Extreme

by Lark O'Neal

  “I have to figure things out. I have to find out who I am, as an artist, as a human being. As a man. I have to—” He shrugs, takes my hand. “I have to do the work.”

  Tears sting my eyes, and a deep truth wells up and spills out of my lips. “I have loved you my whole life, Tyler Smith. There is no one who wants you to win more than I do.”

  “Why do you think you’re the one who got the text?” he asks drily. “Even when I’m a dick, I know who’s there for me.”

  I wipe a tear away and bury my face in my palms. “Oh my God, I’m so emotional this morning. Everybody’s leaving and I’ve only known them a couple of days, but I was feeling like the last kid on the block.”

  “Is the guy leaving?”

  “No.” I clear my throat. “He lives here.”

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  I raise my eyes. Shake my head. “It’s just really super impossible and I really like him and it feels all stupidly tragic, which is ridiculous because I’ve known him for three days.”

  “Three days can be a lifetime.”

  Rolling my eyes, I give myself a shake. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m not the crazy romantic type. I’ve got work to do too.”

  “Are you leaving today?”

  “Not today, probably.”

  “Then would you let me sketch you?”

  I give him a look.

  “Not like that. Let’s just go somewhere quiet so I can sketch your face. I’m seeing something there I’ve never seen before.”

  Suddenly, the smell of Gabe is all around me, on my skin, my hands. I can feel his lips over mine, feel his movements inside of me, the taste of him on my tongue. That’s what Tyler is seeing, this thing that is happening between Gabe and me.

  I have to let it go.

  But not today.

  “Why not,” I say. “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

  As we’re walking back, my phone vibrates with a text. It’s Gabe. Airports opening. Will you stay one more day?

  A gust of relief sails through me. I can make that work. :)

  Tyler plays at looking over my shoulder, but I shove him away and pull the tips of my mittens back on. “You have such an expression on your face,” he says. “It makes you look so different.”

  I am different, I think, but outwardly, I give a little shrug. “Maybe I’ve just grown up.”

  “You were pretty grown up last summer.”

  “We are not going there.”

  He lifts an eyebrow. “You don’t love me anymore.”

  I slide my arm into the crook of his elbow. “I do love you. Like a brother. Always.”

  He covers my hand with his own. “I can live with that.”

  At the hotel, a van is pulling away with a load of passengers and more are lining up to take the next one, which is coming up the street. I’m suddenly worried that I might have missed saying goodbye to everyone. “I need to find a couple of people.”

  He comes into the common area behind me, and to my relief, almost everyone is still there. Chelsea and Alec are gone, but the rest of the group are piled around the table with backpacks and duffels ready to go. “Hey, Tyler,” Olivia calls. “We thought we’d never see you again.”

  “I’m here.”

  Quietly, I say just to him, “Who is it that she reminds me of so much?”

  “Mercedes,” he answers without hesitation, referring to a writer who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, and the movie Jess stared in. “She’s the spitting image.”

  “Right. Of course. Are you still in touch with her?”

  “Depends. Do you want to fawn on her some more?”

  I slap him. “Very funny. I just want to send her a note about her new book. It was great.”

  “Who are you reading?” Madeline asks, tucking something into her pack, which is a heavy-duty number, meant to take a beating and support a person a long way around the world. It’s almost as big as she is, but she lifts it easily. Her shiny black hair swings forward and she catches it back in a clip. “I’m looking for something for the trip. I can trade one slightly battered copy of a literary thriller for anything you’ve got.”

  “Was it good?”

  “Kind of dry, but not bad.”

  “My books are in my room, but I’ll run and get them and you can see.”

  Tyler reaches into his pack and pulls out a battered paperback copy of Moby Dick. “I’ll make that trade.”

  Madeline winces. “Uh, no.”

  He pulls out another, a mystery with a lurid cover. “How about this one?”

  “Done.” They trade books, and both tuck their books into their packs. Tyler tosses Moby Dick onto a nearby table.

