Hybrid

by TJ Hines

  She didn’t seem to be too interested in my new study partner. But I knew Addison pretty well and as soon as I mentioned his name—she would be as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

  “Tyler,” I admitted fanning myself in a mock swoon.

  “Oh. My. God. Tyler Mitchell? Tyler—I’m so gorgeous and irresistible—Mitchell? Are you serious?”

  I knew she would react like this. She was literally bouncing up and down in her chair. I laughed at her reaction.

  “Yeah. That would be the one I’m referring to.”

  “How could he be any more perfect? I can’t believe it. I would faint if he talked to me. Man, Kinsey, I wish I had a little bit of your confidence. You never act like a moron in front of guys like I always manage to do,” Addison said frowning.

  “Addison, I don’t think I was all that confident today. Seriously, I was definitely bordering on insanity. I know I was babbling and staring a lot. My heart was beating so loud I swear he heard it. I blushed at least a dozen times, and I may have even drooled.”

  Okay, I never drooled, but the rest was true. And I was trying to make her feel better. Addison is one of the best, most sincere and caring people I have ever known. She is a truly genuine person. But she has extremely low self-esteem. And even though she is like a super genius—she can’t find confidence in any other area of her life. Plus, she has the worst taste in guys. She is your average run of the mill doormat.

  But I have been trying to change how Addison sees herself since we met last year. And I have been somewhat successful. She can now carry on a complete conversation with Will without freaking out. She says it’s because Will is a friend, but I don’t buy it. Having Will—who is the most gorgeous man alive, in my opinion—as a friend has helped her confidence level. Even if she can’t see it. I have always believed that the first step in gaining self-confidence is learning to love and accept who you are as a person. After you learn to love and accept who you are, you can begin to fix things that you want to fix. Any guy, that matters, will tell you that the sexiest thing about a woman is her self-confidence.

  “I haven’t even told you the best part of my conversation with Tyler,” I said trying to sound as calm as possible, even though I was about to burst. This was the first time I got to talk about this today and I was dying to tell her.

  “How could it get any better?”

  “Well…would you say it’s better or worse if a guy almost kisses you but are interrupted by your gorgeous best friend?”

  “What!?!” Addison screamed as she nearly toppled over in her chair. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything. Everything, Kinsey.”

  “Okay.”

  I told her every minute detail of the near make-out session with Tyler, the confrontation between Tyler and Will, the fight with Will, and the ‘still friends’ truce Will and I agreed to earlier. Addison listened to my rendition of the day’s events, without any interruptions. That’s why I love talking to her. She never judges me and tries to remain as neutral as possible. Unlike Abby who would have bashed Will, saying it was his fault.

  Abby has never liked Will. She thinks he is too uptight, responsible, and overprotective. But it’s really because Will turned her down when she started hitting on him our Freshman year. I don’t think she has ever been rejected. Ever since that day, Abby has been completely rude to him and has bad mouthed him to me every chance she got. Abby is right about one thing, Will is responsible and protective, but he isn’t overboard like she thinks. I know what overprotective looks like—and it looks like Jack.

  Addison, on the other hand, likes both Will and Tyler. And she never tells me what to do. She listens, helps me talk through my problems, and offers advice when she can. She actually reminds me a lot of Emily, except Em is much bubblier and more confident.

  After a few minutes, Addison finally spoke. “So, what are you going to do?”

  I sighed. “I have no clue. Got any suggestions?”

  “Get real Kinsey. I can’t talk to guys—which would make it impossible to have two guys fighting over me,” she said rolling her eyes.

  “Please tell me you’re going to the Delta Chi party Halloween night. I could use the support.”

  “I don’t have anyone to go with. Lizbeth is going with Tony and I hate going to things alone. It makes me feel even more pathetic than usual.”

  Lizbeth is Addison’s roommate and a fellow DJ here at the station. We used to all hang out until Abby started dating Lizbeth’s ex. Now Abby and Lizbeth cannot be in the same room together without a near brawl breaking out. That is one of the main reasons why my best friends are usually guys. There is less drama with boys, well with the exception of today.

  “You can go with me and Will. It makes perfect sense. We’ll both be working here till eight anyways. After I change, Will and I will swing by the dorm and pick you up,” I said with a hefty amount of enthusiasm in my voice. Addison would be the perfect buffer. “Do you have a costume?”

  “Uh. No. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since I was 12.”

  “Do you wanna go with me tomorrow afternoon to find one?”

  “That sounds great. With your help I won’t end up looking like a dork,” she said.

  “Stop being ridiculous—you always look great. I’m sure you will look totally hot Friday night and guys will be falling over themselves to ask you out.”

  “Whatever, Kinsey. I’m not gonna hold my breath on that one. So, you ready to start the show?”

  “I sure am,” I said smiling. For the first time today, I actually felt like things were turning around for me. I have a guy interested in me, I have my best friend back, I have a tentative plan for the party, and I have a new mission—to find a guy for Addison. Things were definitely looking up.

