2 Deja Blue Read online

Nick’s mom noticed us giggling behind the menu and loudly cleared her throat. We stole glances at each other again, barely containing our laughter. “Shush!” Mrs. Martino scolded in a hushed tone. “Now kids, it’s not nice to laugh at other people.” As if to prove her point, she suddenly leaned over to their table and interrupted, “Excuse me, where abouts in the U.P. are you from?”

  The people sitting next to us were Yoopers – natives of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (or U.P.). The peninsula is considered part of our state, but separated from the lower part of our state by Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The two peninsulas are connected by a huge bridge…the Mackinac Bridge. You wouldn’t think that mere separation of a bridge could cause such wide differences in a culture, but it does. Many Yoopers have Scandinavian, Swedish, or Finnish ethnicity. Their accent often resembles people who are from those countries and parts of Northern Minnesota and Canada. They even have their own special dialect and slang up there. You practically need a dictionary to figure out what they’re saying! I’ve heard them speak all my life and I still think they sound like foreigners, not just neighbors who live a few hours away. The gentleman at the table smiled at us, “Yah. Me and the missus are from Ishpeming. Taut we’d come over da crossing into da mitten and hang out wit some trolls for a while.” He nodded, smiling broadly and his wife excitedly added, “Head 'er for sagola, we are, eh?!”

  Okay. What?!? I got that they came over across the bridge, and I immediately recognized the term “Troll,” which is what the Yoopers call everyone who live south of the bridge, or “under” it. But I looked questionably at Nick because I had never heard the expression his wife used. Nick leaned over and whispered in my ear, “They’re going to paint the town red.” I nodded in understanding. Yooper dialect is so weird! They’re from the same state for Pete’s sake! What’s with the crazy language? Speak English, please!

  “Are you enjoying the festival?” Nick’s mom asked.

  “Oh yah, youbetcha!” the wife nodded enthusiastically and continued, “We’ve never been, eh?” The husband added, “Dat dere’s some cherries worth dere Raha, eh!” He smiled.

  Nick’s mom nodded, “Oh yes, the cherries are definitely worth every penny! Simply delicious! And there is so much to do! We’re from Lake City, so we come here often, but we do hope you enjoy the rest of your stay with us-Trolls!” She winked and smiled as she said that. The husband and wife nodded, resumed their conversation and went back to eating their meal.

  “There, you see?” Mrs. Martino said, “They are perfectly normal, friendly people who don’t deserve to be laughed at. Just because someone talks different, or looks different doesn’t mean they should be ridiculed.” She pursed her lips and seemed satisfied at her impromptu lesson on manners. Nick quipped back, “Don’t you mean, ‘dey shoon be ridiculed, eh?’ ” A smile curved up on Mrs. Martino’s face as she swatted Nick’s head with her menu. “You, stop!” she laughed. She was right though. Just because they looked a little out of place, or talked a little funny, didn’t mean they deserved to be the butt of our jokes. I made a mental note to try not to smile at their funny dialect anymore. We finally ordered and made it through the rest of the meal without any further scolding from Nick’s mom. It was really quite nice. It was one of the first times I’ve sat down to eat with Nick’s family. Other than seeing them at their pizzeria, I didn’t often “socialize” with his parents. Usually Nick hurried us out of his house as soon as he could, or shooed them away from our table at their restaurant. I totally get it though. What teenager wants to hang out with their parents in front of the person they’re dating? Certainly not me! My mother would inevitably start spewing some random Wizard of Oz trivia, or babble on and on about her gardens, and dad would most likely give a play-by-play of some Discovery Channel show he’d been watching. Ugh. No thank you. Thankfully, Nick’s parents were revealing themselves to be pretty cool.

  We were just digging into our dessert (slices of cherry pie and yummy extra creamy vanilla ice cream) when I got that weird tingly feeling again. I jerked my head up and looked around the crowded restaurant. “You okay, Ruby?” Nick asked. I continued scanning the room, and noticed one of the exit doors swing shut. I didn’t see who went out the door, and I didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary. It was so weird. I felt all creepy-crawly, with tingly chills running up and down my arms and spine. I looked back towards Nick, shaking my head, and pasted a smile on my face, “Nope, everything’s fine!” That’s when I caught a glimpse out the window of a dark, shadowy figure on the sidewalk. I couldn’t quite see him in the darkness, but I got the feeling he was watching us. He suddenly turned on his heels and ran down the street. I watched him go and felt the strange prickly sensation fade away again. Huh. This is kind of starting to freak me out. As soon as I see Anya tomorrow, I’m going to ask her about this odd sensation I’m getting and see if she knows anything about this creepy dude who seems to be watching me. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. Maybe there wasn’t anybody watching me. What would anybody want with me? I’m just a regular teenage girl. Maybe the tingling feeling really is a new Fairy power I’m getting, but I don’t know what it is yet. It’s probably just a coincidence that I’ve seen some dark, shadowy figure lurking near doorways….twice in one day. I absent-mindedly shoveled another piece of pie into my mouth while I tried to look nonchalant at Nick and his parents and pretended to follow their conversation. I mean, the strange chills might not have anything to do with the mysterious lurking stranger. I’ve never sprouted Fairy super-powers before, so what the hell do I know? Ugh. This worrying is going to give me a headache. I tried to pull myself back into the moment and pay attention to what Mr. Martino was saying.

  “So, tomorrow, Nico and Rubino, you both just go on to the beach by yourselves and have a good time with your friends. We will probably get there a bit later, and then we can all head to lunch together, okay?” He was smiling, looking back and forth from Nick to me.

  Wait. I must have missed something. Apparently, Nick and I were going to get some more alone time…well, almost-alone time. Anya and Brennan would be meeting us at the beach, but still. We’d be parent-free! This trip was turning out better than I thought! I looked over at Nick, who was smiling. “Mom really loves those craft booths,” he nodded. Ahhh. They were going to walk through the arts and crafts fair that was set up for the festival, instead of going to the beach with us. Excellent. More time for me to ogle my hot new boyfriend, shirtless in his swimsuit. Just the thought of lying on the beach next to Nick’s tanned, muscular body was making my insides twist with excitement. I gazed dreamily at Nick, and I almost got goose bumps thinking of rubbing sunscreen over his broad shoulders and back. I wanted to lean over and kiss those soft smiling lips right now. Yikes. I better relax. I still had to get through the next twelve hours and sleep in the same hotel suite with these people. I didn’t want his parents to think I was some ho-bag. By the time dessert was done and Nick grabbed my hand to walk me out of the restaurant, I hardly gave Mr. Creepy Dark Shadows guy a second thought.

  Chapter 6

  It was early when I woke up in the morning. Or, should I say when somebody woke me up. I was curled up on my side, tucked under the sheets on the queen-sized pull-out bed, with my head cradled in the super-soft pillow (which was ten times nicer than the one I had in my stupid twin bed at home…I wonder if I could stuff one of these pillows into my duffel bag before I leave?) Suddenly, chills ran down my spine, and the side of my neck tickled. Nick (who was already fully-dressed) had silently crawled into my bed (on top of the blankets), wrapped his arm around my waist, and nuzzled at my neck to stir me out my sleep. At first, I laid there smiling in contentment for a second, and then I jolted upright, yanking the covers up under my chin, “Ohmygoshhh! Your parents! They’re right next door! Get the hell outta my bed-couch-thing-whateverthehell it is! They’re gonna think I’m a ho-bag!” Nick started laughing, “Relax, Ruby! It’s cool…my dad just went down to breakfast to read the paper, and my mom
is in the shower.” I relaxed back against the couch-bed-headboard. Whew, I sighed a breath of relief. Nick leaned forward to kiss me again and my eyes got wide as I jerked my hand up to cover my mouth. I’m pretty sure I had stinky morning breath. Oh God! He can’t kiss me now. It would totally gross him out. “I gotta brush my teeth first,” I mumbled underneath my hand. Nick shook his head. “Whatev,” he said as he sprawled back, folding his arms behind his head and crossing his feet in front of him. I scurried off the other side of the bed and trotted into the bathroom to vigorously brush my teeth. While I was in there, I quickly threw on my sky-blue, not-too-revealing bikini bathing suit and pulled on my cutoffs and a white tank top. I also took a few seconds and ran a brush through my snarled hair – no use showering right now because we were just going to the beach to swim anyway. I walked back out (hoping to look sexy, but probably just looking dorky) and crawled onto the bed, sitting on my knees, next to Nick. “Ready,” I sheepishly smiled at him.

  That sexy, amazing smile spread across his face, and he pulled me down to his chest and laid one on me. And I mean he really laid one on me. This was a super-intense, face-mashing kiss that took my breath away, literally. Nick’s hands started roaming down towards my butt, and frankly, I think I lost all ability to think at that moment. That’s when we heard the door to the other bathroom unlock and open. I jumped up faster than a jack-rabbit, and Nick sat up awkwardly as we both whipped our heads in the general direction of the bathroom door. Sure enough, Mrs. Martino stood there in her white, terrycloth bathrobe and her hair wrapped up in a towel.

  “You two are being respectable, aren’t you?” she smiled, only half-looking at us while adjusting her twisted towel on top of her head.

  “Yeah, yes. Um. Yes Ma’am.” I stuttered out. Oh crap. She is so gonna think I’m a skank ho-bag….sprawled out all over her son on a queen-sized un-made bed! Gahhhh! I wanted to crawl somewhere and die of embarrassment.

  “Okay, well I’m going to finish getting dressed and meet your father for breakfast in about 30 minutes. You kids head down whenever you want. We’ll see you around 1:30 today for lunch, okay? Dad and I probably won’t make it to the beach.” She smiled, walked through the suite and poured herself a cup of coffee from the little kitchenette and then leisurely walked back to her bedroom. Whew. I guess she really didn’t notice us doing anything inappropriate. I let out another big sigh. Nick sat up and started kissing me again, but this time I was able to control myself. I pushed against his chest and shook my head, “Nuh-uh, your mom is right next door and could walk back in at any sec. C’mon, let’s go eat so we can get to the beach early.” Nick let out a deflated sigh, “Alright, alright,” he said, shaking his head as he climbed out of the un-made bed. He stuck his hand out to pull me up, and I took it, smiling. We quickly folded the bed back into the couch and headed down to the breakfast buffet. Frankly, I was still a bit jittery from that kissing and then Mrs. Martino walking in on us, and couldn’t really imagine trying to eat right now, but I knew I’d be hungry soon.

  It was still only about 8 a.m. when we made our way out to the beach. Anya and Brennan wouldn’t be meeting us at the beach until about 10. I smiled to myself…two whole hours of alone-time with Mr. Hotness. I was a lucky girl, indeed.

  The beach was still deserted since it was so early in the morning, and we spread out our towels on some of the white lounge chairs in a prime spot. I peeled off my cutoffs as lady-like as I could and sat down to wriggle out of my tank-top and generously spray on some sunscreen. Nick stood, surveying the water and peeling off his bright yellow t-shirt. He stood there looking out across the horizon, squinting his eyes, in his orange and white board shorts, looking absolutely fantastic. He turned down to look at me and caught me staring. “Wow, Rube. That suit looks cool on you. Totally makes your eyes look blue. Aren’t they normally green?” He smiled at me and I started blushing. I wasn’t going to correct him and tell him that my eyes were always blue. Boys don’t really notice those kinds of things anyway…right? I felt my cheeks warming as I looked down and tried to keep busy with shoving my sunscreen back into my beach bag. “Uh…thanks,” I mumbled. Geesh. I’ve been dating the guy for weeks now and he still makes me all tongue-tied! I stood up and looked out at the water, still aware that Nick was checking me out. I looked over at him, “Race ya to the buoy?” I smiled with a devilish grin. I am a super-fast swimmer. Having grown up on Lake Missaukee, I swam almost every day the weather would allow it…From spring, as soon as the ice melted to fall, just before the lake froze over. Northern Michiganders have cold blood. We’ll even wear flip flops in the winter for Pete’s sake! Nick was a good swimmer, but I was pretty sure I could beat him out to the buoy. “You got it!” Nick shouted as he took off running towards the water, kicking up sand in his wake. “Heyyyy!” I called after him, “CHEATER!” He turned back while still running, “Ya snooze, ya lose!” He chuckled and started running into the water. Dammit! I ran after him. He got a huge head start on land, but I’ll catch his cute butt in the water. He’ll be sorry. It was pretty shallow for a while, so I had to run a good 20 to 30 feet into the surf before I dove forward and started swimming. Nick was about ten feet in front of me. I went under and propelled myself forward with almost lightning speed. Within seconds, I came up for air and realized I had caught up to Nick, “Damn, Ruby! You caught me!” Nick shouted as he struggled to maintain his pace and keep up with me. I went under water again and zipped through the water like an eel. I felt fast. Was I swimming even faster than I could before? It seemed effortless. It was like all I had to do was think about swimming and my body knew how to react. Feeling weightless, I jetted under the water and could see the buoy bouncing in front of me under the waves. I came up for air again, turned to look for Nick, and saw that he was now about fifteen feet behind me, swimming with all his power towards the buoy.

