Chapter Fifteen

I thought Ace would have at least picked me up from the dance but he didn't show.

Violet kept me company outside while she waited for her dad to show. She babbled on about music and movies while I stared off into the darkness, willing Ace's car to appear.

Violet's dad was late too; a flat tyre he told us apologetically. The plus side was the parking lot was virtually empty when Mr White arrived so he automatically offered me a ride home.

"Here's fine," I told Violet and her dad at the bottom of the lane that wound towards Gordie's house. Violet's white haired father looked up and down the dark path and adjusted his spectacles.

"I can't leave you here. Let me take you all the way home," he insisted.

"No, really, " I said, opening the car door. "Thanks and all, but I'm not going home, I'm going to the Lachance's. I borrowed something from Mrs Lachance. She'll give me a ride home later."

So only half of that was a lie. But the name Lachance was enough for Violet's Dad not to push it anymore about taking me home. Everybody knew Gordie's parents weren't the full ticket since losing Denny. I wondered how Mr White felt about Violet seeing Gordie.

"Thanks for the ride," I said as I climbed out of the station wagon. Violet waved as the car pulled away.

As I walked down the lane, I stared up at the Lachance house with it's dark windows. I hadn't been here since the night before Gordie left but I didn't want to go back to Ace's. Not only had he not come to the dance he hadn't even turned up to pick me up. He was probably still sulking that I didn't blow off my night for him.

What I needed was a night by myself away from Ace's snoring and snide comments. The Lachance's needn't know I was ever there.

Once I was underneath Gordie's window I realised there was a problem. How in the hell was I gonna climb up onto the roof and through the window in my heels and dress? As I stood there staring up at the window, I felt a drop of rain on my face. This was quickly followed by several larger drops.

There was nothing for it. I bent down and pulled off my shoes then I tossed them onto the roof. Next I tucked the bottom of my dress in it's neckline and started to climb.

It was tough in bare feet and the rain grew harder. By the time I got onto the roof and struggled through the window, I was soaked through

Shivering, I tore off the green dress and pulled some shorts and an oversized t shirt out of Gordie's bureau. I pulled back the covers on the bed and slipped inside. The sheets were cold and I finally admitted to myself that I missed Gordie. I mean, I'd gone a couple of days without him before but I always knew he was here, waiting for me if I needed him. The sheets smelled like the soap he used. I rolled around trying to warm up while thinking about the dance.

I had danced with Chris Chambers. Not only that-I had liked dancing with Chris Chambers. I remembered the way his arms encircled my waist, how I'd felt when his warm fingers had touched the skin under my chin, lifting my gaze up to his. Christ, what the hell was the matter with me?

The sound of the wooden window sliding open cut off my chain of thoughts. I froze under the duvet as I ran through the possibilities of who it might be. Maybe it was a burglar…what would I do if it was? It wasn't like I could shout to the Lachances for help. Or maybe it was…Ace. That was the only person who would know to look for me here.

I sat up, relieved at the thought, but realised instantly, it wasn't Ace.

"Nina?"

"It's you!" I said to Chris's shadowy figure. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry." This time i could hear his voice was breathless. "I didn't know you'd be here. I'll go."

I slipped out of bed and crossed the room.

"Are you hurt?" I asked him. It was hard to tell in the dark bedroom but I could tell something wasn't right by his tone of voice. Besides, he only came to Gordie's when he had a fight with his old man.

"I'm okay," he said, bending to climb back out the window. He gasped and swore as he did this and I took hm by the arm and guided him back into the room.

"C'mon, let me see." Flicking on the bedroom lamp, I could see that Chris's clean white shirt from a few hours ago was now grubby and torn with flecks of reddish brown. His cheek was swollen and his face looked strained.

"What happened?" I whispered.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, his hand to his ribs. I stood there waiting for him to say something but instead of talking, Chris lifted his shirt gingerly.

"Christ, you're bleeding." I went immediately back into Gordie's bureau and pulled out an old black t shirt. "Here, hold this against it."

Chris did as I told him but his eyes followed me to the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom. To get something to clean it up."

Chris shook his head emphatically.

"You can't. The Lachances hear you and that's it. With Gordie away, they'll be in there like lightning."

I put my hand on the door knob anyway. Mr and Mrs Lachance seemed to sleep like the living dead. In all the time I'd stayed over at Gordie's they'd never come inside to investigate the noise we made. But Chris was right- with Gordie gone things might be different.

"They find you and you'll never be able to crash here again," Chris warned.

I opened the door quietly and slipped out into the hall.