  After our show was finished, I drove Addison to her dorm and hurried home to get some much-needed sleep. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed Mike’s car next to Abby's. “Well, that’s freaking great!” I muttered to myself getting out of the car. I pleaded silently all the way to our apartment, please let them be asleep. And they were. Not a sound was coming from her room.

  I shed my sweats and put my favorite t-shirt on. I climbed into my comfy bed—which at this point I missed so very much, turned my radio on, and curled up under the covers. I’ve never been able to sleep without background noise. I know, I know. I am one of those people. Within three songs, I was out. It felt great to have the day finally end.

  But it wasn’t entirely over.

  I know it sounds silly, but I was hoping to finish my dream from earlier. Unfortunately, my subconscious did not want to cooperate. Instead of walking through a flower-filled meadow, I was on a plane. Well crap! I guess there was no hope of seeing half-naked men tonight.

  I was more surprised than shocked that I was having my nightmare again. I’ve not had my nightmare on back to back nights since right after the accident. I have to admit it was a little unsettling, but I shook it off, trying to remain alert and focused. Well as much as one can be in a dream- nightmare state.

  I needed to figure out why my nightmare changed. Especially since my big brother was not forthcoming with any information. Why was my parents’ reaction so significant? Why would they start speaking Latin moments before they died? And what was so important about the word Equitum?

  I searched frantically through the passengers' faces for clues. But I didn’t see anyone or anything unusual. And from what I could tell—there were no horses on the plane or anyone resembling a jockey. I saw my parents stand from the corner of my eye. Instead of focusing on their reaction like I did last time, I turned to see what had made them so furious.

  I saw something or someone, but the smoke was too thick to make out what or who it was. So, I decided to walk towards the image, but right before the smoky veil lifted, I woke up.

  What the hell was that?

  CHAPTER SIX

  I finally woke up at noon. And I was thankful it was Thursday, because it meant I didn�
��t have a morning class. On normal days, morning classes are not that bad. My experience has been that as soon as you get the class over with the sooner you can have fun and hang out with your friends. But this morning, I was especially thankful it was Thursday because I hit the snooze button on my alarm so many times that I was surprised my alarm clock didn’t jump off my nightstand and beat me in the head. After my nightmare last night, I took one of my sleeping pills hoping for some uninterrupted sleep. I don’t usually have to take something to go to sleep at night, well not anymore at least.

  Right after my parent’s death, our family doctor advised Jack to give me sleeping pills to help me because he said, ‘I was not handling the news very well’. Really, you think. How the hell do you handle that kind of news? What did he expect? For me to be like, oh they died, well that’s too bad, time to move on with my life. Hell no. I didn’t handle the news very well. Who would? I had just found out my parents were killed in a plane crash on my 16th BIRTHDAY!!!! Dad always said he was a quack.

  After two weeks, in a near catatonic- walking dead state, Jack went against the doctor’s orders and took me off the pills. He realized they were doing more harm than good. He didn’t even have a medical degree at the time, and he noticed how much damage those pills were doing to me. Good ole Doc Bentley had doped me up so much that I barely even remember my parents’ memorial service. It’s okay though. Caleb and I egged his house and saran wrapped his car graduation night. I wanted to do a lot more to him, but Caleb said that he would get the picture.

  When I finally woke up, I found a note on my bedside table.

  Kinz,

  I have to go see my parents—big family thing.

  I will be back tomorrow in time for the party. Promise.

  Stay safe.—Will

  Well my day is starting off great. The one person I needed to talk to today and he isn’t even in the state. I began weighing my options. I could call Jack, but I knew my big brother well enough to know that he wasn’t going to tell me anything, even if there was something to tell. Which I knew in my gut there was. So, calling Jack was definitely not going to happen.

  What other options did I have? I could call Will on his cell. No, Kinsey. You can’t do that. You don’t know what kind of family thing he has going on. It could be a funeral. And calling him and burdening him with your problems isn’t right.

  So, who else did that leave? I could tell Abby or Addison. They would understand, wouldn’t they? Of course. Who wouldn’t be able to understand having the same recurring nightmare for the last five years? They would understand that my nightmare was about my parents’ plane crash. And I’m sure they would totally get why I believe my brother is hiding details from me about the crash and how my nightmare has started changing. Yeah right, Kinsey. Both of them would freak out or think you were completely insane.

  Now that I had ruled out everyone, I guess I was down to my last option. I would have to be patient. Will would be home in 24 hours. I could be patient when I wanted to be and I guess at this moment, I would just have to be.

  The entire time I was getting ready for class, my thoughts kept drifting back to Will and his “family thing”. I kept wondering what it could be. I knew it had to be important because Will never left school. The entire time I had known him his family had never come to visit him. Likewise, he never went to see them. All families have issues, well except mine. But that was only because Jack and I were the only members of our family—until Em joins us in March. If Will’s family was anything like him, I could not fathom any tension. He had always been a substitute Jack for me. And I am sure that his family had to be somewhat like him. Right?

  Will didn’t talk about his family that much, to me at least. Especially in comparison to how much I talked about my mom, dad, Jack, Em, and even Caleb. All I knew was that his family lives in Florida. He has an older brother, Harrison, in law school, and a younger sister, Ella, who started college in August. Oh, and his parents are both environmental lawyers. I thought that was awesome.

