Arianna Rose: The Awakening (Part 2) by Christopher Martucci, Jennifer Martucci Page B

disappeared in to the kitchen.  The clanking of pots reminded them that she hadn’t left and intended to ruin any further romance they may have had in mind.
    “She’s a human mood killer,” Arianna said then giggled.
    “You’re telling me,” Luke agreed.  “I’m going to, uh, use the bathroom and um, splash some cold water on my face before we leave.”
    “You do that,” Arianna said and smiled.  “I’ll wait for you outside.”
    Arianna walked to the kitchen and saw her mother smirking by the sink.
    “Well, well, well.  It looks like you and loverboy were having quite a moment there,” her mother snickered.
    “Please, mom,” Arianna cringed.  “I’m going out tonight and I won’t be back until tomorrow night.”
    “Oh really?” her mother asked .  “Just use protection.  You don’t want to end up knocked up like me.”
    “It’s not like that.
    “It sure looked like that.”
    “We’re going to Rockdale.”
    “Rockdale?  Why?”
    “Lily, I haven’t heard from her since we moved here.”
    “So maybe she doesn’t want to be your friend anymore.”
    Arianna didn’t want to have this conversation again.  “Whatever, I’ve been worried and I want to check on her,” she said curtly.
    “Suit yourself.”
    “Can you call me in sick at school tomorrow?”
    “Sure, no problem.  Just leave me the number.”
    Arianna pulled a pad from the drawer below the telephone.  She scribbled the school’s attendance office number on it and left if near the phone.  “Thanks mom.”
    “Have fun and be safe,” her mother said just as Luke came down the hallway.
    “Don’t get my daughter pregnant, you hear?” her mother warned him.
    “Mom!”
    “Yes ma’am,” Luke said.
    Arianna grabbed Luke’s arm and pulled him out.
    “Good-bye mother,” she said testily.
    Outside she apologized for her mother’s comment.
    “I’m so sorry about that, about her, I mean,” she fumbled.
    “Don’t worry about it.  She’s just worried about you.  She loves you,” he said offhandedly.
    She was sure her mother had meant well, but her tact and timing left much to be desired.
    “Yeah, well, she has a funny way of showing it,” Arianna said and folded her arms across her chest.
    “At least she’s, I don’t know, conscious,” he said and the sadness in his voice made her heart lurch.
    “I guess,” she said and reached in her bag for her cigarettes.  “Mind if I smoke?”
    “No.  Mind if I join you?”
    “Not at all,” she said and lit his cigarette first then hers.
    “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get in my pants,” he said impishly.
    “You wish,” she joked and climbed in the passenger seat.
    He closed the door.  “I don’t know, Arianna.  I think you want me,” he teased.
    “Keep dreaming!”
    “We’ll see,” he said and started the car.
    They drove away from her trailer and out of her complex on to the main road.  Faint rays of sun waged a fruitless war against leaden clouds that encroached, advancing like a fleet of warships.  The wind had picked up and shook flame-colored leaves from treetops sending them cascading to the ground like burning embers.  Arianna watched as they fell chaotically, heard the wind hiss through the dried leaves and branches like a thousand voices whispering at once.  A strange sensa tion washed over her and made her skin crawl as though innumerable spiders raced across her bare flesh.  Perhaps it was the just the eerie way the wind sounded or how the leaves fell like cinders to the earth, or perhaps it was something far more intrinsic that had unsettled her, but Arianna belie ved a warning had been issued ; a warning that she may not return the same person she was leaving as.

Chapter 8
     
    After four hours of driving, Arianna finally convinced Luke to pull off the highway they’d traveled on and eat before searching for a motel to spend the night at.  Sitting across from one another in a cozy booth at the