Jade was in front of me in the lunch line with Gavin behind me; his hands were resting on my hips, both to show his feelings without verbal pollution and also to steady my gate. It was hard for me to stand balanced correctly because my heel was still sore. Several days had passed since I’d injured my foot, but it hadn’t healed. I knew I should’ve gone to a doctor, but I couldn’t convince myself it was worth the effort; as a girl, like everyone else, I’d been injected with reconstructive nanides to enhance my immune system and recovery processes. The age at which most people receive the nanides is characterized by a certain degree of naivety, and in a moment of ignorance to the same degree, I assumed the abrasion on my heel would be taken care of without medical attention. Blind to the amount of bleeding the wound had done, and to the tender puffiness my heel had, I had a sheer desire not to go to the hospital; I felt like my injury wasn’t explainable.
We were next in line to be served (for which I was glad) when our treasured link with the barely edible was severed by a prissy blonde with her private school’s uniform worn in such a way, it highlighted her smooth bare legs. Those perfectly feminine legs were supporting the upper half of the teen Gavin and I had encountered on the train.
“Oh, hi there. Thank-you for being subservient enough to allow one more worthy to pass first.”
“Oh that’s what we were doing? Surely you would extend the generosity as well.” Jade surmised, stepping in front of the girl whose name I forgot without caring to remember.
She smirked. “I like your assertiveness, heck, I could even see myself being friends with you, but you’re out of luck because you’re too poor for my standards.” She let Jade stay in front of her.
Gavin sighed and helped me restrain from losing my temper until we were through the lunch line. So I wouldn’t struggle anymore than I had to, Gavin carried my tray. Jade was already seated, and looked strangely content with a pilfered French fry poking out of her mouth. The French fry was surely stolen from the midday meal of one of her loyal (and possibly fearful) friends; Jade had only bought high calorie sweets.
Gavin pulled my chair out for me, and even placed a hand beneath my shoulder to steady my descent. Before he sat down or did anything for himself, he ensured I was fine as if I were his first priority; if I wasn’t, Gavin certainly put my needs above his. I wanted to give him a kiss as a symbol of my appreciation but declined with the thought that someone (myself included) would accuse me of stealing a banal concept used so often by couples, it lost its significance with both the couple and the audience. I didn’t think people could glean the meaning out of a kiss anymore.
Instead, I found a hand that belonged to him under the table and left my hand in his. Saying ‘thank-you’ didn’t have to be a public affair; technically it meant more as a private personal message.
“Gavin, you’re technologically literate,” Jade started. I knew Gavin well enough to understand what he was thinking; he wanted to know what Jade wanted badly enough to confront him in such an artificial manner. “Do you have any suggestions on how to help me?”
“Yeah,” Gavin was confident in his response. “I’d suggest briefing me on what exactly you need before asking for potential solutions to your conundrum.”
Jade held up her hand in front of her face at an angle towards me. “What did he say?” She mouthed.
“He says he’ll help you.” I wondered how Jade ever managed to put up with Gavin with her having the level of understanding she did. It wasn’t that Jade was stupid-she wasn’t-but that Gavin was brilliant and eccentric at the same time. For some, it was a difficult combination.
Jade turned back to Gavin like an executive to the board of directors with their untouched white coffee mugs adding another level of anxiety to the speaker’s presentation. “I’m looking for my parents; I only know who one of them is but I still want to know all about them. I want to know how and where they lived, or what they did, or anything about them really.”
“Have you tried the Archives?” Gavin’s tone gave a question similar to asking Jade how stupid she considered herself to be.
“Of course I have, they failed to give me anything about my family except that I’ve bounced from just-out-of-college couples to retired war veterans and that I’m related to Sruun’s whole family.” Jade remarked.
Gavin’s face grew serious. “I’ll see if I can find anything tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” Jade stood up and slammed her palms on the table. “You’re just going to blow me off like that?! If I waltzed around in a trench coat or planted a kiss passionate enough to be a garden even before knowing your middle initial, you’d do everything for me three weeks ago!” Jade screamed. “No offense of course.” Jade’s eyes questioned me, hoping I wouldn’t be angered by her statement.
“None taken,” I was amused by Jade’s eruption and her drastic change of tone.
