None Other Than You Read online

  Shrugging, Teigan folds his arms and says, "I got roped into it."

  "By a horde of girls and willingly I'm sure." Emma and I burst into laughter as Ryan smiles.

  "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I'm not going to deny or admit to anything." Teigan says scowling.

  "So you're all on the committee for the Winter's dance?" Mom asks, glancing into the rear view mirror.

  Emma glares at me, "All except Duke, Mrs. Knight."

  Her eyes immediately snap in my direction.

  I'm afraid for my life.

  "Haven't I told you to get more involved with school when you have the chance?" I groan and lean my head on the window. It's cold but more inviting than my mother's icy stare. "I know you have the time to do it and you hardly ever do anything extra with the school. Even your brother is doing something!"

  "Mom." I whine. She'll go on and on forever if I don't stop her. "If I do it will you stop yelling at me?"

  She's silent for a moment before responding, "Yes. Promise?"

  Rolling my eyes and turning to glare at a smiling Emma I reply through clenched teeth, "Yes."

  * * *

  "I have to say, for being called a Fancy Restaurant, it has a pretty relaxed atmosphere." I say, sitting back from my plate with satisfaction.

  "With very, very good tasting food if I may add." Our entire table nods in agreement with Teigan's words as we finish our meals. I have to admit, my filet mignon was mouthwateringly good.

  Mom grins, and looks at all four of us, "And now I've got a surprise for you all." As she says this, a tray rolls up next to our table with two of the waiters (who are both male and very good looking if I may add) pushing it. A white cloth is covering whatever is on the tray as the waiters take our empty plates and replace them with smaller plates.

  Desert plates.

  Suddenly I'm very excited to see what is under that cloth. Mom nods to the two boys as they lift up the white curtain to reveal…

  A chocolate fondue platter.

  I can feel my mouth watering as they place it on the middle of the table and Emma, Ryan and my mother cheer. It's in a shiny silver platter (what can be better than chocolate in a shiny silver platter?!) with a fire underneath to keep it warm and smooth.

  "You'll catch a fly in there if you hold it open long enough." I look at Teigan, smirking like his usual self at his own joke, and scowl. I can't even think of anything to say back to him. Dirty rotten—

  "Dig in kids!" My mom says as four pairs of hands reach into the middle of the table for the bananas, angel cake, marshmallows, and strawberries. I reach mine in along with them to grab a strawberry and practically faint with the taste. I can't even begin to describe the sweetness and juiciness and… oh wow. Everyone seems to be having the same reaction, you know; closed eyes, soft sigh, and slouching in your chair. Don't forget the silence as everyone enjoys the ecstasy that is occurring in their mouths. For a long while we all sit there, experiencing the extent of our own taste buds when mom says, "Watch that fire under there. We don't want anything to catch fire."

  She said it jokingly, but leave it to me to make it happen.

  I was leaning forward to get to the last strawberry, which is coincidently on the other side of the shiny silver platter, and somehow, the sleeve of the sweater-jacket I've been wearing catches on the edge of the platter and, to the horror of my family, friend, and fiend, catches on fire.

  "Ah!" I scream flinging my arm up into the air. I hear my mom's shriek but all I can see and feel are the flames licking my wrist and spreading up my arm. Feeling one of the napkins hitting my arm I look to see who's putting out the fire on my person.

  Not the person I wanted to see I'll tell you that.

  After Teigan hits my arm with the cloth to smother the flame five or six times, it's out, and the entire restaurant is staring at our table. Teigan and I are both standing, me cradling my arm and him, trying to find someway to salvage the now charcoal black napkin in his hand.

  A waiter, standing nearby touches my mom lightly on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Ma'am—"

  With a short glare at me she says to the waiter, "Add the napkin to the check please." He nods and walks away as her icy stare reverts back in my direction. "Delaney Rose Knight—"

  Her rant is cut short as Ryan snickers, hiding his mouth behind his hand. I can see him shaking and it takes me a minute to realize he's sitting next to me and laughing. Laughing!

