Evanescent - By Addison Moore Page 0,51
window of the truck catches my attention.
Grayson blabbers on about color coordination and prom, but I pause for a minute and narrow my gaze on the ever-increasing image appearing over the blackened glass. It’s moving. A sea of football players emerge before it zeros in on Laken and me. That’s today at the game. It zooms in again and focuses on our fingers touching.
“Come on, Coop!” Grayson’s ankle buckles as she struggles to reach me. “Shit,” she hisses, righting herself.
“You okay?” I go over and thread my arm in hers.
“I’m always okay with you around. Now, let’s show off some moves.” She lets out a few raucous woops and drags me along.
I glance back at the truck, and the glass is restored, black as midnight. Looks like someone else is showing off a few moves tonight as well. Whoever took those strange pictures of Laken and I a few weeks back is up to their photographic pranks again. Only, I don’t think it’s a who, I very much believe it’s a what, and I for damn sure know when. That image was only a few hours stale.
Now if only I could figure out why.
The country club sparkles with thousands of twinkle lights that make the cavernous room look like the stars lost their way and ended up inside. Frosted birch trees adorn the periphery as well as one big fat mother of a tree, planted smack dab in the middle of the dance floor with fake snow piled around it.
The room buzzes with soft music and the sound of hundreds of students talking at once. Every now and again a burst of laughter pierces the air.
“God!” Grayson jumps, and her boobs bounce so severely I’m afraid the girls are about to make their debut for the evening. Her left nipple shows a brown sunrise, and I’m quick to look away. “It’s so freaking beautiful!” She gawks at the icy inspired surroundings.
Then I see her. Laken. Her hair frames her face in loose waves, setting off her beauty like flowers in springtime. She’s wearing a short red dress, leaving just enough cleavage peering through to send my dick perking to attention. She strides this way with those long pale stems, her feet strapped in crimson heels that give the illusion she’s walking on flames.
My heart starts in on a death rattle. My palms liquefy. My stomach tightens like a rock as she comes in close. Her face is far more defined tonight, more makeup, but in a good way. Laken is a natural beauty, but tonight she looks like a goddess—the princess who stole my heart—the girl I could never truly have. Could I? The possibility seems too good to be true. Girls like Laken didn’t happen for me, they happened for morons like Wes who could never figure out how to appreciate them—how to believe them when they needed it most.
“My date is in the bathroom.” She nods into Grayson in lieu of hello. Her attention shifts to me. “You look great.” Laken licks her lips like a reflex and pants as she pushes in close. “I got that info on Animal Farm you were looking for. You know, how to tell if the pigs were really people?” Her eyes slit to Grayson when she says, “pigs.”
“You’re a pig trying to pass for people.” Grayson doesn’t bother hiding her disdain for Laken, but I’m too enamored with her beauty to pay Grayson any attention.
Laken scoffs, turning her pale shoulder in seductively. The light dances off her hair, her bare arms, and I want to pull her in and kiss her—leave her to come up with an entire slew of excuses in the event Wesley catches us again.
“Thanks,” I tell her. “I really want to be sure I know what I’m talking about in ‘that paper.’ It’d be great if there were DNA evidence—you know, to see if they were ‘pigs or people.’”
“Oh”—Laken leans in—“one more thing. That family of wanderers?” She pauses, glancing at Grayson. “We only have seven days to identify them. Hattie Tobias told me so herself.”
Grayson scoffs. “That girl is a head case.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Laken crimps her lips. “I guess I’ll see you around.” She pulls her sad eyes off me, slow as January.
“Laken?” I call after her before she gets too far. She turns and digs a tiny smile in her cheek just for me. “You look beautiful.”
Her shoulders relax, her face smooths out as if she had waited to hear those exact words.
After