“If you danced in a trench coat, you’d earn no more of a passing glance from me than if you were playing hopscotch stark naked with a lampshade on your head and if you dare to transfer a single colony of bacteria into my mouth from your pestilent tongue, I’ll tie you to a table and tell Marc Birnham he’s a medical student and you’re a cadaver.” Marc Birnham was the most unattractive and perverted boy in the school; he always found new ways to gawk at pornography during class or in his more social excursions, peer into the concealed depths of a girl’s body. He was so obscene, Gavin broke his nose once for staring at my chest for an hour; just in case I forgot to mention it, we weren’t dating at the time.
“I said I’ll do it tomorrow, if that’s not good enough, find a shrink. I’ll do it on my way to Norway tomorrow.”
“Norway?!” I spluttered with equal parts surprise and fear. Droplets of my tomato soup became a miniature flock of geese over the lunch table.
“What’s in Norway? It’s just snow and cold stuff” Jade chomped on a carrot.
“It’s for biology; all three of the teacher’s classes are going on a field trip to the Interplanetary Sperm Bank. We’re going to learn about how stable gene pools are maintained in the space colonies and we’ve all volunteered to donate to the collection. The stored material will also restore the population of the colonies or space stations in the event of a collision or epidemic.”
“Why are the girls going?” Jade wondered.
“Though it’s called a sperm bank, there are also reserves for female gametes. They can do that you know.” Gavin stated matter-of-factly.
“So you’re going to Norway and will research for me on the way?”
“I’ll do my best.” Gavin insisted.
I began wondering how long the trip would last. Would Gavin leave me alone for a week or more? I had to know. “When will you return?”
“The day after tomorrow,” Gavin squeezed my hand. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.” He breathed just audible enough for me to hear.
The next morning, I woke up early, at three am, so I could see Gavin off. I walked to the apartment Gavin lived in with his mom. My knuckle paused an inch from the door; I didn’t want to wake the household if they weren’t awake already. That would’ve been a great first impression for Gavin’s mother; I’d never been introduced to her so this would be the first time I met the other woman in his life. Casting aside my inhibitions, I rapped the door with an interesting rhythmic pattern. It went something like “bop-ba-da-da-da-da-bop”.
Gavin disrupted my thought by swinging the door open, not wearing a shirt. Remaining focused with those chiseled abs on that tall frame, was impossible for a girl of my state of mind.
“What’re you doing here?” He rubbed the sleep out of his left eye and brushed back his uncombed hair.
“Is this how you greet all visitors?” I raised an eyebrow and stepped inside.
“I-uh-I don’t remember?” Gavin was hopeless before dawn.
“I wanted to come by and see you before you left. I slinked around him to escape the awkward siuation between an imposing coo-coo clock and Gavin.
“But at three in the morning?”
“You’re up.” I commented.
“Well yeah, I’ve got to get on the train at quarter ‘till five, but that doesn’t mean you have to get up before it’s sane too!”
“You know, you’re absolutely right. I don’t have to be here before dawn because you have to leave in an hour and a half.” I agreed. “I have to get up an hour and a half before you leave because I won’t see you until Monday and need to get assurances you’ll return.”
A shout exploded from a back bedroom. “Gavin Weylin, who the-” The word she used was some small town in Michigan that freezes over annually.”-is talking in there?! And why the-” This word rhymed with what one needed on a Vegas vacation, other than a wallet burning holes in a right back pocket. “-are you up so-” The same word was spoken with an ‘ing’. “-early?!”
Gavin’s eyes did the sighing while his lips formed an apology. “Go back to sleep mother!”
“Aint no way in-” Forget the ‘o’ in the traditional telephone greeting to spell the word she used. “-am I going back to that-” This word didn’t mean blessed. “-bed! I’m up so get over it!” A short red-headed lady in her mid forties, but looking older, stomped out of the back hallway, wearing pastel hair curlers and a floal nightgown.
At sight of her, I pulled my coat around me; I was cold. Without weather, the air conditioning system did a fair job of darkening people’s spirits. Today it was doing just that, so naturally, I cursed my sense of style; a halter top definitely hadn’t been the right shirt to wear with the brisk summer air conditioning. Thankfully, I still had the tailored black overcoat I so cherished.
I think my attire probably played on more than just my disposition. The long formal skirt I had on was just what I had clean in my dresser. I I hadn’t really bothered dressing to impress anyone, I mean, I was dressed like my version of a bum. The skirt, though formal, was quite comfortable, and didn’t require any unsteady balancing act to slip a pants leg on. Unlike most girls, I didn’t mind wearing skirts and on the hot summer days, I preferred them to pants but another difference between me and the average girl who owned more than one skirt, was that I never wore a skirt that didn’t reach my knees. In my opinion, skirts weren’t a tool for me to advertise the sharpness of a razor.
