Alive (The Crave)

by Martin, Megan D.

  I’m that sign. The correlation of his feelings made his heart clench in his chest. What would he do now? He couldn’t just move on. He’d tried that before, even when he thought she was dead and he hadn’t been able to do it.

  “You need to go get your girl.” Noah clapped him on the shoulder. “I’d love to stay here and give you more of a man to man pep talk, but I’ve got wall duty.”

  Gage nodded absently.

  “You’re not going to, are you?”

  “Huh?” Gage looked up into Noah’s face.

  “Look, you didn’t hear this from me…but she’s leaving Eden in the morning.”“Leaving?” Gage jumped up off the bench.

  Noah nodded. “Last chance, bro.”

  Gage watched his childhood friend head toward the east wall. Gage looked up at the sky, the sun a bright orb over them…and knew what he had to do.

  Eve stared at the bag by her feet. It was old, a navy blue color, not black like her previous one, but it would do. It was about to become her only companion in the world once she headed out of Eden and back into reality. She’d made the decision the morning after her and Gage had the confrontation. She couldn’t stay in a place he created. Cause he created it for me. Eve shook her head at the thought. That wasn’t why she was leaving, though she couldn’t deny that was part of it. Noah had come to her the next day to check on her and see how she was liking her new apartment.

  His care and concern seemed so foreign compared to the asshole high school kid she knew him to be, though she couldn’t deny that he seemed genuinely concerned about her well-being. He was as handsome as always, perhaps more so now that he looked like a man rather than a boy. He’d let his blond hair grow out to where it touched his broad shoulders. His big eyes were bluer than she remembered and his body heavier with muscle. He looked so nonchalant leaning against the doorframe in her room, like they’d been friends forever. That was when he’d dropped the bomb on her.

  “He built this for you, you know.”

  “What?” Eve folded the towel she had discarded on the floor the night before.

  “Eden. He built it for you.”

  Eve shook her head in denial. “That is ridiculous to even say. You and him are both the founders, plus there were tons of other people involved I’m sure.”

  “We are and there were. But that doesn’t change all of the work he put in or the name.” Noah’s blue gaze was intense as he stared at her, almost as if he was willing her to see the truth in his eyes.

  “The name?”

  “Oh come on.” He looked exasperated. “Eden. You’re Eve. He built this place to be your paradise.”

  Eve’s heart clenched in her chest. “He didn’t…” That couldn’t be. It was just some sort of coincidence, right?

  “He did. He worked harder than anyone on this place.”

  “Then why did he leave? Why didn’t he come for me? What about Sally?” A hundred more questions soared through Eve’s mind.

  Noah’s face remained impassive. “Those are things you’ll have to ask him.”

  Eve wanted to hurl her new set of shoes at his head and demand answers. Instead, she started gathering the few meager things she had been given.

  “What are you doing?” The alarm in his tone surprised her.

  “I’m getting my things together.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m leaving.” Eve turned away from him. She hadn’t known she was going to until she said the words out loud, but she knew it was the best decision for her. It didn’t matter what Gage or Noah said. None of it mattered. It was too late for what ifs and maybes. Noah was silent behind her and she willed him to leave with her mind.

  “This is pretty.”

  Eve whirled around to see him holding the diamond Gage had left. She hadn’t moved it, just left it there, not sure what she was going to do with the thing. Noah was holding in his hand examining it. The sunlight through the two small windows reflected off of inner contours, sending multi-colored reflected dots scattering across the ceiling.

  “Don’t touch it!” Before Eve knew what she was doing, she was standing in front of Noah jerking the stone out of his hand.

  He smiled and didn’t protest. “Stay a week and see if you like it here.”

  She frowned. “Why would I do that? I need to find my sister.” Through her rioting emotions she knew that she had to go out there and find Olive, though she hated to admit that this was hardly the reason she was desperate to get out of there.

  “You owe it to yourself to get rested and a few good meals in your belly before heading back out into nomansland.”

  She hated to admit that he had a point, but he did. “Four days. I’ll stay four days and leave on the fifth.”

  Noah had left with a smile on his face she didn’t understand, and now here she was on her fourth day, though she couldn’t say she was any better rested or that she had eaten full meals. For the first time in a long time she hadn’t been hungry. Strange, when she’d been starving for nearly four years straight. She remembered feeling like that once before, unable to sleep or eat properly and she hated to admit it was because her heart was broken…and apparently starving yourself and getting no sleep was the only way to begin remedying that. Pathetic.

  She rubbed her hand across her shoulder, over her still healing wound. She’d taken the stiches out the day before. She glanced at the window next to the head of her little twin bed. No light peaked through the curtains. This would be her last night in Eden. She had grown to love the little town and the people who lived there. The way everyone had worked to refurbish things. All of it was beautiful, which was even more of a reason she had to leave. He was everywhere. In every bed, in every cleared house, every window pane. “He built this for you, you know.” Noah’s words wouldn’t leave her alone, they followed her everywhere. It didn’t matter where she turned, Gage was there, and not physically. If anything, she had seen so little of him physically; she’d begun to wonder if he was even still in Eden. Until today. She’d seen him sitting in front of the massive courthouse on a bench, looking as perfect as ever. Her heart sped up at the memory.

