The Heart's Ashes
Page 9

The small frosted window on the classroom door, with stickers that read “Less n in pro ess” made me hate myself even more. I sighed and stood a little taller, pushing the door open. The show must go on. This only temporary.
“Joseph.” The fake smile slipped away. “I forgot we had a lesson today.”
“Wouldn’t miss a lesson with you, gorgeous.” The greying, eighty-year-old student slapped my behind with his shaky hands.
“No, sir, wouldn’t dream of it, would we?” I cringed as I closed the door.
The thin heel of my shoe clacked the pavement noisily until restaurant chatter spilled into the silence of the desolate street. I ran to a small booth at the centre of the room, waving off the hostess’ offer of assistance, and placed the small wrapped box on the table.
“Sorry I’m late, guys.”
“Oh, hey.” Emily’s concerned face instantly relaxed. “We were wondering if you were going to show.”
“I said I would.” I shrugged and slid into the booth seat opposite them. “I just got caught up at work. Boss wanted a heart-to-heart.”
“What about?” Emily asked.
“Hey, thanks, Ara.” Spencer cut in, holding up the watch I bought on the way over here. Truth is, the heart-to-heart only took fifteen minutes—the rest of the time was spent shopping for Spencer’s present. Okay, so maybe I spent too long choosing a dress to wear too, but it’s not often I go out with friends anymore—and I’ve never been on a real date.
“Um, it was about a promotion,” I said, then looked at Spencer. “So you like it then?”
He wrapped the watch over his wrist and nodded. “Yeah, it’s great.”
“Cool.” I smiled and looked at the menu, wondering where my blind date was.
“So, Ara?” Emily held a glass in the air. “Here’s to Spence and his nineteenth birthday—and here’s to our one year anniversary of being friends.”
Wow. She’s right. It’s a year to the day I met Emily, a year to the day I started a new school, and a year to the day that I met Da— “Well, salute.” I clinked my glass with theirs, but fought to fake happiness.
“So, where’s your friend, Spence?” Emily asked.
“Oh, Eric? He’s always late.” He leaned back in the chair and laughed. “Probably can’t stop his knees from shaking long enough to get dressed.”
Shaking? “Does he have a condition or something?” I asked.
“If you call the fear of girls a condition, yeah.”
“What did you tell him he was coming out to meet with? The queen?” Emily shook her head.
“No, I told him she’s very pretty and very nice.” Spence lowered his gaze.
“Aw, how sweet,” I said mockingly.
Something changed then—drained the warmth, the sound and the life out of the small restaurant; an eerie feeling came over me, like that tingling sensation when you know there’s something standing behind you. I looked over my shoulder—not for any reason, purely because I felt the need to check behind me—and jumped when Spence suddenly hopped up in his seat and waved. “Eric! Over here!”
When the tall, light-haired guy by the door smiled at us, I sank into my seat straight away. Em was right; he is like David. Not as much as the last time I mistook someone for him, but enough, with his overly-confident smile, that my heart fluttered. There was something else about this guy, though, something underneath the instant attraction that was off-putting.
My skin crawled with goose bumps as he stood in front of me and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Eric. Nice to meet you.”
Shake his hand, Ara—just move yours into his. They’re all looking at you. My rigid arm obeyed, and when our fingers touched, the coolness of his skin sent tingles down my elbow. “Hi,” I managed to whisper.
“I’m uh, I’m sorry I’m late,” he said slowly, without taking his chocolate eyes off me. Then, he turned his head to Spence and smiled as the moment of intensity slipped away and the room flooded with volume again. “I had to stop for a bite to eat.”
“But, you were coming to a restaurant.” Emily toyed with her bracelet as she spoke—extra enthusiastically.
“Uh, yeah.” He grinned and fell into the seat beside me with way too much confidence for the kind of guy Spence described. “Low blood sugar.”
“Oh, well, you should get on well with Ara then,” Emily said. “She’s the same.”
Eric looked at me quickly, studying me with narrowed eyes.
“Thanks, Em.” I groaned. Way to make me feel normal.
“Low blood sugar, too, huh?” Eric said, leaning a little closer.
“That’s what they tell me.” I straightened my napkin on my lap and tensed from the toes up, wishing I could stop my heart from beating. The guy smelled like leather and grease, but there was a fresh layer of spicy cologne over it that made him smell warm and manly—like I always thought guys would smell.
“Did you eat before you came, too, then?” Eric asked.
“No,” was all I said, unable to think of anything more intelligent.
Eric sat back a little and forced a smile away from his lips, but it stayed there in his eyes. I noticed then, as I took a good look at him, that his hair wasn’t short, like I first thought. It was undercut on the sides, with the top tied into a short ponytail at the back. I never liked that look, but on this guy, it actually looked pretty sexy.
I cleared my throat and carefully considered wiping the imaginary drool off my face. “So...Eric,” I started, “how do you and Spence know each other?”
“We, uh—” Eric grinned and looked at Spence. “We train at the same gym.”
“Yeah, this guy’s unbeatable in the ring,” Spence said, laughing.
“The ring?” I shifted in my chair, inching away from Eric and his slyly invading proximity.
“Yeah.” Eric turned to me. “Boxing.”
“Oh, cool.” I looked at Eric’s upper-arm just under his black fitted t-shirt. Nice arms. Melt.
“Do you like boxing?” he asked.
“Ha!” Emily and I both laughed.
“I’ll go ahead and take that as a no.”
“Sorry. Sports aren’t my thing. Aside from running.”