It didn't take me long to get a hold of the first aid box. I had been sneaking in and out of Gordie's bathroom since I was ten and knew where everything was kept.
In seconds I was back in the room with Chris and kneeling down in front of him. He lifted his shirt again and I studied the wound critically.

"Maybe we should go to the hospital. It looks deep, it might need stitches."

"I'm not going to the hospital," he said wearily. He lay back on the bed while I surveyed the cut on his stomach.

I used an antiseptic wipe to clean it up as best as I could while Chris bit his lip and stared at the ceiling trying to pretend it didn't sting like hell. Then I taped a bandage over it.

"Thanks," he said, dropping his grubby shirt back down. His eyes wandered across to my dress thrown hastily over the chair.

"What happened to your dress?"

Chris' question took a few seconds to register but when it did, my head snapped towards it. Now in the light, I could see my beautiful green dress had a long streak of mud down it and there was an evident tear in the material.

"Oh, no!" I rushed towards it and lifted it clear of the chair, inspecting it for damage.

A lump had risen in my throat. That dress had made me feel more beautiful that I'd ever felt and now it was ruined. Cinderella was back to reality.

Chris scratched the back of his head as I examined the dress in dismay.

"I'm sure it'll mend," he offered.

"You don't understand," I told him. "Gordie bought me this. It was brand new, label on and everything. He'll be pissed I didn't take care of it." I tried to rub away the mud but it was no use.

"He won't care," Chris said softly.

"Of course he will! " I snapped. "Wouldn't you care if you gave somebody a present and they wrecked it in one night?"

"No." He shook his head. "I wouldn't care. I don't care. It was worth every penny to see you in it tonight."

I stared at him. He looked at me for only a second before dropping his eyes to the floor.

"You bought the dress? Why?"

He shuffled his feet and kept his eyes trained to the floor.

"Well, you gave Becky a jacket. And you wanted to go to the dance."

I didn't know what to say to that. So what if I wanted to go to the dance? Why did that matter to him?

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He stood up. "Thanks for patching me up."

He was almost at the window when I stopped him.

"Is it…safe for you to go home?"

"Sure. He's probably passed out by now." He was sliding the window up when I spoke again.

"I'd feel better if you stayed."

And I meant it. Who knew if his old man was still up and gunning for him? After what he'd been through, he didn't deserve a round two. It was still a recent memory returning to my own home and praying that Stan had passed out in a drunken stupour.

Chris looked back at me.

"Come on," I said. "You'll have me up all night fretting if you go."

He hesitated before sliding the window back down into place.

"Wasn't too long ago you would have gladly kicked me out the window."

"There's still time."

Chris chuckled and slid out of his shoes as I sat down on the bed.

"Pass me a pillow?"

"Come on, Chambers. You can share the bed. I promise not to jump you."

"No way." He strode over, grabbed a pillow from the bed and tossed it down on the floor. "I've danced with you and now I'm spending the night in the same room as you. If I sleep in the same bed, Ace will have every right to wanna kill me. I'd wanna kill me too."

He flicked off the lamp and lay down on the floor. I flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"If he wasn't such a grade A asshole, I wouldn't even be here. I'd be at his place."

I could hear Chris' light breathing in the dark.

"And he would've taken me to the dance, too."

"If he wasn't such a grade A asshole you probably wouldn't be interested in him," Chris commented.

I pulled the covers up to my chin as the cold crept over me.

"What's that mean?"

"Nice guys always finish last. Don't get the girl, get beaten up by the football team…" His tone was sardonic.

"I'd perform a thorough check before you start calling yourself nice…" I retorted. But my heart wasn't in it anymore. Chris was nice. He gave me his jacket when I was cold, he'd comforted me when my Mom had thrown me out, he'd stood up to Ace for me. And the dress…

My thoughts were interrupted by a noise that sounded like grinding teeth.

"What in the-are your teeth chattering? Jesus Christ, Chambers, get in the damn bed!"

"It's cool," he answered haltingly. "I'll warm up in a second."

"Get in the bed now," I said. "Ace will be pissed if you're in the bed or out of it. Stop being such a moron."

"Wow, it's times like now I can really see that you're Ace's girl."

"Chris!"

"Okay, okay." He got to his feet and a couple of seconds later I felt him slide into the other side of the bed. "And remember you promised not to jump me…"

I started giggling at his comment and buried my face into the pillow.

"Go to sleep, idiot."

He shuffled around for a few seconds before he settled down.

"Goodnight, Nina."

"Night."

When I awoke, the sun was on my face. I opened my eyes carefully against the sunlight and was startled to see Chris beside me on the bed. He was wide awake, staring at me with bright blue eyes. Despite the fact his face was swollen, it was impossible to hide the fact that Chris was naturally handsome. Not ruggedly handsome like Ace, but innocent handsome, angelic handsome. His fair hair was golden in the sunlight, his skin an oatmeal brown.

