Gravity, a young adult paranormal romance (13 page)

Hugh shook Henry's hand, his eyes like
an airport scanner. No detail unnoticed.

"Nice to meet you," Henry said
cheerfully.

"Likewise," Hugh said, attempting
gruffness. "My daughter hasn't told me much about you, other than
your interest in helping her learn. So pardon me if I have some
questions."

"Dad..." I moaned, putting my hands
over my eyes. Let the mortification begin. Odds were Henry would
never want to come back.  

"Sure, anything you want to know,"
Henry said.

"What do your parents do for a
living?"

"They're both attorneys. My father is
in criminal defense and my mother deals with real estate
disputes."

Hugh was unfazed. It probably counted
as points against Henry's parents, consider how much the legal
system irritated him. 

"Where did you used to live?" Hugh
continued.

"Westchester,
Pennsylvania."

"Any siblings?"

"I have a sister, Andrea. She's a
freshman in college at Villanova."

"Okay, I think that's enough third
degree," I burst in, before Hugh could continue his investigation.
I put my hand on Henry's chest without realizing it. "We need to be
studying."

Henry looked down at my hand and
grinned at me. I took it away, as if I had burned myself, heat
prickling across my face.

Seemingly satisfied, Hugh sat back
down at his laptop. The bridge was now crossable,
apparently.

"Just so you know, the walls are very
thin in this house," he said pleasantly.

Henry grinned widely and looked down
at the floor, his shoulders shaking as he contained a snicker. I
didn't get Hugh's meaning at first, but when I did I was
horrified.

"Hugh! Please!" I implored him.
 

"Go study," he said.

Henry and I went into the den, and I
shut the accordion doors so we would have some privacy. Since the
walls were so thin and all.

"I'm sorry about my father," I said,
gritting my teeth.

Henry laughed, his good mood only
boosted by the interaction. "That's just the typical dad rundown. I
would do much worse if I had a daughter. She probably wouldn't date
until she was twenty-five." 

"Well, still." I set my backpack down
on the coffee table.

"It must be nice to have a parent home
when you are," he continued, following my lead by dropping his
notebook and book next to my stuff. "My parents are never
home."

"Most people would love that, you
know," I said, glancing at him sideways. 

"Yeah, probably. I told you I'm not
normal."

"Hugh and Claire are always watching
over me," I complained, flopping down onto the couch. I was hardly
ever in this room except to get books. The entire wall we were
facing contained bookshelves crammed full of heavy volumes. Like I
didn't have enough of my own. "Even when Claire is at work, she
sends me texts. They worry about me all the time. Which I get, but
I feel like I'm in an invisible cage or on a leash. I wish my
parents were both out of the house sometimes."

Henry sat down next to me on the
couch. His sudden proximity made my skin warm up. He smelled really
good, of some random cologne but not put on heavily, just a hint of
it in the air. It seemed bizarre to have him in my house, sitting
on a couch I'd sat on a million times. At school, he was a distant,
untouchable prize, but here, he seemed truly real.

The thought occurred to me that Lainey
had probably told him all kinds of nasty things about me, and about
Jenna. I tried to keep my mind off of it. I gripped the edge of the
couch cushion with my hands.

"I did like being alone, for a long
time," he admitted. "But now I mostly just wander around my house
all day, reading. I could make you some high class microwave
dishes. Sometimes I just drink and fall asleep."

"Drink, like alcohol?" I asked. I
didn't much like being around drunk people; they always found
themselves far more hilarious than anyone else in the room
did.

"Not often. Just nips from what my
mother has in the cabinets," he said, shrugging. "It helps me let
go. Does that bother you?"

It didn't, not that much. I was more
concerned with what he'd said about reading. "What kind of books do
you read?" I asked. Most of the boys our age barely knew how to
write their own names, let alone read for pleasure.

Henry looked bashful, copying my
stance with his hands gripping the edge of the couch. He looked up
at me from beneath his eyelashes. "Fantasy novels."

I chuckled. "You mean, like dragons
and wizards and that kind of thing?"

"Yep, the very thing." He sat up a
little, looking defensive. "And what do you like, romance novels? I
bet you have a whole collection of sappy, sentimental vampire books
sitting dog-eared on your nightstand."

He was only teasing, but he could see
in my face that he had hit the nail on the head.  

"I like escaping into a world that's
more exciting than, well, this," I said, indicating our
surroundings. "And what's wrong with romance?"

"Nothing at all, dear," he said. It
was a strange word for him to use again, something my grandmother
would say, but out of his perfect mouth it sounded lovely. "I hope
to someday fall head over heels myself."

I let a little breath out of my nose,
tugging a loose thread from the couch with my wandering fingers.
   

"Underneath this dashing exterior, I'm
a huge nerd," he continued. "I'm just warning you before we
continue any farther down the rabbit hole. Promise you won't tell
anyone."

"You keep making me promise you
things," I observed dryly. "What do I get out of it?"

"Something great. I'll figure it out,"
he said, and winked at me. "For now, though, don't you think we
should get started?" 

We opened our books, and actually did
study for several hours. He helped me figure out a few
things.

"I'm so stupid at this," I said at one
point.

"You're just getting frustrated," he
countered gently.

The usual lack of confidence I had
began to break, due to having someone who believed I could
accomplish the work. There was no room for me to just give up, like
I normally did.

