Chapter 5
From the moment she had stepped in the Henry’s house Jacque’s nerves had been rattled, not to mention as soon as she locked eyes with Fane she felt a weird tingling sensation across the top of her shoulders and behind her neck. She’d reached up and placed her hand on her neck tilting it a bit as if it were stiff. That was weird she’d thought.
As the door opened she had seen mystery-guy standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing a dark grey short sleeved tee-shirt, jeans, motorcycle boots and the wallet in his back pocket was attached to him with a metal chain. The guy could make a paper bag look sexy.
The look on his face was one of curiosity and what she thought might be nervousness as well. That surprised her because at first glance he did not appear to be the nervous type.
Mrs. Henry told them all to bring the food into the kitchen and then everyone was to go to the living room to be introduced to their guest.
Once seated in the Henry’s living room they all listened to Fane, finally something to call him other than mystery guy and hottie, share a little about himself.
Jen asked why he had chosen our little town and when he didn’t understand the question the first time she asked him again and spoke to him like he was a child, which earned Jen an elbow in the ribs, courtesy of Jacque, to show her irritation with the question. After all, was it really any of our business why he came? But Jen just shrugged her off and waited for Fane to answer. He appeared confused and cocked his head in an odd way, kind of like she had seen dogs do when you are talking to them. Oh, that’s so gracious of me, comparing the Romanian to a dog. Jacque wished someone would just put her out of her misery.
Fane explained that he wasn’t really sure why he chose Coldspring but that it had just felt right. Then Sally mentioned that his English was very good and he explained that he had been taught English right along with Romanian all his life.
Finally Lilly stepped in and suggested each girl introduce herself so that they could go and let Fane and the Henrys get settled.
Lilly’s mom was the first one to speak; she didn’t stand up but stayed seated and told Fane her name, occupation, and instructed him that he was to call her Lilly. He’s gonna think we are absolutely crazy Jacque thought.
When Jen stepped forward to introduce herself she held out her hand to shake Fanes, but to everyone’s surprise instead of shaking it he brought it to his lips and lightly kissed it.
Jacque was completely dumbfounded when she felt herself having an extremely and totally irrational wave of jealousy flow through her. In that moment she wanted to wrench Jen’s hand from Fane’s and growl at Jen. Growl! Are you freaking kidding me Jacque thought?
She noticed that Sally had to push Jen down to the couch because she was slightly dazed from the encounter, which did nothing to calm Jacques raging emotions.
Jacque had to brace herself as once again Fane lifted Sally’s hand to his lips and kissed it. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling like this. It was totally obvious that his greeting was completely non-romantic, which, by-the-way, shouldn’t matter to her anyway, and yet she did not want him to touch another female. Okay, Jacque thought, it’s official, I have dived head first off the deep end.
Out of nowhere she felt a sharp pain on her right arm, and yelped turning to look at Jen who had just pinched her. She realized then that Fane was looking at her expectantly and she had just been sitting there like an idiot in her own little bubble.
Jacque stood up but made no move to give him her hand. She introduced herself sounding so eloquent when she couldn’t spit out what she was trying to say. She was getting ready to sit down when Fane reached out and grabbed her hand. She was a little startled, but that quickly faded into something else entirely when he bowed over her hand and pressed his lips firmly against it. Jacque could swear she heard him take a deep breath in through his nose and thought she heard a low growl in his throat. That was really weird she thought, but once again, for her things couldn’t simply be weird they had to be downright insane.
As Fane said the same thing he had told Jen and Sally, Jacque also heard the voice in her mind.
It said “I am so honored to finally meet you my Luna. We have much to learn about each other.”
Jacque blinked a few times trying to clear her thoughts. What on earth could it possibly mean by “finally” meet me she thought, did this voice know it was waiting for me? Okay it was time to go home, Jacque decided, she needed to talk to Sally and Jen about Fane. She needed to decide whether or not to confide in her mother, and she needed to have a good cleansing panic attack. Not necessarily in that order.
Jacque pulled her hand from Fane’s grasp and he didn’t try to keep her from doing so. She turned to look at her mom, raised her eye brows and asked “Are you ready? I’m good to go. Sally, Jen, ya’ll ready to go?”
Jen and Sally both nodded at the same time, quickly catching Jacque’s mood.
Lilly looked at her daughter suspiciously, but simply nodded and turned to Mrs. Henry, “Thank you Sara for having us over, it was really nice to see you. Fane it was very nice to meet you. Don’t make yourself a stranger; you’re welcome over to the house anytime.”
Fane bowed slightly, placing his hand over his heart, “As we say in my country when parting, pînă la următor timp Mai art.hot. Moon lumină al tău patetic, which means until next time may the moon light your path.”
Jen looked at Fane and true to form in her out-spoken way asked, “Is that kinda like an Irish proverb, only, ya know, like a Romanian proverb instead?”
Sally giggled, Jacque looked mortified and Fane simply smiled and said, “Yes, something like that.”
