She glanced at me and seemed to share my confusion for a moment. Then she turned toward the table and went to sit down.
I had been right; Rumple and Maria did hit it off. They both liked the same books, and though they didn’t have any classes together, they seemed to have the same subjects at different periods and were already making plans to work on their homework together while Ben and I practiced. I still didn’t know what she wanted to talk about after practice, but I figured it couldn’t be that bad.
Of course, she didn’t give me the chance to find out.
As soon as the team started walking off the field, Nicole was motioning me over.
“Sorry, Thomas,” she said, “but I have to run. A friend of mine is picking me up. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I thought you wanted to talk,” I reminded her.
“Um…yeah,” she said. She ran her hand through her hair as she stared over at the parking lot. “I know, and we do, but really—I just overreacted a bit. I’m sorry about that. We’ll talk about it later, ok? I really gotta go.”
“What friend?” I asked as she started heading away from me. I don’t think I could have hidden my disappointment if I tried.
“Just a friend,” she repeated, “but I do need to go.”
And with that, she was gone.
I went to the lockers for a shower, talked to the guys for a few minutes but never really heard much of what they said. I’d listen to it all in my head later just in case there was something important. I didn’t understand Nicole’s need to see a friend so urgently. I couldn’t help myself, so I drove past Nicole’s house on the way home. Her car was there, so I stopped.
No one answered the door, which I guess shouldn’t have surprised me. She said someone was picking her up. As I turned to leave, Sheriff Skye’s patrol car pulled up.
Shit.
I started back toward my car and then stopped as he got out of his. Then I took a few more steps toward my car and then I stopped again, having no fucking idea if I should stay or go.
“Thomas,” Sheriff Skye said with a nod. “Nicole won’t be home for a while, I think. She told me I was on my own for dinner.”
“Oh, um…sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know…I mean…I wasn’t sure where she was, so I didn’t know when she’d be back…so…um…yeah.”
Damn, I sounded like a fucking moron.
“She’s in town for the evening,” he said.
“Oh,” I replied. Yep…failed on the old loquaciousness again.
Sheriff Skye stood there with his arms crossed in front of him and a smirk on his face.
“Your father working late at the hospital tonight?” he asked suddenly.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod.
“Well, considering we’re both on our own for dinner, how about I order us a pizza?”
“Oh…um…well…” More stammering. I sounded just like I felt—like an idiot.
“That’s okay, really. I should be going…”
“Thomas,” Sheriff Skye said as he dropped his arms and motioned toward the porch, “I’d kinda like to talk to you.”
Oh shit.
This couldn’t be good, could it?
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar ran through my head: “He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.” Somehow, even though he never had affected me in such a way before Nicole arrived, Sheriff Skye was scaring the shit out of me.
Now, what did he want?