it.”

              We both shared a smile. The light reflecting from the window hit his eyes gently. I could clearly see the light hints of hazel in his eyes.

              “What's going on?” Artie looked uneasy next to me.

              I turned to him. “Just making conversation,” I whispered close to him.

              He gave me a stern look. I rolled my eyes at him and walked away to join the other girls.

              I spotted Janel in the corner, looking out the window. I walked up to her, hoping talking to her would take away the anger I had for Artie at that moment. “Hey”.

              She turned to me and smiled, “Hey, girl.” She nodded towards where Josef, Artie and Jacob stood. “He was cold the whole time until you came and he finally broke into a smile.”

              I couldn't help but smile and feel good. Does Josef have a thing for me? “Really?”

              She nodded as she crossed her arms against her chest. “Yes.”

              I started biting my lower lip in an attempt to suppress my smile.

              She began to shake her head in mocking disapproval. “Girl, you got it bad.”

              There was no point in lying or pretending with her so I just shrugged my shoulders. Yes, I like him and I was going to make the most of our time together.

              I looked over my shoulder to see if Artie was far from us. I turned back to Janel and leaned closer to her and whispered, “Just so you know, I think Artie has a thing for you.”

              Her eyes got so big that they looked like they were going to pop out. “Reallyyy?” She looked passed me to look at Artie. I turned and surely enough, he saw Janel and waved to her. He looked shy. I had never seen him act shy before.