Read Candlemoth for Free Online Page B

watching him, amazed at how such large hands
could do something so delicate and fragile.
        I
went for soda, stood there at the counter minding my own business, and it was
in that moment, hesitating between straight cream or strawberry float, that I
sensed a presence beside me.
        I
turned. She was there. Sheryl Rose Bogazzi. Long auburn hair, eyelashes like
the wings of a bird taking off into the sunset, her white blouse stretched
tight across her breasts.
        I
felt myself blushing.
        'Hi
there, Daniel,' she purred, cat-like.
        I
felt a stirring somewhere beneath my stomach.
        'Sheryl
Rose,' I said, and sort of half-smiled as best I could. I think it came out
like a pained grimace.
        'What
you getting?' she asked.
        I
shrugged, felt stupid for a moment. 'Some soda.'
        She
giggled, raised her hand to her mouth as if hiding her teeth. She needn't have
done that. She had perfect teeth. 'I know soda,' she said, and sort of took a
step towards me. 'Kinda soda?'
        'Don't
know,' I replied. 'Maybe cream, maybe strawberry float.'
        She
nodded as if understanding my dilemma. 'Got sick on strawberry float one time,'
she said. She moved her head then, her hair flicking back over her shoulder. I
wanted to touch her hair. Wanted to touch her face. I blushed again.
        'Then
it'll have to be cream then,' I said.
        'Cream,'
she purred, and I nearly died right there in my shoes.
        'You
want one?' I asked.
        'You
buying?'
        I
nodded. 'Sure I am.'
        'Well
thank you, Daniel Ford… I'll take a cream soda too.'
        I
paid for the sodas, she thanked me again, and then she smiled that smile that
was all her own and I couldn't think of a word to say.
        'I'll
see y'around, Daniel Ford,' she said, and she leaned a little closer, and in
the briefest of moments I felt her fingers graze my arm. I remember how cool
they were, cool and a little moist from where she'd held the glass a moment
before, and even as she walked away I watched those damp fingerprints evaporate
from my skin.
        I
walked back to the table in slow-motion, my heart beating, my pulse racing. I
sat down, I glanced across the room towards her, and even as I did I saw her
glance back at me. My unsteady heart missed another beat.
        'And
where the hell's my soda?' Nathan asked.
        I
looked at him, I didn't hear a thing, and I smiled.
        'Dumb-ass
retard,' he said, and slid out from his chair to fetch his own drink.
        It
was an awkward situation already, there were jealousies brewing, things
unspoken, things said that should have stayed private, and when Sheryl Rose
Bogazzi felt a hand on her breast she slapped someone's face.
        I
turned first, saw Larry James and Marty Hooper standing there. Marty was red as
a beet, the one side of his face bore the unmistakable imprint of a hand, and
Larry, Marty's sidekick and consigliere, was already defending him.
        Why I
stood up I don't know.
        Hell,
yes I do.
        I
stood up because it was Sheryl Rose Bogazzi.
        Had
it been someone else, anyone else except maybe Caroline Lanafeuille, I would
have stayed right where I was and kept my mouth shut.
        But
no, I was besotted and in love and, as such, certifiably insane.
        And
so I stood up, and Marty Hooper was immediately in my face, his expression one
of challenge and self-defense. His manner was ugly and brutish, and I knew from
previous experience that only folks who had something to hide became that mad
that quickly.
        Thus
I knew he had touched Sheryl Rose Bogazzi.
        He
had committed a crime of immeasurable and unforgivable significance.
        'What
did you do?' I asked, my tone hostile and offensive.
        Marty
Hooper sneered. He sort of looked sideways towards his friends as if to ask
them who I was, what was I doing here.
        I
sensed Sheryl Rose to my left. I felt that