Chapter Ten

The next morning, I awake with a sense of extreme confusion. As I open my eyes and try to get up, I notice that there’s something holding me down. Slowly, my eyes follow the curve of my body, to find a muscular arm wrapped around my midsection.

Visions of yesterday flash through my mind, and I smile to myself when I remember the sight of the stars last night. My smile immediately turns into a look of terror when I realize that I told Christian my biggest secret.

“A couple more minutes,” a deep voice says when I try to get up again.

I go completely still. After a few seconds, I once again attempt my escape.

“Amaya,” he groans, pulling me closer.

My body instantly relaxes.

To be completely honest, I slept wonderfully last night: better than I have in a while. I’m not sure if that can be credited to Christian or his bed. Regardlessly, I decide to enjoy the moment for a while longer. I settle back into his hard chest and wrap the blanket around us tighter.

I wouldn’t say that lying here with him feels natural or perfect, but it isn’t a bad feeling. The way our bodies fit nicely with one another makes me think that I could get used to it.

When his grip loosens a bit, I look around for my phone. Spotting it on his bedside table, I grab it and unlock the screen. The shift in the bed causes him to scoff and say, “You move too damn much,” before throwing the covers off.

He walks around to my side of the bed in just a pair of loose basketball shorts hanging low on his hips. I avert my eyes back to my phone to avoid oggleing at him. “Is everyone still downstairs?” I ask.

“They left a little while ago,” he says, grabbing his towel. “I’m gonna go shower, then I’ll take you home to get ready.”

“Get ready?” I mumble as he walks out.

*

I completely forgot about Christian’s offer to help out with my list. Now, he’s downstairs with Mango and my dad while I rush to take a shower. Once I’m completely dressed and my hair looks somewhat presentable, I skip down the stairs to the living room.

The conversation pauses and all heads turn to me.

“You look pretty, My,” my dad smiles at me warmly.

I walk over to the couch and kiss his forehead lovingly. “You have to say that.”

“He’s not lying though,” says Christian.

My dad laughs and says, “I like him. You should bring him around more often.”

I fake gag and reply, “Don’t take that as an invite, Chrissy. My dad’s secretly super mean. He’s only saying that so he can murder you and hide the body in the basement.”

They both chuckle and I smile at the interaction.

“What are you two up to today?” he asks.

Christian looks at me before speaking, and I nod. “Maya wants a tattoo. I’m taking her to my cousin’s shop.”

My dad’s eyebrows raise and he turns to me. “Gonna get a snake going across your forehead?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. “It’s a surprise.”

I’ve talked to my dad about wanting a tattoo before, so I’m sure that he has an idea of what it’s going to be. My mom is completely against tattoos, but she doesn’t spend enough time with me as it is, so she probably won’t even notice it.

We say goodbye to my father and we’re out the door. Before I close it, he says, “We’re going to talk about where you spent the night later.”

My eyes widen a bit and I whisper, “No, we’re not!” before shutting the door and running to the car.

“Your dad seems cool,” Christian comments as he reverses out of the driveway.

“He’s my best friend,” I smile. “So where’s this shop?”

“About a half an hour drive, but I can get there in twenty,” he smirks.

Twenty minutes barely passes before we reach downtown. The streets are busy considering it’s Saturday afternoon. Various stores line the sides with people littered about. We pull up to a shop with blacked out windows and graffiti style art all over the bricks.

“Hey, you!” greets a girl when we walk in. She appears to be in her late twenties.

Christian pulls her into a hug. “Hey, Alex. Where’s the boss?”

“She’s in the back getting ready for you guys,” she says as she pulls away. She steps towards me and pulls me into an embrace. “You must be Maya.”

She smells of lilies and gumdrops. Her hair is raven black and from the neck down, she is completely covered by tattoos.

“That’s me,” I smile.

Soon after, she leads us to the back where I assume all of the magic happens. It’s a large, clean room with several stations set up. In the furthest one, a petite girl is setting up various bottles of ink. At the sound of our footsteps, she looks up and runs over.

“Chris!” she exclaims. “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

He chuckles as she jumps to hug him. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much, Natalie is basically a full time job now.”

“Ah, that’s okay. I know how it is,” she smiles somewhat sadly. Her head turns to me and her smile widens. “You brought a girl!”

I smile awkwardly and wave.

“This is Maya, she’s getting her first tattoo today,” he nods towards me. “Maya, this is my cousin Marissa.”

