Life in the No-Dating Zone (22 page)

I probably should’ve scouted around the house, but the back side had motion-detector lights, and I didn’t want to take the chance someone might notice. Plus, scaling brick walls like a ninja was not in my skill set.
Though I should probably work on that.

Headlights shone in my rearview mirror, briefly blinding me. I clutched the steering wheel with both hands. Was it Gray? I took a deep breath and tried to slow my racing heart. A pickup truck passed me at a pretty good clip. I exhaled. Not Gray.

I’d barely caught my breath when more headlights came into my rearview. This time the car slowed and pulled to the curb in front of my car—just like I’d asked Gray to do when I’d texted. I didn’t want to be blinded by lights and not know who was walking up to my car window in the dark. But it definitely looked like his Toyota.

The car lights turned off. The driver strolled to my car. I couldn’t see his face, because the streetlight was behind him, but he had Gray’s relaxed walk. I pressed the button to get the window down, and he hunched over to see in. “Hey,” Gray said, his voice low.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“You ready?”

“Come get in the car. I want to go over the plan.”

“All right.”

And since I wanted to start things off on the right foot, I lifted the
Phantom
half-mask I had in my lap and held it against my face.

Gray got in the car, then reeled away when he saw me. “Geeah! What’re you—Don’t do that!”

I smiled. “You don’t like it?”

“You look seriously creepy.”

I handed him the mask. “Try it on.”

“I told you no costume,” he said but put the mask on. “So?”

“Looks fabulous.”

He pulled down the visor mirror and its feeble light flicked on. “Why do you think she’ll like this again?”

“Because it’s romantic. If you wear that and the cape, then sing to her, she’ll fall in love with you.”

“You never said anything about singing.”

“Course that might be a problem now that you say you don’t like her anymore.” My words came out like a question even though I hadn’t meant them to.

“I don’t.” He whipped the mask off his face. “You don’t expect me to sing, do you?”

I stretched my arm toward him. “Hand me the mask.”

He caught my hand in his. “Not until you answer.”

A little buzz went through me at the warmth of his hand. It was okay to flirt, wasn’t it? Even if I’d never date him? I didn’t know, but I was having too much fun to stop. A pang hit me. After this was all over, we’d probably go back to just being people who went to the same school.

I reached for the mask with my free hand. “Let me see it.
I’ll
wear the costume. I can be the Phantom spying on you while you pretend to be Raoul. You can sing ‘All I Ask of You’—the most romantic song ever. Lindsey’ll be floating out the window.”

Gray let out a half-laugh. “Floating?”

We struggled for a few seconds as I tried to reach the mask, but then he tossed it over his shoulder into the backseat. I twisted to make a dive for it, even though it was seriously out of reach, but Gray grabbed my arm and grinned. “Wait.” Then he leaned over the center console toward me. “Repeat after me. No singing.”

I was so surprised by his nearness all I could do was mumble, “After me. No singing.”

“Ha, ha. Try again. No singing.”

“No singing.”

He moved a fraction closer. “And no costume.”

Yikes. Too close.
His face was about three inches from mine. Close enough to kiss. He smelled like soap with a hint of buttered popcorn in there somewhere. My heart beat so loudly he could probably hear it. And I couldn’t help it, but I let out a stupid-sounding giggle. “And no costume.”

“I’m serious, Claire,” he said in a teasing tone.

Talk about mixed messages. “Okay.”

He slid the hand on my elbow up to my shoulder. Tingles shot everywhere. What was going on? I thought we were joking about costumes. Now suddenly he looked like he was making a move. I couldn’t read his expression in the semi-darkness, but unless I was completely clueless, my friend Gray, who up until today had been crazy about Lindsey, was about to kiss me.

And even though I wanted to pull his head closer to make sure our lips would touch, I had to stop him. If we kissed, he’d know I liked him. And I couldn’t let that happen. I inhaled deeply so my voice would sound normal and not like I wanted to melt against him.

But before I could speak, he pulled back two inches. “I really mean it.”

