Significance (Significance #1)(16)

“Not on the back of a bike it’s not.”
“If you say so.”
“Here,” he came and put a small black helmet on my head, buckling it under my chin, “now you can keep that pretty head all nice and in one piece.”
“And where’s yours?”
“Right here.” He pulled one off the handlebars and put it on. He climbed on and looked back at me expectantly. He flipped a switch on his bike and I could hear him in my ear in the helmet. “One leg at a time.”
I sighed and climbed on behind him. I settled myself close to him as I could get. Our legs lined up, touching all the way down. I blew a breath to steady myself and tried to play off my shakiness as anxiety about the ride instead of being so close to him. “I have never ridden a motorcycle before.”
“I assumed as much, so I promise to take it easy on you, this time.”
I heard him laugh as he cranked up the beast. I got queasy as I could feel its every rumble. I dreaded this ride now, for more than one reason and wondered if there was some way to back out of it. I thought I was trembling but couldn’t tell.
His hand came back to pat my bare knee, easing and soothing me.
“It’ll be fine. I promise you’ll love it.”
“I’m ok.” I lifted my feet to rest on the foot props. “I’m ready.”
“Arms around me,” he ordered, “and hold on tight.”
I did as he said and leaned against his back as my arms hugged his midsection. I smiled at how comfortable it was. I felt him swirl his hand once on my knee before grasping the handlebars and slowly pulling away from my house. Then my street. Then my town. 
Chapter Eight
The helmet did an okay job of shielding my hair from most of the wind. He blocked a lot of it himself. He’d been right about the jacket. My legs were freezing.
We drove for about thirty minutes that way. We talked through the mics the entire time. He told me some about his family member's abilities. Like his Aunt Kelly and Uncle Max, Kyle’s parents, she could decipher any language or code; anything that is meant to hinder and confuse, she could figure it out. She could do any crossword puzzle and learn any computer password and then turn around and speak Chinese even though she never learned it. And his uncle could learn anything and teach anything, which I learned earlier today, at a crazy fast rate.
Then he told me his dad’s ability was that he could detect the earth elements. It was one way they had enough money to pay for college for everyone and get the real estate they wanted. He could find precious metals and gems. They go on expeditions once a year for it.
Wow.
And his mom, Rachel, could move and bend metal. The family jokingly called her Magneto, but she could only move small objects. The biggest thing she ever moved was a Volkswagen and that was pushing it.
And his grandfather, the one he looked so much like, he could look at someone and see their intentions. Good or bad, he could see if you were planning something malicious or helpful, if you were lying to hurt someone. He couldn’t see the actual act, but could decipher and sift through it.
There were many more people in his family that I had not met yet. Some didn’t make it to Kyle’s for the meet and greet. I tried to imagine what having such a huge close family would be like.
He also told me that the families are clans. Each family is separate from the other and most are civil, but some are rivals who vie for land and ‘territories’ or areas. They don’t like to be close to each other and they don’t ever mix if you are a rival clan. There has never even been an imprint between rival clans before, ever.
Once you imprinted with someone, generally they would then be part of the clan of whoever the male is, since they share the same last name. For instance, he said his mother was from the Mitchell’s clan and when her and his father imprinted, she became part of the Jacobson family and clan. She does see her original family some but scarcely. For the most part, you gained a new family.
I was fascinated by it all. I was a sponge and soaked up everything he told me, but soon we pulled into the parking lot and he stopped the bike under a tree on the edge of the lot. He kicked the stand and let me get off first. I was wobbly, my legs tingling and unsteady.
He grabbed my arms to steady me before removing his helmet and laughed softly as he removed mine. I could only imagine the nest my hair was, but he smoothed it back for me with his fingers, running them through and giving me shivers.
“You did good for your first time. I was worried you’d squeal and shake the whole way.”
“You say that to all the girls who ride on your bike?” I teased, but the thought of another girl on his bike made me tense with something...
Jealousy?
He smiled as his hands coasted down my arms and then to his sides. “Never had a girl on my bike before.” He motioned his head for me to follow him.