Jacque pushed Jen and Sally towards the door trying very hard not to look and see if Fane was watching her, but knowing somehow that he was. ‘So what the heck might as well watch him back’ she told herself. She tentatively looked over her shoulder and sure enough, Fane was staring at her. He had a slight smile on his face and his eyes were squinted together ever so slightly giving her the impression that he knew something she did not. That thought made her shudder and push Jen and Sally harder out the door.
“We’re going Jacque, good grief,” she heard Jen grunt.
“Well, go a little quicker please!” Jacque whispered through tight lips.
The girls walked briskly down the walk way and across the street, not even bothering to see if Jacque’s mom was behind them. All Jacque could think was that she needed to put some space between her and that hottie. Okay, so she still couldn’t help calling him hottie. “Well crap, it was true so go jump in a lake already.” She told herself.
Once inside the house the three girls double timed it up the stairs and into Jacque’s bedroom. Sally shut the door firmly and turned to pin Jacque with her best “you better spill it now” stare. Jen had pulled up some carpet and was staring just as sternly.
Jacque took some slow, deep breaths; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately she thought.
“First impressions?” Jacque prompted.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe something like, OH MY, stutter, drool, FREAKING, pant, deep breathing, GOSH!” Jen spat.
Sally nodded fervently, “Yea, what she said but more panting and deep breathing on my end.”
“What about you?” Jen asked. “You didn’t seem as mesmerized as us. Why is that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, may be because I was, ya know, a little distracted by THE VOICE IN MY HEAD!” Jacque realized she was yelling.
“I’m sorry ya’ll, I shouldn’t take my stress out on ya’ll. I’m just, just I don’t know, freaking out I guess.”
“Have you tried talking back to the voice, you know, like answering it through your thoughts?” Sally asked tentatively.
Jacque shook her head. “I feel like if I do then I am just solidifying the fact that I’m losing it.”
“You’re NOT losing it. Something is definitely up with this Fane guy. No one, and I mean, no one can look that good, an
d make you want to curl up and purr when he talks to you. Something’s fishy and it’s not your mom’s fried chicken,” Jen told her.
Jacque turned to her window and opened the blinds. She looked across the street at the Henry’s house and wondered what to do about Fane Lu-whatever his last name was.
She heard her two best friends walk up beside her, both gazing out the window; they put their arms around her.
“I know I’ve said it before, and I will keep saying it until it sinks into that unruly, curly head of yours. It will be alright. You are not alone in this okay?” Sally said with love in her voice.
“Yea chick, you got us, no matter what,” Jen agreed. “Besides, we’re too nosy not stick around and see what happens.”
Sally pulled a strand of Jen’s hair in scolding. “Ow! Crap, I’m just saying!” Jen scowled.
Jacque turned away from the window then and wiped away the tears that she hadn’t even realized were there and hugged her friends.
“Okay, I know you guys need to go home and assure your parents that you’re still alive and haven’t been abducted or anything. But do ya’ll think you can come back later?”
Both girls nodded.
“I will have to do some laundry and pick up my room to pacify my mom, you know how it is, but then I can come back over and stay the night again if your mom is cool with it,” Jen explained.
Sally spoke up as well, “Yeah, I can be back around 7:00 tonight. I just need to take care of some chores as well.”
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll let my mom know that ya’ll be back. I know she won’t care.”
Jacque walked them downstairs to the front door, and watched as they each walked to their cars. She stood in the door way watching them drive away until she couldn’t see their cars any longer. She slowly turned to go back into the house shutting the door behind her and stood in the entry way just looking at nothing. Her mind was running amuck again and Jacque was trying to decipher the thoughts, but it was no use, she was tired, emotional, and beginning to realize that ever since she had walked out of the Henry’s house and away from Fane it was taking all she had not to turn around and run, not walk, but run like a cat with a fire cracker tied to it’s tail, back to him. What the hell was up with that?
Jacque’s head snapped up when she heard her mom hollering from upstairs, “Jacque? I need to go to the store for a little while, I’ve got some new inventory I need to take care of, and since I was able to hire some other staff I can finally get caught up.” Her mom came to the top of the stairs and looked down at her. Tilting her head she asked “Are you okay sweetie, you look a little frayed around the edges.”
“Naw, I’m good, just a little tired. I didn’t sleep too well last night,” Jacque fibbed. Then she thought of how she had been feeling her mom’s emotions so strongly and decided to say something, “What about you, mom? You okay?”
“I’m fine, just got a lot on my mind that’s all, but nothing to worry about. Why don’t you lie down for a little bit? Are you gonna be okay while I’m gone? Need me to get you anything while I’m out?” her mom asked.
“No, I’ll be fine mom, thanks though. Oh, yeah, I did want to check and see if you were okay with Sally and Jen spending the night again tonight?”
“No, I don’t have a problem with that, just so long as their parents are okay with it. Ya’ll can order pizza if I’m not home by dinner,” she answered.
Jacque hugged her mom and told her goodbye before heading up to her room. She shut the door, turned off the lights and put her Evanescence CD in her CD player; it was oddly calming to her. Then she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes.