Waking Charley Vaughan Read Free Page A

needed it,” I shrugged. We reached her SUV just in time. It was starting to snow lightly, and the temperature had dropped drastically in the few hours since we entered the mall.
    We loaded our bags into the open hatch and Sara began discussing where we should go for dinner.
    “I really want Indian, do you want Indian? There is that really good place near downtown. They have the best naan. They put this cheese in it that is…Oh my goodness. It’s amazing. Have you been there with me yet?”  This was all said at a sort of rapid-fire, auctioneer on caffeine and acid type of pace. To many, it was confusing when Sara spoke like this. To me, it was a fairly normal occurrence.
    “Indian is fine,” I said as I got in and buckled my seatbelt. “Where ever we go, let’s make it somewhere I can get cocoa. It’s cooold!” I whined, reaching for the button to turn on the seat warmer. Having only moved to Colorado from Mississippi a few years ago, I still wasn’t quite acclimated to the freezing cold winters. Although, I had a feeling that Colorado winter temperatures were not something that one could acclimate to. The only realistic adjustment one could make would be to just go numb.
    Sara gave me another sideways look as she put the SUV in reverse. “Of course you’re cold. Where is your coat?”
    “In one of my bags,” I said, shivering. “It got hot in the stores.”
    “Dork,” she laughed quietly as she drove out of the mall parking lot.
     
     
    ***
    We ended up deciding that we needed to stop for coffees before going to dinner. We were both starting to drag. Shopping had taken a lot out of us. We stopped at my favorite coffee shop. It was my favorite, partially because it was just a short distance from my apartment, and mostly because they had the best caramel mocha latte in the world. And no, I didn’t need to travel the world to know this was true.
    As we sat in old oversized chairs sipping our drinks of choice, I could almost feel my fingers and toes warming up. It didn’t seem to take much time outside to freeze them, but it took forever to get them warm again.
    Sara said this was because I didn’t wear appropriate winter shoes. Matt said it was because I wore “stupid, Tony Hawk shoes”. He referred to anything that resembled beach or skateboard clothing to be “stupid Tony Hawk fill in the blank” Skateboarding was one of the things that Sara and I did together, and one of the things he hated. He said we were immature. It wasn’t like we were out jumping things or trying to do flips. We rolled around on boards that were easily three of four feet long. As far as he knew, the worst injury we ever incurred was a scraped knee. He just didn’t appreciate a fun hobby when he saw one. He preferred pulling stupid pranks of a different variety.
    “So,” Sara said, stretching her long legs out in front of her, “why did Matt say he wasn’t going to make it back today?”
    “He didn’t really,” I told her. “He just said he got held up longer than planned, and he had to cancel our date again. Said he’d make it up to me later.” I swirled the remaining caramel and chocolate syrup that lingered in the bottom of my cup.
    “He’s got a lot of making up to do,” Sara mumbled. “Lucky for you, I’m a much better date!”
    She stood up and reached a hand out for my almost empty cup. “Please don’t drink that sludge at the bottom,” she pleaded.
    I put the cup to my lips and tilted my head as far back as I could, slurping up as much of the thick, sugary goodness as possible. Things like this were why Sara was constantly telling me I had a problem. I smiled wide and placed the large mug in her hand.
    “Thanks,” I said sweetly, and got up from the comfort of the large chair.
    ***
    The Indian restaurant Sara took me to was called Typhoon. It was packed full of people, but the atmosphere still managed to be serene. I instantly loved it. The waitress seated us next to the fireplace at Sara’s