  "Jerk!" I say as I punch his shoulder, hard. "He moves his hand to hold his arm (which will probably feel pretty useless for the next half hour) and his laughter just grows louder. Soon Emma joins him, as does Teigan, followed by me. After you think about it for a minute, lighting my arm on fire is such a 'me' thing that it's pretty hilarious.

  Mom is the only one left not laughing; she's just staring at all of us with her scary I'm-going-to-get-you-later-for-this stare until the check comes. "Alright, let's get out of here before people's stares burn holes through us."

  Ryan, still chuckling every time he looks at me, tells her, "Don't worry mom, I doubt any of them even know who we are or will ever recognize us again."

  "Joan?"

  Five heads turn at the male voice calling out my mother's name from across the restaurant. I survey the room to try and see who could've called out but don't see any—wait. There's a man walking into the restaurant and walking towards us, his eyes focused on my mother.

  "Allen?" Mom says, walking toward the tall man. He looks about as old as mom, (somewhere in her fifties) with balding brown hair and, at the sound of his name, he smiles crookedly.

  Then he walked up and gave her a kiss.

  And I'm not talking little peck on the lips, it's a full on kiss, kiss.

  Now I'm asking myself… what the hell just happened?

  * * *

  "How about this one?" Sarah asks, holding up the fifth shirt in a row that is so far from something that I would wear it isn't funny.

  Shaking my head, I sigh, "I thought it was third strike and your out? Yet you still keep going." I shake my head and continue going through the rack of clothes on sale.

  Sarah walks around the rack, Adler in her arms and Anthony in the stroller in front of her, and gets as close as possible before saying, "You know, mom gave us what, about five hundred dollars to spend on clothes for the triplets and you? Let's use it baby! Forget the sales racks!" I look her in the eyes and hold her there.

  "If something really catches my eye I'll get it, but if not, I'm sticking to the sales so I can get more for less." I smile and continue going through the rack, not really finding anything at all. Sarah sighs and squats down to put Adler back in the stroller. Where is the baby girl you ask? I've got her in my arms because she's too cute to stay in a stroller all day. I'm getting her started early on the art of smart-shopping.

  "So, mom and this guy huh?" She says after a moment.

  I laugh, "You just can't let it go can you?"

  She stands up, a full three inches taller than me and starts ranting, "I wasn't there, I'm still trying to get the picture of mom and a… a balding guy making out in the Fancy Restaurant!"

  "Maybe you don't want that image there. I sure don't but it's burnt into the far reaches of my mind forever—"

  "And ever," Sarah cuts in, "yeah, yeah. But you got this juicy story to hold over mom from a first-hand point of view and I've got a second-hand version of it!"

  "Your point?"

  "It's so not as good of leverage."

  I roll my eyes and wander with Maura towards the next store. "You're hopeless Sarah, completely hopeless."

  "You know I like to have leverage over mom in case I need something."

  "She just gave you five hundred bucks to buy clothes."

  "For my children and my little sister! So not the same."

  "You know, you act more the part of teenager than I do. Who let you have kids again?" She sticks her tongue out at me and pushes her two baby boys along through the mall. It's Sunday now and I have to say I did
n't get much sleep last night. After two hours of shopping and telling and retelling the story of last night to Sarah (though I conveniently left out my pyromaniac experience) I'm ready for some serious sleep.

  "So, will you tell me one more time?"

  I groan and walk faster, but to no avail. "Fine!" I say, "one more time but this is it for you! I'm never retelling this story to you after today!" She simply grins wide and turns to go and sit on a bench. Hah! She so read my mind on the tired thing.

  "Alright, so we're leaving the restaurant and this guy yells out mom's name from across the restaurant. He then proceeds to walk up to her and give her a very intimate kiss. I can verify as a first hand eyewitness that there was tongue involved in said kiss." At this point we both cringe. " He then asks her how she is and what she's doing here. This is when he first notices the four quote unquote children around her. He asks her who they are and she points to Ryan and I and introduces us as her children. He shakes each of our hands vigorously and tells us he's heard 'so much about us!' Mom then point to Emma and introduces her as her surrogate daughter and my best friend, and then Teigan," At this point I cringe, "As Ryan's friend."