  “Are you guys taking off, too?” Olivia asks. Now that I know who she reminds me of, it’s remarkable how much they look alike. Olivia is white, while Mercedes is more biracial looking, but the tilt of the eyes, the shape of their faces and mouths—it’s amazing.

  They say all of us have a twin.

  “I’m getting out of here,” Tyler says. “Maybe if you guys are headed out soon, I’ll go with you.”

  “I’m going to hang for another couple days.” I tuck my hands in my pockets, wondering if everyone can see the burning heat behind that simple statement. My blood starts shimmering even as I contemplate what we will do later.

  Which reminds me that I really need some sleep. “If you’re taking off,” I say to Tyler, “Let me give you a hug. I need to go get an hour or two of sleep.”

  “My sketch.”

  “Another time,” I say, reaching for him.

  He inclines his head. “I’d really like to catch whatever I’m seeing today. It will only take a few minutes.”

  I waver, then nod. “Let’s head over to the lobby. There’s an alcove there that’s perfect.”

  Miraculously, two travelers are getting up just as we enter the area. Light spills in from a big window, and Tyler settles me so that it will fall on my face. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Just be normal.” He opens a battered sketch book and flips through pages and pages and pages of sketches to find a clean one.

  “Have you been painting at all, or just sketches?”

  He’s looking at me in a different way, to my face, to the page, where he makes a few long lines, back to my face. His blond/brown hair is caught back in a ponytail and a lock falls along the exquisite line of his cheekbone. It makes me smile, how artfully beautiful he is.

  “Oooh, no smiling,” he says. “Think about whatever it was you were thinking about earlier, over breakfast.”

  That’s easy, since I haven’t really stopped. Gabe, long legged and naked, coming back to bed. Gabe laughing at something I said.

  Gabe saying, “Me, too.”

  Me, too.

  “That’s good,” Tyler murmurs. “Lift your chin a notch. Look over my shoulder.”

  It’s weirdly relaxing. “Have you ever read The Art of Racing in the Rain?”

  “Is that the book about the dog?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No, probably not my thing. The dog tells the story, right?”

  “Yes, but it’s not like you think. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Ever. You should try it.”

  “Mmm.”

  “I’m going to start smiling if you don’t agree to give it a try.”

  He laughs softly, focus on the paper, my face, the paper. “Okay. I’ll try it.”

  “That will give you a good reason to send me a text or an email, tell me what you think.”

  “I can do that.” He sounds sincere, and I risk a glance.

  He’s finished, and holds up the sketch, rendered in clean, soft lines—my face, my eyes, my mouth all soft and bruised. “You make me look so beautiful,” I say in wonder.

  He pulls out his phone. “I’m going to shoot some photos, do a series of sketches, maybe a painting if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not.”

  He shoots a bunch of shots, comes in close a
nd asks me to look at him, shoots my eyes, my nose, my chin and mouth. “That’s it.”

  The knot of travelers comes into the lobby. “Tyler, you coming with us?” Olivia calls.

  “Yep. I’m ready.” He shoves the sketchpad into the pack, pulls on his down coat, a hat, and hauls the pack over his shoulder.

  “Take care of yourself, Rabbit.”

  “Okay, kid.” His embrace is more sure this time, not so lost, and it makes me feel better. Maybe he doesn’t even realize how he steadies in my company.

  “I need you to do me a favor,” I say, letting go so I can look him right in the eye.

  “Whatever I can.”

  “Call me. Or email me. Or text me. Pretend I’m your little sister and I start freaking out if you don’t keep in touch.”

  “That’s not a hard thing to imagine,” he says, and smiles for the first time. “I promise.”

  I hug both Olivia and Madeline, and they each type in their cell numbers to my phone while I hug the other. Algernon gives me a slightly ironic handshake while Niraj indulges a bear hug that is as fragrant as a forest. I step back a little bemused. Dude reeks of pheromones.

