Kim Harrison - Dates From Hell

“Bath?” Kyle sounded surprised, then asked, “Where’s Jill?”

Claire’s eyes widened on her friend.

“She’s…er…”

“At the store,” Jill suggested in a whisper.

“She’s at the store,” Claire said dutifully.

“Damn it. She was supposed to watch you,” Kyle sounded irritated. “What if something had happened?”

“She only went a minute ago…to the corner store. She’ll be right back,” Claire assured him. “She could hardly watch me in the bath any more than you would.”

“Right.”

Claire heard Kyle’s sigh through the door. Silence followed, then he cleared his throat and said, “Maybe that’s for the best. I wanted to ask you something.”

Claire and Jill raised their eyebrows at each other.

There was more throat-clearing, then Kyle said, “I was wondering…”

“Yes?” Claire prompted when he hesitated, and found herself taking a step closer to the door as she waited.

“Look,” he said abruptly. “Would you go to the reunion with me tonight?”

Claire froze, sure her heart briefly stopped, then she swallowed and asked, “So you can watch me? Or as your date?”

There was a moment of silence, then Kyle asked, “Would you be interested in being my date?”

Claire hesitated, afraid to say yes and then learn that it wasn’t what he’d intended.

“You don’t have to answer that. It isn’t fair when I haven’t given you any indication of my feelings,” he said before she could decide how to answer him. “Look, I really suck at this kind of thing. I’m great with beakers and bunnies, but personal relationships are just kind of beyond me in some ways…But…Claire, I like you. I’ve liked you for the longest time. Since we were twelve years old and you were pestering me about the science kit my parents bought me for Christmas. I even almost asked you out in high school, but you were dating that football guy.”

“Jack,” Claire murmured, thinking she would have dumped Jack in a heartbeat if Kyle had said a word. Especially since he was the one who had abandoned her for Magda on prom night.

“Yeah, Jack,” Kyle muttered, sounding jealous even now.

Claire smiled and lifted a hand to the door, running her finger lightly over the wooden surface and wishing it was he.

“Then…” Kyle paused before offering a vague “Well, something happened that made me wait.”

“What?” Claire asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you another time,” Kyle promised. He cleared his throat. “So, to answer your question, what I’m interested in here is a date.”

Claire sucked in her breath, hardly able to believe he’d said it.

“Claire?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Yes?”

Claire could hear the grin in his voice and found herself smiling, too, until movement made her glance toward Jill. The blond was shaking her head frantically in a definite negative gesture.

“No?” Claire asked Jill with bewilderment.

“No?” Kyle said sharply through the door, obviously having heard her speak.

“No!” Claire cried. She hadn’t meant the word for him at all. “I mean yes.”

“Which is it?”

“Yes to going to the reunion, and no I wasn’t talking to you when I said no,” Claire explained.

“Who were you talking to then?” She could hear the frown in his voice and scrambled to think of an excuse.

“I—myself,” she said quickly, then added, “I saw I had a broken nail and…er…said no because…well, because I didn’t want it to be broken,” Claire finished lamely.

“Oh…I see.” It didn’t sound like he saw. It sounded like he thought her a fruitcake.

Claire frowned over the possibility. She didn’t want him to think she was a fruitcake. Or a freak, she added unhappily as she considered what she could now do. Kyle might not think it as cool as she and Jill did. He would probably find it exciting, scientifically. He’d want to study her and test her and…She’d become a lab animal to him instead of a prospective girlfriend.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to your bath,” Kyle said, interrupting her grim thoughts, then he offered, “We’ll go over to your place after you’re done your bath to pick up some clothes, if you like?”

“Okay,” Claire said quickly, shrugging her worries away. She wouldn’t tell him about the destabilizer’s effect. At least, not until she saw how this date went. If it went well…well, she might wait a couple months. If it went badly, she might wait forever. Claire had no desire to become a lab rat.

“Okay,” Kyle said. There was silence for a minute, then Claire heard his footsteps moving away. Once the sound had faded, Claire turned away with a little sigh. She was going on a date with Kyle. Finally, after all these years, she—

“You can’t go with him.”

Claire blinked and peered at Jill blankly. “What? Why?”

“You promised to be my date.”

“Kyle Lockhart and Claire Beckett!” MaureenBrighton beamed as they approached the registration table at the entrance to the reunion. “Wow, you both look great.”

“So do you, Maureen,” Claire said with a smile as Kyle accepted the blank name tags the brunette held out. While he bent to write their names on them, she chatted with Maureen. The brunette had been one of the nicer girls on the cheerleading squad with Claire, Magda and her crew being the not so nice ones.

When another couple came up to the table, Claire stepped away to make room for them and peered curiously around. The reunion was being held in Murphy High School’s smaller gymnasium. A suitable spot, Claire supposed as she glanced over all the well-dressed people maneuvering around under the streamers and decorations inside. She didn’t care where it was held, Claire was just glad to be here.

At last, Claire Beckett was having her first date with Kyle Lockhart. There were several points this afternoon and evening when she hadn’t thought it would happen. Jill had been the first stumbling block with her determination to hold Claire to her promise to be her date as Brad Cruise. Fortunately, after several moments of Claire pathetically pleading to be free of her promise so she could go with Kyle, Jill had come up with an alternative they could both live with. She’d proposed that Claire keep both dates; with Jill as Brad Cruise and with Kyle as herself. First, she would enter on Kyle’s arm as herself, then after half an hour, she would excuse herself to use the ladies’ room and slip out to the parking lot, where Jill would be waiting. She would change into Brad in the car, then reenter the reunion with Jill. Claire was to switch back and forth all night. Simple.

“Yeah right,” Claire muttered to herself unhappily. This was going to be the date from hell…or the double date from hell.

“Did you say something?” Kyle asked, catching her comment as he finished at the registration table and joined her.

Claire forced a smile, but shook her head as she reached for the name tag he was holding out. She accepted it, then froze as she saw it was a pin-on name tag.

Oh, this was bad, Claire thought faintly. In order to do the quick change between herself and Brad Cruise, Claire had borrowed a black satin strapless gown from Jill. However, she wasn’t wearing it now. She’d showered, done her hair and makeup, then donned the gown only to have Jill take a picture with her digital camera. They’d printed it, then Claire had used it to shape-shift into herself. That had been Jill’s idea and Claire had thought it brilliant at the time. It saved her having to worry about stashing her dress somewhere while she was Brad. Unfortunately, it also meant that Claire had nowhere to pin her name tag. There was no way she was poking it through her, her skin or her cells or whatever. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was part of her and she so wasn’t harpooning herself with a name tag.