Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

  “Mom…Dad…anyone home?” I yelled as I closed the door when I arrived home. No answer. Good. I had some things to figure out and needed all the quiet I could get. I hung my backpack in the closet and my keys on the hook by the door. I headed up the stairs to my room. I had just closed the door, sat down at my desk, and turned on the computer when my phone rang. It was at the bottom of my purse, so I had to dig to find it. I groaned and answered reluctantly. Another thing you should know about me, I hate talking on the phone. I despise it actually. I have a cell phone; it’s a great phone and I love it…to play on Facebook and lookup things on the internet, occasionally texting, but I utterly hate to talk on it. It’s weird for a teenage girl to say that I know, but I am not the typical teenage girl, obviously.

  The call was from Jackie; she wanted to come over and hangout. I said, "Sure," although I was perplexed because she usually hung out with Mitchell. Jackie didn't live far from me, so I only had a few minutes to get ready for her. Maybe this is what I needed, fun girls day instead of alone time. Alone time was something I get a lot of these days; it will be a nice change. One thing I love to do is cook. My dad is a fabulous cook, and once I was old enough, he taught me how. Whenever he was out of town, I took care of my mom, since she can’t boil water without hurting herself.

  As soon as I hung up, I headed downstairs to the kitchen and made homemade pizza and stuck some Cokes in the freezer so they would be cold in time. I called Jackie back and asked her to stop and get some chips on her way over, and she said she was going to pick up a movie to watch too. Jackie and I hadn’t had a girl’s afternoon in a long time; this would be an awesome day. The crust was ready, and I had spread the pizza sauce on and sprinkled cheese all over the top, when the phone rang again. I grabbed it with my wrists and poked the answer button with my nose. This time it was Mom saying that she and Dad would be out late and to fix myself dinner. I told her that wouldn’t be a problem, and it was taken care of already. They were happy when I told them Jackie was coming over; she was like their daughter as well.

  Jackie arrived as I pulled the pizza out of the oven. “Good timing, Chickie!” I exclaimed when she walked through the door.

  She smiled and curtsied. “It’s a gift,” she said as she sat her bags on the counter top. She pulled paper plates down from the cabinets for us while I sliced the steaming hot pizza. She brought over some chips and dip along with a good raunchy comedy for us to watch. It was one we had seen it in the theater a couple of months ago, and we laughed so hard we missed parts of the movie.

  As I put us a couple of slices each on the plates, I asked Jackie, "Where is Mitchell this afternoon?"

  She said, "He's tutoring the new guy."

  “Quinn?” I asked.

  She replied, “Yep, apparently his last school was a bit behind, so he needs to catch up to where we are. Mitchell called me earlier and said he would be tutoring him every afternoon for the next few weeks. It will be good for us though, you and me, I mean. Now we can have some much-needed girl time…right?”

  I smiled and agreed with exhilaration, “Heck yeah! I can always use girl time.” I get my best friend back for a couple of weeks, what could be better than that? Jackie and I took our plates and went into the living room to watch a movie. We were laughing in no time. At one point, I looked over at her, realized that this is exactly what I needed right now, and smiled.

  Jackie was the closest thing I had to a sister. We used to have slumber parties on a regular basis. We went through phases together such as painting our fingernails all different colors or wearing scarves with everything. Neither of us is fond of fads. In fact, we usually liked trends once they were out of style. The only difference, besides the wolf thing, is that guys practically flock to her side. She has only dated Mitchell, but it’s not because no one else was interested. She’s always been the 'pretty one' and she has always been much more outgoing than I am. I think the only reason she never went out with anyone else is that her heart always belonged to Mitchell. She admitted to me once that she fell in love with him in kindergarten.

  It was the first day of kindergarten and her mom and taken her to school. She walked her in and met the teacher and had turned to leave, but Jackie still clung to her, crying. Mitchell came over to them.

  He introduced himself, looked up at her mom, and said “Don’t worry I’ll take care of her.”

  He reached out and took her hand in his. He stayed with her the whole day, making sure she wasn't scared. He had always been very protective of her. It wasn’t until high school that he finally asked her out on a date.

