9. Callign

I approached the house hesitantly. In Miami I hadn’t really made any good friends and to be honest I didn’t want to wear out my friendship with Rachel. She was a nice girl who deserved a good friend, a type of friend that I had no hope or right to be. I knocked on the starkly painted white door and waited on the porch.

With some amount of luck Rachel was the one that answered. She stared at me dumbfounded for a second, as though she couldn’t really tell if I was actually there.

“Callign,” She gawked at me in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

Before I could answer her a woman’s voice filled the air from somewhere inside the house. It was a warm, feminine sound that seemed to radiate with compassion and care.

“Rachel dear who is it?”

“It’s a friend of mine from school mom.” Rachel answered, as the owner of the soft maternal voice stepped into the entryway to see for herself.

“Oh a friend of yours? How wonderful. Are you hungry dear? I’m afraid I just put supper away but I can pull some of it out if you need anything.”

“Ah, no I’m not hungry, but I was wondering if I might be able to stay the night here, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“I don’t know about that, it is a school night after all.”

“Oh please mom,” Rachel begged, “Just this once, I haven’t had a friend over since preschool.” The last tidbit was extremely embarrassing and I felt even more guilty about having once wanted to smash a volleyball into her face. Her mother smiled.

“Alright just this once, but the next time you want to stay here, Callign, please call ahead so we can prepare a place for you.” I was shocked that she knew my name but I nodded.

“Thank you ma’am.”

“Oh please dear call me Laurie.”

“Thanks Laurie.”

“No problem dear.”

“Come on!” Rachel said grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs. When we reached the top and rounded the corner Rachel dropped my arm. She open a closet in the hallway and started to pull out some extra blankets and a pillow. She handed the items to me as she did so.

“Did I tell your mom my name?” I asked carefully.

“No, she just knows it from her job.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s a social worker, but the mayor hired her to look over the paperwork of all the residents in town.”

“Why?”

“Weird stuff happens sometimes, like hikers and campers will go missing for weeks and when they’re found they’re completely drained of blood with several lacerations all over they’re bodies. The mayor is also worried about problems with cults.”

“What?”

She waved for me to step closer as though she wanted to reveal some deadly secret.

“I heard that the Remer’s were under investigation for strange occurrences, happening near their home, sights of several large animals coming in and out of the home and several of the missing people have been found on their property line.”

Her words embedded in my spine drawing out a large tremor and a feeling of girlish awe. I felt trusted for the first time in my life, this girl trusted me to keep these words between us. It was startling this feeling.

“Sounds like some of the gang bangers down in Miami.” I whispered under my breath.

“What?” Rachel asked innocently.

“Nothing.”

She lead me into a room at the other end of the hall. It was small and filled to capacity with everything pink. The carpet on the floor was a patterned beige with pink undertones and tiny flowers of green. The bed in the center of the wall on the right side was covered in a large puffy pink comforter and had a ruffled bed skirt around the bottom. The walls were pristinely cleaned with a pale pink wall paper, patterned with silly little stuffed animals running in a band around the room. The room was silly but cute and I didn’t have the heart to make fun of all the pink, because deep in my heart I envied her. This room looked nicer then any I had ever had and was every young girls dream. Even though it wasn’t mine I loved the room and felt comfortable almost immediately.

Rachel grabbed the blankets from me and started to lay them out on the floor next to the bed.

“You want to watch a movie, or just get to bed?” She looked up to me, in her eyes I saw that she really wanted to make the most of this. I was probably her first real friend. I smiled.

“What kinda movies you got?”

She smiled her silver filled grin and grabbed my arm. She bounced down the stairs to the living room where we picked out too many movies to ever finish in one night. Laurie chastised us for watching movies so late on a school night but then offered to fix us a bowl of popcorn.

I stood aside and watched as Rachel helped her mom in the kitchen. Their relationship seemed so easy as they bantered and teased one another. It looked so natural to see them like that, I wondered briefly about Rachel’s father.

I excused myself briefly to use their phone. Mother tried to be the doting mom but I could tell by her voice and the music in the background that she was still “entertaining” the knowledge sickened me and I cut the conversation short, just letting her know where I was and that she would see me after school tomorrow. I returned to the kitchen and tears stung my eyes as I saw Rachel and Laurie laughing together. There were times when I wished my mother could be to me as Laurie was to Rachel. The truth was that my mother was still too much of a child to take care of one.

When I was young I would try to please her on a few things it would work, I got her to stop drinking and that helped our situation a little, but she never seemed to realize the truth of what I wanted, or even needed from her, and that was a real mom. One that had a stable job and would bake cookies when she got off work, one that would read me bedtime stories and kiss me on the forehead.

“Thanks Laurie,” I said as she handed me a large metal bowl filled with freshly popped and buttery popcorn.

“No problem, just don’t stay up too late tonight.” I nodded and Laurie gave me a little hug. I accepted it almost eagerly, hoping to feel in some small way connected to their familial relationship. She held on just a little longer and even smoothed my hair a little, the action was soothing and helped me to feel better. I could tell that Laurie had a strong mothering instinct. We parted and Rachel and I worked our way upstairs again.

