Pause

by CJ Adler

  “Because I'm not fun,” he answers blandly, dejectedly, making me feel a sense of guilt for my previous words. It's not like I meant it. Okay, so I did. I just sometimes wish he'd lighten up and let go for once. He's too uptight.

  “You can't seriously be mad at me?” I ask, bewildered and puzzled by the offense taken to my mindless comment. He's usually not this thin-skinned.

  “Forget it,” he says and gets up to dust himself off, not bothering to help me up.

  “By the way,” I wince, “I think it was a false alarm.”

  He answers in sarcasm, “It's weird, you'd think she'd be awake and looking out the window at 5:30 in the morning.”

  “Exactly!” I reply, exasperated.

  I glance sideways to see how the others are faring. In the distance, I spot Grey glaring at Troy while Max tries to make small talk with Troy in hopes of getting Blubber and Simo in. I should have really thought that one through. I should have sent Maxi and Grey to get Bells, and Blubber and Simo to distract Troy. After all, Bells actually likes Max, and Blubber and Simo are too well-framed to fit through her door.

  I edge closer, eavesdropping on the conversation. “So, uhm, Bells tells me that you are into cars. My ride isn't working and I was hoping you could check it out,” Max tells Troy, not at all good at acting.

  Troy likes to think he knows something about cars. You just gotta play to his ego.

  “At five in the morning?” Troy asks, suspicious, as he glances from Max to Grey in confusion.

  Max is quick to improvise. “You just seem like the fit and chill dude to get up early and gym. You know what I mean?”

  Good one, Max! Just compliment Troy and he will blindly follow you unto your death.

  Troy flashes Max a grin before flexing. “It's true, I am fit,” he agrees, easily manipulated. “Not to brag, but I've bench pressed a few cars here and there in my day.”

  What a liar. His wake up time is at least one in the afternoon, minimum.

  Troy then nods in Grey's direction, silently approving of him. “What's with him?”

  “He's uhm…shy,” Max utters nervously, earning him a sharp glare from Grey.

  Troy, clueless as always, shrugs and follows after Max into the driveway, leaving the front door to the house completely open.

  I whistle. Blubber and Simo hear the signal and sprint as fast as their stubby legs can carry them into the house. They run upstairs, and ten minutes later (much slower than the average human speed), they finally make it outside Bell's room, both of them panting, trying to regain their breathing.

  I sigh. This might just take longer than expected.

  My eyes move back to Maxi, Troy, and Grey. Grey remains silent while Max tries to explain what went wrong with his car in his apparent 'accident'.

  I vaguely hear Troy talking. “It might be the back wheel overheating,” he says, surveying the car carefully even though it is apparent that he has no idea what he's talking about. “It's a common problem in cars these days.”

  I don't miss Grey's 'what the hell' face. As a racer, he definitely knows about cars. Nonetheless, he chooses to stay silent, not breaking character.

  Max humors Troy, almost believing him. “Perhaps.”

  “Well, here, let me try it out,” Troy offers, hopping into the car before Max can protest. “Of course, I will expect some payment of some sort.”

  He's about to start the engine when Max shoves him aside violently in a panic.

  “No!” Max shouts and then coughs awkwardly to cover up his mistake as

  Troy raises his eyebrows. “I mean, rather not because if something is wrong with the engine it might just burst into flames and kill you—”

  “It won't burst into flames,” Troy replies back persistently. “I mean, I don't think it will. Will it?” he asks, unsure, stressing himself out.

  Grey merely scoffs in attitude.

  “But are you willing to take that risk?” Max asks, trying to convince Troy otherwise. “Are you willing to jeopardize this life you've been given?”

  “I am,” Troy answers with ease without having to think twice about it.

  I tune out of the conversation, knowing that it's only a matter of time before Troy catches on, by that, I mean a lot of time.

  I watch in anticipation from Bell's window as Blubber sneaks in and blindfolds her. When she opens her mouth to yell, he sticks a sock in her mouth, shushing her. The 'crazy' in Bells is unleashed as she begins slapping the two, absolutely furious. Fortunately, she can't see them. Still, she holds her own well.

