Escapade

Chapter Twelve: Friend and Foe

It was too short.

It felt as if Eric’s lips had just barely touched mine before they were gone. He quickly pulled away from me and looked away, as if he was ashamed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Your gang…” he said uncertainly. “It’s a real gang then, right?”

“Yeah…” I said. I noticed him put more space between us, backing away slowly until even our knees weren’t touching any more.

 Eric’s eyebrows were furrowed together. “Why’d you make it?”

“That doesn’t matter,” I said quietly.

A silence stretched out between us again, but this time felt more uncomfortable than the last.  Eric was looking at me as if he’d never seen me before, and I could tell he was trying to work something out in his head.

“That’s why you talk to Richie, isn’t it? To compare Taboo’s and stuff?”

His eyes were reproachful as he said it. I sat up straighter. Whatever romantic atmosphere we’d had had fizzled to nothing in just a few seconds. “Why are you bringing up Richie?”

 “I saw the way he looks at you,” Eric accused. “And I know you guys are up to something. Something bad.”

“Okay, that’s it,” I said. I got up and reached for the door. “I’m leaving.”

Eric grabbed my arm. “No, I'll go. Those dudes are probably still looking for you.” 

 He wasn’t making sense anymore. First he was acting so friendly, and then all of a sudden it was like something took him over and he started to bring up Richie and my Taboo. He stood up and grabbed the door handle, then turned to me, looking pensive. “Just tell me one thing. Do you like him ‘cause he’s got a Taboo? You want a guy with power?”

 “Eric,” I said. “What is wrong with you? I was just kissing you, remember? What does Richie have to do with it?”

“Just stay away from him, Natalie,” Eric said. He opened the door. “ I mean it. If I see you with him again, you’re dead to me.”

 He walked out and slammed the door behind him so hard that some of the pots of flowers started to shake. I stared at him as he walked away through the windows, dumbfounded. In just a matter of minutes, he went from kissing me to threatening me. Why he had to bring up Richie was a mystery to me, but it was obvious to me that he hated him enough to think about him even as he kissed me.

I sighed, dismissing Eric’s odd behavior and filing it away with all the other problems I had in my mind. I’d deal with it later. I padded my way up to the apartment and made my way through to the guest room. I grabbed the quilted blanket and wrapped it around me like a cocoon, a habit I’ve been doing whenever I was stressed for as long as I could remember.

 I tried to sleep that night, but in the darkness, swaddled in the blanket, I could think of nothing other than my family. My half brothers, my cousins… I had no idea where they were. I tried not to care, to convince myself that they knew how to take care of themselves, but it brought me no comfort. A bubble of worry had lodged itself in my chest, and remained there for the rest of the night.

 The only thing I was able to do when I woke up was take a shower and get ready for school, and hope that I’d at least see Carlos there. I hated to admit it, especially since he was a two-faced rat, but I still cared about him.

 I relaxed in the shower. There were fresh wounds on my body from last night’s fight, which added to the collection I was already starting since I’d run away. I tried to figure out how to clean them as I touched them gingerly, and again my mind spewed out first aid information like I was a text book. I paused, touching my head with one hand and a bruise with the other. Richie’s words rung in my head, and I was starting to worry that someone really had tampered with my brain and memories.