“I seriously doubt that. My mother doesn’t change her mind.”
“Well, either way.” Matthew stopped at a red light. He reached over and touched her face, his hand tracing the shape of her jaw. “It’s worth it, either way.”
They drove around for a while, marveling at the fact that everything really was closed at night. Matthew didn’t seem to be nervous about being out after dark, which surprised Claire.
“Aren’t you worried about the werewolf ?” she asked.
“Well, we are in a car,” he pointed out. “So we’d be faster than the werewolf. But mostly, I just think that the odds of being in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time—they’re pretty small. I wouldn’t go for a hike right now, but driving around town? Nope. Not nervous about that. And anyway, you’re here, which means you must not be terrified either, right?”
A little shock zinged through Claire. She hadn’t really considered that he would turn the question back around on her. “Um, no, I’m not. For the same reasons you just said, really. Oh, crap!” She looked at the clock. “I’d better text Lisbeth.”
Lisbeth was pissed, but she seemed to believe that Claire was still at Doug’s. Claire felt bad about lying to her, but, she reasoned, she wouldn’t be doing it if her mother would listen to reason. As it was, she didn’t have any other choice.
Since nothing was open, they ended up driving aimlessly around town, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. When they ended up back on Doug’s block, Claire looked at the clock. It was quarter till eleven. How had so much time gone by so fast? From the street, the music coming from inside was just a whisper of bass. Claire leaned back in the seat and sighed. She really, really didn’t want to go in there and face everyone, even if Matthew was with her.
He leaned over and kissed her. Claire could feel him smiling.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go see who’s still conscious in there.”
“Okay,” she whispered, still a little tingly from the feeling of his lips against hers.
If Matthew was with her, it wouldn’t be that bad. And it was only fifteen minutes, right? The two of them walked across the front lawn and into the house. There were still small groups of people scattered though the family room, but their conversations were louder, and there were a couple of people passed out on the couches.
Claire stayed near the windows, watching for Lisbeth’s car. The last thing she needed was Lisbeth coming up to the house—she’d be in twelve kinds of trouble for sure. When the car pulled up outside, Claire ran for the front hall.
“I’ll call you later,” she said, as Matthew quickly kissed her good-bye.
“Hey, Engle!” The slurred call came from somewhere in the living room. “Get your ass over here—we need a fourth for poker!”
Matthew laughed and headed back into the party while Claire opened the door and darted across the dark lawn. She slid into Lisbeth’s car.
“Now I believe you couldn’t hear the phone—if the music’s that loud out here, it must have been deafening in there!” Lisbeth shook her head. “So, did you have fun?”
Claire sighed. “I dunno. Sort of, I guess.” It was true. The time she’d spent with Matthew had been amazing, but the rest of the party stuff had been pretty torturous.
“And what about Doug?” Lisbeth asked, her voice heavy with meaning.
Claire shrugged. She looked over at Lisbeth, wondering what she’d been doing on Fourth Street. “So, what did you do while I was gone? Anything fun?” she asked.
“Nah,” said Lisbeth. “I went home and read for a while. That’s about it.”
“Oh.” Claire turned to stare out the window. Everything was off tonight. Lisbeth was lying to her. Claire had lied to pretty much everybody. And Matthew—how could she date someone who was the center of attention when she was always trying to hide?
She slumped down in the seat and wondered if maybe her mother was right, even though her reasons were wrong. The thought made her stomach as heavy as a bowling ball, but maybe it really was impossible for her and Matthew to be together. What if she just ended up making him miserable?
Then again, maybe she should let him make his own decisions about how he wanted to spend his time. He was the one who suggested they leave, just the two of them. It was possible that she was just being oversensitive. Overreacting.
Claire leaned against the glass and sighed. Things would be a lot simpler if she didn’t like him so much. Or if she were just a normal human, like everyone else.
But no, I get to be a werewolf. Just freaking great.
Chapter Twelve