Entangled: A Novel Part 9

Hayden pushed the cash drawer closed. "You doing okay?"

"Huh?"

"You're pretty quiet this morning. Is something bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine." Calli lifted the box of powdered sugar to fill another canister and dumped the entire box into the canister and all over the counter.

"s.h.i.t!" She brushed the white powder off the counter and onto the cement floor.

"What are you doing?"

"This s.h.i.t spilled all over."

"Well, don't keep spreading it. Here." Hayden handed her a damp dishtowel. She grabbed a broom and dustpan and swept up the sugar that fell on the floor.

"Are you sure you're okay? Something seems to be bothering you."

Calli turned her back to Hayden. "I don't want to talk about it."

Fear made Hayden's heart jump. "Did something happen last night that you're not telling me?"

"No, don't be ridiculous."

Fine, if that's the way she wanted it, she'd mind her own business. Customers started to trickle in again. Hayden waited on them, grateful for the distraction.

The afternoon sun bore down on the midway, causing the temperature in the funnel cake booth to rise to nearly one hundred degrees. Hayden could feel her uniform pitting out. Only six more hours to go.

"I'm going on a smoke break." Calli grabbed her purse from under the makeshift sink.

"Smoke break? When did you start smoking?"

"Last night." Calli opened her blue jean purse and pulled out a box of Marlboro Reds.

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's like now that you're away from home, you're going wild. First with the drinking, now smoking. What's the deal?"

Calli untied the strings of her ap.r.o.n and lifted it over her head. "Nothing! I'm just trying to live my life. And quit acting like my mother, for Christ sake. It's like I never left home."

"Okay, okay. Forget I asked. Go on your smoke break. Do whatever you want."

Hayden waited on a few more customers. She was making change at the cash drawer when she heard a familiar voice in the crowd.

"h.e.l.lo, Hayden."

Hayden glanced up from the cash register, and her heart flung against her chest. There stood Abbey. She looked a little better than she did the night before. Maybe she got some sleep, but it was hard to tell because of the mirrored aviator sungla.s.ses she had on.

"What brings you out here?" Hayden said.

Abbey looked around nervously. "I came to apologize for my behavior last night."

Hayden's heart continued to flutter. She wondered why this happened when Abbey was near. "You apologized last night. Anyway, it was no big deal. I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Well, I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of me. If it weren't for you, I might have gone off and done something really stupid."

"That's okay. Like I said last night, you probably would have done the same for me if you had found me in the same predicament."

"That's true, but something tells me you wouldn't have gotten yourself into that kind of predicament. You're a very responsible girl."

Hayden smiled. Abbey smiled back.

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

Hayden blushed. "Oh, you don't have to do that, really."

"I know I don't have to. I want to. What time do you get off work?"

"I'm supposed to be done around six o'clock."

"Great, how about this-The Mercyhurst Drama Guild is putting on Grease tonight at the Taylor Little Theatre. How would you like to go see it with me? My treat."

Hayden's smile broadened.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Abbey said. "It will give me a chance to show you around the campus, too."

"Yes, that sounds like fun."

"Great. If you tell me where you're staying, I can pick you up."

"Calli and I are staying in a bungalow off East Lake Road."

"Close to Presque Isle?"

"Yes, right before you get to the entrance of the park."

Abbey pulled a napkin from the metal holder on the counter. She took a pen out of her purse and handed it to Hayden. "Here, write down your address. I'll pick you up at seven. The show starts at seven forty-five."

Hayden wrote down the address and handed the pen and the napkin back to Abbey. Abbey looked at the napkin and smiled. "Great. It's a date then."

Hayden's heart jumped again. "Yes, I guess it is."

"See you tonight." Abbey turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Hayden couldn't stop smiling. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy. She wondered if everyone could see what was going on inside of her.

Calli returned from her smoke break in a much better mood. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

Hayden was going to tell Calli about Abbey stopping by, but she decided to keep it to herself for a while and relish it before she told Calli, who would probably make fun of her for even considering the offer.

Hayden looked up and found Calli staring at her. "What?"

"Where were you just then?" Calli tied her ap.r.o.n strings around her neck.

