God, was I that obvious?
I side-glanced at her as we shuffled by. At closer range I noted that she wasn’t particularly scary. She was young and short – about my height – and she chewed on her lip with a self-consciousness that didn’t exactly terrify me. She was on the phone, and it looked like she was having an argument. Maybe she had been stood up. Maybe she had been waiting this whole time for a date or a friend. God, she was so young. I was suddenly highly embarrassed by my jumpiness. I could feel my skin flooding with patches of red. What the hell was wrong with me? It was worse than being afraid of my own shadow. She was probably more afraid of me at this point. I had been staring at her non-stop for most of the evening. And I was the one with a knife in my pocket.
‘I think I’m freaking her out,’ I whispered to Millie.
‘Oh, you definitely are.’
In the parking lot Millie had to dig through her purse to find her keys. ‘Why do they make them so easy to lose in there?’ she huffed. ‘I swear, if this isn’t the most annoying thing about driving I don’t know what is.’
‘Just put your key in a separate pocket or something.’
‘Great idea. If you could just mail that to two hours ago that would be great.’ She dropped her bag and crouched beside it as she rifled through it.
The lot was almost empty now. Our movie had been the last to finish and the remaining cars were thinning out, leaving open spaces lit up in circles from the street lamps.
Purple Hair was jogging towards her car. When she stopped, she turned in my direction. We stared at each other for a second before she looked away. She leant against her car, just like I was, and started examining her fingernails. I watched her in sulky silence. Her Mercedes had black rims. After a couple of seconds, she flicked her gaze up again and started walking towards me. I felt myself tense. Either she was going to yell at me for staring at her or admit to her stalkery.
Millie sprang up, key in hand. ‘Suck it, universe!’
Purple Hair, who was less than twenty feet away now, froze mid-step and swivelled abruptly, marching back towards her car. She flung the door open and jumped in.
What the hell? Was I going insane? Was I supposed to know her?
Was she a Falcone?
I shook myself out of my delusions before they took me over completely. Most of this was in my head. Focus. Breathe. We got in the car and Millie revved the engine, humming to herself as she adjusted the air conditioner. The black Mercedes was behind us as we made our way out of the lot, I decided not to say anything this time. We drove with the radio on and I almost bit through my fingers.
‘Weird,’ Millie said finally, when we were turning into Cedar Hill fifteen minutes later. ‘I swear that Mercedes has been behind us the whole way.’
‘I told you!’ I flooded with triumph. ‘She’s stalking us!’
‘What?’ she said, narrowing her eyes at the rear-view mirror. ‘Is that Lego-head?’
‘She’s been behind us the whole way.’
‘Huh.’ Millie flicked an indicator at the last minute and turned up a side street. The Mercedes followed. ‘You know what? I think you’re right. There’s something up with this chick. Let’s see if we can lose her.’
‘Mil, don’t do anyth—’
Millie slammed on the brakes and turned on to another side street with a deafening squeal. I was thrown, shrieking, against the side of the car. She crushed the accelerator and we sped down the street, taking a last-minute turn on to another residential row of houses and zigzagging around the neighbourhood.
After twenty minutes of what Millie called ‘stealth driving’ around Cedar Hill, we doubled back and pulled up outside my house. I got out, feeling a passing urge to kiss the pavement.
‘Told ya we’d lose Lego-head!’ She was cackling to herself. She didn’t really feel threatened. Suspicious maybe, but only mildly, and I could tell the chase was for my benefit. She offered me a brace-filled grin as she pulled away. ‘See ya tomorrow for phase two of our rehabilitation plan!’
My mother greeted me at the door. ‘How was it?’ Her tone was anxious but her expression was going for enthusiasm. ‘Was it fun? Did you have fun?’
I felt a sudden urge to hug her, but I stifled it. I didn’t want to freak her out. ‘It was good,’ I said. ‘I had fun.’ I kept the memory of the black Mercedes wiped from my expression.
She smiled, a whisper of relief in her response. ‘I’m so glad, sweetheart.’
I wondered how long she had been watching the driveway, waiting for me to come home. ‘What did you get up to?’ I asked. ‘Did you see the girls?’
She waved her hand around as I shut the door behind us. ‘I didn’t get around to it,’ she said airily. ‘I did some gardening instead. Watched some TV. Did you eat?’
‘Popcorn. A mountain of it.’
She laughed, ruffling my hair. ‘Well, you’re definitely back to your old self!’