Unlovable (19 page)

“
Yuck,” Seth said. They
never saw us. Seth bent down and whispered so as not to disturb
them. “I’ll take you home.” His warm breath sent
another
shiver down my
back. He pulled the coat around me tighter.

“
Thanks.” I tossed the fish
down, kicking it toward the garbage can. I looked up at Seth hoping
he wasn’t angry at the way I treated his prize. He wasn’t, he
kicked it too.

As soon as we got in his car, he
cranked up the heat again, steering the vents in my direction as
before. He also pressed a small button on the dashboard I hadn’t
noticed before, and heat began radiating throughout my seat. He
laughed at my surprised expression.

“
I had them change it out
for one with a built in seat warmer when they replaced my speakers.
Does it work well?”

“
Yes, isn’t yours
working?”

“
I only had the passenger
seat replaced,” he said casually, as if he had picked up a loaf of
bread from the store.

For a moment, I wondered if he
replaced the seat just for me, then decided I needed to get over
myself. After scolding my narcissistic thought, I snuggled down
into the deliciously warm seat.

He stopped along the way and bought us
a couple of huge shakes, mine was chocolate, he got vanilla. He was
easy to talk to, and we sat outside my trailer for over two hours
doing just that. With caring for my mother consuming most of my
energy, I’d never taken the time to cultivate any close
friendships. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed out on until
that moment. I finished off my shake embarrassingly fast, and he
gave me his, claiming he wasn’t as hungry as he thought.

I opened the car door, removing his
jacket as I got out.

“
Thanks for the
coat.”

“
Why don’t you keep it? I
have several, besides this one looks good with your blue eyes.” I
started to protest when he interrupted me. “Maggie, please keep the
coat. I can’t stand watching you walk around in this flimsy…” he
quickly added, “although cute sweater every day, knowing how cold
you are. I have four others in my closet collecting dust anyway.”
Not knowing how to argue that without sounding ungrateful, I
slipped it back on. “If it will make you feel better, you can earn
the coat. I could use your help delivering lunches to the seniors
on the weekends. It’s only two hours each day, and you can count it
for your Mythology project instead of writing the
paper.”

“
That’s a great
idea!”

“
Don’t look so surprised, I
do come up with good ideas every now and again.” He tugged the
jacket’s hood down over my eyes and laughed.

“
I didn’t mean it like
that,” I said, sliding it back. “The assignment’s been like a noose
around my neck, and I had no idea how I was going to finish it.
Helping with the lunches is the perfect solution.”

“
Can you start next
weekend?”

“
Yes, and thanks, Seth, for
everything. You’re a real lifesaver. Good night.” I turned toward
my door, he followed. I looked back at him, puzzled.

“
What’s the
matter?”

“
I’m not letting you go into
the house alone, its pitch black in there. The attackers could be
hiding inside, Maggie. You seem to be a magnet for them, in case
you hadn’t noticed.” I had noticed actually. “I’ll go in and look
around first.”

Panic set in. I knew exactly what he
would find and it wouldn’t be the two goons; it would be my mother
passed out on our ratty brown couch and an empty vodka bottle lying
on the floor next to her.

“
Seth, we’ve been sitting
here for two hours. We would have spotted anything suspicious by
now. Besides, my mom’s here, I’m sure everything’s fine. She’s
probably asleep, and if we wake her, she can be really cranky
without her eight hours of beauty sleep,” I said, laughing
nervously.

“
If you think I’m letting
you go inside alone after all that’s happened, think again.” He
gently pressed past me, took the key from my hand, and slowly
opened the door.

“
Where’s the light switch?”
I reached around him, flipping it on. I cringed as my mom flung her
hands up to block the light from her eyes. None of my friends had
ever seen my mother before, not even Zack.

“
Turn that thing off! Can’t
you see I’m trying to sleep, you selfish little brat.” She slowly
sat up on the edge of the couch.