At first it was hard to concentrate.
Up close, the complicated details that made him so attractive were
evident. His brown eyes seemed to almost glow, framed by long
lashes, and a well-defined nose balanced his face. A sprinkle of
barely-visible freckles crossed over his cheeks. I took every
opportunity I had to glance at him, studying every feature, trying
to preserve it in my head for later. When he spoke, I realized he
had a tongue bar glinting in between his
teeth.  

I could feel the warmth from his body,
even a foot away. Was the room always so small? He had lowered his
already deep voice to an intimate tone, making warmth bloom in my
belly. But I started to get into the work, the daunting page of
unions and intersections not so intimidating now. As I began
getting answers correct, it felt like an ego boost.

At one point, I wrote down an answer
that I had a feeling was wrong. He slid the pencil out of my
fingers, making me shiver involuntarily as he corrected my
mistake.

"This is how you write a complement of
a set," he said.

"Oh," I said, still able to feel the
touch of his skin on mine. 

He moved closer so that we our
clothing brushed together, his eyes on the notebook paper we were
using for scrap work. I couldn't help but glance at his face
again.

"I'm sorry," I said for about the
tenth time. I was worried about wasting his time.

"Believe me; I'm usually really
impatient if someone isn't getting it. You're doing fine. You're
not the tragedy you think you are, so stop apologizing," he scolded
lightly.  

We finished up with several of the
lessons I needed to know for the quiz on Friday. And I actually
felt like I understood what I had just done. I hoped the feeling
remained when he wasn't around.

Light came through the slats in the
blinds, making a zigzag pattern on the gray wall.  

"That must be my dad," Henry said,
gathering up his stuff. He had called him several minutes before, a
brisk conversation that did indeed prove his use of the word Sir.
"Time went by fast, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did."

I didn't want him to leave, suddenly
afraid to be alone with my thoughts. Guilt always seemed to pop up
the instant I was away from him, guilt for being here to experience
anything when Jenna was not. I got up and peered out through the
blinds. A shiny black Lexus sat in front of the house.

"Nice car," I said. I dropped the
slat, and turned around. "So you really are rich?" I asked, and
instantly realized it sounded tactless. "I mean, you know. Your
family. With them being lawyers I suppose you would have to
be..."

He just laughed. "I suppose so. Why
are you so shocked?"

"You seem too humble to be from that
kind of money," I admitted.

"It's just a part of who I am. Not the
sum total," he said.    

He tugged his sweatshirt on over his
head. He had taken it off earlier and laid it across the arm of the
couch. For a moment I flashed out of nowhere back to my dream, and
looked away. He didn't notice my distraction. I walked him out of
the room and to the front door.

"Bye," I said, leaning in the open
doorway, wishing I had a reason to make him stay longer.
 

"Bye," he repeated, turning to leave.
Then he stopped, and faced me again, flipping his hood over his
hair.

"We could do this every week, if it
would help," he offered.

"Okay," I said, feeling the smile grow
on my face.

"It was fun. And besides, I have
nothing else to do. Please don't make relegate me to putzing around
my house," he said, putting his hands together as if in prayer.
"Save me from my boredom."

I couldn't help but laugh. It was
extremely flattering. My laughter pleased him, and he looked
satisfied, one side of his mouth smirking. It made him look
incredibly sexy.  

"Same time, same place?"

"Sure," I said. Henry waved at me.
Blackbirds were printed on the white fabric inside his hood,
framing his face.

Rain had begun to patter, promising
colder weather. I closed the door, and waited for the inevitable
crash.

Chapter 10

"Alright, what happened?" Theo asked,
ambushing me the second I walked into the commons the next day
before school. A polka dot skull barrette held up either side of
her fiery hair.

"What happened with what?" I asked,
feigning innocence

"Your tutoring session." She put the
words in air quotes. "I saw Henry coming out of your house, late.
So how many bases did you run? Was there tongue?"

"Whoa, whoa," I said, pulling her by
the arm to a free corner. The commons was full and I didn't need
everyone hearing.

"He was helping me study, the whole
time. That doesn't require tongue, unless you count speaking," I
explained. "Do you just spy on my house all the time?"

"Pretty much," she said, shrugging.
"Don't feel special. I spy on all the neighbors. It makes for
interesting drawing material sometimes."

I told her a bit about what happened.
In truth, I was kind of dying to gossip about it. I didn't know if
it was my imagination, but it had seemed like there was a spark
between Henry and me.

Theo looked disappointed by the time I
was finished.

"Boring," she declared, crossing her
arms behind her head.  

"What were you expecting?" I
asked.

"After the other day, I had no idea,"
Theo said. "But since I can't get a boyfriend I'm living through
your romantic life. In order to do that, you need to have a
romantic life for me to live through."

"I'll get right on that," I said,
rolling my eyes.

"Good," she said, looking
satisfied.

"I've never really had a boyfriend
either," I said truthfully. That's why Henry's behavior struck me
as so odd. I didn't have the experience to judge where it could be
leading.

Not much had changed with Henry during
school. The occasional small smile came in my direction, but
otherwise he didn't acknowledge me any more than he had before. I
don't know what I had been expecting. I took comfort in the secret
he'd made me keep, that it was all for show. I couldn't exactly
imagine Lainey thinking dragon appreciation was a plus in a
guy.

The next day, when I got home from
school, Claire was in the kitchen in her best red dress. To my
recollection, I had only seen her wear it before twice, which was a
shame, because she looked fantastic, the color brightening her
dull, office skin. She normally all but slept in a suit. Dangly
rhinestone earrings glittered in the little elf ears I had
inherited.