  Eventually, Simo throws her small, delicate frame into a large black bag before zipping it closed. Blubber blows a kiss at her despite the fact that she can't see him.

  I roll my eyes. He's just lucky that I'm not up there in the room with them. “Oh, Romeo, let down your hair!” I call up to them, growing impatient. Simo quickly lifts Bells into his arms. This is where Jay comes in. I turn, looking to see where Jay walked off to minutes before, but he's nowhere in sight.

  “Jay!” I whisper-shout as the sun begins to rear its ugly head.

  No answer.

  Simo, like the giant idiot he is, drops Bells out the window without warning and without even checking to see if Jay is there to catch her.

  So, as Bell's body comes flying out the window I cannot help but begin to panic. Her death will be on my hands. I sprint forward, trying to catch her in time, hoping that I'd at least break her fall.

  It soon becomes obvious that I'll never make it.

  My feet stop on their own accord as another person comes into view: Jay. I let out a breath of relief as he extends his hands, catching Bells just in time. He glances down at Bells and shakes his head before unzipping her face and removing the sock so that she can breathe.

  Jay turns to me and motions that it's go-time. He hands Bells to Benley. Meanwhile, Simo and Blubber, like morons, try to climb down the side of the two-story house instead of just taking the front door. They insist on being actual spies. Blubber loses his footing and ends up clambering down, screaming to me to catch him.

  Heck, no! I don't feel like being flattened today.

  Simo happens to glance down to see what the commotion is about. In his distracted state of mind, he lets go and comes falling down right on top of Blubber, completely squashing him.

  I glance back to Troy and them to see Max performing some ritual, moon dance around Troy as a distraction method. Grey yawns and kicks at the car's tire in boredom.

  It's official, I'm surrounded by idiots.

  “You rolled me up into a human pancake!” Blubber yells at Simo, smacking him upside the head as Simo finally lifts himself off of Blubber, laughing hysterically.

  Just sprinkle some cinnamon on him and he's good to go!

  I end up pushing both Simo and Blubber to our getaway car where Jay is waiting impatiently. I open the back door for Benley and motion for him to get inside. I don't waste time and shove Blubber and Sims in too. Lastly, I climb into the passenger seat beside our getaway driver. I'm barely in the car when Jay steps foot on the accelerator.

  Through the rearview mirror, I spot Troy running after us. Max lies on the floor, cradling his stomach.

  It's then that I see Max reaching out a hand to us, his mouth moving. The window slides down. “Go on without me!”

  “We are!” I call back, pushing my head out the window.

  “I didn't mean it, take me with you!” he yells back weakly, the wind having been knocked out of him.

  I ignore his shouts of desperation, tuning him out. Sacrifices have to be made.

  “Put your head back in the car!” Jay complains before I feel one of his hands curl around my wrist as he tugs at me, his eyes still on the road.

  “Are we really just gonna leave him to the mercy of the crazy brother?” Benley asks, slightly concerned.

  “Max would want this,” I assure Benley in absolute confidence. “He'd want us to leave him behind. It's for the greater good and he understands that.”r />
  “Are we hearing the same person begging for us to go back?” Ben asks, referring to Max's continuous pleading.

  ***

  It's officially six in the morning when we arrive at Jay's house. Benley carries Bell into the house and gently lowers her down onto Jay's couch. The rest of them join as I go prepare. I switch the lights off and then motion to Benley to untie her, remove her from the bag and take off her blindfold.

  As soon as the blindfold is removed from her eyes, she immediately casts her gaze around the room to find out where she is. Her eyes finally find mine and burn in fury, the childlike innocence in her expression now leaving her.

  “I figured as much,” she says icily.

  I hold up my hands in defense. “'Kay, so before you can—”

  “What the heck, Aqueela? I knew you were behind this! I've been panicking for the past hour and you didn't think to clarify that it's you?! If this is your way of apologizing, you can forget it!” she shouts, her thunderous voice echoing around for all of us to hear.