  Then I’m waving at them and escaping. It’s only as I pass through the lobby that I realize I hadn’t counted Hunter and Emily, the twins, who are fighting again, and in a serious way.

  “I’m done,” Hunter says as I pass, and something ripples through my gut.

  Hurrying by, I punch the button for the elevator, but I can hear Emily weeping. “Stop, this is crazy,” she says.

  The doors open and I jump in, pushing the number for my floor five times to hurry it along, but I still hear Emily cry out, “Hunter!” before the doors close.

  I fall against the back of the elevator and close my eyes, pressing my hands to my chest. So much pain.

  Tyler said, I felt like I jumped off a cliff.

  And then he landed.

  I don’t want to feel like that. Or like Emily.

  Not ever.

  Chapter EIGHTEEN

  Gabe

  I’m distracted and glazed over all day at work, taking measurements by rote, making notations on the computer. Between me and the world is Kaitlin, gasping as I touched her, rubbing her body against me, kissing me, taking me in her mouth. Over and over, I have to shake off a reverie. Over and over, I fall into remembering the way her mouth tasted, the way her laugh sounded, how her breasts felt in my hands.

  All I want is to get naked with her and do it all again. Talk all night, eat, make love. All night. All day.

  By midday, the airports of the world are back open and I’m thinking of Kaitlin flying away, and resisting it so hard that at first, I think I’m just projecting the seismic readings from Katla, the sister volcano to Hekla.

  And then I realize that I’m not. Tremors are coming in waves, like labor pains, a few minutes apart. “Prof, take a look at this.”

  He studies the readings over my shoulder. “Let’s go back and see if there’s a pattern.”

  And when we do, the projection is not good. As with earthquakes, it’s nearly impossible to predict when a volcano will tip over, but this one is almost certainly going to blow.

  Soon.

  “We need to issue the correct warnings,” Prof says, and gets on the phone.

  I’m thinking of Kaitlin. Who needs to get out of Iceland and back to her life. Who has a short window in which to do it.

  It’s the thing I most do not want to do, but I find her number and press the call button.

  She answers with a sleepy voice. “Hey.” Pleasure and warmth drip from the word and I’m flashing back again, touching her.

  “Hey.” I try to put as much heat in my voice. “I woke you.”

  “Somebody wore me out last night.”

  “I’ve been worthless all day.”

  “I’m looking forward to more of the same.”

  I bend my head. “That’s why I’m calling.”

  “Oh, no. Do you have to work?”

  “No. I mean, I might, but the problem is that other volcano. Remember I told you it might blow, too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She’s getting ready, and she could disrupt travel again, maybe for a long stretch. You need to get on a plane.” I pause, aching. “Today.”

  “Ohhhh, nooo.” The sound is muffled and then she sounds kind of wrecked. “I don’t want to go. I want to see you tonight.”

  “I know. Me, too.”

  “That’s our phrase, you notice?”

  “What, me, too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “This doesn’t have to be the end of everything, Kaitlin. I’ll fly to wherever you are, once all this is over, and we can—”

  “What? Have some long distance relationship where we’re both frustrated all the time?”

  “No.” Behind me, I can hear the crew getting into a serious discussion. “Just think about it. I can’t stand to think I’ll never see you again.”

  “Are you sure you I couldn’t stay for one more day?”

  I squeeze my eyes tight, thinking about her being marooned here for months, how good it would be.

  For me.

  But it’s like me being marooned in Hawaii. So good for my parents. So bad for me. “You have to go,” I say. “But promise we can talk about how to see each other again, okay?”

  She’s honestly crying now and it almost undoes me. “Okay. I’m going to miss you. I already miss you. Like I grew a new arm and then someone chopped it off.”

  “I miss you, too, Kaitlin.” I want to say that I love her but it would be too weird. “Call me as soon as you get wherever you’re going.”

  “Colorado. I have to get back on the slopes and start training for the X games in Aspen.”

  “Gabe,” the prof says sharply.

  “I gotta go.”

  “Okay.”

