Awake: A Fairytale

by Jessica Grey

  “The lady in the office, Maureen, I think her name is? She’s looking for you, something about a donor list and mailing labels? She asked me to come get you.”

  Nicholas sighed, “Well, I’d better go see what she wants. I’ll talk to you later Alexandra. It’s good to have you back.” He walked out past Luke, and Alex noticed with surprise that Luke was several inches taller than Nicholas, although both towered over her.

  Luke watched Nicholas walk past him and out into the hall. “See ya, Lex,” he said loudly, and then looking back at Alex he added in a low tone “Seriously, ‘your research is impeccable?’ You really need to work on the whole flirting thing.”

  Her eyes darted to Nicholas’s retreating back, but he didn’t appear to have heard Luke’s comment. She glared at Luke and made a slashing motion across her throat. He just laughed and waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, then turned to follow Nicholas down the hallway.

  Alex sat shakily back down among the stacks of boxes. I am going to kill him, she thought to herself. Before the summer is out Luke Reed is going to be dead by my hands.

  ~

  The bus ride home from GeMMLA usually took Alex about forty minutes. Los Angeles was not the most public transportation friendly city. Everyone had at least one car. Those who didn’t were stuck using the Metro, which was, in her opinion, the world’s most inefficient public transportation system.

  The city sprawled in every direction, bleeding out into the surrounding cities so that you couldn’t tell where one ended and the others began. In the midst of the urban sprawl there were still small neighborhoods. Hundreds and thousands of them, each with their own distinct culture. Alex always thought of it as a series of living cells, each separate but dependent on the others, being fed a constant stream of vehicles from the major arteries of the freeways. During her bus ride, she passed through at least twenty of these neighborhoods. It was funny that in a city of millions she could almost always guarantee seeing the same people involved in the same events day after day outside the bus windows.

  Alex loved her neighborhood. It was a hybrid between urban and suburban, offering the best of both worlds. The tree-lined streets boasted a mix of tract homes and apartment buildings, a few small parks and some really great restaurants. A short walk up her street to the major intersection led once again into the heart of the city.

  “Hey, Mom,” Alex said in surprise as she let herself in the front door of the apartment she shared with her mom. “What are you doing home so early?” Usually her mother, Jennifer, who worked as a paralegal for a law firm downtown wasn’t ever home before eight, and sometimes later depending on her caseload.

  Jennifer looked up from the couch where she was currently curled up with a romance novel and a large bowl of popcorn. She and Alex looked so much alike that they often were mistaken for sisters. They shared the same dark blond hair and gray eyes, though Alex was more than an inch taller than her mom. This was a source of pride for her, since it wasn’t often that she stood taller than anyone other than children.

  “Oh, one of the partners won a big case today, so to celebrate he let everyone off at five. Thank God too, because I have to go in early all next week. Can I just say though, traffic is so much worse at this time of day. Took me twice as long to get home.”

  “Yeah, Mom, that’s ‘cause every other person in the greater Los Angeles area is getting off work now.” Alex closed the front door behind her, sliding the extra chain lock into place out of habit before dumping her backpack in the corner and flopping down on the love seat opposite the couch.

  “There’s lasagna in the fridge if you want some,” Jennifer said. “I stopped off at Ricci’s on the way home.”

  “Oh yum, I’ll have to get some in a minute. I’m too tired to move, even for Ricci’s lasagna.” Alex kicked her shoes off and propped her sock-clad feet up on the coffee table, then leaned back and closed her eyes. After the cramped bus ride and the ten-minute walk from the bus stop to the apartment, it felt good to stretch out.

  “How’s it going at the museum? Everything the same as last year?” Jennifer asked.

  “Hmm, yeah pretty much,” Alex mumbled, eyes still closed. Suddenly, it occurred to her that her mother’s tone had been just a little too disinterested. “Mom, did you know Luke was going to be interning at the museum this summer?” she asked, sitting up abruptly.