  When her mom became diagnosed with breast cancer, Jackie was a mess. She didn’t tell anyone about it, only she and I knew basically. One day, I was at home sick, and she broke down in tears at school and ran to hide in the gym, for privacy to work through her emotions. Mitchell found her in there curled up in a ball. He sat down beside her, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and held her while she cried. She said she never even told him why she was crying until days later. He simply sat there with her, holding her and telling her it would be okay, and he would take care of her. Since that day, they have been joined at the hip. Their love story is so sweet; in a way I envy what she and Mitchell have.

  Out of the blue, Jackie asked, “So, what's the deal with Quinn?”

  I almost choked on my pizza, “What? Why would you be asking me?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and said “Well you did have lunch with him today.”

  Being a bit of a smart-aleck, I responded, “If I remember correctly, I ate lunch with you today, and I was only sitting with him for a minute or two. Ask Mitchell what the deal is with him, he'll be spending more time with Quinn than I will."

  “He’s cute though,” she said as she took another bite of pizza.

  I scoffed, “Yeah, more like beautiful, but looks aren’t everything ya know.” We continued watching the movie in silence for a few minutes. Maybe the fact that Jackie gets time for me is a sign. Maybe now is the time to tell her the truth about me. Then, I could tell her what Quinn said, and she could help me figure out what to do about it.

  “Why are you always so weird about new people?” Jackie asked, again out of the blue.

  I was going to need CPR with all the choking she was causing. “Huh? We hardly meet new people in this town. How can I always be weird about them?” I insisted.

  She shrugged, “Just seems like you are, at least the last couple of years. I’m pretty much the only one you hang out with anymore, and you don’t date.”

  Well, that was hurtful, thanks for rubbing that fact in as if I don’t feel like a big stinking loser.

  “I don’t understand where this is coming from all of a sudden. A lot of people don’t have boyfriends. Life isn’t always about that. Plus, the people in this town and I don’t get along always. In fact, we don’t have anything in common. I'm working my butt off at school to make sure I can go to college far away from here next year. Does it really bother you, being my only friend?”

  She shook her head. “Of course not, I just worry about you. You used to get along with the people in town and then in an instant you changed, and you keep to yourself. You keep all these secrets; even from me. Next year we'll be going to college, and I want to make sure you don’t need help trying to meet people or make friends. Well, that doesn’t sound good. You know what I mean.”

  I stood up and took my plate to walk to the kitchen, “Sorry, but I don’t. I think we should watch the movie.” I threw my plate in the trash and packed up the pizza to save for later.

  She came in the kitchen, walked over, and put her arm across my shoulders. “You know I love you, Parker. You're my best friend in the world, practically my sister, and I want to make sure you're happy.”

  I hugged her back and said, “I know.”

  Jackie’s phone rang, and we both jumped when it did. The ringtone was
I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith, so I knew it was Mitchell. When she hung up, she turned and said, "That was Mitchell. The guys have had enough tutoring for today, and he's coming to pick me up."

  I felt a twinge of sadness from her words. The afternoon went by too fast with her; I was disappointed, but knew it meant more time to figure out my dilemma. I pulled a couple pieces of pizza out for her to share with him. A few minutes later there's a knock on the door.

  When I opened it, Quinn stood there; I stopped and gawk at him. He smiled and said, “Hello sunshine, May we come in?” I gazed at him and nodded wordlessly. He grinned, “You can speak, right?”

  This question made me aggravated, “Of course, I can. Come in, please.” Mitchell walked around Quinn and made his way over to Jackie to hug and kiss her.

  Once they came up for air, Jackie said, "Hi Quinn. Bye Quinn. See you later, Parker, today was fun."

  I was thrown for a loop when they walked out the door. “Aren’t you taking him with you?” I exclaimed as I pointed to Quinn next to me.

  He sniggered, and Mitchell said, “I told Quinn he could hang out at your house and wait on his ride. I thought you'd be cool with it.” Mitchell smiled and winked at me.

  Traitorous bastards, I thought. This slick move was a freaking setup. Mitchell wanted to do a nice thing, but may have ended my life in the process. Mitchell took Jackie’s hand, and they walked out, Jackie turned to me and gave me thumbs up as she left. Quinn sat down on the couch, patting the seat next to him. Instead, I sat in the recliner across from him. He laughed quietly and propped his feet up on the coffee table. This afternoon is going to drag on.

