“That’s what I was told. Working a lot of hours, I guess.”
“Was she married? Boyfriend?” she said in a friendly, excited voice.
“I doubt it. Supposedly Mom was artificially inseminated at some fertility clinic. Apparently, she wasn’t into men and decided the turkey-baster method was the way to go.”
Abby laughed, nearly choking on her coffee. The tension at the table was suddenly gone.
He smiled. For some unknown reason, Drew felt very comfortable talking with her about everything, painful or not. Even about subjects that were taboo with his brother. That’s why he couldn’t stop the next string of words that shot out of his mouth. “Lucas’ mom was a drug addict who died of an overdose, and his dad died in prison. I think he was a grifter. Lucas doesn’t like to talk about them much.”
Abby didn’t respond right away, obviously deep in thought. “Sounds like you both had really tough childhoods. I don’t know how either of you made it through in one piece.”
“We had each other, thank God.”
“I thought I had a difficult past, but mine was nowhere near as traumatic as yours.”
“It sounds worse than it is, really. We’ve all had our share of drama, right?”
She nodded. “Hey, I was going to ask you . . . tonight my roommate Jasmine and I are going to the midnight movie at the Gallagher Theatre. Would you and Lucas like to join us?”
“Sure,” Drew said before thinking it through. He’d never been inside the student-run theater, even though he passed by it every time he ate in the cafeteria. The box office was just to the right of the Student Union’s main entrance. “Well, I should probably check with Lucas first. I’m not sure if he’ll want to go.”
“You should tell him Jasmine’s really pretty. And she doesn’t have a boyfriend right now.”
“Still, I’ll have to ask him first. Can I call you later and let you know?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
While Abby went on to tell him about her parents and blistering cold winters in Wisconsin, Drew’s mind wandered. He envisioned their future together. He imagined they were on their honeymoon in Hawaii, sitting on the beach and holding hands. She was drinking a margarita and he, a virgin Daiquiri. Both of their glasses were garnished with tiny paper umbrellas that would dance around the rim whenever a sip was taken.
His insides ran soft as he listened to her, sending a warm tingle across his spine. He wanted to sit there forever, staring at her big, beautiful eyes, while each syllable from her glistening lips washed over his body like a gentle summer breeze. Even the tone of her voice was enchanting. In fact, she didn’t have a single flaw that he could see.
The next two hours flew by quickly. They chatted about everything, never taking their eyes off each other. Each time she smiled at him, more shivers radiated throughout his body. He’d seen dates like this in movies and on television—dates where two people instantly connected and couldn’t stop talking or smiling at each other. He always thought that kind of stuff was pure Hollywood make-believe, but now he wasn’t so sure. Everything she said seemed to make sense, and every word she spoke made him feel all gooey inside. He’d never felt so comfortable with another person his entire life, except maybe Lucas.
* * *
Sometime later, Drew went home and found Lucas sitting at the study desk in the apartment after he unlocked the door and went inside.
“Nice timing. You just missed Mom’s call,” Lucas said.
“How’s she doing? What did the cardiologist say?”
“She’s doing excellent. Just needs to keep taking her meds.”
“Awesome news.”
“So how’d it go today? You were gone awhile, bro.”
Drew considered telling Lucas about the encounter with the rugby player, but decided against it. It would only upset him. “It was actually really nice.”
“Did you get any?”
“No,” Drew said wholeheartedly. “We just sat and talked. She’s not that kind of girl.”
“What? Does she have a penis?”
“Shut up.”
“Did you at least kiss her or get a hug? Something?”
“She held my hand.”
“Well, that’s a start. You gonna see her again, Romeo?”
“Yes, tonight, for the midnight movie on campus. Her roommate’s coming, too.”
Lucas laughed and smirked. “Sounds like loads of fun. Better you than me, brother.”
“Actually, I was hoping you might go with me.”
“Sorry, I don’t do blind dates. Not my thing.”
“Please, Lucas. I really need you to go.”
Lucas closed his eyes and shook his head, biting his lower lip.
“I’m way too nervous to go by myself,” Drew said. “Come on, I’d do it for you.”
Lucas took a deep breath and let out a long exhale. “What’s the movie?”
“Eraserhead. Some low budget surreal horror flick made in nineteen seventy-seven.”
“Never heard of it. Must be a real pile of crap.”
“I don’t know, it just started playing at the theater.”
“So who’s this roommate?”
“Her name’s Jasmine. She’s a pre-med student. Abby says she’s really nice.”
“Dude, you do realize that anytime a girl uses the word ‘nice’ to describe someone they want you to meet, it means she’s totally hideous. So which body part is she missing?”
Drew laughed, though he didn’t want to. “Abby says she’s super pretty, too. I think she works at the Pussycat Palace on Speedway.”
“Isn’t that a strip joint in the red light district?”
“I think so. Supposedly, she makes really good money, which pays for all her schooling.”
“Pussycat Palace, huh?”
“That’s what I was told. And she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
Lucas smiled and raised one of his eyebrows. “Okay, I guess I’ll go. Since she’s pre-med and all. What time are we meeting them?”