  “Kaitlin. This was real. Is. The real thing.”

  “Bye, Gabriel,” she says softly, and hangs up.

  Chapter NINETEEN

  Kaitlin

  Because everyone else has already left, it’s no problem to get a ride to the airport. The airport, however, which was so sleepy and quiet when I arrived, is a zoo. Everybody who has been stranded is crowded into the departure areas, sitting along the walls, filling the cafes, pacing around.

  I’m on stand-by on three flights, and have a firm seat on a plane leaving at noon tomorrow. It stops in Toronto, then flies on to Denver, which is not ideal, but I’ll take it.

  After I get that arranged, I take the gaping hole in my heart on a walk around the airport, trying to get over myself. Wasn’t I just irked with Tyler and his broken heart when I arrived? Romances get broken at all stages of the process. I should comfort myself that this one broke early, before it went any deeper than it already has.

  But it doesn’t help very much. I feel like I’ve been to some other world, and now I’m walking around in mine with the wrong skin.

  There’s nothing to do but eat, so I pick up some apples and a sandwich in the cafe. Standing in line, I text Madeline. R u still at airport? I’m here

  Gate 6. Find us!

  Olivia and Madeline are traveling on a thin budget and whatever my money woes, I still have cash in the bank, so I fall out of line, gather up some more sandwiches and fruit to take to them. The gate is easy to find, and half the Reykjavik gang is lined up against the wall.

  “Hey.” I sit down next to Madeline. “Anyone hungry?”

  “Yes!” Olivia says, hand out. “Whatcha got?”

  “Sandwiches, apples, a couple of yogurts.”

  “What happened?” Madeline asks. “I thought you were staying.”

  I lift a shoulder, trying to be casual. “Gabe said they think the sister volcano is going, so he suggested I’d be better off getting out.”

  “Sorry.” Madeline’s smile is sympathetic. She’s wearing red lips and black eyeliner, and she looks sleek and urban.

  “Good look on you,” I say.

  “Th
anks. This is my city face.” She plucks meat from her sandwich. “Maybe we can hang in London awhile.”

  “Not me,” I say. “I’m headed for Denver. I have to get my butt back to work.”

  “My family has a townhouse in London,” Algernon says. “It is currently unoccupied, if we want to spend some time there.”

  “What about Carnival?” Olivia says.

  “Carnival lasts for weeks,” Niraj says. “Come stay in our fair town, explore the sights, then we can all travel to Carnival together.”

  “Really?” Olivia smiles and bumps shoulders with Algernon playfully. “Won’t be slumming it too much?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” He looks stung that she’d say such a thing, but I know he’s just covering. His family would not approve of this motley crew at all.

  “For the record,” I say, “Gabe said the volcano could disrupt things again for awhile.”

  Olivia frowns. “I really don’t want to miss this chance.”

  “Did Tyler get out?”

  “Yep. Emily, Chelsea, Alec, and Tyler.” Madeline points discreetly at Hunter, texting furiously against the wall. “Tyler took Hunter’s spot.” She raises her eyebrows. “Guess the lovebirds are not singing together anymore.”

  “They’ll work it out,” Olivia says and sends a sly look toward Madeline.

  “One way or the other.”

  On the overhead speakers, the flight is announced as ready to board. “Oh, man!” I protest. “I just got here.”

  “I’m not on this flight,” Madeline says, texting and talking at once. “Olivia’s taking it so she can get to Carnival.”

  “Maybe I don’t need to,” Olivia says. “I’ll just wait for a flight we can both take.”

  “Don’t be crazy, girl.” Madeline touches my knee, as if to stall me. “Go.”

  “You sure?”

  “We have to take what we can get,” Madeline says, standing. “I’ll find you in a couple of days. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted.”

  Algernon says, “Come along, Olivia. Niraj and I will take good care of you.”

  Olivia hugs Maddie hard. “Babes before boys,” she says, pulling back and giving Maddie a fist bump.

  “I’ll find you soon.”