“And how do you think they look?”
He focused on them. “I think … they look pretty.” I leaned over and gave Owen a meaningful look. “Which reminds me of your hair.” He fidgeted again. “At school, even from far away, I can spot your hair and know that you’re close and will come to get me. So it reminds me of that. And I like that.”
My heart pulled at the arteries that attached it to my chest. I looked down and let my auburn hair fall around my face to hide my grin. Adam was mine. He would always be mine.
“You should write for Hallmark, man.” I could feel—though not hear—Owen laughing beside me, and I elbowed him in the gut. “Hey, watch it!” He rubbed at his rib.
Just then, the Ferris wheel motor began to whir, and we were being taken on a slow, controlled fall to the bottom. Adam closed his eyes again, and his knuckles turned whiter than normal.
I had to assure him twice that it was okay to let go of the bar once we’d reached the bottom. He wobbled sideways when he got off the ride, and Owen and I caught his arms.
“Victoria?” he said as we exited the gates of the Ferris wheel. “I learned another thing to add to things I do not like.” He craned his neck and stared up at where we’d experienced our bird’s-eye view. “Heights.”
After the Ferris wheel, I decided we should try to test our hypothesis by evoking a more positive emotional response in the subject. The three of us traipsed over to the petting zoo, which I figured had a good chance of making him happy. This turned out to be a serious miscalculation since the pigs and miniature horses seemed to have a sixth sense about Adam. He spent ten minutes trying to chase them into corners to pet them, and the goats kept trying to nibble his jeans. No sooner than I’d written it, I scratched “interaction with animals” off my list.
It was when leaving the petting zoo that I spotted four people who had the capability of ruining our entire evening. Cassidy, Knox, Paisley, and William were making their way toward the Ferris wheel, which went to show how little there was to do in Hollow Pines on the weekends.
Paisley had a large plush bear straddled over her shoulders. It was pink and was wearing a sombrero and was probably taller than her. Cassidy spotted us first. She squealed when she saw Adam.
“You guys! I didn’t know y’all were here.” She came running over. Her face turned grave. “It’s so nice to get out and do something normal after…” She lowered her voice. “You know.”
“I don’t know.” Owen shrugged, even though she clearly hadn’t been talking to him.
Her eyes were wide as if she were seeing it all over again in her head. “The body. Victoria, surely you told him. My mom is making me be home by ten thirty tonight. Emily’s and Mason’s parents are going to make them see a shrink. Paisley, look who it is.” She turned around to Paisley, who was walking up at a much slower, less enthusiastic pace.
“Well, who would have thought we’d have run into a real, live celebrity,” Paisley said. She looked ridiculous parading around with a sombrero-sporting bear. But that was the thing about being popular. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Popular kids didn’t do cool things. Things were cool because they did them.
Adam looked behind him and to the sides.
“She means you.” Cassidy laughed. “Haven’t you seen? The papers are already reporting you as Hollow Pines High’s resident football savior.” She clasped her hands together in a mock prayer. The fact that the papers were reporting anything about high school football practice when there was a killer on the loose was a miracle. Then again, that was the Hollow Pines religion.
Adam stopped searching and stared blankly at her.
“Well, it was nice running into you,” I said, wanting to extract myself. “We should be getting home early, too. We all like having two legs and our hearts still beating, if you know what I mean.” A joke about a murder. That was a classy touch.
Knox narrowed his already squinty eyes. “Hold on a minute,” he said. “You’re not too good for hanging out with your teammates for a second, are you?”
Adam’s eyebrows squished together. “Too good? I’m a good guy. I’m Adam.”
Knox’s canines caught the light, and I could just make out the shadows of acne scars in the hollows of his cheeks. “Maybe a little friendly competition?”
“We should really be going,” I said, remembering how I’d said something similar to Knox two nights earlier.
“One game.” Knox held up his finger. “Live a little, Torantula.” The guy did not seem to understand the word no. I clenched my teeth. Fine then. He could have it his way. This time.
“Great,” I said, rolling back my shoulders and cracking my knuckles. “How about that thing?” I pointed to the “Test Your Strength” booth that we’d passed earlier. The tattooed carny was pacing the perimeter, holding his top-heavy mallet.