Ari and Zac

Chapter 29: The Storm

Chapter 29: The Storm

Ari sat crammed in the center of a wicker couch with Lucy on one side and Zac on the other, trying not to suffocate from the stagnant air of the overcrowded room. Her hands fidgeted in her lap, and she couldn't figure out what to do with them. She couldn't remember the last time she was out in public without a cell phone at her fingertips. She felt naked tonight without one.

Ari's eyes flicked to Lucy, and she saw the rectangular outline of the phone in her sister's pocket. She scrunched sideways, folding in upon herself to make room for her elbows as she silently gestured. Lucy was slumped forward with her chin resting in one hand and a glazed look in her eyes—bored to tears by the so-called "party" they were attending—but she handed over the phone to Ari without comment.

Ari fired up the screen, feeling slightly less uncomfortable now that she had some means to communicate. Not that she had anything to say. She could text Zac beside her, but he might find it annoying. Unlike Lucy, Zac had his head craned forward, listening intently, with his attention fully absorbed by the proceedings. Ari couldn't help but wonder why he'd invited her tonight. Did he even remember she was here?

Ari decided against texting and clicked onto the Weather app instead.

Tonight's weather advisory was still in full effect, although Ari didn't need a phone to tell her that. She could hear the gusting wind and the steady rhythm of raindrops, pelting down against the roof. Tropical Storm Vic had veered far enough out to sea that it wouldn't make landfall here in Seabreeze Point, but it would still pass close enough to stir up a dangerous tide. Ari's parents had headed out after dinner to help with the town's preparations, lining the boardwalk with sandbags to keep the storm surge at bay. They'd left Lucy and Ari at home, under strict orders not to leave the house tonight until the storm had passed.

As if that ever worked...

Ari let out a little sniff. Honestly, she didn't even feel guilty about defying her parents' orders. They didn't have a clue. She'd barely spoken to either of them since her father made her quit the mermaid job. As far as Ari was concerned, she didn't need them. They'd spent her entire childhood trying to fix her, like some defective appliance that kept getting taken in for repairs. And after all that time, they'd gotten nowhere. Ari had made more progress on her own in the past week than she had in thirteen years of relentless appointments with their parade of specialists.

Her parents still didn't know she'd met a boy—let alone that she was sitting here next to him tonight, trying not to think about the way his thigh was pressing against hers... or what he intended to do with her once this yawn-inducing meeting ended and the real party began.

Zac shifted at her side. Ari hastily clicked the phone off and slid it in her pocket. She didn't want him to realize how little attention she was paying. She forced herself to focus back on the video that was being projected onto the living room wall. It held everyone else there in rapt silence, but Ari had hardly followed what the man in the video was saying.

He was the CEO of SirenSong. Some guy named Dominick Torrent. Ari had gathered that much. But the droning speech he was giving in the video had nothing to do with music or technology. It was all about money from what she could tell. Profits and liabilities, earnings and stock prices...

Did Zac really expect her to sit through this whole thing? Maybe if she texted him, they could sneak out of here early and get on with whatever else he had planned for tonight.

She reached for the phone in her pocket, but she felt Zac nudge her and whisper in her ear:

"Pay attention. That's him!"