Marissa grabs my hand and leads me over to her corner. After I sit down, she asks me what it is I’d like to get. After I pull up a picture and explain it to her, she goes to draw up a stencil.

“What’d you decide on?” asks Christian as he sits in the rolly chair to my left.

I shrug. “You’ll see.”

Marrissa returns to the room and shows me what she came up with. My eyes almost begin to water and I tell her that it’s perfect. She prints out the stencil and positions it on my forearm. When I agree with the placement, she fires up the needle.

“Ready?” she asks and I nod.

The pain isn’t unbearable. It feels more like a sting or a scrape, rather than what I imagined it would be like. It takes her only about 45 minutes to finish it up, and when she’s done, she tells me to check it out in the mirror.

I walk over to the large mirror on the other side of the room and hold up my arm. There, in thin black ink, is an outline of an old photo of me and my brother. Under it has his birthday. My heart clenches at how beautiful her linework is. Without incorporating much detail, all of the emotion is captured. I clench my eyes shut to stop the tears from overflowing. When I’m sure I’m okay, I return to her station.

“This is amazing, thank you,” I gush. “How much will it be?”

She shakes her head and nods towards Christian, who is sitting in the waiting room. “He covered it, it’s okay.”

My jaw drops and I rush over to Christian. “You didn’t have to do that!”

“I know,” he states. I punch him in his shoulder and he yelps, rubbing the spot. “Hey! You can pay for lunch, if that makes you feel better.”

I agree, and after thanking Marissa again and allowing her to wrap up my arm, we head back to the car. We drive for a bit before reaching a cute little pierogi restaurant that offers outside dining. Once we order, we go to a table on the patio and wait for our food.

“Can I see what you got?” he asks. I pull up the reference picture and hold up my arm. He smiles genuinely and flicks my nose. “You two are adorable.”

I hide my blush by holding up my phone and checking my messages for the first time since that morning. When I see four unread messages from Ariel, I decide to give her a call.

“Hello?” she answers when she picks up the phone.

“Hey-”

“What happened last night!? I need all of the dirty details Miss King,” she says before I have the chance to speak.

I sigh before replying, “Nothing happened. At all.”

Just then, a lady approaches and sets down our food. “Enjoy your meal, you two.”

“Wait,” gasps Ariel. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m about to eat, I’ll call you later. Bye!” I say all in one breath before ending the call.

Christian looks up at me before taking a bite. “You know she’s going to ask about your tattoo, right?”

I slowly nod as I pick up my fork. “I’ll cross that road when the bridge hits it. Or however that saying goes.”

We begin to eat in silence. Rather than it being awkward, we are both simply engrossed in how amazing the pierogies taste.

“That was immaculate,” sighs Christian once we both finish up.

I agree and call over the waitress for the bill. When it’s time to pay, me and Christian have a heated argument because he begins to insist that he can cover it.

“What kind of gentleman would I be if I made you pay on our first date?” he argues.

“First of all, this is not a date,” I say as I hand the waitress some cash. “Second of all, it was your idea! I didn’t ask you to pay for my tattoo.”

He grumbles, realizing that I have a point. Nevertheless, he hands her cash to cover the tip. When I go to object, he sticks his tongue out at me.

The waitress laughs and takes the money. “You two are adorable. I really hope you make it to the second date.”

Christian winks at her and I groan, getting up and walking away while he is still seated. “Wait for me!” he calls.

Once we’re both in the car, he turns to me.

“What do you want,” I snort.

“Wanna come over?” he asks.

The idea floats around in my mind for a moment. “Haven’t we spent too much time together?”

It’s true, we were together all night, and now it’s around 4pm.

“I don’t care. We can go swimming,” he suggests. Sensing my hesitation, he adds, “Everyone else can come too, if they’re not tired of us already.”

I look outside as he starts the car. It truly is a beautiful day. Now that it’s officially June, the sun is shining down, making the weather even better than the time we went camping. After a long sigh, I respond, “Fine, I’ll let them know.”

Christian smiles and does a little dance as he zooms down the street. First, we stop at my house so that I can grab some stuff.

“I’m home!” I shout as I enter the living room.

“In here!” calls my dad from the kitchen. We follow his voice and he smiles as soon as he sees us. “Christian, I know I told you to come over more often, but I didn’t mean it literally.”

Christian chuckles and takes a seat next to my dad. “I’m sorry, Sir, it was her idea.”