Adorning my feet were simple, lace-less black cloth shoes with the white rubber forming a half-inch lip on the bottom of the shoe. Beneath those shoes were white ankle socks, though they had pink thread holding them together, perhaps to add a touch of femininity to the otherwise bland tubes of fabric. Apart from my overcoat, my attire must’ve shown a naïve, though sweet innocence because after Gavin’s mother gave me a conspicuous overview, fourteen muscles on Gavin’s mother’s face, the ones that appeared previously inactive, tightened.
“Oh hello there deary,” She cooed. Not concentrating her speech on swearing caused an Irish accent to come out of hiding.
“Hello Mrs. Weylin, how are you?” Stark rudeness wasn’t how I spoke but neither was its polar opposite so playing off the adorable-adolescent-girl appearance my clothes created was onerous.
“I’m lovely, thank-ye fer mindin’!” Mrs. Weylin was becoming more impressed by the syllable. She turned to Gavin and the moment her eyes were away from me, her complexion darkened as if her face was hidden from her guest; her son wasn’t a yearned-for sight. “Why don’t ye introduce me to your friend Gavin?”
“Mother, this is my-” Gavin exhaled and inhaled again before proceeding. “-girlfriend. Her name is Sruun.” I could read the annoyance behind his delightful eyes. “Sruun, I’d like to introduce you to my mother”
“Girlfriend, eh?” A curious eye probed my interior existence as well as my physical exterior.
I held out my hand to shake hers but the reaction I got wasn’t predictable by any, including Nostradamus. Mrs. Weylin tackled me, or at least, that’s what her crushing embrace felt like. “There’s no need for handshakes here lass, Gavin’s been needin’ a girl in his life to set him straight and I’m glad you’re the one fer it.”
“I’ll, uh, I’ll do my best for you Mrs. Weylin.”
“Oi, let me be changin’ and I’ll make you a hearty breakfast.” She enthused.
“I’m sure your cooking is delicious-” Gavin put a finger in his mouth at my words. “-but I’m terribly sorry to have already had breakfast.” That was true if pocketing a granola bar was considered eating breakfast.
“Nonsense, me girl. I’ll be right out to fatten you up child, but in the meantime, make yourself at home. Gavin’s baby pictures re in the albums on the shelf there.” She hurried back to her bedroom and slammed the door.
“I’d like to apologize, my mother is…” Gavin was at a loss for words.
“She’s your mother, if she acted any differently, I’d be concerned.” I finished his thought for him.
Gavin pulled his lips back into a portrait of his teeth and brushed a lock of hair back that had fallen forward. “It’s good to see you.” He opened his arms for a hug, and like the children’s toy involving blocks and shapes, I slid into place. “I wish we had more time together but I’ve still got to finish packing and I haven’t had a shower yet.”
“So that’s what the smell is.” I teased. Many might think it was mean but insulting Gavin was how I flirted. “Seriously, that’s fine; I didn’t expect you to spend time with me. I was just hoping to squeeze in between everything you had to do.”
You’re sure you don’t mind?” He obviously hated to abandon me, even for as long as a shower would take.
I kissed him. “What do you think?”
The pressure Gavin applied to me was both a “Thank-you” and an “I love you.” He had a talent for saying multiple things in nonverbal gestures; it let him speak his mind more efficiently than the poor fools confined to creating sound waves could ever imagine.
“I think you’re bursting from agony beneath your calm exterior and as soon as my silhouette is no longer reflected in your eyes, you’ll burst into hysterics.”
“You’re forgetting the bout of separation anxiety that will shred every fiber of my petty existence.” I kissed him again. “Go get a shower you rank cow.”
Gavin marched in the footsteps of his mother. Only after he rounded the corner did the sound of running water replace what had been a door slam.
I looked around to see the apartment, but the exploration ceased upon discovering an electronic keyboard. The find was the perfect bait for me.
I turned the instrument on, but kept the volume low. Playing with melodies and chords I’d invented, I found them to be a perfect partner in the rhythm pattern I’d used earlier.
Interestingly, a tenor’s voice started singing to the notes I was playing. It seemed to be coming from the shower as the shower concluded. While turning up the volume so the notes would carry further, I listened.
“I’m a dandelion…young and yellow….or old and white…I’m gone by autumn…or the trigger of a spray gun…but like any weed…know that I’ll succeed…in returning for spring….Though I go away…never will I stray…too far from you…The time I’m absent…is best spent…watching the frost turn green.”
