Anywhere But Here

“Are we watching the movie at your place or at mine?” Joe asked, breaking the awkward silence that had been in the car ever since the two had left the video store. Alyssa glanced down at the bag she had received, studying the store’s logo on the front, and shrugged her shoulders.

“It doesn’t really matter to me… have you ever been inside Greg and Lisa’s?” She asked, turning her attention away from the bag and instead glancing up Joe. His hair had dried into a wavy mess, but he somehow still looked breathtaking. Alyssa studied the way his eyebrows distorted as he seemed to try to remember a time when he had been in Greg’s home.

“I think only when I helped you move in.” He replied, driving past his own driveway and pulling his Jeep into Alyssa‘s instead. Looking past the driver’s side window, she studied the newly installed basketball hoop that was built on the perimeter of the sidewalk. It looked like it had never been used, not even once. “Nick might be home, too, and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

Alyssa felt a hint of color creep up into her cheeks. Although she didn’t specifically blame him for the things he had said to her, her stomach still dropped when Nick’s name was mentioned, just like it dropped whenever anything about her mom was mentioned.

“My house it is,” Alyssa muttered, opening her door and stepping out of the car. When she went to retrieve her bag, she was greeted with Joe’s awestruck smirk.

“What?” She questioned skeptically, running a hand through her brown hair. She suddenly felt self-conscious.

“You called it your house,” Joe stated, “you always call it Greg’s house, or your dad’s house.”

“Yeah, so?” Alyssa replied quickly, feeling her cheeks turn an even darker shade of pink. She felt stupid for letting the words slip out of her mouth. But the smile on Joe’s face didn’t fade, and slowly, a smile crept up onto her face as well. “Alright. You caught me…” She paused, “I guess I’m just getting used to the idea of living here until I leave for college. I mean, it’s better than being alone, right?”

Joe unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the Jeep, nodding his head.

“Are you sure you don’t want to put the cover on your Jeep? It looks like it might rain.“ Alyssa said, glancing up at the sky. Joe shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into his front pockets.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll check outside every once in a while and if it gets worse, I’ll put it on.“

Alyssa nodded her head hesitantly and began walking up to her house. Quickly, Joe joined her.

“We can watch the movie in the front room…that’s where the biggest T.V is.” Alyssa stated, closing the door behind Joe and grabbing the DVD out of its bag.

“As long as there’s popcorn.” Joe joked, smirking gently. His eyes skimmed over the interior of the home and he nodded his head. “This house is nice.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa agreed absentmindedly, handing the case over to Joe. “Do you want to go put the movie in? I’ll go see if we have any popcorn and soda.”

Joe reached out for the DVD, his fingers unintentionally…or intentionally…sweeping across the back of Alyssa’s hand. Alyssa felt her stomach whirl as Joe glanced up into her eyes and nodded his head, agreeing to the plan. Quickly turning away, Alyssa made her way into the kitchen and opened the pantry door.

She couldn’t help but smile to herself as she reached for an unopened box of popcorn and took it out of its foil before throwing it into the microwave. The smile was still on her face when she retrieved two cans of Coke from the refrigerator and rested them on the kitchen counter, waiting for the popcorn to be done.

From across the room, she could see her reflection in a mirror that hung right next to the dining room table. She sheepishly tried to flatten a strand of hair that seemed to be out of place and swiped her fingertip underneath both eyes to remove any excess make-up. Spotting a tube of chap stick on the counter, she quickly applied it to her thin lips, just in time for the microwave to beep.

Walking into the room with a full bowl of popcorn and the two sodas, she looked at the couch in front of the T.V, which was strangely empty. Glancing around the room, she spotted Joe, looking at an arrangement of photos that hung on the wall. Setting the food down, Alyssa joined him.

“Is this you?” Joe asked quietly, not turning his eyes away from a school picture that Alyssa hadn’t seen in years.

“It’s dorky, I know.” Alyssa replied, crossing her arms over her chest while examining the second grade version of herself with glasses and dark brown hair styled into two braids. It seemed strange to Alyssa that her father had kept a picture of her on his wall when he hadn’t seen it in years. Then again, maybe he only had put it up when he heard that his only daughter would be staying with him, and he wanted to come across as a loving and supportive father.

“No,” Joe disagreed, turning his attention to Alyssa. He smirked at her as she continued to look down at the picture, “I think it’s cute.”

Their eyes met and Alyssa felt her stomach begin to flutter again before Joe quickly turned away and nodded toward the T.V.

“Movie’s ready,” He said, walking around Alyssa and taking a seat on the couch.

As soon as he was far enough away, Alyssa let a low sigh escape her lips before letting her shoulders fall. Slowly, she joined Joe on the couch.

* * *

Finishing off her can of soda, Alyssa tried to steal a glance at Joe. Not that it wouldn’t be hard, his attention was so consumed on the movie that a tornado could have passed through the room and he probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

Like she suspected, a focused look was on his face, but so was a modest smile. He reached out for the bowl of popcorn without tearing his eyes away from the screen and slowly put the kernel into his mouth.

“I’m going to go put this on the counter,” Alyssa said, pointing down to her can. Joe glanced at what was in her hand quickly and nodded his head. “Do you want me to take yours too?”

“That would be great,” Joe answered, reaching for the his can off of the coffee table and handing it over to Alyssa.

She walked slowly back into the kitchen and set the cans down, once again looking at herself in the mirror. She smiled softly, studying the way two dimples appeared on the side of her mouth. She looked into her eyes and once again fixed her hair. She applied another layer of chap stick and made her way back into the front room, watching as the end credits rolled down the screen.