They engage in a conversation about sports, and I take it as my cue to go upstairs. After putting my swimsuit on under my clothes, I grab my duffle bag and throw in a towel and a change of comfy clothes. Not knowing what the weather will be like tonight, I take a pair of sweatpants, as well as a pair of cotton shorts. From the corner of my eye, I spot my small pink toiletry bag.

“No, it was a one time thing. I’m not sleeping over there again,” I convince myself.

I sling my bag over my shoulder and exit my room. Mere seconds later, I back peddle and throw the bag into my duffle, cursing myself as I run down the stairs. When I get to the kitchen, I hear a voice that makes my blood boil.

“Do you go to school with Amaya?” she asks.

There’s hesitation before Christian responds, “No, I’m taking a year off right now.”

“A year off? Then how do you know my daughter?” interrogates my mother.

“Back off,” I say sternly as I enter the room, standing between her and Christian.

He places his hand on mine, a signal telling me to calm down. “I’m friends with Justin and Eli. My little sister and Justin’s little sister are best friends.”

My mother turns towards me, eyeing my bag. “So, you’re having sleepovers with boys now? Is that what you’re doing?”

Christian’s eyes widen and he tries to defend me. “No, Ma’am, I have a pool over at my house. Everyone’s coming over for a swim.”

She ignores him and her eyes land on my arm. “Is that a tattoo? Did this boy convince you to get it?”

Her eyes burn with pure fury while my dad attempts to calm her down.

“I chose to get it,” I state, trying to keep my voice levelled.

“Is that how I raised you?” she yells. “Jonathan would have never-”

“Well, Jonathan isn’t here! And in a couple months I’ll be gone again, so please! Just leave me alone until then!” I scream and stomp out of the house.

She’s calling after me, demanding that I apologize and go to my room, but I don’t care. I fly into Christian’s car and begin to scream at the top of my lungs. My head is bowed between my legs, muffling some of the sound. I sit like that for a long time, and I’m thankful that he decided to give me some time. When I finally look up, I see Christian sitting on the front steps talking to my dad.

They notice me watching them, so they both get up. My dad pulls Christian into a hug, saying something in his ear. He nods and they go their separate ways.

The front door shuts and I look over to see Christian getting into the driver’s side. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

I nod gratefully, and we sit in silence the whole ride.

When we arrive, everyone is already sitting in the back. I strip and go to sit on the edge of the pool. Ariel swims over to me and says, “You have a lot to explain, but I can tell you’re not feeling well, so you can tell me another time.”

I smile slightly and say, “Girls night sometime this week, I promise.”

“I’m holding you to that!” she giggles and swims away.

Leaning back, I take a moment to close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of the sun on my bare skin. Suddenly, my thighs are wet. My eyelids flutter open at the sudden coldness, and I look down to see Christian between my legs with his forearms resting on my thighs.

Water droplets are splattered across his face and in his hair. He shakes it out, causing more water to land on me.

“Hey!” I giggle.

He watches me as I laugh, a ghost of a smile present on his face. “Feeling any better?”

I shrug. “A bit.”

All of a sudden, I’m being pulled into the water. I yelp as the cold liquid surrounds me. Christian’s hands grip my waist to stop me from going completely under. Instinctively, I place my hands on his shoulders.

“Stay over tonight,” he says, barely audible.

My eyebrows knit together. Did he not hear what my mom said? “Pardon me?” I ask, in case I heard him wrong.

“Stay over tonight,” he repeats, this time a bit louder. When I open my mouth to reject, he insists, “I already talked to your dad.”

“My dad is crazy,” I say in amazement.

Christian rests his forehead against mine, still keeping me afloat. “He just wants you to be happy, Maya.”

A hundred fireflies light up my heart and I wonder what I did to deserve a father like him.

“He knows if you come home tonight after what happened, you’ll be miserable. Your mom too,” he continues. “Well, actually, he told me to tell you to stay at Ariel’s tonight, but I think my house will do.”

I burst into laughter and splash him with water. “That sounds more believable.”

He joins in with a deep laughter of his own, before saying, “I’m serious though. Remember when I said I know the best place to watch the sunrise?”

_________

Remember when she promised to watch the sunrise with him sometime?? Aw, it feels like forever ago. Hmm... I wonder what Olivia is up to...

We're officially a third of the way through the list! The way the chapters are set up, chapter 29 will be the last thing on the list. Since each item always has two chapters, that means the book could be completed at 30 chapters. I think it'll end up being 32, depending how much I want to write. Thanks for coming along for the journey! Happy Spooky Season!