  A thought dawned on me as I was eating breakfast. I am a horrible best friend. The worst. Seriously. I barely knew anything about Will’s childhood or family. I made a vow, over my half-eaten bowl of cheerios, that I would find out more about his family and childhood. And I would be the best friend that he deserved.

  After class, I picked up Addison in my little black Kia Soul. I love my car. Jack bought it for me when I started college. He said that it was what mom and dad would have wanted. But knowing my mom and dad, they would have preferred me living at home and them taking me to and from college every day. I was their baby girl after all. Ironic, huh? I get more freedom at the expense of my parents’ lives. But I would give back my car and every ounce of freedom to have my parents alive. But as Jack says, life goes on and they watch over us every day.

  Addison and I drove to the city to find decent costumes because I knew that the one store in our little college town would not have any good grown-up ones. And even if they had some, I was almost certain that the best costumes had already been sold. Especially, since we were going shopping the day before Halloween.

  I was glad I decided to make plans with her today, especially now since my best friend had abandoned me. I know he didn’t abandon me—he had a family thing. And it’s not like he has to spend every waking moment with me. But it still bothers me a little because I really need him right now. He is the only person I can talk to about my screwed-up life. Hopefully Addison would keep me sufficiently distracted so I wouldn’t keep thinking about Will and how much I suck as a best friend.

  Addison, of course, knew something was wrong as soon as she got in the car. I told her Will had to go to Florida to see his family. She just said, ‘Well that explains it’. I didn’t bother to tell her that Will being out of town wasn’t the only reason I was distracted. It’s not like I could tell her about my nightmare, or my weird ‘flower’ dream with Tyler, Will, and Caleb, or how much I suck as a best friend. She, I’m sure, knew everything about her best friend, Lizbeth.

  Addison actually managed to make me forget all about my problems. She was a blast to hang out with. And I worked hard to have a good time because I didn’t want to ruin our trip. We even made a whole night of it, since neither one of us had plans and we rarely got to hang out—well outside of work that is. We finally found costumes after going to four different stores. We went out to dinner and even watched a movie. We thought about going to a club, but neither one of us were dressed to go dancing. So, we ended our girls’ night and headed back to campus.

  On the way, I noticed a massive black SUV following us. I didn’t think much of it at first because we were on the interstate. But then it followed us as I got off on our exit. I debated on mentioning anything to Addison—fearing she would totally flip out. I reasoned with myself that it was more than likely just another student on the way back to school. By the next turn, I started to worry because it was so dark outside, and the road was completely deserted except for my little car and the massive SUV.

  I finally decided to tell Addison. Jack always says, “the best offense is a good defense”. I figured if she knew that I thought someone was following us, she would either come up with a plan or explain to me why they were still behind us.

  “Addison?”

  “Yeah,” she said. She hadn’t noticed anything because she bought a new purse on our shopping excursion. She had been moving and organizing all of her belongings from her old purse to her new one for the last ten minutes.

  “Don’t freak out on me, ‘kay?”

  “Why? What’s wrong? Is something wrong with the car? Are we out of gas? Oh, God. We are in the middle of nowhere.”

  Well so much for her not freaking out.

  “Calm down. The car is fine, and we have plenty of gas,” I said quickly hoping to prevent her from hyperventilating.

  I think we should have watched the chick flick instead of that new horror movie at the theater. Who knew it would actually be scary? The oth
er zillion never looked all that real. I used to watch them with Caleb, and we would laugh at how every time a girl got naked, she was chopped into little pieces. Caleb always said the bad guy had to be ‘into dudes’ not to appreciate all of those beautiful naked women. So, I figured this one would be like the rest, but boy was I wrong.

  “That’s a relief. So, what’s wrong then?” She asked puzzled.

  I decided to take the back way into school because not many people knew it. I figured this would settle whether we were being followed or not. And it did settle it—we were definitely being followed! The SUV was right behind us. I am really starting to freak out.

  “Kinsey, what’s going on?”

  “Look, Addison. I’m going to pull into the Quickmart, and you are going to get out of the car and head into the store. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  I wasn’t sure if that was the best plan, but it was the only one I had. I knew it had to be better than taking Addison to the dorms, especially since it was after midnight and the campus would be deserted. I still wasn’t for sure if it was following us. I thought it was but that could be a reaction based on the combination of my acute sense of paranoia and a really gruesome slasher flick.

  The Quickmart stayed open all night and there was usually a security guard stationed inside. Usually, but not always. Why did Will have to choose now to go out of town? I needed him right now. I still could definitely see the lights behind me.

  “Why Kinsey? You are starting to scare me.”

  “Well I think we are being followed. That SUV has been behind us since we left the city. Every time I turn, it does too. I am even taking the longer, less travelled way back to school. And it is too. It could be coincidence, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  Addison started searching through her new purse for her cell phone. I was sure all of her hard work of organizing it—just went out the window. Along with what was left of her sanity.