Chapter 59
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was a force to be reckoned with. It followed me in from Lucy’s mom’s SUV, and now it was making my orange chicken taste a little sour. Lucy didn’t seem to mind, though, as her head bopped back and forth to the tune, and she manipulated her chopsticks like she’d been using them her whole life. I preferred a fork, and right now, I was contemplating shoving it into my eye. This song needed to stop.
“I hope my mom didn’t get lost,” Lucy giggled. “Either that, or she accidentally stumbled into Sephora on her way to the car.” Mrs. Burk, who never seemed to eat anything, had given us some money for lunch and said she’d be back later under the guise of taking the bags to the car, though I agreed with Luce; she was probably shopping again by now.
“So… how’s your sister?” Lucy asked, taking a slurp of her pop. “When will she be home?”
I hadn’t gotten a chance to tell Lucy about my mom’s conversation on the phone with Cadence. Actually, that wasn’t quite true. I could’ve told her, but now that Lucy and Emma didn’t remember all of the stuff we’d discovered about Cadence and her circle of vampire hunters, or whatever they were, I didn’t feel comfortable talking to her about anything that had to do with my sister. I was always afraid I’d mess up and say something wrong. “I’m not sure she’s coming back,” I replied quietly. “I mean, I think she might stay in Kansas City until after the holidays.”
“What? Shut up!” Lucy exclaimed, staring at me with her mouth open. Thankfully, it was currently empty. “How can she not come home for Christmas?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. She likes this guy, and I think he asked her out or something.” I really didn’t know what was going on with her, in no uncertain terms, and I didn’t even feel like I could call Cadence to see what was up. It just seemed like she needed some space.
“What guy?” Lucy asked, back to her Mongolian beef. “Somebody from work?”
A sharp pang hit me in the gut. She should know. She should remember. But she didn’t. And that was partially my fault. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Some guy she met at her new job.”
“Huh,” Lucy replied, taking a big bite. She chewed for a few minutes, and I hoped she’d let it go. But she didn’t. “What’s his name?”
“I don’t remember,” I lied. Part of me thought, if I said his name, maybe she’d remember everything, and while I would welcome it if she did, I also remembered Elliott and Hannah warning us to leave things alone. When you’re talking about supernatural creatures, it’s probably best to heed their warnings.
I thought Lucy might ask a follow up question, but instead her eyes got wide, and then she let out a loud puff. “Don’t look now, but your own Christmas wish is on his way over.”
Feeling my blood run cold, I slowly turned around, and then, in a flash, turned back to face her. Liam White was sauntering across the food court, his blond hair perfectly sculpted so that his bangs hung just over his right eye. He had his hands shoved down deep in the pockets of his skinny jeans, his hooded flannel and fleece jacket unzipped revealing a vintage rock-band T-shirt. “How do I look?” I asked Lucy, wishing I’d done more than a quick reapplication of my lip gloss before I left home, thinking it had long since worn off anyway.
Lucy scrunched up her face. “You look fine,” she shrugged. I knew Lucy was not a fan of Liam’s, though I hadn’t quite established why. I wished I had time to check there was nothing in my teeth, but then, there he was, pulling the seat between us out and swiveling it around so that he was sitting in it backward.
“Hey ladies,” Liam said, leaning his head on his folded arms. “How’s it going?” He smiled at each of us and sort of nodded his head at Lucy.
She narrowed her eyes. “William,” she said in a cold greeting. “Why don’t you just make yourself at home?”
“Thanks,” he replied, chuckling like he either didn’t realize she was being sarcastic or didn’t care. “Nice to see you have the Christmas spirit.”
“I’m not hungry anymore,” Lucy said, smirking at him and gathering up her food. “I’ll be back,” she said, standing and taking her tray across the food court.
I was confused. “What’s going on?” I asked Liam. “She seems madder at you than usual.”
“Search me,” he replied with a shrug. “Maybe it’s that time of the month.” He laughed, but that was about the lamest thing he could’ve said to me, another girl—woman—I just raised my eyebrows at him. “Maybe she found out she’s getting a lump of coal for Christmas.”
“Maybe,” I said, not wanting to tell him he wasn’t being cute right now, especially since he really was the cutest guy in our whole school. And right now, he was sitting by me. “What are you doing here?” The mall was in another town, about forty minutes away from Shenandoah, and even though it was far away, it was where most of us hung out when we could catch a ride. “How’d you get here?”
“My brother,” Liam shrugged again. “He’s hanging out with his friends right now. He’ll be back later.”
I nodded. Chance, Liam’s brother, was a little bit older than Cadence, so I didn’t know him well. I used to think he was a loser for dropping out of college to work for a local plumbing company, but ever since my own sister had also quit before the first semester was even over, I had to look at things differently.
“You and Luce doing some last-minute Christmas shopping?” he asked.
“Yeah, something like that.” It was a reminder that I still hadn’t found the only gift I’d thought I might want to buy. I didn’t want to get anything at all, though, if it wasn’t right. Lucy was heading back in our direction, and I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “We’re supposed to go find her mom.”
“Oh,” he said. “Well, I won’t keep you then. I just thought I might as well come say hey to the prettiest girl at the mall.” He gave me a sheepish grin, and I felt my face light up. “Later, Cass.” He stood and swiveled the chair back around just about the same time Lucy arrived back at the table. “See you, Luce.”
“It’s Luc-y!” she shouted after him. Liam turned and laughed at her but kept walking. She folded her arms and shook her head, not bothering to sit back down.