  There was a long pause while Jennifer crunched some popcorn and attempted to look innocent, but Alex knew her mom too well to be fooled by her wide, guileless eyes. “Mom?”

  “Sherry may have mentioned something about Luke doing something at the museum this summer,” Jennifer admitted.

  “Luke’s mom told you he was going to be at GeMMLA and you didn’t think warning me was a good idea?” Alex squeaked in disbelief.

  “Warning you? Isn’t that a little dramatic, sweetie? You two used to be the best of friends.”

  “Oh my god, Mom, ‘used to be’ being the key phrase here. And ‘used to be’ was five years ago.” Alex got up off the love seat and started pacing.

  “Honey, I know that you and Luke had some problems. I’m not sure how he acted toward you at the beginning of high school, because you don’t ever want to talk about it, but I know it hurt you and I know he regrets it. Sherry said—”

  “Mom!” Alex interrupted holding up a hand. “I don’t want to know what Sherry said, or what she thinks she knows that Luke thinks. I know you guys are friends but please, please, please could you both stop trying to fix things between me and Luke? It’s not fixable. I don’t want it to be fixable.”

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d raised her voice to her mom, and judging from the look on her face, neither could her mom. “I’m sorry, Alex,” she said. “I didn’t realize it would be that much of a problem.”

  Alex leveled a disbelieving stare at her mom. “Then why not tell me about it?”

  “You’re right.” Jennifer looked back up at her with a mixture of concern and regret. “I should have warned you that he was going to be in the museum program this summer.”

  “Thanks Mom.” Alex sighed. “Sorry I yelled.” She picked up her backpack and headed down the hall toward her room.

  “Aren’t you going to have some lasagna?” her mom called after her.

  “Maybe later,” she answered before ducking into her room and closing the door.

  Sinking into the oversized bean bag chair wedged between the foot of her bed and the wall, Alex almost instantly regretted getting so emotional with her mom. It would only make her worry. The whole Luke-being-around-for-the-summer thing could have been a lot worse she supposed. Although they’d drifted apart in middle school as he’d gotten more involved in sports, the “incident” as Alex referred to it privately, had happened at the beginning of ninth grade. And ninth grade was far behind them. By the middle of sophomore year they seemed to have reached a disinterested acquaintances phase, and since junior year, Luke had made more of an effort to at least appear more friendly. The inexplicable junior formal invitation aside, they’d managed as much friendly conversation as a popular jock and a quiet nerd who shared a few classes and one group project could ever be expected to have, which meant a grand total of about fourteen sentences spread over two years.

  Senior year he had actually gone out of his way to say “hello” to her in the halls, a fact that she was sure didn’t go over well with the revolving door of cheerleaders he had dated. There had been three, or was it four, different cheerleaders senior year. Well, actually, Alex was pretty sure one had been on the drill team, so it was unfair to lump them all together. The conversation she’d shared with Luke at orientation the day before had probably been the longest one since they were thirteen.

  Alex opened up her backpack and fished out a spiral-bound notebook, trying to banish from her mind thoughts of Luke and his semi-heroic rescue of her during orientation. Her scholarship to Hastings was based on grade point average as well as extracurricular involvement in subje
ct matter. The university required scholarship students to take an extra class each semester. This seemed a little bit overwhelming for a first-year student, but money for college was money for college. Alex needed to work on the essay she was expected to turn in the first week of school on the absolutely loathsome topic of “what defines me as a student.” The last thing she needed, or wanted, to do was think about Luke’s warm, strong hand, resting on the small of her back as he held onto her belt loop.

  ~ Chapter Two ~

  THE NEXT MORNING at the museum, Alex and Becca cleaned and organized the school tour materials. It was a project they worked on every summer together; they’d spend a few hours getting all of the huge plastic tubs organized and in order, as well as worksheets and handouts filed by grade. Somehow, by the next summer the tubs and files were always back in complete disarray. As one of the smaller museums in the Guild, GeMMLA relied on interns and volunteers to give guided school tours throughout the year. Apparently everyone else on staff considered it below them to reorganize the materials on a regular basis, so the task always fell to the summer interns.