“Why?” I asked as we moved slowly through the parked cars to the door.
“Well, our family has this rule. When they realized that we weren’t going to imprint, some of them wanted to try to find a wife or husband without being imprinted first, when they got older than the rest of them did when they found their significant. The clan decided it was best for no one to date at all since they didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t want anyone to marry someone and then imprint on someone else. Therefore, there has never been a girl on my bike.”“You’ve never dated anyone, at all?”
“Nope.” He waved to the hostess as she made her way to us. “Hey, Mrs. Amy.”
She was about forty I’d say, pretty with a high ponytail and I could tell right away she would be quirky and loud.
“Hey there, Caleb. What have we here?” she asked as she looked me over.
“This is Maggie. Maggie, this is Mrs. Amy. The owner.”
“And the cook, waitress, dishwasher and hostess. He always forgets that,” she said sweetly and laughed. “Well come on you two. I’ll give you a table in the back,” she said conspiratorially and winked at Caleb.
We followed her and passed a packed dining hall full of laughing people and waitresses wearing cowboy boots to the back. She sat us at a corner table and left with our drink order.
It was a small booth that only fit three people, if tightly, so we sat beside each other instead of across from each other. I wondered if that had been Mrs. Amy’s plan.
I turned to him a little so I could see his face. I fiddled with my silverware and put my napkin in my lap so my hands would have something to do.
“So, if you’re not supposed to date, why was Kyle taking me out that night?”
“Only I knew about it. His parents didn’t. He told them he was going to a grad party. That’s why he wanted to text you about leaving.”
“Aha. So you brought me to his house thinking he’d get caught, huh?” I smiled and bumped his shoulder.
“Maybe. He was breaking the rules.” He smiled crookedly. “Plus, I was pretty disappointed when I found out that you were the one Kyle had been talking about.”
I bit my lip to stop the smile and looked toward our new waitress as she placed our drinks on the table. I told Caleb since we hadn’t looked at the menus at all to order something for me, whatever was his favorite and so he did. Then I started to quiz him again.
“So, what sport do you play at Tennessee? Maria said you played something.”
“Swim team, 400 Meter, freestyle.”
Oh, boy. That thought brought a whole new line of thinking. Shorts, arms, legs, water... “Mmm. Are you any good?” I leaned my chin on my hands and watched him as he scratched his chin.
“Uh, yeah, I’m ok,” he played off modestly, “I guess. We made it to conference this year. Do you play any sports?”
“I ran track.”
“You any good?” he taunted and smirked.
“I guess so.”
“What did you run?”
“200 meter.”
“My sister ran, too, but she wasn’t very good. Don’t tell her I said that.” We chuckled. “So, did you place?” 
“State, two years.”
“Nice. So, uh-”
“Caleb, hi there.” I looked up at a sweet voice and saw a face just as sweet. It was a girl, looking at Caleb like he was everything she ever wanted. She was blonde, of course, tall and slender with a blue halter dress and very pretty. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” she said sweetly and lifted one bare, tan shoulder.
“Hey, Ashley. How’s your summer?” he said not looking at her and twirling his straw in his glass.
“Well, it just started, silly,” she giggled and fiddled with her necklace, “but it’s good so far. My parents are making me do a summer internship at a law firm in Chattanooga.”
“Sounds fun.”
“No way. It’ll be torture. The last six weeks of my break will be spent working like a dog with no pay and no credits for it.”
“Yeah, but you get the experience.” He turned to me before she could say anything else. “Ashley, this is Maggie. Maggie, this is Ashley. She’s in my Economics class.”
“And your Geometry class. But you’re always so focused that you barely notice anything in there.” She turned to me and fixed a not very pleasant smile on her face. “Nice to meet you, Maggie. Is that short for Margaret?”
“Nope, just Maggie.”
She perched her petite behind on the edge of the seat next to Caleb and I felt an instant irritation. I could only assume this sweet faced girl would be trouble. And then trouble started to spew from her lips in the form of sugar coated degradation.