“
Hello, Mrs. Brown. How are
you?” Seth was the perfect gentleman. I wished I were dead. “My
name is Seth Prescott. I’m a friend of Maggie’s from
school.”

She tried to stand up, but collapsed.
Seth caught her and set her gently back down onto the couch. The
sleeves to her faded pink blouse slid up as he did. She jerked her
arms away and tugged them back down.

“
You’re a friend of
Maggie’s, ah? She never brings her friends here.” Her eyes closed
in an effort to regain her balance. She forced them open and looked
up at Seth. For a few seconds they twitched strangely.

“
Wow, you’re a handsome kid.
What does a boy like you want with Maggie?” Suspicion etched her
brow. “Just what kind of friend are you?”

My cheeks flushed. “We have a few
classes together, Mom.”

“
Unless I’m mistaken there
are no classes at midnight.”

“
We were on a double date. I
was with another guy, and Seth offered to bring me home.” The rest
of the details weren’t necessary.

Much to my horror, she spoke again.
“Yes, I’ll just bet he did. I know exactly what you want with her,
young man, and you’re not fooling me with your refined manners
either.” She drew herself up off the couch and limped toward her
bedroom. She stopped and turned back to Seth. “I’m warning you now.
If she gets pregnant I’m not taking care of another
baby.”

Burying my face into my hands, I sank
to the floor in horror.

“
I’d never disrespect your
daughter, Mrs. Brown. She’s a great girl, and you’re lucky to have
her.” His tone left little doubt he was angry.

She snorted. “That’s what they all say
until they get what they want, then you’re stuck with a screaming
little brat on your hands,” she pointed her chin to me and
grimaced, “and he’s nowhere to be found.” She stammered into the
bathroom and shut the door.

How completely and utterly
humiliating! Seth walked over to me and pulled me up onto my feet.
I couldn’t look at him. I was fighting with everything inside me
not to cry. He slipped his thumbs under my chin and lifted my face
to his.

“
I’m really sorry,” I said,
trying to pull away only he wouldn’t release me.

“
Maggie, she didn’t mean
what she said. She’s had a bit too much to drink tonight. It’s the
alcohol talking.”

I was about to tell him this was how
she always was and that she wished I’d never been born, but I
couldn’t get the words out. Instead, I put on my best fake smile
and nodded.

“
You’re right. Alcohol does
cloud your mind.”

“
I’d better get going,” he
said, still holding my face. “Thank you for a lovely evening.
Despite the whole mirror incident,
and
Zack and Hillary,” he said wryly,
“I had a nice time tonight.” He looked at my mouth as his thumb
softly traced the outline of my lower lip. I was about to lean into
him when he pulled his hands away. “That would definitely be
considered flirting. Sorry, see you Monday.”

I wanted to be angry with my mom for
her embarrassing display. I wanted to be angry that Seth knew more
about me than I had ever allowed anyone to know. I wanted to be
angry with both Zack and Hillary for what they had done to us
tonight, yet I couldn’t.

I laid Seth’s fleece on the rickety
chair in my room, and changed into my PJ’s, pulling the fleece back
on after brushing my teeth. Mmmm, it still smelled of his
aftershave. “Oh my gosh! What is wrong with you, you stupid, stupid
girl?” I ripped off the coat, tossing it across the chair again. I
don’t want a boyfriend, and I didn’t want to be used by some guy
either.

Yet inside I knew Seth wasn’t like
that, he’d never use a girl. He was like no one I’d ever met. He
was the kind of person I wanted to be, and I was falling more and
more in love with him every day. However, he was a guy, and he’d
have expectations, only I wasn’t going to meet them. I had my own
dreams and expectations.

But having a secret crush on him
wouldn’t hurt anyone. I reached over and grabbed the jacket. “Yup,”
I giggled, “I’m a stupid girl!”

12

Seth

“
Good morning, Barry Bonds.
How’s the arm doing today, slugger?” I did my best to ignore
Booker’s teasing and continued thumbing through mug
shots.

