Alice in Zombieland

others all about it.

Don’t worry about this now. Tonight I would enjoy myself, as if I was a normal girl, just like any other. After all, I no longer had to question Cole; I already had the answers. I could hang out with Justin and get to know him better. I could see Kat and laugh with her. I would see Cole, too, and…who knew? Tomorrow, everything would change.

I’d deal with the consequences then.

11 Red Roses, White Roses…Black Roses

Justin arrived right on time. In other words, grilling time. To my utter mortification, my grandparents questioned him as if they were cops and he a hardened criminal. All I could do was watch in horror and apologize profusely.

Here’s how it went down:

Pops: Plans for the future?

Justin: Not sure yet.

Pops: Well, why not? You don’t got much longer in school, boy. Now’s the time to figure things out, not later. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t spell later without the word late?

Justin: I promise you, I’m doing my best to figure things out.

Pops: “Doing my best” is a phrase failures use. Why don’t you buy a man card and finish figuring?

Me: Pops! That’s so rude. Justin, I’m so sorry.

I knew this was for my benefit, for my protection, that my grandparents were concerned about me, and didn’t want me to end up with a guy like my dad, that they wanted Justin to be so intimidated by them that he wouldn’t try anything he shouldn’t, but oh, my goodness, it was too much.

Pops: What? How is a valid question rude? But all right, fine, I’ll move on since baby boy can’t take the heat. How about you finish this sentence for me, Jason? When a girl says no, she means…

Justin, looking desperately at me: No?

Nana: Are you not sure?

Justin, shifting uncomfortably: I’m sure. No means no.

Nana: Well, look at you. You got one right. Now here’s another, even tougher sentence for you to finish. Premarital sex is…

Me: Nana! I’m so sorry, Justin.

Nana: Unlike Pops, I’m not moving on. Justin?

Pops: His name is Jason.

Justin: Uh…uh…

Pops: While you think about that, why don’t you tell me how you feel about drinking and driving?

Justin: I’m totally against it, I swear!

Nana: Methinks he protests too much.

They finally let us leave, and I apologized all over again.

“That was brutal,” he gritted out.

“I know, I’m sorry. They aren’t normally like that, I promise. They just want to make sure I’m safe with you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said as he slid into the driver’s side of his truck, but his voice was still as tight as it had been inside the house, and I knew he was going to worry about it for weeks.

I searched the sky as I buckled into the passenger seat. It was dark, a handful of clouds evident. Please be gone. Please don’t be—

The rabbit was there.

Cold fingers of dread crawled down my spine. “Drive slowly, okay?” I said to Justin. Frosty had slowed down and survived. Justin would, too. Surely. Please.

“Whatever your grandparents told you, I’m not drunk!”

Yeah. He was still worrying.

“I have a car phobia, that’s all.”

He kept things at a smooth jog. It was enough to prevent a freak-out.

I closed my eyes and retreated to the back of my mind. At least I didn’t have to worry about the zombies. Because they’d come out last night they now needed time to rest and—here was an increasingly sickening thought—digest their food.

“We’re here,” Justin said.

“How? Only a minute or two—” I blinked and saw that he’d already parked. Cars were lined up all over Reeve’s driveway, in the grass and along the street. “Wow. We really are here.” I must have lost track of time.

He’d survived. I’d survived. What a fantastic day! Being forewarned must be forearmed. And you know what? I could live with that. Literally.

We walked to the front door side by side. The moon was a mere sliver of gold now, the clouds gone and the sky dark though peppered with hundreds of pinpricks of light.

I was surprised when I noticed that Justin was scanning the bushes, cars and trees as we approached the porch. I was doing the same thing.

He missed a step, righted himself and snarled out, “Cole.”

“What? Where?”

I found him a second later. Cole was on the porch, leaning against the brick wall beside the door, a beam of light raining over him. He popped his jaw when he spotted Justin.

He wouldn’t meet my gaze, was too busy glaring at Justin. Had he been waiting for me?

“This is who you decided to come with?” Cole asked, his voice dripping with disgust.

“She knows a good guy when she sees one,” Justin said stiffly.

Lips I’d kissed pursed with irritation. “I need to talk to Ali. Alone.”

“No way I’d ever leave her alone with you. You’re not the kind of—”

Cole was in his face before Justin could finish that sentence. “If you don’t go inside, you’ll be eating your teeth. You know I can make you do it. I have before.”

“Enough!” I got between them and pushed them apart. Still Cole didn’t meet my gaze. “Seriously, that’s enough.” Clearly these guys had some history, but come on. Ruining a party before it had even begun was overkill.

“Why don’t we let Ali pick?” Justin said with a smug inflection that had me gnashing my teeth in annoyance.

“Ali,” Cole snapped. “I waited for you for a reason. You can guess what it is.”

“I—” might have a vision, I realized. This was the first time I’d seen Cole today.

Neither one of us knew what would happen when our eyes met. “I’ll, uh, meet you inside,” I said to Justin.

His gaze whipped to me, hurt falling over his expression. “You said you weren’t seeing him.”

“I’m not.” At least, not now. “He’s my friend.” Kinda sorta.

“His friends die.”

Yeah, but Justin had no idea why. “Well, I won’t.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Justin snapped, and I realized I’d probably lost his friendship sooner rather than later. “I hope you enjoy being stabbed in the back, because that’s all he’s good at.”

He stomped inside, leaving me alone with Cole—who grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me into the shadows.

“Do you have any idea what a snake that guy is?” he demanded, pressing me against the cold of the wall. “Are you working with him?”