  “Holy crap!” Nick gasped as he approached me, “I (gasp)…I ….didn’t think…you… (deep gasping breaths)…were that fast Rube!” He was panting, hanging onto the buoy and struggling to catch his breath, while I just easily treaded water, smiling like a goofball, not even a bit out of breath. Huh. It did seem a little odd that I wasn’t even the slightest bit winded after that swim. Then, a feeling of dread sunk into me and my smile slowly faded as the realization came: a new Fairy super-power…Super-fast swimming. Well, I suppose it made sense. Sirrush was a dragon – and Anya had said to me that he was part of the Water Court of Fey. Though not Royalty, he was a creature gifted in both the water and in the air. You see, Sirrush also had the talent of flying. (Not all dragons could fly. Just like not all dragons could hide their appearance with cloaking. Sirrush could fly, but couldn’t cloak himself with invisibility.) Another sensation of dread washed through me again. Awww crap. Am I going to sprout wings soon? So far, I hadn’t noticed any scales growing (Thank God), but wings could get a bit tricky to disguise. I silently freaked out about this new revelation, but I tried to calm myself because logically, I knew I probably wouldn’t suddenly grow wings. Anya or Brennan would have told me something like that. Wouldn’t they? Nick finally let go of the buoy, fully recovered from the laborious swim. A look of concern spread across his face as he asked, “Hey, you okay?” Shoot. I guess I kind of spaced out there for a while during my sudden realization of my new “gift” of swimming super-power from Sirrush. Oh boy. Say that ten times fast. Swimming super-power from Sirrush…I shook my head at my own distracting thoughts and silently scolded myself. Stay in the moment, Ruby!

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just a little tired from that swim I guess,” I chuckled uneasily, as I grabbed onto the buoy, hoping my little lie seemed believable. I guess being able to swim really fast isn’t so bad. I mean, it could come in handy one day…if I ever had to get away from another dragon…or perhaps a runaway shark? Hey! Maybe I can make the Varsity Swim Team this year at school! I tried to nonchalantly look over my arms and feel around my neck, just to make sure I didn’t have scales or gills…When Harry Potter grew those we
ird gills on the side of his neck in The Goblet of Fire, that really grossed me out. Fah-reeeaky. Okay. Everything seemed normal. No gills or scales…yet.

  We chatted a bit and then swam back towards shore. This time, I made an extra effort to swim more slowly. It felt like I was hardly moving, but it was kind of nice to be able to keep up with Nick and talk, and laugh, and not worry about the effort of trying to move through the water. It was as if I just kind of floated along. (I suppose I was swimming; I just wasn’t really aware of it, and I certainly wasn’t aerobically challenged in any way) Every so often, I pretended to catch my breath and splash around a little bit, to make it look like I was doing more than I really was. It seemed like a small flick of my feet, a wiggle-swish of my hips and I would jet forward with no problems at all!

  Nick and I played in the surf and gradually made our way back to our towels, collapsing on our lounge chairs from exhaustion. Well, he was exhausted. I was kind of faking it. Honestly, I wasn’t really tired after all that time in the water. (Although, I should have been.) After a little soft kissing (I was way too embarrassed for much more than that), we settled back onto our own chairs and just laid in the sun. Relaxing deeply, I listened to the waves lapping the shore, watched seagulls soaring over us, and felt the cool breeze tickle my skin.

  I must have dozed off for a few minutes, because, before I knew it, I heard Anya and Brennan approaching. Well, I couldn’t really hear Anya…she’s as dainty and graceful as a butterfly floating down the beach. But I did hear Brennan shouting and scuffling along. “Yo! Nick! Brought the football! You wanna go?” he yelled. I sat forward, held my hand up to shade my eyes and squinted in the sun to see them approaching. Anya was in her yellow tankini and had a humongous beach bag draped over her shoulder. Brennan followed in blue and white Hawaiian-print board shorts, his towel was draped around his neck and he was tossing a football up in the air.