I guess I’d been thinking about kissing too much because my first thought was that he really meant he was going to kiss me. But why would he move back if he wanted to kiss me? My mind was running in circles. I chalked it up to cute boy overexposure. But no, it wasn’t just that. It was him. I liked everything about him. And I couldn’t let him know.

I leaned back slowly until I rested against my car door, causing him to let go of me. “I get it.”

“Are you sure? Because I have this feeling you’re going to spring something on me.”

I shook my head. “I won’t. Really. You know what you’re gonna say to her?”

He sat back against his seat so hard it was like I’d shoved him. “Pretty much.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll just be happy when it’s over.”

“You’ll do fine. We just head over to the left side of the house. Lindsey’s bedroom window is right there.” I pointed through the windshield. “See the bushes next to the wall?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll hide in there while you sing.”

It took a couple of seconds before he twisted toward me. “Claire. We talked—”

I burst out laughing. “Kidding. I’m kidding. Lighten up. You’re taking this way too seriously.”

“Look, I don’t know how many times you’ve talked to girls outside their bedroom window, but it’s a first for me. I have a right to be nervous.”

I wanted to laugh, but I needed to stop this flirting stuff. “Okay then, let’s get it over with. My peas are melting.”

Thirty-Nine

Gray

I stopped with my hand on the door handle. “Your what are what?”

Claire lifted a white plastic grocery sack. “Frozen peas. They’re melting.”

This girl was making me crazy. But the weird part was that I loved it. “Can I ask why you have frozen peas?”

“Sure.” She didn’t say anything else, so I just eyed her until she chuckled. “Okay, okay. It’s because there’s nothing in Lindsey’s yard to throw against the window. No dirt, no pebbles. And I didn’t want to bring something heavy that might actually break the window, so … ”

Scary how she made sense to me. “Frozen peas.”

“Right.”

“Your dad already use up all his limes?”

“Ha, ha. Very funny. Besides, a lime might crack the window.”

“I’m not gonna throw it like a major league pitcher.”

She opened her door. “Now we have peas. You can throw them as hard as you want.”

“Melting peas.”

She gave a little start. “Yikes. Let’s go.”

I grinned—hard not to smile around Claire—then got out of the car as fast as I could. I was close to losing it like I had a few minutes ago. I’d almost kissed her. Without telling her how I felt. Which wasn’t how I wanted things to go. I wasn’t sure, but Claire seemed almost skittish around me, like she didn’t know how to act. Probably because I’d gotten in her space. I needed to back off. Let the night play out like it was supposed to. Focus on what I was doing. On what I wanted to say to her.

Claire headed up the street and I followed. She walked until she was in line with the left corner of the house, then made a right-angle turn onto the lawn. I shook my head. Always so precise. But it gave me something to tease her about. “Hey, are you in band?” I whispered.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “No,” she whispered back. “Why?”

“Because you march in such perfect lines.”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

I moved up beside her. “I mean, really. Why didn’t we just cut across the yard?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

“No, never.”

“Well, you do.”

“Only when it’s necessary.”

She eyed me. “Would you be quiet? We’re almost there.”

“Aye, aye.”

She didn’t respond, just tiptoed through the grass as if it would mask our already quiet footsteps. Guess I’d have to work harder at making her laugh.

We reached the side of the house without anyone calling in the National Guard. The bass from some country song reverberated from Lindsey’s room. A rectangle of pale light from her window rested like a spotlight on the lawn. Claire pointed at it. “You can talk from here,” she whispered.

“Okay.”

Claire stood in the shadows, pulling at the top of the bag of peas. A frown splayed across her face as she struggled, and more than anything I wanted to tackle her to the grass and kiss her senseless.
Keep it together. You’re almost there.
“Need help?”

“No, I—” The bag gave way in an explosion of peas that shot straight up into her face. “Dang it!”

I clenched my jaw to keep from laughing as Claire wiped at her hair and face. “Are there any left?” I asked.

She searched the grass at her feet, then finally shook the bag. “Enough.” She handed it to me.

“Go hide.”