  "So is he good-looking or what?" Sarah interrupts out of the blue.

  "Ew! He's like, fifty!"

  Again, Sarah shrugs, "So, some older guys are hot."

  "Ah! You're married remember? And besides, if you want me to keep telling this story you had best stop talking." She motions zipping her mouth shut and throwing away the key. Very mature my oldest sister is, very.

  "He said he had to get back to dinner with his colleagues and then we left the restaurant. Mom explained to us all in the car, after a prompt from both Ryan and I, that he was a patient at the hospital about five months back and that he was there for about two. She had to visit him a lot and they got to talking and ended up going on a small, casual date a week after he got out of the hospital. They've been dating ever since." Looking straight at Sarah I say, "End of story."

  She looks me up and down, narrows her eyes and says, "You're so leaving out some juicy parts aren't you?"

  "You're insufferable." Standing up with Maura squirming in my arms I start walking towards another store. I look back to make sure Sarah is following when I see her stalled and staring at something in the mall window. Walking back to her I look at the window to try and see what caught her eye. "What is it?"

  She turns to me, leans over the stroller and grabs my shoulders. "Let's get your bellybutton pierced."

  "What!" I cry out. "Are you kidding?" I say in a softer voice, "What are you thinking? Besides the fact that mom would kill me I've heard about all the sanitary conditions, the fact that it would hurt like hell, and also, oh yeah, I have never and never will want to do that!"

  "Come on, live on the daring side of life." She walks around the stroller and takes Maura from my arms, asleep and silent, and then starts to usher me inside the store.

  "Sarah, I'm telling you I don't—"

  "Hi, this girl here would like her bellybutton pierced." Sarah tells the extremely tall, buff, tattooed guy at the counter.

  There's no way to get out of it now. "Sarah, I hate you." She grins something similar to mine when I'm feeling smug. Sometimes it scares me that we're so much alike.

  * * *

  Standing in front of the mirror with my shirt up, I stare at the piercing now above my navel. It doesn't look too bad, but it's still weird. I have to seriously take care of it for the next six months if I don't want it to get infected. I still can't believe she made me do it though. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, just a little pinch, but still, what kind of responsible, older sibling forces their younger sibling to get a piercing?

  Sarah, that's who.

  I look at the small jewel on the bottom and sway back and forth as it sparkles in the dim light. I guess I'll get used to it. Sighing, I pull my shirt down and walk back into my room to find Ryan tossing one of my pillows into the air.

  "Hey." He says when he sees me, catching the pillow and setting it beside him. "I wanted to talk to you…."

  I wait for a moment and, when he doesn't say anything I put my hands on my hips and raise my brow. "About?"

  "Emma." He says softly, casting his eyes down. I take a seat next to him and wait for him to start. "I'm going to ask her to the dance, but I'm still nervous she'll turn me down."

  "We've been over this before Ry—"

  "Tyler Milovich is asking her."

  "What?!" I stare at my brother in disbelief. Who is Tyler Milovich you ask? He's only the star quarterback of the school's team, the student body president, the captain of the school's basketball team, the lead in the spring musical last year, and to top it all off, the hottest guy in school.

  Though he's got some competition with Teigan.

  Did I really just say Teigan is as hot as Tyler? If I did, scratch that last thought.

  Tyler Milovich is about six feet two with short, spiked, dark brown hair, gorgeous green eyes, and a killer smile. Not to mention the perfectly toned body. His voice is deep and husky and he's always nice to everyone. Did I mention his also being in the top ten percent of our class? Yeah, he's right up there with Emma so I can see the idea of him asking her. He's friendly to everyone, including little ol' outcast me, and I've seen him talking to Emma more than once.

  But Emma and Ryan are supposed to be together! While debating myself in my head I glance at Ryan, who is giving me the strangest look. I snap out of my trance and look him straight in the eye. "Where did you hear this from?"