I suddenly remembered what a God awful state I was in. My hair, still pinned uncomfortably in places, felt a complete mess. I hadn't removed my make up and Gordie's shirt was three sizes too big for me.

"Don't say a word about what I look like," I mumbled. "I'm not a morning person, okay?"

Chris continued to stare at me. Then he bent his head and pressed his lips against mine. I had very little time to decide how to react before Chris pulled away and leapt out of the bed.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered as he jammed his feet into his shoes.

I sat up, disorientated, as he picked up his jacket and ducked towards the window.

"Hold on-wait a minute! You can't just-you can't just go!"

"We made a deal, Nina. I made a deal with Ace and I keep my word. Usually. Always apart from now. Oh, fuck." And with that, he heaved up the window and disappeared.

I sat there stunned after he left, my hand across my mouth as I acknowledged that Chris Chambers had the softest lips I'd ever kissed.

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I felt guilty for the rest of the day.

I caught a bus out towards Ace's and let myself in. He wasn't there which wasn't all that unusual for Sunday lunch time. I made myself a sandwich, showered and changed before hitching a ride down to Irby's.

On entering, I could see the Cobra's were at their usual table and Ace was leaning on the bar. The place was virtually empty like it usually was at this time. Billy and Charlie were arguing over the pool table. It was just like any Sunday afternoon at Irby's except something felt deadly wrong.

I crept up behind Ace at the bar and grabbed him about the waist. Ace didn't jump. Things like that just didn't make him nervous. He turned his head and nodded at me like I was a casual acquaintance.

"Where you been hiding?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said. "Where were you last night?"

"Had a couple of beers and passed out," he said. "You?"

I couldn't bring myself to say I'd been mad at him. It seemed unfair now after what had happened with Chris.

"Could only hitch a lift as far as Gordie's place," I said. "It was dark. Raining. So I stayed there."

He nodded at Doug.

"Get her a drink."

Doug pointed to the fridge full of sodas and I nodded and sat down on a bar stool.

"So how was it?" He took a sip of his beer and when he looked at me, I felt like he could see exactly what had happened.

"How was what?"

He gave me a look.

"The dance that you just had to go to."

"It was okay." I shrugged uncomfortably and accepted a coke. "Thanks, Doug."

I had just put the glass to my lips when the door to Irby'so burst open and Chris Chambers walked in. I felt a pang of fear shudder right through me. Was he going to confess? What the hell was he doing here?

Chris walked over to the pool table, yanked a cue from Billy's hands and strode over to the bar where Ace and I were.

He pushed the pool stick into Ace's hand.

"Me. You. Rematch."

Ace looked down at the stick and then up into Chris' face.

"What the fuck for?"

"For a real victory. I let you win last time."

I could literally hear my own shallow breathing as I prayed to God that Ace wouldn't start asking me questions.

"You let me win?" Ace gave Chris a shove with his free hand. "I had you down for a lot of things, faggot, but a sore loser wasn't one of 'em."

Eyeball had made his way over from the Cobra table by now.

"What the fuck do you want?" He asked Chris.

"I want to play Ace again," Chris repeated, his gaze locked on my boyfriend.

"Whatever." Now he'd been challenged in front of Eyeball there was no way that Ace would say no and Chris knew it. "What we betting on this time?"

"Same thing," Chris said. "I lose, I won't speak to Christina. You lose, I can speak to her whenever I want and you don't get a say in it."

I watched Ace's face harden and his eyes travel to me suspiciously.

"You want your fucking neck broken, Chambers? You telling me you're after my girl?"

"What I'm telling you is I don't much like anybody telling me who I can and can't talk to. And I threw the game last time, didn't think it was worth the hassle. But if you're gonna beat me, I'm sure you'd rather do it fair and square."

Chris phrased this in such a way that he hadn't denied Ace's accusation and yet had made it sound like the game was a matter of pride. I was pretty sure Ace was still suspicious but instead of asking me questions he jerked his head towards the pool table and the three of us trailed after him.

I sat there biting my nails as the two of them took shot after shot on the pool table. Nobody spoke throughout the game , everyone was glued to the game and even Doug came out to lean on a table and watch them. The game was close but Chris was on fire. It took less than fifteen minutes for him to pot the eight ball.

But instead of crowing victory like Ace had, Chris tossed down the pool stick and without so much as glancing at me, he walked out of the bar.

Ace didn't even get a chance to lose his temper. But when I looked at him his eyes were blazing and fixed on one person.

Me.

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