“Eleven forty-five. They’ll be waiting for us in front of the theater.”
* * *
Drew and Lucas were late as they made their way across campus to the student-run theater. They would have left a few minutes sooner, but Lucas had to wait for his brother to finish combing his hair, and then spray it down. Once Drew was into his personal hygiene ritual, nothing could stop him from finishing.
“Why so gloomy, brother? This is supposed to be fun,” Lucas said, sidestepping a pile of dog crap sitting on the sidewalk. It was covered in flies and looked fresh. Lucas figured there might be more landmines along the way as they got closer to the grassy mall area.
“I’m not sure about this, at all,” Drew said, his face red and stiff.
“Just relax and go with the flow.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I have no clue what I’m supposed to do.”
“Didn’t you just spend the whole morning with her?”
“Yeah, but we just talked.”
“I thought you held hands?”
“She held mine. I never moved.”
“Then I’m sure Abby will take care of everything,” Lucas joked, trying to relieve his own nervousness.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. She’s going to expect me to react in a certain way, but I’ll probably misread her signals and ruin everything.”
“It’s simple, really. When she tries to stick her tongue down your throat, let her. How hard is that?”
“You’re not helping very much,” Drew said, rolling his chair forward. “When am I supposed to put my arm around her?”
“As soon as the movie starts. Did you bring a condom?” Lucas wisecracked, knowing Drew’s penis was one of the few things still working properly below his waist. Luckily for Drew, his bio-mom’s car only crushed his legs and not his spine or pelvic area.
“No, I didn’t. Was I supposed to? See, I already screwed up.”
“I was just kidding,” Lucas said, patting
his brother on the back. “Look, there’s no reason to panic. It’s obvious she’s really into you.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Look, she gave you her phone number in the first place, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And the coffee date went well—”
“I guess.”
“Then she asked you to this movie?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, then. Trust me. She wouldn’t have asked you out tonight if she didn’t like you. And she definitely wouldn’t want you to meet her friends if she wasn’t into you. Just be yourself and you’ll be fine.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Lucas had to hide his own reservations about a blind date with a strip club worker. He’d only been with one woman before, the university’s librarian. It was in December of his freshman year, while she was working the graveyard shift. He stopped to comfort the forty-year-old woman, who was going through a tumultuous divorce and crying behind her desk.
It began as a simple hug and ended with him losing his virginity on the floor in the last row of book stacks. He had no clue what he was doing and just went along for the ride, literally. During the brief encounter, Lucas learned the basics but still wasn’t confident in his ability. He recalled very little from the few minutes he’d spent with her, except how slippery and soft she felt on the inside. However, one thing always puzzled him. Why did she run off afterward, sobbing the entire way?
Her first name was Robyn, but Lucas never knew her last name. In fact, it was the one and only time he ever saw her. He went back to the library the following night, but she wasn’t there. Her replacement said she’d quit her job that morning and was moving out of town.
* * *
Lucas waited for Drew to catch up as they approached the Student Union. Even from a distance, the building’s towering all-glass foyer was impressive, overlooking a hundred-foot wide set of cement stairs leading up to its main entrance. To the right was Gallagher Theatre, where a sea of film enthusiasts waited to enter through its turnstiles.
“There’s Abby,” Drew said, pointing at the left side of the movie crowd. Then he moved his finger slightly to the left. “And that must be Jasmine.”
Lucas brought his eyes down and followed the line from Drew’s arm to the middle of the stairs. The girls were right where Drew was indicating, on the third step from the top. Abby was bouncing up and down, wearing a pink-colored pullover jacket and waving her arms over her head. She was holding a spread of movie tickets in her hand.
Lucas checked the Student Union’s clock tower. The time was 11:50 p.m., barely enough time to purchase popcorn and Cokes and find seats together. “Damn it. Late again,” he mumbled, hoping they weren’t relegated to the front row of the theater.
Jasmine was several inches taller than Abby and wore a navy blue Denver Broncos football jersey with a white 10 emblazoned on the front. If Jasmine were truly a fanatic, it might pose a problem since Lucas knew zip about football. Lucas much preferred the speed and grace of professional ice hockey, specifically the Los Angeles Kings, who had just started their season, hoping to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. He’d just have to fake it if she brought up football.
Her jet-black shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a single, understated ponytail. Lucas was still too far away to decide if she was as attractive as Abby had promised. Nevertheless, he did detect some prominent curves hidden beneath her casual apparel, leading him to believe the blind date had real potential.
If she was really pre-med, then she’d be able to carry on a decent conversation, too. He could easily talk about high-energy processes in warped space-times around black holes, but most girls weren’t into that stuff. Maybe she would be, though. He tried to keep his mind open, but he was starting to have doubts about himself, his date, and the evening in general. He imagined her staring at his forehead as if he had a third arm growing out of the middle of it while he rambled on about physics.
He wished he knew more about football.