  "Jacob Zidichowski. He's one of Teigan's friends—"

  "Yeah, yeah I know him." I stand up and walk over to my window feeling Ryan's eyes follow me the entire way. Looking from my window I can see Teigan's driveway and, sure enough, Jacob and Teigan are out in the freezing cold playing basketball.

  I walk away from the window and head out my door. "Where are you going?" Ryan calls after me. I hear him scramble off the floor and follow behind me as I walk down the stairs. "Where are you going?" He asks again when he's closer. I'm already putting on my shoes at the door and I look up at him and say, "I'm going to ask somebody some questions. Just stay here."

  "But—"

  "Ryan!" Mom shouts from the other room. "I need some help!" He takes one more look at me as I slip my second shoe on and I tilt my head toward the den Mom is in. Shaking his head he turns his back to me and disappears behind the staircase.

  I turn the other way and walk out into the front yard, spotting the two boys across the street immediately. I walk briskly toward them, shoving my hands in the pockets of my pants to keep them from freezing and in no less than a minute I stand on the other side of the street in Teigan's front yard.

  "Hey Zidichowski." I say. He turns to me and for a moment, I freeze. What the hell am I doing coming up to him like this?

  You're helping Ryan and Emma the soul mates remember?

  Right.

  "Yeah?" He asks, his brows both raised high up into his shaggy brown hair to the point of disappearing. Both he and Teigan stand there sweaty and panting, waiting for me to say something.

  I bring my hand up to fiddle with my necklace, a small diamond pendant Ryan had given me last year, and take in a deep breath. "I was wondering if you've talked to Tyler Milovich lately."

  Jake's eyebrows rise even farther (if that's possible) and he glances at Teigan. "Uh, yeah. He's one of my best friends. I talk to him everyday."

  I nod saying, "I see. So did he mention if he was asking anyone to the Winter's dance?" I start to walk around the driveway, feeling their eyes watch me as I do so. They're gazes are uncomfortable on me, but I'm keeping their attention so I can get some answers out of him.

  "Yeah he—Wait a second. How would you know about that?" He turns towards me and starts walking closer. I stand still and wait for him to come. "You talked to us the other night didn't you?" He asks. "You're, umm."

  "Duke Knight. She lives across the street?" Teigan says, looking at Jake
for some kind of recognition. "She had the crazy basketball dog?"

  Jake's face lights up. "Oh yeah!" I roll my eyes and lean against the fence behind the basketball hoop. "So why do you wanna know who Ty wants to ask?" He looks at me and smiles. "Do you want him to ask you?"

  I laugh out loud, seriously, and shake my head. "Emma's my best friend, and I know somebody who wants to ask her. I'm trying to make it so his nerves aren't shot when he asks her. Having somebody else planning on asking her is making that kind of difficult." I watch Jake's reaction, also noticing Teigan watching me out of the corner of my eye. He seems like he's looking me up and down and I don't like it. "Can I help you?" I ask him. He shakes his head and starts dribbling the ball in his hands around Jake and me.

  "So are you going to tell me who your friend is that wants to ask him?"

  "He's more like a brother actually." I say grinning slightly. He looks confused until I hear my name called from across the street. It's Ryan running out of my house. "Him." I say, pointing.

  "Did she say anything crazy?" He asks once he's on this side of the street.

  "Hey!" I shout.

  "Nope. So you're asking Emma to Winter's huh?" Ryan's eyes snap open and then glare at me. I simply shrug and fold my arms. I hear Teigan laugh and glance at him. He looks at me and smirks. I look away, weird guy.

  "Yeah. I am."

  "Then I'll tell Ty to pick someone else. He just thought she'd be a fun date. I don't think he thought you'd have the guts to ask her." Jake says, stealing the ball as it bounces off the backboard after Teigan's shot.

  "What do you mean?" Ryan asks, confused.

  "Ryan, even I can tell after only going to Oakridge for a week. You like Emma, she likes you." Teigan says, walking to stand next to me. I glance at him warily as he leans against the fence, causing it to creak slightly. I shiver in the cold and look at my brother.

  "Everybody notices this fact but the two of you." Jake adds, dribbling the ball around the driveway. Ryan can only stand there numbly.