  Maybe I should just leave now.

  A loud knock on her door startled her. In her time here, she’d only had two visitors, Gage and Noah, and neither of them had come for days. She walked to the door and rested her hand on the old brown knob. Trying to fight down the hope that Gage stood on the other side. She let out a deep breath and jerked open the door to reveal…Noah.

  “What do you want?” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice and knew she failed.

  “I’m here to escort you milady.”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “But first you have to put this on.” He held out a simple floral print dress and a pair of worn flats.

  “What for?” she sputtered in disbelief.

  “Don’t be dense, Eve. Put it on and don’t ask questions.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” she challenged.

  “You will. You said you would stay until tomorrow. Putting on this dress doesn’t have to change that.”

  Eve let his words roll around in her mind and less than five minutes later she was following him out of the little apartment she was staying in just off the square center of town with her arm in Noah’s. What am I doing? She didn’t have an answer for herself. Most of the places they passed on the way were dark, though she knew it couldn’t be too late, no later than nine, she suspected. Only one place was lit with the glow of electric lights. The old RJ’s Pizza that faced the courthouse in a strip shopping center.

  “The sign still works?” she asked with wonder, staring up at the glowing yellow and red sign illuminated before her.

  “It does. We never use it, cause it sucks unneeded power, but tonight is a special occasion.”

  “Is it?” She stared at him, hoping he would reveal something more. He didn’t. Just walked her to the front door.

  “And this is where I leave you. Don’t be too hard o
n him.” He smiled and walked away.

  “Wait—” But he was already gone. She’d known when Noah showed up with the dress that he was going to take her to see Gage. She wasn’t stupid, but now she was scared. Scared of making the same mistake for the third time.

  She reached out and opened the door, the thick smell of Italian food sizzled her senses and she took a tentative step inside. At the same moment, Gage appeared from the back carrying a tray in his hands. He jumped back at the sight of her, nearly dropping the tray on the floor. She barely noticed. Her eyes focused on him seeing him as she’d never seen him before. He was wearing a long sleeve black button up shirt and black pants that fit his toned physique perfectly. His jaw was clean-shaved like the last time she’d seen him and his hair was cut close to his head. He looked like living, breathing sex on two legs. Her knees weakened.

  He set the tray down on one of the plastic tables that filled the restaurant. She let her eyes wander over the room, desperate took look anywhere but at him. There were at least ten plastic tables with chairs, no doubt the original ones from the before. An ordering window was behind the last table, with a soda fountain to the left of that. The walls were covered in band memorabilia. Posters and autographed pictures covered the walls along with “Go Mean Green!” signs. She’d nearly forgotten that Fenton was a booming college town in the before.

  “You came.” And like that her eyes were drawn back to him standing across the room with his hands in his pockets.

  “I did.” She wanted to run into his arms. He hurt you, remember? Over and over. The reminder stiffened her shoulders.

  “Don’t leave. Please.” How did he know? “You look beautiful.”

  Her heart caught in her throat and her cheeks warmed. She glanced down at the floral print dress. She supposed it did look nice, stopping just above her knee and dipping at her chest.

  “Come. Sit.” She crossed the room, her feet moving easily in spite of her scattered thoughts.

  He slid a plate in front of her. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “This is pizza.” She stared down at the flaky crust covered with cheese, her mouth watering.

  “It is.” He slid into the seat across from her. “It’s just crust and cheese for now. We have cows and flour. That’s just about all we need, aside from tomatoes. Richard and his sons are working on it though.”

  Eve nodded, completely in awe. Never expecting to eat pizza again.

  “Oh, I forgot the drinks!” He stood and bustled out of the room and into the back. He returned seconds later with two cups.

  “What is it?” She stared at the red plastic cup.

  “Just water…with ice.”

  “No way!” Eve grabbed the cup and felt the slick perspiring surface under her hand. She’d been there almost a week, but she had yet to have water with ice. She took a drink, reveling in the chill that spread through her limbs.

  “Good?”

  She nodded vigorously, taking another drink. He smiled his crooked half smile—his lazy smile. The one he always gave her when he drove her home from school. The memory sucked the happiness out of her and she set her drink back on the table.

  “The first ice cube tray patent was issued in 1932 to Guy L. Tinkham.”

  Eve blinked. Gage was staring at her, his hands digging into the table on either side of his plate. He’s nervous. It was this fact that calmed her, as opposed to the one he just issued.

  “Sounds like a smart…guy.” The bad joke shocked Eve as much as it did Gage. Did I just say that? Gage started laughing and not just chuckling, but full on laughing, a hearty one that came from deep in his belly and before she knew what she was doing, she was laughing too. The absurdity of it all was what hit her the hardest. The laughter swept through her, tickling her soul.

