SURPRISE SURPRISE
Maryah
Eightball barked and howled while I rang River’s doorbell for the second time. I didn’t call to tell him I was coming, so the look of surprise on his face when he answered the door seemed normal.
“Maryah, I didn’t know you were stopping by.”
Eightball waddled out onto the porch. His nubby tail wagged as I picked him up and hugged him for warmth.
“I needed to get out of the house.” I eyed the tattoos all over River’s bare chest and arms. I’d never seen him with his shirt off before.
“Give me a second.” He shut the door and I stood on the porch feeling stupid. I forgot my coat and I was shivering. Why didn’t he invite me in?
A few minutes later, the door opened and a girl with auburn hair shouldered past me without even glancing in my direction. She had to be in her mid-twenties and dressed like someone in a porno version of The Matrix . She climbed into a black Mercedes and drove away.
“Did I interrupt something?” I asked.
River stood in the doorway pulling a shirt over his head. His lips lifted in a cockeyed smile, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Friend of my uncle’s. She got wasted last night and had to crash here.”
“Eww, you smell like you bathed in beer!” I wriggled out of his arms. The scent of Jasmine and sweat lingered on him.
“You coming in?”
Against my better judgment, I nodded and went inside. I had nowhere else to go, and no one else to turn to—at least no one normal.
“You’re still drunk, aren’t you?” I set Eightball down on the floor. Beer bottles and shot glasses covered the coffee table.
River didn’t answer me. “So what’s up? You never show up here without calling.”
“Sorry to ruin your party with Little Red Riding Whore.”
“Hey, watch it.” River pointed the neck of a beer bottle at me. “She’s like family.”
“Then why do you smell like her?” I mumbled under my breath.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Apparently the keeper of my secrets was keeping secrets of his own. I collapsed into the leather easy chair and ran my hands over my face. I came here to escape weirdness, but instead I stumbled into a scene from a sleazy soap opera. Part of me wanted to ask him if he slept with her, but another part didn’t care. April was better off without him. Eightball jumped into my lap and snorted while I rubbed his ears.
“Where’s your uncle?”
“Out.” River hovered above me. “You look like you pulled an all-nighter too. What’s wrong?”
Oh, let’s see. Everyone swears Nathan is my soul mate, that we’ve known each other for a bunch of lifetimes, that we all have superpowers, and that some old lady is my adopted daughter. That’s what ran through my mind. What came out of my mouth was, “I haven’t slept much.”
River sat on the couch across from me. He didn’t take his gaze away from the collage of TV shows as he flipped through channels.
I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I kept squeezing my fingers and picking at my nails until I finally shoved them between my legs and half-whispered, “I’m freaked out.”
His eyes drifted sideways to meet mine. “What?”
“Some strange stuff has happened in the last day or two.”
He pressed mute and set the remote down. “Do tell.”
I took a deep breath, thinking about Carson’s warning not to tell anyone. “You have to promise you won’t say anything to anyone. I’m serious. The Lunas could be sent to an asylum if this got out.”
He raised his hand. “Swear.”
I leaned forward. Forget dragonflies, my stomach was filled with fire breathing dragons. I wouldn’t tell him everything, just enough to make me feel a little better. “They said we were family in previous lives, like, reincarnated.” I sat up straight, debating how much to tell him. “They said they remember their past lives.”
His face didn’t flinch. “Do you believe in that stuff? Past lives, or whatever.”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t see the big deal. Lots of people in this town believe in some wacky stuff.”
“They want me to remember my past lives too.”
He grabbed a half empty beer from the table. “If you’re so freaked out, move in here with me. You’re eighteen now. You’re free to do what you want.”
The thought of deserting them never occurred to me. I needed a break from the flood of new revelations, but leaving them wasn’t an option. I didn’t know why, but just the idea of it felt wrong in so many ways. “I still love them. I mean, family doesn’t have to believe in all the same things.”