  Alex and Becca hadn’t had much of an opportunity to talk to each other after orientation, so they spent the first few minutes catching up and comparing classes they’d taken senior year. Then, as it was Friday, the conversation turned to their plans for the weekend. Because GeMMLA was closed on Mondays, Becca had what amounted to a three day weekend. Alex was the intern scheduled for the Saturday morning tours at the museum, so she only ended up with two days off, but it was just as well because she didn’t have any interesting plans.

  Eventually the subject of Luke Reed came up.

  “Do you know Luke well?” Becca asked. “I was totally shocked to see that he was interning here.” Becca went to Kennedy High, the rival of Alex’s Monroe, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that she would know who Luke was, but for some reason it did surprise Alex. Becca was a brilliant student, and if not the social polar opposite of Alex, pretty close. She was definitely more outgoing and outspoken than Alex would ever dream of being, but she had never expressed an interest in sports before.

  Becca must have seen the surprise on her face because she added with a laugh, “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in him.”

  Alex blushed. “Oh no, that doesn’t matter, I mean…” she paused not knowing quite what she meant, other than that she was uncomfortable with the assumption that it would matter to her if Becca had an interest in Luke.

  Becca continued as if Alex hadn’t just left her sentence hanging. “My brother plays JV baseball at Kennedy. Luke is like a god to them. If he didn’t go to Monroe they might actually set up some kind of shrine.”

  Alex smiled. “I think Monroe has already ordered the statue.”

  Becca grinned back at her. “So, how are you two friends? Or, I mean…are you friends? He seemed to know you.”

  “Our moms are friends,” Alex shrugged. “We used to hang out when we were kids, but that was years ago. We don’t exactly travel in the same social circles.”

  It looked for a moment like Becca was going to say something more, but Alex was saved from answering any questions about Luke’s overly friendly, hands-on approach with her at the orientation, by the sound of an office door slamming down the hall, followed by a flurry of excited sounding voices.

  They looked at each other in surprise. Excitement was not something encountered often at GeMMLA. Nicholas strode into the supply closet a moment later. His hair looked like he’d run his hands repeatedly through it and his eyes had a slightly frantic, wild look.

  “Oh there you are, Alexandra!” he exclaimed. “And Becca,” he added almost as an afterthought. Becca looked at Alex and suppressed a smile.

  “Hi, Nicholas.”

  “I just received some very big news,” he rushed on. Standing in one place seemed to have become suddenly difficult for him. He hovered on the edge between jittery and all out vibration. He rocked back and forth, his hand tapping against his leg. “Very big news for the museum. I secured us the privilege of being among the first to examine a major gemological and historical find!”

  They gaped at him. GeMMLA was not known for being on the cutting edge of research or really on the cutting edge of anything. The key cards for the doors were the biggest technological advancement that the museum had implemented in all the years they’d been interning. Neither of them could remember the museum getting even second or third dibs on anything of any importance in the last four years. They’d even been occasionally scooped by the Natural History Museum that was also part of the Guild. There were those who thought GeMMLA should just sort of quietly give up the ghost and become a division of Natural History.

  “That’s awesome, Nicholas!” Alex found her voice first. “What a huge coup for the museum—what is it?”

  “And how did we get it?” added Becca.

  “It’s part of a find in some backwater part of France—”

  At this Becca shot Alex another look, only Nicholas would refer to anywhere in France as “backwater.”

  “There are several pieces that are apparently very interesting for the era, unusual metal working and construction. Because one of my old professors is in charge of the dig, I was able to lobby for GeMMLA to receive the pieces. If they have any significance—and I can highlight that in my thesis—I can put GeMMLA on the map!”

  “Wow, that’s great! How exciting! Do we know what the pieces are?” Alex asked.