He looked to his left, but Drew wasn’t there. He turned around and found Drew sitting still, about six feet behind him. He looked scared to death. “Bro, relax. It’s only a movie. Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”
“That’s not it. Look!” Drew said, pointing again, this time at a group of three men standing two steps below Abby and Jasmine. “It’s those guys from the cafeteria. The ones you almost got in a fight with.”
“Are you kidding me? Not again,” Lucas said. He looked around and didn’t see any campus police. He’d have to face these assholes alone. He hoped nothing would happen. Not now. Not tonight. There was no chance Jasmine and Abby would be impressed if he got into a fight on their first double date. Especially if he got his ass kicked.
The theater line advanced forward as the patrons ahead of the girls navigated their way through the rope-style stanchions leading into the theater. Abby and Jasmine turned to face forward, then stepped back into line to keep pace with the procession. They were almost to the top step, and the rugby players were still two steps behind them in line.
“What do we do?” Drew asked.
“We ignore them, that’s what we do. Walk right past them. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Come on, we need to hurry. The girls are almost inside. Let’s double-time it,” Lucas said, moving behind his brother to grab the wheelchair handles.
Drew nodded. “I wish those guys would just go away, forever.”
Lucas glanced up at the girls, and at that exact moment, a blinding, white-hot light shot out from the steps, right behind where the girls were standing.
Before he could react, a deafening, high-decibel squeal nearly ripped his eardrums apart. He let go of the wheelchair handles, raising his hands to cover his ears. It felt as though his head were in a giant microwave oven and someone had turned it on full blast, cooking his brain from the inside out.
His equilibrium gave way, buckling his legs and sending his kneecaps crashing into the cement sidewalk.
A few seconds later, both the intense light and the deafening sound subsided. Immediately after, a sudden breeze pulled him toward the theater, but dissipated quickly.
He lowered his hands, opened his eyes, and looked to his left and right. Dozens of people on either side of him were lying on the ground; all but two appeared to be unconscious. One of those still awake pointed at the Student Union.
Lucas swung his eyes forward to check what the person was looking at.
His jaw dropped open. “Holy shit.”
The entire front section of the Student Union and most of the theater’s façade had vanished, like someone had used an ice cream scoop to carve out a huge section of the building. With the exception of an untouched section on the right, most of the concrete steps had vanished, too. Even though the visual proof right was right there in front of him, he found it hard to accept what he was seeing. So much destruction.
He brought his gaze down in search of Drew. He found him directly in front about six feet away, slumped over in his chair and not moving. Lucas ran in front of the wheelchair and spun around with his back to the Student Union. He found Drew’s head tilted down, with blood dripping from his left nostril. The sight of his helpless little brother sent a stabbing pain into his chest.
Lucas’ head started spinning with gut-wrenching flashes from his past: his dad lying dead in a hospital bed, his mother hooked up to an endless series of tubes and wires after open heart surgery, and now his foster brother was unconscious and bleeding. He didn’t think he could take much more.
Drew had to be okay. He had to be. Drew was his only true friend. His only confidante. The only person who accepted him for him and expected little in return.
Lucas shook Drew’s shoulders gently, trying to wake him up. “Drew? Drew? Can you hear me?” There was no response. Lucas wiped the blood off his brother’s lip and shook him again. “Come on, little brother, wake up. Talk to me.”
Drew finally opened his ey
es. “What happened?” he asked in a throaty, half-awake voice.
Lucas felt the crushing mound of worry leave his chest. He put on his best poker face, wanting to appear strong and composed for Drew. That was his job—he promised his father he’d always be there for Drew and keep him safe. “You passed out. Are you all right?”
Drew rubbed his forehead. “My head’s spinning and I have a wicked headache . . . Where’s Abby?”
He centered himself in front of Drew to block his view, not wanting him to see the destruction across the front of the Student Union. “We should head back to the apartment.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Drew asked, trying to peer around Lucas.
Lucas stayed in front of him. “We need to turn around and go home. Like right now.”
“What happened?”
“Trust me. You don’t want to see what’s behind me. Nobody does.”
“Move, Lucas. I need to see. Move, please!”
Lucas didn’t want to step aside, but Drew shoved him out of the way with his powerful arms.
Drew’s face froze, his eyes locked in a state of fright for a good three count. “Oh my God, Abby!” he screamed, putting his callused hands on the wheelchair’s push rings. He began gripping and releasing in powerful thrusts, racing past Lucas as he quickly propelled himself forward. “Abby! . . . Abby! . . . Abby!”
Traumatized and a bit unsteady, Lucas followed behind his brother, though at a much slower pace. His heart was breaking for Drew, knowing the emotional pain must’ve been unbearable.
EIGHT
Lucas initially thought the blinding white light flash might have been some type of terrorist attack, possibly a suicide bomber hell-bent on payback. But that prospect seemed unlikely since he hadn’t seen or heard an explosion, nor had there been any type of shockwave following the event.
He stopped walking just before what remained of the steps to take a look at the damage. There should’ve been building rubble and debris everywhere, but there was none. Not a speck. It was almost as if a giant vacuum had come down from the heavens and cleaned the area the instant the flash was over.
Linkage (The Narrows of Time Series Book 1) Page 10