River squatted down in front of me. Eightball jumped off my lap. “They aren’t your family. You don’t share one drop of blood with any of them. You don’t have to live with them. There’s plenty of room of here, and I’ll take care of you. You’ll be spoiled rotten.”
He pulled me so close our faces almost touched. His lips pressed against mine.
“What are you doing?” I pushed him backward and he fell against the coffee table. Empty beer bottles and glasses crashed and rolled around us. Wiping the taste of beer from my lips, I gagged on the bile burning my throat. “I need a friend, and instead, you’re trying to kiss me! I’m not some skank like the girl who just left.”
He stood up, kicking bottles away from him. “What the hell? I plan a big night for your birthday and you cancel on me. Then you come running to me because those people you live with are mental patients. Now you’re shoving me around and accusing me of cheating on you? I don’t get you.”
Cheating on me? How could he cheat on me if I never agreed to be his girlfriend? “River, I’m sorry I pushed you, but I told you a dozen times, I don’t want to mess up our friendship.”
He shook his head then turned his back to me. What else could I say to make it clear to him? Were all guys so stubborn? I really did care about him, just not in the way he wanted. After a minute of uncomfortable silence he sat beside me and let out a deep breath. “You look exhausted. Want to lie down for a while?”
I nodded, wanting nothing more than to sleep and hopefully not dream—or astral travel.
We went to River’s room, but when he climbed into his bed, I just stood at his door.
“Let me guess,” he said. “We’re not allowed to sleep in the same bed.”
“It’s fine. I can sleep on the sofa.”
He sighed and rolled off the bed. “No. You sleep here. I’ll crash on the couch.”
“Sorry, but thank you.” He slipped his hand under the bottom of my shirt, but I pressed my forearm against my stomach to block him. “River, forget it. It’s never going to happen.”
“I’m just trying to make you feel better, to be here for you and help take your mind off things.”
“All I’ll ever need from you is friendship.”
Shadows swept over his eyes. I’d never seen him look so hurt. I felt awful, but he needed to know the truth. I’d put off telling him my decision for too long.
“Right,” he mumbled. “Get some sleep.”
He left and I crawled into bed. I closed my eyes and kept picturing Nathan. I couldn’t imagine him acting like River. It occurred to me that if all this was true, if Nathan and I had been together in other lives and he remembered it; it meant we had kissed—lots of times. My cheeks warmed thinking about what other things we must’ve done when we were—it was hard to even think the word—married. Oh my god, did he think about stuff like that when he looked at me? How embarrassing.
How could I ever face Nathan again?
∞
I dreamed about Nathan non-stop: replays from the hospital, the balloon ride, him giving me my car. Every time he disappeared, I screamed for him to come back. The last time I called out his name, I woke myself up.
River was standing over me. The room was dark, but I could see his silhouette. I prayed I hadn’t been yelling out Nathan’s name for real.
River sat on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been tossing and turning for hours.”
I rolled over and glanced at the window. Not a trace of sunlight. Eightball snored away beside me. “What time is it?”
“Almost ten.”
“Wow,” I groaned. “I slept all day?”
My eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, but I could see River fiddling with his wristband. “You needed it, and so did I. It gave me time to think.”
“About what?” I heard footsteps in the hallway and worried his uncle might be home. I didn’t want to look like a hussy coming out of River’s bedroom at ten o’clock at night.
“I’ve been acting like a tool. Even if we can only be friends—” he paused, glanced at his bedroom door, and lowered his voice. “Are you still set on the nothing but friends thing?”
Why did being honest make me feel so guilty? “Yes.”
“I figured.”
The footsteps started up again then faded. Someone had definitely been in the hallway, but it could’ve been the maid putting linens in the closet or something.
“Anyway,” River continued. “We never went out for your birthday, so I want to make it up to you. I planned a surprise.”
He was back. The fun friend I didn’t want to lose wanted to take me out for my birthday. I playfully nudged his knee. “Okay, but take it easy on me. I don’t know how many more surprises I can handle.”