“That was a great movie,” Joe murmured, smiling up at Alyssa. She attempted to smile back and reached out for the empty popcorn bowl.

Joe put his hand out in front of her. “Are you alright?” He asked, looking up at her with deep concern.

She smiled more convincingly and sat down next to him, nodding her head. “I’m fine.”

Joe sighed and scooted closer to her, waiting until she leaned back in her seat to drape his arm around her shoulder. “Has anything else happened?” He asked, so quietly that it sent chills up Alyssa’s arms.

She studied her hands in her lap and considered telling Joe about the open window in her bedroom. There was no way to explain how her shoes had gotten back into her room when she had left them at the beach the previous night.

“Did you happen to get my shoes after we left the beach last night?” She asked quietly, averting her eyes away from Joe’s confused look and instead focusing her attention on the closed curtains across the room.

“No, you didn’t have them?” Joe asked. Alyssa shook her head.

“But after you dropped me off, I went up into my room…and they were there. My bedroom window was open, and I know that I closed it before I left for your house.”

Joe’s grip tightened on Alyssa’s shoulder as he wiped his free hand down the length of the top of his jeans.

“Alyssa…” Joe sighed, “We should really tell someone about this.”

“Like who?” Alyssa questioned quietly, “And what would I tell them? That I think my step-father, who is missing, brought me my shoes that I left at the beach? And there’s a slight possibility that he could be my mom’s murderer and is after me next?” Alyssa sighed, feeling her eyes swell. “I’ll sound crazy. Everyone already thinks that around here, I don’t need to give them a real reason to believe it. I need evidence before I can go making that sort of accusation.”

Alyssa continued to look at the T.V, watching as the screen turned blue after the player shut down.

“If anything else happens, though…” Joe trailed off. “I’m just worried for you, that’s all.”

Alyssa sighed, feeling sorry for being so short with Joe. She knew he was only trying to help. After all, this situation had a soft spot for him, as well.

“If anything else happens,” Alyssa paused, “And I find something that could be easily traced back to Richard, I will tell someone.”

“Look at me,” Joe softly demanded. Alyssa did so and studied the way Joe’s eyes glistened as he smiled encouragingly down at her. “Promise?”

Alyssa smirked and nodded her head, watching as Joe slowly leaned down closer to her face. The excitement in her voice couldn’t be hidden, but she tried not to smile too largely as she agreed. “I promise.”

It started with just a small drop. Alyssa wanted so badly to just pay attention to what was in front of her, but as she began to feel Joe’s breath become warmer and warmer on her porcelain skin, the raindrops became more frequent. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, she pulled away.

“Joe, it’s raining.” She explained, glancing down at her hands that rested on the top of his chest. Joe continued to lean in closer to Alyssa, until it clicked.

He jumped up off of the couch and pulled a curtain away from the window.

“Shit,” he muttered, slipping his shoes back on and glancing behind him. “Will you come help me put the cover on?”

Alyssa nodded and stood up from the couch, slipping on a pair of sandals and chasing Joe outside of the house and onto the sidewalk.

He was already throwing the cover out of the back of the Jeep when Alyssa ran up to his car. With a bright smile, he handed her one edge of the cover and ran over to the other side.

It didn’t take long for the two to put the cover on the Jeep, and soon, they were back in the house.

Alyssa slid her sandals off before tugging at her sweater that clung to her ribs uncomfortably.

“Do you want me to get something of my dads?” Alyssa suggested, watching as Joe stiffly walked towards the laundry room that was at the end of the hallway. “I’m sure he’ll have something that fits you.”

“Alright,” Joe agreed, watching as Alyssa climbed up the first few stairs. “I’ll be in the laundry room.”

Alyssa continued to her bedroom and quickly stripped of her wet clothes and changed into a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt. With her soaking attire in her arms, she opened her father’s bedroom door and looked through his drawers, finding a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for Joe.

She heard Joe trifling around the laundry room and looked in its direction warily.

“Joe, what are…” Alyssa trailed off. As she walked into the room, Joe’s clothes in one hand, her wet clothes in the other, her eyes fell upon Joe, who was once again, standing in nothing but a pair of bottoms. “…Oh.”

Alyssa couldn’t even stop herself from staring. The fact that Joe was standing in her house with no shirt on and nothing stopping her didn’t make her feel ashamed.

“Uhm,” Alyssa blinked and glanced down at the fabric in her hands, holding one pile out to Joe. “Here’s your clothes, the pants might be a little big.”

“Alright,” Joe said quickly, taking a few steps forward and grabbing the outfit from Alyssa before setting it down on the washing machine beside him. He continued to watch as Alyssa let her eyes scan over his body a final time.

Tossing her clothes down onto the tile floor, Alyssa focused her attention on Joe’s face, which had suddenly turned unwavering. He took a few more steps forward, until he was directly in front of her and gently rested both of his hands on her waist, causing the fabric of her white t-shirt to reveal her skin underneath it. He pulled her body towards his kindly before running his tongue across his lips and brushing them gently across hers.

Tingles began to radiate from every nerve-ending in Alyssa’s body as she let her hands crawl up the back of Joe’s torso and find their way to the back of his neck.

Alyssa waited for Joe to finally kiss her, but instead of planting his lips on hers, Joe buried his face into her neck and placed a single kiss on her jaw line.

A crack of thunder frightened the two teens, forcing them out of their embrace. At first, there was a buzz. Then came darkness.