“Wow. You have traveled a lot.” I grinned at his charming rant.
“I guess I have. When work is good, you keep moving. When it slows, you slow with it.”
“That must be a neat way to live.”
“It is, but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone like you.”
“Oh really? Someone like me?” I teased him back, raising an eyebrow. When had I gotten so good at this?
He cleared his throat and laughed, looking down into his glass and twirling the bottom. His ears were a little red. “Sometimes I’m sent really quickly into an area without knowing where I’m going to stay for the night, that sort of thing. It insures that I have to make friends with whomever I’m with in order to stay safe in some towns. That’s why I wouldn’t recommend it for you. Sales and transportation of the sale is a good business, but if you ever get into it, make sure you’re with a company that doesn’t go into high-risk situations.”
“Wow. What does that even mean?”
“Just stay in the city is all it means. Some of those villages out in the North and the Caterlands and all those places are rough.”
“Okay. I’ll bear that in mind when I’m in those parts.” I teased.
“Because, I know you’ll want to travel through the whole boring Teran desert just to go see those hills- mountains- whatever.” He grinned back.
“Oh, undoubtedly.”
We just kind of stared at each other, hopelessly lost in navigating the sparks that struck every time we shared a glance.
“So tell me something, anything,” I urged “that you’ve never told anyone else.”
“Hmmm.”
“Something you’ve learned about life.”
“Let me see- I think, I think I have something. ‘Our eyes will always betray us.’”
We smiled and I poked my fork around on my plate, thoughtfully. I spoke. “Do you mind my questions?”
"Not at all," he murmured.
"I didn't think so."
“In fact, it’s perfect this way.”
“Perfect.” I tried out the word, and enjoyed the way it rolled off my tongue.
"This is crazy, isn't it; I mean we've talked for 6 hours altogether and we agree on everything."
"You really think it's that strange?" It felt almost like a dream to me; one that I might wake up from.
"For me, I guess.” His eyes were intense, as if he was looking back into the past, and I was the mirror he used.
I had to lighten the atmosphere. When he looked at me like that, my lungs felt too big for my ribcage. "It’s almost too perfect for words. It’s like destiny. We may never see each other again after tonight- you’ll wake up and find yourself a better, wiser man for it.” It was meant to be a silly joke, but he seemed to take it to heart.
"Don’t vanish into the night.” He squeezed my hand, winding my fingers between his.
“Are you sure you're real?"
I laughed, feeling absolutely happy and careless. All that mattered was the present moment.
He turned my hand over, backwards and forewords as if reading the future. I didn’t need my future read. I knew what I wanted, and I knew what would happen. I knew it like everyone knows the solar star will come up the next morning. I saw it unfold before my eyes, exactly in the way I sensed it would.
I saw David and me together. I saw it clear as dayshine. If it had been anyone else, it would have been uncomfortable, but with David, I saw time flowing along, unending and unhurried. I wanted that.
I reflected on him. He was beautiful. It was almost too much, too much perfection.
But there was a flaw; a single solitary blemish. A birthmark, or scar, on his chest near the collar bone.
Now that I had noticed it I couldn’t look away. It was the one thing I concentrated on, and now I believe that was what made me love him.
I left my hand in his care and leaned back, reveling in the night atmosphere and the way he looked at me. I never felt so ready to embrace the unknown as I did at night, when outside. This moment was no exception, with the solar star having set and the ocean’s song thrashing in the background.
The combination of saltwater and darkness did something to me; it always has. It made me feel invincible. It made me feel alive.
I threw my head back and laughed, and felt the warm fingers of connection reach out and take my heart in its fist as David laughed with me, so completely free, even as we were caught in the lantern glow. It was good to be alive.
~
4811/2/2/11
I perched on the edge of my bed, limbs and head heavy from lack of sleep, pondering the night before. I was grateful to have another two self-days, today and tomorrow, to catch up on my sleep before going back to work and the grind of my tutorials. I smiled, remembering last night. I could still feel the imprint of his lips on my own. It had been so dreamlike. I laughed lightheadedly, fingering the journal, rubbing its gilt edge in the light of morning. What was there to write? It had been a perfect day and night. They had stayed at the restaurant until who knows how late it was when they shut down for the night. Then David and I had walked and sat on the beach, just talking for hours about the silliest, most random stuff ever. And it had been wonderful.
He made me promise to see him again, tomorrow, even as he walked me home in the dawn’s light. I agreed. And now I was home, feeling like a bucket of cold water had been poured over my head. I wasn’t used to feeling this happy. Free, to an extent, yes. Myself, sure.
But ecstatically happy?
No.
Understood? Nope. And liked by someone I actually liked back…? Well, that hadn’t happened in a very long time.