  My eyes widen in surprise as I flinch back. Before I can say anything more, Blubber's already gone on with the plan, the slideshow now playing.

  Bell's eyes move off of mine and onto the screen in a puzzled manner. When the first picture of us comes up, a picture of when we were younger, her gaze softens a fraction.

  I let out a breath of relief. This might work after all.

  The show goes on as pictures from our incredibly long past continue to flash across the screen with goofy captions underneath. I glance to Bell to find her eyes watering at the very last picture, that being us and our friendship bracelets— one of our best memories to date.

  The screen turns black as everyone remains silent, waiting for Bells to break the tense atmosphere. Eventually, she clears her throat and turns to face me. “Can we talk?”

  I nod all too eagerly. “Everyone evacuate to Mars!” I holler before following Bells into the kitchen.

  “What you did, kidnapping me, was not so great,” she starts, “but this, what you've done now, is great.”

  I smile at her words. “Thanks.”

  “But…” she continues, my smile having been obliterated by the single word, “despite our 'ancient friendship', as you say, I just feel like you've betrayed me in a sense. Again, I know you never kissed Mason. I know you pushed him away and I know you never had any intentions of taking him away from me, but the fact of the matter is that you did.”

  “Let me fix it,” I pipe up. “Tell me what to do and I'll fix it. You want me to end him? I will. You know I will.”

  No matter how gentle Bell's words are, there is still a fierce force behind them.

  A tear escapes her eye. “I'm sorry, Aqueela. I love you and I always will, but

  I just can't be friends with you right now. I need some time to adjust and figure out who I am without you and Mason.”

  I nod, trying to understand. “I'm sorry,” I mumble in the hopes of changing it all.

  I glance at Blubber sleeping on the kitchen counter, drooling everywhere, to distract me from the sting of rejection flowing through my veins. He's tired. The baby still needs his sleep. I woke him up too early. I still wonder how his parents don't notice his absence.

  I return to the others once Bell has left. I don't miss Jay's concerned gaze trailing after me as I fall onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling in hopelessness, aware of the changes coming my way—high school is going to be worse than before.

  The others leave on their own accord, Blubber leaving with Simo only after Jay wakes him up, basically shoving him off of the counter.

  It's only once they're all gone that Jay collapses down beside me. He knows that something is up. He's not used to my silence. He's used to my jibberjabber and 'non-shutty upness'.

  However, if anything, he looks mad, angry almost. Usually, he's a softie when I'm upset and all broody, but now he's giving me the cold shoulder, almost as if I've done something wrong. I can't help myself when I ask him, “What's wrong?”

  “You,” he answers coldly, agitated.

  “What did I do?” I ask, ready to defend myself against whatever accusations he's about to toss my way.

  “You keep saying you want me to react, to stop being so indifferent, well, fine, here it is. I don't like Montry and I don't like Bella. I don't like the power you've given them over your life. I don't like seeing their effect on you,” he pauses, taking in a deep breath, before concluding, “I don't like seeing you down like this.”

  “Sorry,” I mutter, uncertain of what else it is that I'm supposed to say to that.

  “Don't apologize. They're the ones who should be apologizing to you,” he replies, averting his eyes from mine, looking down at the floor instead. “You deserve better friends.”

  “I get why you think friends are overrated now,” I admit, finally seeing it from his perspective. “Maybe people are better off on their own.”

  “You're beginning to prove my theory wrong,” he says quietly, fessing up. “For someone who hates friendship, you're pretty good at it yourself,” I joke, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

  “Yeah, well,” he brushes it off smoothly, playfully popping the collar of his shirt in pride, “I try.”

  “I don't have to,” I brag, messing around. “It just comes naturally to me.” His mouth falls agape at my audacity. “Someone's incredibly humble about it.”

  “Yeah, well,” I mimic him mockingly, “I try.”

  He grins before getting serious. “This is just a phase, Aqueela. Don't dwellin it.”

