Mixed Up(74)

"The new guy is coming in in two hours. He has more experience than Alex is. Let them handle it for a night. Besides, we won't be too far away."

She peeled off the opening of the napkin packet, peering down at it. The plastic crinkled and rippled beneath her touch, and as much as I wanted to reach out and stop that damn noise, I knew I couldn't.

"You think that's a good idea?" her voice was quiet and hesitant. 

I wasn't alone in my nerves.

She had them, too.

"No, but we've already covered that a thousand times. Let's stop beating a dead horse and get on with it." I paused. "I fucking hated lying to Ryan earlier. I wanted to be honest with him and tell him where I really was last night, but I can't do that yet."

"We can't have this conversation here." Her hands shook as she put the napkins down and crumpled up the packet. "Sienna will be here-"

"I'm not telling him a thing unless this is for real."

She froze.

"I mean it, Raven. Either go out with me, away from here, or we quit this shit right now."

Her bright red lips thinned before coming together. Uncertainty flashed across her features, creasing the corners of her eyes, before she finally relaxed and let a sigh escape those colorful lips. "You promise nobody will know?"

"No. I'm not unrealistic."

"At least you're honest." Her lips pulled to the side. "All right, you got it. Four sound good?"

"Four on the outskirts of town. Do you think Lani would let you park at the newspaper?"

"Definitely."





***





I pulled into my parents' driveway and killed the engine. The hushing noise that accompanied the end of it and the interior lights going off was strangely satisfying.

A part of me didn't want to go inside. I knew all about the chat Raven had with her mom earlier, and she was right when she'd texted me that our moms told each other everything. There was no doubt that they'd taken Raven's chat with Alexandra and run with it. They'd have created every possible outcome and all of those likely ended up in marriage and babies, if I knew them, and I did.

I'd driven around the Keys for as long as I could before finally accepting that I needed to get on the road and get home. I'd texted my mom that I'd be late before I'd taken off, but despite my best efforts, the hazy, yellow light coming through the closed curtains in the living room window told me that someone was awake.

I'd bet a hundred bucks it was my mom.

I dragged myself out of the car, hating the way my childhood home looked as the moon reflected off the gray, slate tiles on the roof. I didn't want to think about what it said about me that I'd have rather been in Whiskey Key with Raven. That I'd have rather been in her kitchen, watching her mix drinks. On her sofa, watching her doodle on a pad the way she did when she didn't think anyone was paying her any attention. In her bed, breathing in the fruity smell of her shampoo as her hair spread across the pillow.

I was falling for her.

Too hard. Too fast. Too deep.

Too dangerously.

I'd spent my entire life hating her, yet now, here I was, falling in love with her.

Doing something that I knew, deep down, I had no place doing.

Somehow, I'd managed to break through that hard exterior she threw out to the rest of the world, and I was slowly uncovering the heart that lay beneath it. The only problem was, I didn't want to stop looking. I wanted to keep tearing away the layers of her until I knew every inch of who she was, because despite knowing her our entire lives, I didn't really know her that much at all.

I knew she hated me. I knew she had no time for fools, and that she ran on sparkles and sarcasm. But I didn't know what her favorite food or color or drink was. I didn't know what her biggest fear was or where she imagined her life in ten years. I didn't know if she preferred books or movies and whether she was a cat or a dog person.

It amazed me that I knew her so well without knowing anything about her.



       
         
       
        

The beep of my car locking was thunderous in the silence of the street, and the flashing lights lit the houses up in orange for a few seconds. I forced myself to walk to the door and let myself in. The TV was a quiet buzz in the background, and I paused after locking the front door.

My gut twitched with the knowledge that someone knew where I really was last night, and I couldn't deny the relief that flooded through me when I caught sight of the back of my father's head. His graying hair was barely visible in the low light from the lamp in the corner of the room.

He hit a button on the remote control and stood up. The remote clattered as it bounced off the table, and he turned to me, a small smile on his face. "You should know," he said, slowly considering each word he spoke, "that your mother and Alexandra have ideas and are on the warpath. Something about you having feelings for Raven and going missing. I don't think they've put two and two together yet."