Part 3 (1/2)
”How's your leg?” he asks once we're outside.
”Better, actually. You peed on me for nothing.”
He half-grins. ”Not nothing. I got a date out of it.”
I grin back. ”Ah, magical pee, then. Just not healing pee.”
Maverick laughs, and I think the sound might be even better than his smile. ”So what brings you south of the border, Alieya?”
”A persistent best friend.”
”The blonde?”
”That's the one. Finley. I don't know where I'd be without her.”
”Not here?”
I laugh. ”Definitely not here. Probably studying at home and watching Gilmore Girls reruns.”
”That sounds like a small corner of h.e.l.l. I'm glad she got you out of there. Remind me to buy her a drink.”
”What about you? Why are you here?”
Maverick shrugs. ”Spring break, like everyone else.”
”That's cliche.”
He swings his attention to me, eyebrows high. ”Let me guess. You and Finley picked this location and this time of year for its quiet evenings and off-tourist season beaches. Am I close?”
Touche.
I sigh out a small chuckle. ”Finley is the party girl. I'm here to...” I trail off and glance at the group stumbling over each other across the street. Like Finley, they're all here to cut loose and drink. I return to the conversation. ”I'm here for Finn.”
He studies me before a grin breaks across his face. ”Have you ever been snorkeling?”
”Um, no...”
”You do not want to miss the marine life around here. Tours go out all day. How does ten o'clock tomorrow sound?”
I scrunch my brow in confusion. ”Are you asking me on a second date?”
”Sounds like it.”
”We haven't finished the first date. It might not end well.”
”Why won't it end well?”
”I ... I don't know. Maybe you eat with your mouth open, or you pick your nose in public.”
”Wow, you have high standards.”
”I'm just saying, you know, that we should have a first date before we plan a second.”
”Are you always this uptight?”
”I'm not uptight,” I say, though it's one of my traits that Finley hopes to change on this trip. She has a checklist.
”Great. So ten o'clock?”
He's got me cornered. ”Eleven.” Because I can't just go and agree with everything he suggests. I'm not desperate.
Maverick looks satisfied. Smug, even. And I have to admit, I like his persistence.
He nods to a brightly painted building to our left. ”This is it. The Fish House.”
”Jellyfish, right?”
”The best. You up for it?”
I bite my lip, thinking about Finley's checklist, me being uptight ranking way high at number two. ”Oh, what the h.e.l.l,” I say. ”Let's do it.”
Chapter 5.
Present Day 2:16 a.m.
St. Luke's Hospital towers in the distance. Lights blink from the roof, and ”Emergency Entrance” glows in bright crimson letters, but otherwise the building is dark. I've driven past it a million times, but never before has it seemed unsettling. My Mav is in there somewhere- unresponsive.
I have to look away. I've been scared before, but not like this. The unknown waiting for me in there is throwing me over the edge. Once I hit bottom, I'll know only blackness.
”Is there someone you can call?” the officer asks.
I stare at him, only half-hearing what he said. My gaze lowers to his name tag, and I realize that he probably introduced himself.
James Arrent.
James Arrent's expression is solemn. There's no pity in his eyes, just concern and sympathy. It's obvious he's been through this before. Many times, possibly. I won't ask. It doesn't matter.
Yes, I should call someone. Maverick's parents. His brother. My mom.
But what will I tell them? I don't know anything yet, and I can't handle being bombarded with questions. They'll all come here. My mom will hover, suffocating me with worry. Mav's parents will do the same to him, his mother in hysterics. No, I can't deal with that.
So I shake my head and turn my attention to the window again. Thoughts that refuse to be contained circle through my mind.
They say seeing is believing, but what if I don't want to believe what I see?