  “Since when are you optimistic?” I ask, raising my eyebrows in bewilderment.

  “I've been getting lessons.” He winks at me teasingly before staring at the floor again, silent. He furrows his eyebrows, in deep thought, a frown finding its way over his lips.

  “Is everything alright, Jay?” I ask softly, worried.

  He's most transparent when his guard is down.

  “I'm fine,” he tells me before excusing himself.

  I hear the fridge door open soon after his retreat. I can only guess what he's reaching for. He's probably doing it in some idle attempt to block out the darkness.

  Chapter 22

  On Edge

  “I take it back! You're fun! You're so fun! You're so much fun! You're way more fun than me! Can I go home now?!” I shout, afraid, as I cling onto a drunk Jay, the both of us standing on top of the very same cliff we went to last time, or as Jay apparently likes to call it, 'Neptune Cliff'.

  Except, this time, Jay is out of his mind crazy. He wants us to both jump. What blood pact is this? I'm terrified of heights—my one and only fear other than the inevitable zombie apocalypse, the rise of the machines and alien abductions.

  Jay simply laughs at my nervousness and unwraps his body from me as he takes a daring step toward the edge. “Look alive, Klutz!” he shouts, his back to the cliff and his eyes on me as he takes yet another step back. “You want fun? Let's have some real fun! The water is probably great.”

  “Not when the water feels like cement!” I yell in protest, gingerly reaching out to him in order to try and pull him away from the edge of the cliff. However, to do that I have to get close to the cliff.

  “Only one way to find out!” he argues, moving a step back so that he's now standing on the very edge of the cliff.

  I didn't realize that his definition of fun is death. I'm not too keen.

  “If I promise that you're a zillion, trillion, bazillion times more fun than me, will you come home?!”

  If he thinks that I'm that type that jumps off the cliff just because the other person does, then he needs to think again!

  “Don't be such a buzzkill, Klutz.” He chuckles, his blue eyes twinkling in amusement.

  “Damn it, Jay!” I run forward and grab his arm, cautiously watching my step, not expecting him to resist me. When he doesn't move, I let out a squeal of terror before sprinting back to safety. “You will fall!”

  I reac
h for him again, only to end up running straight back to the safe zone. Jay's amused gaze remains on me. I repeat the process a few times, letting out a fearful squeal here and there, until Jay finally decides he's had enough of my poor attempts in rescuing him.

  “I fell a long time ago,” he says before doing the unthinkable.

  I watch in horror as he salutes me before jumping off the cliff in a backflip.

  Sometime earlier…

  I'm lying across one of the leather couches, staring up at the ceiling, when Jay begins to chuckle aloud at nothing in particular. I'm assuming the alcohol has just kicked into his system.

  Now's my time to get anything I want from him, starting with Grey's phone number. I grin cunningly to myself when he gives it me, no questions asked. I save his number under “Mr. Grumpy” and give him a call. I end up prank calling him a few times much to his rising temper.

  “Where are you going?” I ask Jay when he picks up his car keys.

  There's no way he can drive drunk, no matter how good of a driver he is.

  “To Neptune,” he answers, completely serious.

  I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, watching him take unsteady steps across the room. I quickly stand up to block his path when he makes for the front door.

  “As in, another planet?” I question, snatching his keys from him without him even noticing.

  “Don't be stupid, Klutz,” he corrects me, taking offense for no reason whatsoever. “There's only one planet!”

  “Are you feeling okay?” I ask, concerned. I should have put a stop to the pointless drinking.

  “Splendid!” He reassures me with a wide grin just as he loses his balance, collapsing straight into me.

  I catch his dead weight in time. I wrap my arm around his waist, trying to support him, but he only leans further into me. “Someone's drunk,” I say in a sing- song voice.

  His blue eyes brighten as he answers me back in a sing-song voice, “And someone should get drunk.” He chuckles and taps my nose playfully.

  I raise my eyebrows, stunned. This is definitely out of character for him.