Near Touch

Bonus Chapter: Sushi

Entombed in an anxious limbo, Amy performed the same series of actions over and over again, just as a panicky pit blossomed in her stomach: check the tealights, stress test the blanket fort over the bed, smoothen her little black mini dress with romantic lace trims, and rearrange the boxes from Umi...

Leigh had helped her sister prop up the fort and lights but only after Amy promised that they would watch Spirited Away inside it the very next day. "It's not fair," Leigh grumbled. "I'm gonna be stuck with Fat Aunt Felicia while you and Caleb will be sittin' in a tree –

"Leighton, don't say it!" squawked Amy, clamping a hand over her baby sister's mouth.

Through muffled titters, Leigh managed to say her piece, "K-I-S-S-I-N-Gee!" The last bit rose in a symphony as Amy mercilessly tickled her sister's soft belly. They rolled in the artfully arranged throw pillows inside the fort until Leigh had surrendered.

For the first time in her life, Amy had planned a surprise date for someone she liked. Considering that her efforts were directed toward a ghost boy with mood swings worse than a menopausal lady having a heatstroke in high Georgian summer, everything just had to be perfect. Amy smiled as she fluffed the mattress one last time; allowing her anal, control freak tendencies a free pass for the night.

"Amy, open up!" Caleb hollered from the front yard. "I'm here!"

Amy dimmed the lights in the house and bounded down the steps, careful not to kick the shot glass candles she had placed on one side. She checked her hair in the mirror by the door – the '90s blowout she had spent two hours trying to replicate from a tutorial online left much to be desired but the overall effect was decent. Her russet hair fell in demure waves over the dark dress's front scoop neckline and her makeup softened the overall look like cherry blossoms on a cold morning.

Lifting vintage sunglasses into her hair, Amy opened the door and flashed a sunny smirk. "Hey, you."

Caleb's cobalt eyes danced with disbelief. "Amy – you look, I mean – whoa!" He cleared his throat and his voice fell an octave. "You look great."

Amy was too skittish to tease him. "Come in."

As she closed the door behind him, Caleb's gaze traveled up the candle-lit stairway. "Irvine, you better not have a pentagram up there."

With that, all the tension inside Amy's body fluttered away, and she laughed. "It's worse." Amy lingered by the bedroom door with her hand on the smooth surface of its handle. "Close your eyes."

Caleb huffed. "Where are your parents and Leigh? You're actually scaring me right now."

"They're visiting my aunt on the other side of town. No peeking!"

With a grunt, Caleb obliged. "If I had a dollar for all the times you've asked me to do this –"

"You'd have three dollars," said Amy, suppressing a girly giggle when his gorgeous nose twitched with annoyance. "Now, I can't lead you by your hand and you know the room's a mess but – Caleb, don't peek! – I've cut a path through so just follow the sound of my voice...

... and now, open your eyes!"

Caleb's jaw fell to the floor. He pointed at the blanket fort. "Did you do all of this?"

"Yes! Well, Leigh helped a little... but let's go inside," Amy said, her voice high with excitement. She pulled the folds of a snowflake bedsheet that marked the fort's entrance. "After you, my Lord."