We only watched one movie that night, it was one of those older b-class movies that was only good if you were making fun of it. After the movie Rachel and I drew straws for the shower and told “scary” stories that kept us up late into the night from laughing. Honestly it was the best night I ever had, until I asked about Rachel’s dad.

It was late, around eleven or twelve and I hadn’t heard the door open or a car pull into the drive and my curiosity was simmering. She stopped laughing, and got really reserved.

“My parents aren’t together,” She answered in a clipped tone. “Hey listen, it’s getting late and we do have school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right we should head for bed.”

She got up and turned off the light staying as quiet as possible. Her face was blank, well as blank as it could be, considering it was Rachel. I could tell that for whatever reason Rachel was sour against her father for what had happened. I didn’t want to lose my only friend and so I just let it go.

                        à à à  

We woke up the next morning feeling exhausted from the late night. It wasn't until I was half-dressed that I remembered Richard was going to pick us up. I glanced quickly at the clock on Rachel’s wall, it read 7:55. I cursed and quickly finished getting ready.

“What’s the rush?” Rachel asked when she saw me pull my clothes on as though the house was falling apart around me.

“Well I kinda got us a ride to school today.”

“Who?”

“Ah, Richard.”

“Wait a minute, Rich Richard? Richard Mereli?”

“Um-”

“No-way, you got a ride-for us-with Richard Mereli?”

“Yeah, why so dramatic?”

“Well because he, like never goes out, or even seems to have so much as one iota of interest in any of the girls at the school. Even if they practically strip in his lap and trust me some have come close.”

“Let me guess, Josephine?”

We broke into riotous laughter and Rachel followed my lead with getting dressed quickly. We hurried down the stairs, Rachel was excited, as for me I was weary. Why didn’t Richard seem interested in any of the other girls around him?

We hurried to the door not wanting Rachel’s mother to know about Richard, she might jump to the wrong conclusion. Just as I was ready to leave, I spotted him walking through the snow up to the door to knock. We ran quickly and made it to the door just as Laurie was making her way down the stairs in her bathrobe, her light blonde hair bobbing about her shoulders. She looked cute.

"Bye Mom," Rachel said as she opened the door.

“Thanks for letting me stay for the night,” I shouted. She smiled and waved us out the door.

"Bye sweetie, have fun at school." Rachel waved back inside with a smile. We stepped outside and met Richard. He seemed surprised to see us already at the door and ready to leave.

"Let’s go," I said as I grabbed him by the sleeve and began pulling him towards his car. Rachel followed behind us with a look of disbelief etched on his face.

"What's the rush? Most girls I know take their time in getting ready.”

"I'm not most girls." He stopped arguing and allowed me to pull him to the car. I let go of him so he could get in but he walked with me to the other side of the car to open the door for me and Rachel, who stood back staring at the car until I pushed her closer.

"I could have gotten it," I said to hide my embarrassment; guys usually didn't pay that much attention to me, and I was realizing that Rachel was staring at the car, the way I must have been last night.

"Sorry," He answered but he helped me into the car and closed the door before he walked around to the driver's side. He started the car and carefully pulled out of the driveway before speeding off towards the school. The ride was quiet and comfortable until he parked the car and cut the engine. Without the engines soft purr to distract me I became aware of just how close I was to Richard. The parking lot, filled with students and their noisy passage, reminded me that we were not quite as alone as I had hoped to be.

“Thanks for the ride,” Rachel said poking her head between the front seats. She seemed shy and ready to head off. “I’ll see you inside.” She left the car and headed towards the office.

I looked after her. Outside of the car I noticed that the cheer squad was glaring at us. I smiled and waved at them and they stormed off into the school. Richard smiled, the gesture was slow and easy, but it seemed odd on his lips, almost timeless. He looked over to me.

"May I escort you to our first hour class?"

"Sure as long as you don't go all medieval manners on me." I stepped out of the car before he could get out, I didn't need his chivalry. He met me at the front of the car and followed as I walked off towards first hour. He slowed our pace before as we entered the school building.

"Do you think we could hang out after school today?"

"Sure," I answered amazed that he didn't say this in his usual geeky nineteenth century talk.

"Great Then I'll pick you up at around seven to 7:30-ish."

"Why not an exact time?"

"Because I actually want to reach your front door this time," He answered with a smirk. He opened a door and I noticed that we had reached Mrs. Heckly's room. He gestured for me to precede him. I strode past him quickly, becoming tired of his antics.

I saw Rachel sitting towards the back she waved at me and pointed to the chair in front of her. I was grateful for the reprieve she offered and moved to sit in front of her. I was half way there when I notice Zeik sitting just behind her. I hesitated for a few moments but then pushed myself forwards. Rachel began to chatter lightly with me before the bell rang. She was talking about a guy she liked but couldn’t get to pay attention to her. To be honest I wasn’t really all that enthused about the conversation but I felt obligated to at least make an attempt to listen.

I heard her for about the first few minutes and then Baldric walked by and claimed my attention.