Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

say something funny?"
    "Pretty much constantly. Sorry. No. It's just the language thing. We have different expressions."
    "Yes, Mistress Opal used many I did not understand." Will tilted his head to regard Tessa. "She seems to know you very well."
    "Better than anyone," Tessa agreed.
    "What is a control freak?" he asked.
    Tessa stared, crossed her arms. "She did not say that."
    "It is offensive?" Will frowned, looking taken aback. "An insult?"
    "Yes. I mean no, " Tessa said. "And I'm not. I'm just careful, is all. Responsible. And not in a freak way."
    "I understand," said Will. He nodded gravely, though the hint of a smile curved his mouth. "I'm sure that is what she meant."
    Finally he bent his head back, breathing in the ocean air, then turned to her. The cut over his cheek was still painful-looking, but at least the redness seemed a little less intense.
    "Stop worrying," he said, as if he had read her mind. Then he grinned at her, displaying his crooked front tooth.
    Tessa caught her breath and smiled back. Will's smile set something loose inside her.
    "What is it?" he asked.
    "Nothing," she said, averting her eyes.
    Was there something between them? More than being thrown together by some crazy witch's spell? Maybe that was just wishful thinking. She looked into his sunlit brown eyes once more. Her thinking certainly was full of wishes lately.
    A cool, fresh wind blew up, lifting Tessa's hair and lashing it into dark swirls. She grabbed a piece of it and unconsciously twisted it around one finger.
    A change came over Will's face.
    "It is you," he said. The smile left and he stared at her the way he had when he first saw her. With anger and hurt and something else that she couldn't understand. He turned away with a brusque motion and stalked off.
    "Hey!" Tessa yelped, but he didn't stop or even slow down.
    She stared after him. "So much for easy to be with," she muttered. One minute he was Prince Charming, looking at her in a way that made her breathless. The next he acted as though she had the plague or something.
    She ran to catch up. "What's the matter?" she demanded, out of breath.
    "Not a thing," Will answered, his long legs covering the pavement in swinging strides and his gaze leveled straight ahead.
    "Obviously," said Tessa, matching him stride for stride. At the corner Will stopped and put a hand out to a brick wall. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
    "Are you okay?" Tessa asked.
    "No. Yes. I do not know. You look like someone. The girl from the village who--" He broke off abruptly and shook his head. "But it can't be. My madness is simply becoming complete."
    Tessa wondered who the girl had been. Just a girl, or something more? But Will's expression didn't invite questions. He straightened and looked around. "What is that smell ?" he demanded.
    Tessa sniffed. The aroma of oven-fired dough, garlic and tomato sauce wafted past them as if it were on invisible little Italian legs. She pointed across the street. "It's Vic's Pizza," she said. "C'mon. We didn't have breakfast."
    They split a large, gooey cheese pizza--Tessa having decided that traveling to the future, discovering the existence of pizza and deciding on toppings was really too much to expect from anyone.
    After the pizza was gone, Will slumped back in the restaurant booth with a dazed, slightly goofy expression on his face. "Pizza is ..." He laughed aloud. "A wondrous food."
    "Worth the trip?" Tessa asked, smiling. Then, horrified at what she'd just said, she sputtered, "I mean--I didn't mean--Wow. That was really insensitive. I'm sorry."
    "Don't be distressed." Will's face turned thoughtful. "I'm sure there is a reason for this journey. Perhaps it is preordained. Do you think fate has brought us together?" He watched her with an intensity that made it seem the answer was important.
    "No," Tessa said without hesitation. It was the one thing she was completely sure of. "It was just a loose thread. An accident." Will didn't seem satisfied with this answer and opened his mouth to speak, but Tessa shimmied farther into the booth and tried to look really absorbed as she flipped through the music selections on the little jukebox at the end of the table. "We need to figure things out," she said.
    "Figure? What things, mistress?"
    "What to do," she said, making vague gestures in the air. "How to fix this. You." He frowned. "I was not aware of being broken."
    "You know what I mean."
    "No, in point of fact. I do not comprehend you in the least.