Part 18 (1/2)
Catcher and Mallory were already seated on two sides of the table. We took the remaining two chairs, then Morgan picked up his winegla.s.s and raised it to both of them. ”To good friends,” he said.
”To vampires,” Mallory said, clinking her gla.s.s against mine.
”No,” Catcher said. ”To Chicago.”Dinner was great. Good food, good conversation, good company. Catcher and Mallory were entertaining, as usual, and Morgan was charming, listening intently to Mallory's stories of my antics.
Of course, because I'd been a grad student the entire time that I'd known her, there weren't that many antics to report. There were, however, plenty of stories about my geekiness, including the tale of what she called my ”Juilliard” stage.
”She'd been in the middle of some kind of musical obsession,” Mallory began, grinning at me. She'd pushed back her plate and crossed her legs on her chair, clearly prepped for a lengthy tale. I pre-cut the last of my salmon into tiny bites, ready to intervene should things get dicey.
”She'd rented, like, every musical DVD she could find, fromChicago toOklahoma . Girl could not get enough of the singing and dancing.”
Morgan leaned forward. ”Did she watchNewsies ? Tell me she watchedNewsies .”
Mallory pursed her lips to bite back a laugh, then held up two fingers. ”Twice.”
”Do go on,” Morgan said, giving me a sideways glance. ”I'm fascinated.”
”Well,” Mallory said, lifting a hand to push blue hair behind her ear, ”you know Merit used to dance-ballet-but she eventually came to her senses. And by the way, I don't know what kind of freaky s.h.i.+t vampires are into, but if at all possible, stay away from her feet.”
”Mallory Carmichael!”My cheeks heated with a blush I'm sure was crimson red.
”What?” she asked with a nonchalant shrug. ”You danced in toe shoes. It happens.”
I put an elbow on the table, my forehead in my hand. This, I bet, is what my life would have been like had my sister Charlotte and I been closer-the kind of intimate humiliation that only siblings could provide. For better or for worse and, G.o.d willing, in sickness and in health, Mallory was a sister.
A hand caressed my back. Morgan leaned over, whispered in my ear, ”It's okay, babe. I still like you.”
I gave him a sardonic look. ”That feeling is not mutual at the moment.”
”Mmm-hmmm,” he said, then turned back to Mallory. ”So our former ballerina was hooked on musicals.”
”Not so much the musicals, but the style.” Mallory looked at me, made an apologetic face.
I waved her off. ”Just put it out there.”
”Keep in mind, she went to NYU, then Stanford, then lands back in Chicago. And our Merit loved the Big Apple. The Windy City is a little more akin to New York living than California was, but it's far from having a walkup in the Village. But Mer decides she can make up for it. With clothes. So this one winter, she starts wearing leggings, big floppy sweaters, and always a scarf. She never left the house without a scarf kind of”-Mallory waggled her arms in the air-”draped all around her. She had a pair of brown knee-high boots, wore them every day. It was this whole 'ballerina chic' thing.” Mallory adjusted on her seat, leaned forward, and crooked a finger at Morgan and Catcher. They both leaned forward, obviously entranced. The girl knew how to work a crowd.
”There was a beret.”
They both let out groans, sat up again. ”How could you?” Morgan asked with a mock horror that was belied by the laugh that was threatening to escape him. ”A beret, Merit? Really?”
”You will never give me s.h.i.+t again,” Catcher said. ”I own you now. I own your a.s.s.”
I plucked at a bite of salmon, chewed it with careful deliberation, then waved my fork at them. ”You are all on my s.h.i.+t list. All of you.”
Morgan sighed happily, drained the last of his gla.s.s of wine. ”This is good,” he said. ”This is really helpful.
What else do I need to know?”
”Oh, she has tons of secrets,” Mallory confided, with a grin to me. ”And I know all of them.”
Morgan, one arm slung on the back of his chair, made a beckoning movement with his free hand. ”Let's go. Keep 'em coming.”
”Mallory,” I warned, but she only laughed.
”Well, let's see. I bet you didn't tell him about the secret kitchen drawer. You should clean that out while you're over here.”
Morgan sat up straight and slid a glance behind him at the kitchen door. ”Secret kitchen drawer?” Then he looked back at me, winged up eyebrows.My answer was quick and vehement.”No.”
He slid back his chair.
”Morgan, no.”
He was halfway to the kitchen before I was out of my chair, laughing as I rushed after him. ”Morgan!
d.a.m.n it, stop! She was kidding. There's no such thing.”
By the time I made it to the kitchen, he was pulling drawers open left and right. I jumped on his back and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. ”She was kidding! I swear.”
I expected him to throw me off, but he laughed, pulled my legs around his waist, and kept searching.
”Merit, Merit, Merit. You're too quiet. So many secrets.”
”She was kidding, Morgan.” In a desperate attempt to keep my secret drawer, well,secret , I kissed the top curve of his ear. He paused and c.o.c.ked his head to the side to give me better access. But after I put my chin on the top of his head and said, ”Thank you,” he started searching again.
”Hey! I thought you were going to stop!”
”Then you're naive.” He pulled open another drawer, froze.”Holy s.h.i.+t .”
I sighed and slid down his back. ”I can explain this.”
He pulled out the drawer-a long, flat bay intended for silverware-as far as it would go, and stared into it. He gaped, mouth open, at its contents before turning his head to look at me. ”Anything you want to say?”
I gnawed the edge of my lip. ”My parents didn't let me have candy?”
Morgan reached in and grabbed a handful of the drawer's contents-South American chocolate bars, bags of chocolate-covered dried cherries, chocolate pastiches, chocolate b.u.t.tons, chocolate stars, chocolate lollipops, chocolate sh.e.l.ls, chocolate-covered gingerbread Christmas tree cookies, a white-chocolate-covered Twinkie, chocolate caramels, cocoa from a small-batch chocolatier and a foot-long Toblerone bar. He looked at me, tried not to laugh, and, for all that effort, made a strangled, hiccupped sound. ”And so you're compensating for that?”
I crossed my arms. ”Do you have a problem with my stash?”
He made that sound again. ”No?”
”Quit laughing at me,” I ordered, but I was grinning when I said it. Morgan redeposited his handful of chocolate, closed the drawer, grabbed my hips, and arranged my body between his and the island.
He looked down at me with an expression of mock gravity. ”I'm not laughing at you, Mer. Chortling, maybe, but not laughing.”
”Ha.” I gave him a baleful look that even I knew was unconvincing.