Yeah, it had been a pretty awesome day.
I slumped into the bed and closed my eyes, letting my mind drift. Sighing happily, I flopped back on the mass of pillows and the soft down comforter and smiled behind my hand. No worries.
~
Our date had to be postponed. Over the Comms he told me his friends needed him- they had a vehicle malfunction. Probably something wrong with the four-board circuitry, or so I suggested, but he kinda grinned at me and told me it was one of those outdated vehicles, the ones with wheels, sides, and a top. So we laughed at that, enjoying the visual connection option on the Comms.
He was spending his last self-day helping them fix the vehicle and didn’t want me to have to come out and meet him, because I’d have to take public transport on a city train.
“So what are you going to be up to while I’m fixing this old hunk of metal?”
“I’ll probably be locked up tight all day, studying until my nose bleeds.”
“Awh.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Poor Natalie.”
I laughed. “Okay I guess we’ll talk later then?”
“You got it.” He smiled and the Comms disconnected.
That evening, I finished studying sooner than anticipated and decided to hit the beach. There were a few guys near an old vehicle that were being typical males, wrestling each other for the privilege of driving the antique. A blonde head was in the midst, laughing and swearing at his friends. David. I realized stupidly that the man with the dots and dashes for a tattoo was one of the fellows he jostled with.
What are you worrying about, Natalie? Everybody has friends. I shook my head at myself and shaded my eyes to look at David and his buddies again.
There was nothing wrong with the picture before me. I sighed. Sometimes I didn’t understand myself. He obviously had been able to fix the machine earlier than expected and his friends wanted to spend leisure time with him, was that too much of a stretch? Of course not.
All the same, I felt a little embarrassed at seeing him when we technically weren’t supposed to, so I left the beach quickly and distracted myself by studying for the rest of the evening.
~
4811/3/1/1
It usually hit me at the beginning of each new week how much I hated my tutorials. Today was no different.
Jeff always sat next to me- and I
couldn’t help but compare him to David. Jeff had been unabashedly interested in me for at least a season. He saved me seats and asked for help on projects, and invited me to Every. Single. Thing. He and his groupies did. It was massive overload, but he was sweet and his friends were fun enough, so I hung with them occasionally.
“NAT!” He frenziedly waved me over to the middle of the second row the moment I stepped foot in the auditorium. I sighed. Jeff has a way of draining all of your energy right away, even if you’re only in his vicinity for less than a minute.
He’s just so… Avid. I hoped desperately that he was not trying to pursue me anymore. I gave a half-hearted wave and looked down, suddenly enchanted by my colorful sandals as I made my way to the zealously protected seat.
And he had the grating tendency to try to nickname me- in front of everyone.
I have never been one of the “cool kids,” but I am pretty well-liked, so what I assume were looks of sympathy passed my way as I resignedly headed over to the seat.
The one perpetually herbaciated, blank-faced mystic kid in our tutorial (with his media wires in as usual) cut in front of me and sank into the chair Jeff had been saving. Woe to him, Jeff smacked him on the forehead with a rolled-up newstube and shooed him aggressively away. The guy looked up at him, dazed, and catatonically searched for some other haven to rest his drooping self.
I covered my mouth to keep from laughing, but it didn’t stop my blush. Jeff’s antics have always firmly entrenched him under the over-eager heading. He made a considerate and fun friend, but I doubted I would ever get past the clammy feeling whenever he talked about an “us” and tried to hold my hand. It just wasn’t there.
A debate between my fellow attendees Tasha and Mrado caught my attention.
Tasha had started with her usual tack, a “what if” question. "What do you think would happen if Earth suddenly found out about the Deka Quadrant? I mean, don't you think they'd be a little freaked out that we've been able to travel there and back since Stonehenge?"
"I think they'd be more interested in knowing what Stonehenge was all about than in us- I mean we're human, they're human, nothing much to see." Mrado gestured, leaning back on two legs of his chair.
"That's only because you've lived here your whole life and find it boring. But if you were an Earth Lander, you'd be out of your mind with curiosity for us." Her eyes twinkled.
His did not. "You're obviously more interested in them then they will ever be in you." He was an expert eye roller. "Trust me- once they find out about our historical records, Stonehenge will be the first question out of their mouths."
She snorted.
I could tell she was more attracted to Mrado than upset at being treated like a child. Having her views challenged wasn't new, and Mrado offered the confrontation that she thrived on.
"Imagine.” She sighed dramatically. “Being obsessed by a silly stone circle that was obviously used for celestial predictions, when you could be having a thrilling first-contact meeting with the Deka Federation for Tera’s sake! Having the privilege of talking to anyone from the community of “Dekan Minds," is more than a privilege!” She was completely warmed up- now for the big finale. “Ugh,” she rolled her eyes, “what I would give to have the opportunity to talk to them myself. Minds that are the most technologically and scientifically advanced in the entire Quadrant!"