  Quinn and I sat in silence for a bit. Finally, he spoke, and I wished he had kept quiet. “So, now that we're away from any eavesdroppers or nosey-nellie’s, we can start our relationship again?”

  I laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. “Since when do we have a relationship? As I recall, you tried to say I was a werewolf; I denied it and stormed off. How is that a relationship?”

  He sat forward and countered with, “Well it’s not a healthy relationship I’ll give you that. My question is why did you deny it? I know what you are. You obviously don’t tell people, so it should give you some relief that you can have a friend to confide in.”

  I laughed again, rolled my eyes, and said matter-of-factly, “We aren’t friends.” I walked out of the room to the kitchen.

  If he planned on sticking around for a little while, I might as well make things comfortable. I yelled into the living room, “Do you want something to drink?”

  He replied “Whatever’s cold.” I grabbed him a root beer out of the fridge and fixed myself a glass of water. He was looking through my mother’s photo album when I walked back into the living room.

  I handed him a drink. “What are you looking through that for? Think you're going to find a picture of the family dog and try to prove it’s me in my changed form on the full moon?” He didn’t say anything, but I saw the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile and a dimple appeared on his cheek as kept his head down looking through the album. That dimple was too cute. Stop thinking about him that way, Parker. Geez, calm your hormones already.

  “When is your ride going to be here?” I asked impatiently.

  Without looking up from the photo album, he said, “As soon as I call someone to pick me up.” I handed him my cell phone, hoping he would take the hint. He took the phone from me and sat it on the coffee table, closed the photo album and sat it next to the phone.

  “Why don’t you have a car?” I asked in annoyance.

  “I like to run,” he replied, snickering as though there was a joke I missed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  He ignored my question. He sat back, crossed his legs, and placed his hands folded on his lap. He proceeded to stare at me. I did the mature thing and stared back until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Take a picture, it'll last longer!” I proclaimed with frustration. He picked up my phone. Good, he’s leaving I thought, and then he took a picture. What the…? He took a frigging picture of me. After he had taken a picture, he pushed a bunch of buttons, and then his phone beeped. He turned it to show me he texted himself the picture.

  This guy was going to drive me to the brink of insanity and push me over. My pulse raced, and I was becoming angry and wanted him gone. Then it dawned on me. He could be doing this on purpose. He could be trying to make me mad enough to change to prove that I'm a werewolf. I had to figure out a way to calm myself down. So, I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I walked over to the couch, sat down beside him, leaned forward and planted a kiss on him.

  Not the most strategic maneuver, but it served a purpose, and it was fun. He tasted strange on my lips, not bad, but strange. At first his body stiffened when our lips met. He kissed me back but was very gentle and careful not to touch me. His lips felt like satin; they were soft as they moved against mine. My whole body tingled, right down to my toes. Is this a feeling of passion? This guy annoys me to death, but, wow, can he kiss.

  A few seconds later, Quinn pressed his hands against my shoulders as he pulled back from the lip-lock. “Well, that was…nice. What did I do to deserve that?” He asked. I smiled and shrugged, then went to sit back down. He gazed at me in a different way this time, not in a boyfriend way, but almost a bit nervous and…scared? Was he scared of me now? Or maybe I was a terrible kisser. Either way, an awkward feel encompassed the room. He stood up abruptly and made his way to the door. “I should be going; it’s getting late.” He didn’t even call anyone before he walked out the door. I went to stop him and, by the time I got there; he had vanished from sight.

  I stepped outside onto the porch and looked all around, and up the street. How did he disappear so quickly? Did I sit there longer than I realized? Or does that prove he is a werewolf too? Perhaps he’s learned how to shift whenever he wants and that could explain how he left so quickly. Many different thoughts were battling in my mind, but the only thing I knew for sure was that I kissed Quinn, and it was the best feeling I've ever had. Now it seems something about that moment may have scared him away for good.

  I picked up the phone and sent Jackie a text.

  Me: Thanks for leaving me w/Quinn that went well. Talk to you tomorrow—Parker.

  Jackie: Can’t wait to hear about it!

  There was no way I could tell her about my kiss by text. She will have to hear about it on lunch tomorrow. I just hope I don’t see Quinn. What have I gotten myself into?

  Chapter Four