Claire darted over to the flowery bushes growing near the side of the house, right under Lindsey’s window. I pulled out a small handful of peas and threw them. They hit the glass with a scattershot plinking sound, which didn’t seem loud enough to be heard over the music. But I’d just grabbed another handful when the music cut off.

My pulse thumped in my throat because I mean, c’mon, this was Lindsey Taylor’s window and I was about to do something really stupid. And if not stupid, then seriously humiliating.

The curtains opened, increasing the brightness of my rectangle spotlight, then the window. Lindsey knelt and spoke through the screen. “Who is th—? Oh, Gray.” She sounded flat. Not too enthusiastic, huh? Neither was I. “What’re you doing here?”

For half a second, the answer was
I have no idea.
I gaped at her. I knew I did. It looked like she was wearing a really thin tank top, but I couldn’t be sure because she was mostly in silhouette. “I, uh—”

In the lightest whisper I’d ever heard, Claire’s voice came from the shadows. “Had to see you.”

“I had to—” Wait. That’s not what I wanted to say.

“What?” Lindsey asked, as if I’d mumbled something.

Right.
Just get it over with.
“I wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

I needed to dislodge the feel of my blood pumping through my throat, so I cleared it. Which did nothing, of course. “I’ve really liked spending time with you and your friends recently.”

“That’s what you came to tell me. Outside my window? At night?”

“Think you’re really beautiful,” Claire whispered.

No way was I saying that. I bit down on my cheek. If I hadn’t, I would’ve been laughing like a crazed maniac. “So, yeah, because of spending time with you, I’ve been able to get to know a girl who’s funny, and smart—”

“Look, Gray,” Lindsey said, “you’re really sweet and everything, but I just—”

“And bossy … ”

“Bossy?” Lindsey’s voice rose to a squeak.

I went to where Claire stood pressed up against the wall of the house behind bushes that came up to her neck. I pulled her gently out.

“What’re you doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper.

“And adorable,” I whispered back.

“What … Gray?”

I couldn’t see her face very well, but the hopeful tone in her voice made me want to tug her against me and hold on. But I had to take this one step at a time, so I cupped her cheek in my hand. “You are so amazing. I’ve been trying to tell—”

The thump of a car door cut into my thoughts. I stepped back, leaving Claire in the shadows. Someone was coming.

“Gray!” Lindsey’s voice came from overhead. “Where are you? What’s going on?”

The figure strode toward the front door, but at the sound of Lindsey’s voice, changed direction. “Yo. Is someone there?”

A deep voice. Adam Castro. Not a voice I wanted to hear.

But apparently Lindsey did. “Eeeep!” she said, then slammed the window.

Castro continued his way toward us but stopped suddenly. “You,” he said as though I’d caused every plague known to man. He launched into a run, crossing the last thirty feet in seconds.

“Wait—”

In a whoosh of movement, his fist connected with my cheekbone, knocking me to the ground.

Forty

Claire

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing—Gray splayed out on the grass looking stunned. All my irritation and dislike for Adam burned like needles in my skin. I stormed over to him.

Hands still fisted, Adam was bending over Gray. “Stay away from Lindsey!”

I slammed into his shoulder with both hands, my momentum knocking him sideways. Let’s hear it for short girls! “
You
stay away!”

“What the—” Adam regained his footing, then let out a mocking laugh. “Sorry, Wonder Woman. Did I hurt your baby?”

A heavy thud sounded from the front of the house. I couldn’t think straight. I absolutely could not. All I knew was I had to slap his grinning face. I launched myself at him, a weird, low growl coming from my throat. Or rather, I tried to launch myself at him, but strong arms grabbed me from behind and lifted me off my feet.

Adam muttered something that sounded like, “
Chica loca,
” but a high-pitched ringing in my ears distorted all sound so I wasn’t sure. Lindsey appeared, throwing herself into Adam’s arms. She kissed him. Well, they kissed each other. Yuck.

I wriggled, trying to get free, but Gray’s voice came hot against my ear, breaking through the ringing. “Claire, don’t. It’s okay. Really, it’s okay.”

The fight left my body like water going down the drain, leaving me shaking. In its place came a cold, sick feeling.
Oh, no.
What had I just done?