"Our quadrant; not theirs. Remember; these Earth Landers are supremely self-centric. Even if we happen-"
"Earth Walkers, perhaps, but not Landers. Don't tell me that they're simply born that way! We have plenty of Earth Landers who've accidentally immigrated back across the Doorways with Native Dekans, and they fit right in." She thought for a moment, pausing. "Usually..."
"Back to what I was saying-” He rolled his eyes, but didn't seem troubled by her insistence. In fact, rolling his eyes was a good sign when you were in a debate with Mrado- it meant he was stimulated by the conversation. And that was hard to do.
He continued, "even if we are more advanced in certain ways, their pride would keep them from learning. They don't care who you are or how much wealth your father has or where you went to school. Haven't you caught any of their "television shows"- they don't even care about half of their world! People on one side of the planet are starving to death while on the other side, fat ones sit in front of Comms and stare at fabrications for hours. I'm glad they don't know about us- I never want to meet them! As far as I'm concerned, the best thing about them is that they are a constant reminder of what not to do with your planet."
And that was the end of the conversation. Mrado certainly had strong opinions. Tasha liked him that way though, as evidenced by her glare. I smiled to myself and turned back around to face the front of the room as our spacer professor arrived, bearing a camel-load of books and supplies for that day's lab in Biofuel Science. He looked harried, and Jeff popped out of his chair to help the man.
I smiled at him, arms full of books, nodding in uncertain agreement to our instructor Osbourne's low rumblings. Jeff was a great guy. I startled myself by wishing that he and David could somehow meld together into one man, fifty/fifty.
But wasn't I happy with David?
The thought was a random one; it didn't mean anything. Of course I was happy with David. He was perfect. Everything he did I loved. He smiled in the way that let me know we were meant to be together and we always had fun. It was perfect.
I shook the thought out of my head and concentrated on what unintelligible genius Professor Osbourne was rambling on about today.
Jeff caught my eye, stuck out his tongue and winked.
Okay. Maybe more like 30% Jeff and 70% David…
That night David called and suggested he make up for yesterday’s postponement. I was up for it.
~
One of our favorite places was Cornish Town, at the candy shop where I worked part-time. We had many dates that either started or ended with a treat there. During those days with him, I wasn’t forced to be anything I didn’t want to be. He liked me the way I was and didn’t impose on my natural whims. It was refreshing, exhilarating. I didn’t think about much else during those idyllic days. I didn’t have to.
~
4811/4/2/2
The long strands of taffy wound around and around, hypnotizing your eyes whenever you looked upon it. The colors intertwined, creating a peppermint-stripe effect, except this time the colors were deep forest green and jewel purple.
“What flavor would that make it?” I spoke to myself, knowing full well that I couldn’t be heard over the din of candy-making machinery.
The heavy, viscous mass continuously slithered throughout a mechanism that seemed like an archaic instrument of torture- no doubt utilized to its advantage during the Age of Mysticism. Some of the Peta Landers might still use those things…
“Candy-apple grape.” David squeezed my shoulders close to him.
I grinned up at him, sliding my arm around his waist. “You’re reading my mind again.”
He laughed over the noise of the machine churning, and bit into the remains of our sweet cone.
He took in everything so effortlessly. His eyes were constantly moving, ever restless. His fingers unconsciously drummed a sort of rhythm on my bare shoulder. I wondered why he couldn’t be pleased with the moment and just chill, like I was doing. Like he used to be so good at. Why couldn’t he ever relax anymore?
His vibe was so infused with energy that it jarred my tranquil one; but I didn’t hold it against him. After offering me another bite he finished the ice cream cone off and licked his sticky fingers.
“Let’s go.” He tugged me with him and I obliged, wistfully. I could stand there, relishing the tie-dyed taffy picture-show for hours. But David was soon bored by many things.
Once outside in the shine, however, I forgot about the taffy. I wanted to swim. It was the perfect day for it- the perfect day for anything, really. I told that to David. He smiled that enigmatic smile of his and suggested a drive. Not r
eally what I had in mind, but I could accommodate him. “Let’s swim afterwards- you want to?”
“Sure.” He tickled my arm and held it close to his chest as we walked, nibbling the fingers just to tease me. The pavement beneath our sandals was hot and radiated its heat up to us, keeping us warmed from the cool spring breeze that happened to blow. Everything was dazzling and blinding at the same time. Like a quartz quarry at full noon, the dayshine sparkled brilliantly in my eyes.
Fortune's Detour: Prequel of the Deka Series by Abigail Schwaig Page 3