  They laughed all through dinner. The pizza went down with splendor, tasting better than anything she’d eaten in years and coupled with her ice water, became her most favorite meal she’d ever eaten, though she wasn’t sure if it was because she had missed eating pizza that much, or if it was the company that made it so memorable.

  “Do you want to dance?” The question took her off guard. He had just returned from taking their plates to the back. He held his hand out for her to take.

  “Dance?” She glanced around. “But there’s no music.” She placed her hand in his reveling in the warmth that radiated from his fingers. He led her away from the table, saying nothing. She glanced around, wondering where there would be room for them to dance. He made his way back to the front door, but instead of leading her outside he turned left and she noticed for the first time that there were stairs there, leading down. “Basement?”

  “Yes.” He stepped down first still holding his hand in hers. The heat from his touch sent a shiver down her spine. “I used to come here all the time in high school. Bands would play every Saturday night down here in the basement.” He flicked a switch at the bottom of the stairs and the room flooded with light. Eve stared in awe at the basement; its walls covered much like the upstairs with posters and pictures of bands. Strands of white Christmas lights were strung around the room. A lot of them were burned out, but enough still worked to make the room twinkle. A small plastic table, similar to the ones upstairs, sat just to Eve’s left. A pool table separated the table and stairs from a wide-open space that ended in a slightly elevated stage. The room wasn’t big, in fact, it was rather small, but Eve was in complete awe of it.

  “Beautiful.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  Eve snickered feeling like a girl on her first date and nearly choked on her own spit when she realized that this was indeed her first date.

  “I’m being ridiculously corny…I know. But it’s the truth. You are.” His eyes burned with passion that made her want to wrap her legs around him and never let go. “Come on.” He pulled her around the pool table to the dance floor in front of the small stage.

  “Is this where you’re going to blow my mind out of the water and have music play?”

  He placed a hand on her waist and grabbed her hand with the other. “I wish…but no.” He gave her that lazy smile again. “One day, I’ll dance with you to music, Eve. I promise.” He leaned into her when he spoke, pressing his chest against hers and brushing his lips against her ear. Eve gasped at the white-hot heat that pooled between her thighs and her heart thrummed at the promise in his words. They started rocking back and forth slowly. He stepped on her foot and smiled down at her sheepishly.

  “I’m not much of a dancer to be honest,” he said.

  As if on cue, Eve stumbled over her own foot. Gage steadied her. “If you can’t tell…I’m not either.”

  He didn’t respond, didn’t even smile like she thought he would. Instead, he pulled her closer. His hand sat low on her back and the other held her hand loosely, his thumb rubbed back and forth against the back of her hand. She thrummed with anticipation, desperately wanting to kiss him even though it was wrong. He was all wrong for her.

  But then he started to sing. The words were soft at first, muffled against her ear. They rocked back and forth to his soft humming, the intimacy of the moment clogging her throat, making it hard to swallow.

  “I try to

  Just forget you

  But I don’t know how

  If only I knew”

  Realization of what song he was singing hit her hard, like a punch to the gut.

  “It’s written all over your face

  Such a painful thing to waste

  Tell me now where do we go?”

  She tried to pull back, to look at Gage, but he pulled her closer. The deep tenor of his voice climbing louder, filling the space around them.

  “Now the future’s not so clear

  I can’t believe we’ve ended here

  Where’s the world that doesn’t care

  Maybe I could meet you there.”

  The beauty of his voice didn’t stop the panic that seized her, the pain that ripped through her heart was no stranger. She j
erked back and he let her this time, dropping his arms. His gray eyes probed hers, turmoil swirling in their depths.

  Eve let out a shaky breath and ran a hand through her short hair. “What are we doing, Gage? What is this?” She motioned to the room around her.

  “This is the date I never took you on.”

  Eve looked stunned for a moment, standing there across from him in the dress he’d found earlier in the afternoon. He’d discovered it in one of the old mini-malls on the square. They were antique malls in the before and were still filled with old vintage clothing. The peach color of the flowers made her seem like she was glowing there in the dim light of the basement. Her light blond tresses framed her face. More beautiful than any angel.

  Her stunned look quickly turned to anger. “So, this is your way of doing what? Sending me off back into the fucked up world out there?”

  Gage stared at Eve in disbelief that she would come to that conclusion. “Fucked up world? Eve, that’s not what this is.”

  “Then what is it? Why would you do this? Why would you bring me here…and sing that song?” Her voice fell half-way through the sentence. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  His chest tightened at the look of anguish on her face. “It’s our song.” The fact that she remembered gave him hope. “And because I love you, Eve.” It felt good to say it again.

  “Love? Love?! You don’t love me!” she sneered.

  And just like that the corded fragment of control that Gage had on his emotions snapped like an old guitar string. He took one long stride eating up the space that separated them.

  “I do fucking love you, Eve. Even if you don’t want to believe it.” He surprised himself when the words came out below a yell. “I thought about you every day, Eve. Every damn day.”

  “Oh, did you? You thought about me? Well, if that’s so, why didn’t you come look for me? I was home for a good six months after the Crave hit. Hm? What’s your explanation for that?”