"Nowhere." Hayden grabbed a dishrag and wiped off the counter in front of her. Now she was being just as secretive as Calli. Why was it so difficult for her to share the things that were closest to her heart with Calli anymore? After all, they were best friends.

Hayden was busy waiting on customers, so Calli went into the back of the booth and started mixing up more funnel cake batter. After the crowd had slowed, Hayden went in the back, too.

"Need any help?"

"No, I got it, thanks." Calli stirred the thick batter.

Hayden leaned against the counter and watched Calli work. She wondered what was going on with her-first drinking, then smoking. And why was she being so cranky? But the thing that really bothered her was that Calli, who usually wore her heart on her sleeve, had totally clammed up.

"You doing okay?" Hayden asked.

Calli looked up. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist. "It's hotter than h.e.l.l in here. You'd think they could at least get us a fan or something."

"I don't mean here. I mean, did something happen last night that upset you?"

Calli stopped stirring. "Nothing happened. Stop asking me."

"It's just...well, you used to tell me everything...and you had that guy in your room last night..."

"So I'm not allowed to have friends over? Is that it?"

"No, that's not it at all."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm just afraid for your safety. You didn't even know this person, and you brought him home."

"I didn't do anything last night I haven't done before. I'm a big girl, and even though you may find it hard to believe, I can take care of myself." Calli finished stirring the batter. "I think what's bothering you is that I'm not like you, Miss Goody Two-shoes, who always does the right thing."

Hayden looked down at her batter-splattered shoes.

The comment felt like a kick in the stomach. She had thought their differences made them better friends, now she wasn't so sure. Before she left for Erie, her mother told her not to be surprised if she and Calli started seeing things differently. She said sometimes you don't really know someone until you live with them. Hayden was already starting to believe her mother was right.

Hayden dropped the subject. She walked back to the front of the booth and began filling the metal napkin holders. A few minutes later, Calli came up front.

"Hay, I'm sorry I said that about you."

Hayden continued to fill the boxes with white paper napkins.

"Even though we're best friends, we're different. You always seem to do the right thing, and I always seem to...well, not. I mean, look at last night, how you stood by and took care of Miss Spencer. She was our teacher, for crying out loud. You took care of her and got her safely back to her hotel room. Not me. I couldn't wait to get out of there."

Hayden set down the last box of napkins and looked at Calli. "Miss Spencer stopped by here while you were gone."

"Oh. How's she doing?"

"Better, I think. She asked me if I wanted to go see a play at Mercyhurst with her tonight. She said she wanted to repay me for taking care of her."

"See, you're a good person."

"Do you think it's all right if I go?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right. I guess I'm still stuck on the fact that she was our teacher."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Anyway, school's out. It's time to have some fun."

Hayden shrugged. Even though she thought Calli's devil-may-care outlook on things was a bit irresponsible at times, she sometimes wished she could be as carefree as Calli.

Chapter Thirteen.

An afternoon thunderstorm rolled in off the lake, clearing out the heavy humidity and leaving a glossy sheen on the streets and sidewalks. But by the time Abbey reached Hayden's bungalow at seven sharp, the humidity was back with a vengeance.

Abbey knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Hayden appeared.

"Hi. Ready to go?" Abbey smiled, and Hayden's heart did its usual fluttering.

Abbey was wearing a red sh.e.l.l with white cotton slacks and buffalo sandals. Her hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, and her sungla.s.ses were propped on her head.

"Yep." Hayden closed the door of the bungalow behind her.

"This is a cute place," Abbey said. "I've been by here many times and didn't know these were back here. How did you ever find them?"

"My mom found it through an ad in our newspaper at home. She called and made all the arrangements."

Abbey opened the pa.s.senger door for Hayden. Hayden looked surprised at the gesture but then slid onto the red leather pa.s.senger seat of the Mustang, and Abbey shut the door.

Abbey got in behind the wheel and started the car. "How's your mom doing back home without you? I'm sure she misses you."

"I talked to her yesterday. She wanted me to call when we reached Erie. She's okay. Working a lot, but that's typical for her."

"I've only met her a few times, but in the conversations I've had with her, I could tell she's really proud of you."

"Yes, I guess so. She was pretty excited when I got the scholarship to Mercyhurst. She thought it was great that you helped me with it."

"I didn't do anything, really. Your good grades got you that."