As Gavin walked down the hallway, wearing khakis, an unbuttoned, though pressed, shirt, and a tie draped across his shoulders, I continued playing and tried to devise my own version of the song he sang.
“My one true wish…is to blow a kiss…to your magical seeds…Pretty please?...Offer me euphoria…like our nostalgia…of old…Don’t leave me in the cold…when you’re not here…there, or anywhere near…I can only cope…with the hope…to be your little girl…as it once had been.”
Gavin smiled as I concluded my mediocre singing but continued playing more emphatically. It was another few measures before any vocalization happened. Credit went to Gavin for inventing the chorus, and I merely imitated him when he finished. Amazingly enough, in the duet Gavin chose to make it, our pitches worked well with each other.
“We are pollens…and allergens…bad knees…and green thumbs…We cause torn jeans…and grass stains…We’ll be together…forever…even when…apart.”
Concluding the song, I made a mental note to jot down that song in my computer. Gavin massaged my shoulders. “That was great,” He said before he and I kissed over my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go before Mother decides to start cooking; you don’t want to be around when she opens the pantry.”
Gavin and I left the apartment but had to push through a crowd of people handing out encomiums for the “lovely music”. At least a dozen people commented on the music we’d made. One person even wanted to know when our first album would be in stores. I was stunned that all these people in their pajamas and bathrobes liked the impulsive song we’d created, despite it having woken them before dawn.
Gavin and I walked to the high-speed Maglev train station. Though Gavin was travelling across the Atlantic, he was taking a train because it was cheaper than flying. This was partly because the trains could carry more passengers faster than any one plane. That was the beauty of the trans-Atlantic tunnels; they let enormous amounts of commerce pass beneath the frothy waters in record time.
He and I sat on a cold metal bench in a near empty train station waiting for the time when Gavin could board. There was an old man with long white hair and a single tattered black rubber boot on his right foot. His big toe poked out the end of the shoe. Other than a teenage couple holding hands and a snoozing vagabond, the station was empty.
My plans for staying with Gavin until he left didn’t quite work out; I fell asleep on his shoulder. He shook me awake as the train arrived and his class started boarding. “Sruun, wake up! I’ve got to leave.”
“Wha?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and cursed my stupidity.
“I’ve got to go.” Gavin stood up, nearly toppling me over in the process. I jolted up to hug him one last time before he left.
He saw my pleas and stopped to hug me. I cherished the love the pressure of his arms delivered to my body. Perhaps what thrilled me even more was the audible translation of the same expressed love. Gavin told me for the first time, three words I’d never forget.
“I love you.”
Those three words meant so much to me. Throughout the time we’d been dating, we’d never shared those three glorious words but they’d been expressed in other ways. The recognition of love in words meant so much to me, I had to reward him.
Gavin started to retreat from my grasp but I poked him in the ribs to get his attention. He turned to face me but before he could ask what I needed, I pressed my lips to his in a kiss whose only rival was the first kiss we ever shared.
“Bye, come back soon-for me.” I breathed upon our separation.
“Hey! Find a room!” A portly fellow with a Brooklyn accent ordered. “No one wants to see that!”
“Which do you suppose people would rather see? Certainly a kiss is more appealing than whatever those are on the bottom of your face.” I replied. “You’re only supposed to have one chin, you know.”
I took long strides all the way to the neared public transportation terminal; Gavin’s words had empowered me.
The old man who had been asleep stood up and hobbled behind me as I left. I thought his timing was strange but shrugged it off as nothing more than a coincidence.
Though I didn’t have anything except my laptop with me, I was going to go to the beach. I didn’t have my bathing suit, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
By Monday, I was yearning to see Gavin again and Jade wanted him back just to shut me up. Jade came with me to the train station, she said so that some pervert didn’t rape me in a trash can, but I had a suspicion her story was just a cove-up for her boredom. She and I both knew I wasn’t going to be stuffed into a trashcan to have my virginity stolen. If anything, it would be a phone booth, besides, for me to fit in a trashcan, I’d have to fold in half, which in itself, prohibited penetration.
Eventually, a streamlined train stopped in front of us. Gavin was the third person off the train. Jade surprised Gavin and I by demanding to know what kind of information he found on her parents.
“I didn’t really find all that much.” He shrugged.
“NO!” Jade cried in anguish; she stormed from the station.
With Jade out of ear shot, Gavin said to me. “Her father was taken by those alien things.”
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