  “There are some household items that look like they would have been in a very wealthy home—I’m not sure of all of the details. I just got confirmation from Professor Gagnon. There was all sorts of confusion surrounding the number of pieces and their specifics. His assistant told me one thing, and Professor Gagnon told me another, but it looks like there will be at least five pieces.”

  “How totally amazing to get to see historical finds before other groups!” Becca sounded as thrilled as Alex felt, which, Alex reflected, probably made them two of the biggest nerds on the planet. “When is Professor Gagnon sending them?

  “He already has sent them! We should be receiving them within the week. I just found out now that they’d already been sent! Before I even had confirmation we’d get first crack at them.” Nicholas was almost crowing in his delight.

  “That’s odd isn’t it?” Alex asked cautiously. “Don’t things like that require special shipping and guarding and what not? If we are talking major gemological significance, aren’t we also talking extremely valuable?”

  A brief look of doubt, followed quickly by a flash of irritation, skated across Nicholas’s features.

  “I am sure Professor Gagnon has made all the necessary arrangements,” he said shortly. “I just need to see about getting the museum to add a carrier to our insurance for such a valuable find and dedicate a portion of the newer part of the building for a research area. The publicity implications associated with a new find and possible revenue from future exhibitions are astronomical! I just spoke to Dr. Fredericks about it now, so I have to coordinate with Maureen.” Nicholas wheeled around and rushed back out the door in the direction of the museum director’s office.

  “Well, um, let us know if you need anything from us,” Becca said to his departing back. She turned back to Alex. “He seems a little excited, maybe more excited than informed.”

  “Yeah,” Alex was still smarting from the look of annoyance Nicholas had leveled at her when she questioned him, but she felt the need to defend him to Becca. “I’m sure it will all get figured out. It’s a really great opportunity for him and for the museum.”

  “Uh-huh, really great.” Becca repeated then she smiled at Alex. “Odd, but great. Wanna hand me the fifth grade worksheet folder?”

  ~

  Calm, cool, collected, Alex thought to herself, rubbing her damp palms on her jeans as she stood outside Nicholas’s office Tuesday morning. Just act like a normal person.

  “You wanted me? I, um, Maureen said you wanted to see me?” A blu
sh burned her face and she cursed herself silently. So much for trying to appear normal.

  Luckily, Nicholas didn’t look up right away. He was seated behind his desk typing furiously on his laptop, completely absorbed in whatever he was working on, so Alex’s blush had some time to recede. A slight frown creased Nicholas’s forehead as he concentrated on the laptop screen, and Alex wondered how it could make him look so intense and attractive at the same time.

  “Hey, Alexandra,” he said still without looking up. “Yeah, give me a minute. I have to finish this email. Have a seat.”

  Alex sat in one of the oversized leather chairs in front of his desk and attempted to appear comfortable. The seat was so deep that if she scooted all the way to the back her feet could barely touch the floor, so she perched on the edge of the seat and crossed, then uncrossed her legs. She wasn’t sure what to do with her hands, so she sat on them, then decided that probably looked stupid and so settled for both feet flat on the floor and her hands folded in her lap.

  Nicholas finally looked up from his computer. Alex hoped desperately he hadn’t noticed all of her shifting and squirming in the chair.

  “How are you doing, Alexandra?” he asked with a smile, the force of which hit Alex so hard in the stomach she forgot to breathe for the space of a second.

  “I’m okay,” she gasped.

  “Great.” Nicholas got up out of his chair and came around the desk. Alex sat frozen in her chair wondering what she was supposed to do. He angled the other leather chair so it faced her and sat down. He leaned forward, his arms resting lightly on his legs in an earnest position.

  “I just wanted to take a quick moment to talk to you, apart from Becca, about this shipment of artifacts we’re getting from Professor Gagnon.”

  She nodded silently.

  “It’s true, we aren’t very well equipped, staff-wise or facility-wise,” he laughed. “I don’t need to tell you what an old fossil of a place this is.”