Undaunted, Booker persevered. “23
mirrors! 23! That has to be a record. Do you have any idea what the
chief’s going to say when she gets the bill for 23 mirrors? I’d
hate to be in your shoes.” He grinned and took a sip of the hot
chocolate he was holding.

“
Next time I’ll draw out my
service revolver and explain to the crowd that there is no need to
fear, I’m really an undercover MET agent trying to bust up the
local heroin ring,” I said dryly.

“
I knew they were there,
Book. Everywhere we went I could feel someone watching us. I should
have trusted my instincts and left before we went inside the
Funhouse.”

“
Any luck with the
pictures?”

Rubbing my strained eyes, I shook my
head and slammed the last book shut. “Nothing, nada, zilch! I can’t
believe these guys have no criminal history.”

“
In
this
area, they’re most likely from
out of town. We’ll put out an APB across the state. Someone’s going
to recognize them.”

Booker picked up the artist’s
sketching of Alan and winced. “A face only a mother could love. The
guy has zero fashion sense, I mean, seriously, black polyester?” He
set his mug down and started thumbing through mug shots. “Maybe
they’re not the big time dealers we thought they were. Maybe
they’re wannabees like Hoffman.”

“
Speaking of Hoffman, I met
Maggie’s mother last night. Before you ask, I checked for track
marks. Her arms were clean.”

“
As you well know, the arm
isn’t the only place for needle marks. There’s the feet,
and—”

“
I couldn’t very well strip
her down, Book! And in answer to your next question, I didn’t smell
it in the air either. If she’s smoking the stuff, it’d been quite a
while. There was no sticky black residue on the walls or light
switches, or
anywhere
as far as I could see, and I saw no drug paraphernalia lying
around.”

“
When I spoke with Maggie
after the Byrne murder, I didn’t see any either.”

"I did notice the place smelled like a
brewery.” Booker agreed. “Maggie was pretty embarrassed, I felt
bad. How could a mother embarrass her own daughter like that with
no remorse?” I shook my head in disgust.

“
How’s the unrequited love
coming along?” Booker offered me a drink from his mug. It was
good.

“
I like it. New
recipe?”

“
Avoiding the
question?”

“
We’re friends, and growing
closer,” was all I would comment to. She needs time, I could wait
until she learns to trust me.

“
She should be eating out of
your hands by now if you’re doing what I told you to
do.”

“
It wasn’t working. We’re
friends, and that’s good enough for now, I’m taking it slow. She …”
Booker yawned dramatically. “When you start dating…
if
you ever have a date
again, we’ll compare notes. We’re friends. We’ll get there, she’s
worth the wait, Book.”

Booker’s face softened. “You
really have it bad for her, don’t you? I don’t believe I’ve ever
seen you this
gone
about anyone before.” He took his mug back. “Okay, enough of
this love drivel. Let’s find these two scumbags before anyone else
gets hurt.”

Booker pulled me out of my chair and
parked himself down in front of my antique laptop. Booker frowned
while waiting an eternity for it to boot up. “Gees, kid, cave men
had faster computers than this.”

“
Tell me about it. Try
filing a police report on that dinosaur.”

Several minutes later, he began typing
a memo for the police stations across the state. These two
polyester men had to have been in trouble before, people don’t just
turn evil overnight. Unless I missed my guess, these two have a
long, lengthy criminal past, and Booker and I intend on finding
it.

1
3

Maggie

It’d been three weeks since the Winter
Fest. Every morning without fail, Seth picked me up for school and
brought me home again afterwards. When I tried protesting, telling
him I was going to lose all my muscles for the track team tryouts,
he volunteered to take me to his gym.

“
I work out with the weights
there,” which explained his gorgeous body, “but they also have a
running track that’s free to the public. We can go together, I’ve
wanted to incorporate some cardio in my workouts
anyway.”