Chapter 9

So CLOSE…

Kit staggered out of the waves, having swallowed more than enough of his share of the ocean. Slicking water out of his dark hair, he sighed as he waited for Nita to finish her long, drawn-out conversation with a disgruntled starfish slowly making its way back to the clam it was trying to open. Seeing her auburn head finally bob to the surface of the water, he sent her a quick thought.

Hurry up, Neets…

All right, all right, I'm hurrying!

Kit sighed and sat down in the warm sand, looking curiously around at the garage that had sent his bent, twisted, and charred Silverado into the scrapyard.

The incident had occurred on the way to the hotel; Kit's truck had been broadsided by an Excursion running a red light. The truck had ended up forty-eight feet and five eighths of an inch away from the impact point, on its roof, whereas the Excursion suffered a bent and damaged hood and bumper. It was, perhaps, lucky that Kit and Nita had the sense to put up shield spells before leaving Adirondack Park, as it probably saved their lives.

The driver of the Excursion was arrested for DUI.

As it was, Kit had an old Mustang for a car, and $23,690 in damages for the totaled Silverado. Oh, happy day.

Nita, on the other hand, was unimpressed: she knew she'd have to go through another few hours of car shopping with Kit.

Joy.

Dripping wet and coughing, Nita stumbled up to Kit, wiping the salt water out of her eyes and looking blearily at her wizardry partner.

"Now what?"

Kit shrugged noncommittally. "Whatever, I guess… What d'you want to do?"

A wicked glint appeared in Nita's gray eyes, and Kit immediately began to wish he had never said that.

"I wanted to make that kiss up to you," she said confidently.

WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU SAYING, CALLAHAN? her mind screamed at her.

Kit looked at her carefully. "What?"

Now's your chance, Callahan. Make something up…

"That kiss. You know, the one that got interrupted?"

Kit flushed, and, by some wonderfully strange miracle, his eyes locked on to hers, boring deep into her slate gray irises.

There was no stopping it from there.

Unless, of course, the inevitable happened.

Nita was about to turn her head sideways and move in for the kiss when another, more familiar voice cut in.

"Nita… K… Nita?"

The effect was dramatic and painful.

Both teens jumped at the same time, whipping around and effectively cracking their heads against one another.

Carl watched them stagger apart, clutching their aching heads, an amused look on his face.

Kit finally looked at him through watering eyes, ruefully touching the rising lump on his head.

"What?" he asked, somewhat irritably.

Despite the waves of immense pain shooting through her skull, Nita managed to step on his foot.

Carl winced as he bit into his cheek hard enough to draw blood, trying desperately to keep from laughing.

Once he had managed to calm himself down, he inquired smoothly, "So… how long… have you been… um… with each other?"

Nita blushed indignantly. "We're not together!" she said heatedly.

But her eyes told the real story.

Carl sighed, and, despite his immense curiosity, dropped the subject. "So, how's the camping trip going?"

Kit didn't bother asking how he knew, but just sighed and said, "It's okay… nothing major's happened so far…"

The opportunity was too good to pass up. "Nothing… like… say, kissing Nita?"

Both teens went red. "CARL!"

Carl hastily backed away. "Okay, okay… just kidding. Jeez…"

Nita, still pink in the face, inquired, "So, what're you doing down here?"

Carl shrugged. "Selling airtime… what else?"

"In California?"

"Yeah. Some nutters in one of the TV places around here wanted a commercial done… they're spreading across the country."

"Oh."

"Well… nothing major's happened in New York… so…"

Carl looked at his watch and swore colorfully. "I gotta go… sorry… I'm late as it is. You two can go back to doing… whatever you were doing."

He retreated back to his ancient Nissan sedan, started up the engine, and laid rubber out of the beach parking lot and onto the intersecting street.

Kit turned back to Nita, a smile spreading across his face.

"So, now, where were we?"