by Lilly Mance
“Aww,” my heart was thumping fast. I wished he was still at Brad's. At that moment, if it was possible, I loved him even more.
“That’s THE cutest thing a guy could do,” Maya commented, grinning mouth wide.
“Is he like that all the time?” Helen asked, leaning elbows on her knees, supporting her chin.
“Actually, no,” I clasped my hands in my lap. “He went out of his comfort zone on this one.”
“What happens when he disappears?” Helen was back to her initial worry. My well-being.
I chewed on my lip, pondering whether to tell them the latest developments or not. I decided to say, “I’ll come and visit you on campus to get a speedy recovery.” They smiled, but I saw they didn’t buy it, so I said, “It will be hard, but as he said...It was worth it.”
“Still, you didn’t have to ditch us completely,” Maya shifted in her seat.
“I’m sorry. But he could have disappeared at any given moment, and I didn’t want to––” I stopped to choose words. Waste time wasn’t appropriate although it was true, “––to lose any minute with him.” I bowed my head, and stared at my fingers, twirling them around.
“This stunt could have been done in the beginning,” Helen swished her finger through the air. “The whole summer, Lyra...Gone!” She snapped her fingers.
“It hasn’t crossed our minds,” I admitted, “As a matter of fact, I didn’t know he was gonna pull that off tonight,” I said, wondering when he had a chance to write those notes. Was it premeditated?
“Such a shame,” Maya added. “Let’s get back inside. We have to go home soon.”
Things weren’t back to normal, and I wasn’t sure they were ever gonna be, but Zack saved the day, and now at least we were back on speaking terms. Brad and Shawn smiled seeing us come inside together, they even seemed relieved. The rest of the evening, both guys did their best to keep us laughing.
~*~
Mom picked me up after her shift. She was dead tired, barely keeping her eyes on the road, and I kept to myself thinking maybe this whole rift in our friendship was for the best. At least they wouldn’t miss me if I decided to go with Zack. Mom, on the other hand, would be devastated. I kept glancing at her while she was driving. There was nothing I could do to make her mad enough to take the edge off of pain. Maybe I didn’t have to die for her, maybe I could suddenly develop an interest that could be fulfilled only by going away on college? Somewhere far away. Preferably on the other continent, and different time zone. That stirred some hope.
As soon as we came home, we both retired in our rooms. I was slightly taken aback finding mine empty. I took it for granted that Zack would be there when I came home. At least I didn't have to worry he would die on me, but the temporal war issue did cause some level of anxiety. I'll have to ask for that bracelet thingy since he didn't use cell phones.
Safely tucked in my bed, I drifted off into sleep. Not sure when, I felt Zack hop into bed, and curl around my body, sliding his arm over me, and tucking his fingers under my belly. I smoothed my hand over his, saying, “You came.”
He tugged me closer, deeply inhaling my scent, “It's where I belong,” he said, blowing out air.
As if tasered, my body jumped in overdrive. I turned around in his embrace. Moonlight peering through the drapes lit his face just enough so I could see his magical gaze. At that moment, I knew. I was going away with him. Nothing could stop that from happening. He traced an outline of my face, then leaned in, and kissed me. The softness of his lips and the warmth of his body so close to mine were bringing me dangerously close to the point of spontaneous self-combustion. He started off kissing me slowly, pausing after every kiss to look into my eyes, then sped up, tugging me tighter and tighter against him, breathing heavily with each tug. I pushed him on his back, and climbed on top of him. He stared at me, bewildered, then traced his fingers from my mouth, down my chin, over the hollow of my neck, ending on my navel. His fingers curled around the hem of my sleeping shorts. I pulled his T-shirt up, exposing his chest, smoothing my palms over his torso. He lifted slightly, allowing me to take it off. Fire in his eyes matched mine. Tango could begin.
~*~
Chapter #16
If I had known how hard it would be to shift my consciousness into Zack's realm, I would have started on it sooner. Now it was already Christmas time, and no matter what I did, nothing happened. Zack seemed to be amused by it, and not at all worried that I wouldn't succeed. Ethan said something about a deadline. He didn't say when that deadline was to keep the pressure off Sophie and me, but he did say they couldn't stick around forever. He made it sound as if it weren't up to them to decide how long. When I asked Zack about it, he wiggled out of answering, and only muttered something about a chain of command.
During practice, the only prerequisite Zack insisted on was to lie down, because once I managed to shift my consciousness, my body would collapse in semi-comatose state. He said it wasn't dangerous, and I believed him. Everything he had said so far proved to be right; I had no reason to believe it wasn't this time.
“You have to stop stressing over it,” he said after my trillionth attempt. “You have to relax. It'll come to you naturally.”
“Easy for you to say,” I grimaced, tucking my arms behind my head. “I don't even know what I'm doing!”
“It's like standing up. You don't think about doing it. You just do it,” he stood up from a chair a couple of times to demonstrate.
“Sure. Now it is. But I had to learn it first as a toddler. I need that middle step,” I straightened my arms again, and went back to trying to stand up.
“You body already knows how to do it. It's an automatic mechanism.”
“I wasn’t particularly bright as toddler, either,” I chuckled.
It didn’t work. Nothing was ringing any bells. I let out a sigh of utter frustration.
Zack smirked, and said, “We better call it a day. It won’t work while you’re trying too hard.”
“It’ll never work,” I sputtered.
Zack hopped on the bed next to me, tapping the tip of my nose lightly, “We have time. There’s no rush.”
“That’s new,” I giggled. “Time wasn’t what we used to have.”
Zack’s lips grew into a smile, “True. I suppose I could be bad, and hop into the future to see when you’ll get a hang of it,” a devilish grin flashed over his picture perfect face.
“Will you?” I said, gazing at him hopefully.
“Nope. That would change the outcome,” he pulled my sweatshirt collar, exposing my shoulder, and placed a kiss.
“You just have to rain on my parade,” I formed a pout, pulling back my collar.
“It’s not like that,” he traced my puckered lips with a tip of his finger. “Besides, I want it to be a surprise for me, as well.”
“Why on Earth would you want that?” I snorted.
“Things rarely surprise time travelers. It’s refreshing when it happens.”
“Speaking of surprises... You never asked me what I decided,” I propped myself onto the elbow. I’ve known for months, but didn’t tell him.
“I didn’t know you have,” his eyes widened, colored by curiosity and worry at the same time. “Do I even want to know?” His eyes narrowed, as if suspecting the worst.
I smiled, and nodded, “I’m coming with you.”
His mouth fell open, eyes blinking. Faster than light, he grabbed me into his embrace, kissing whatever came close to his mouth, then rolled me over onto my back, gazing into my eyes. I’d never seen him happier.
“This is huge,” he brushed the back of his hand down my cheek, and then his face went back to serious. “Are you sure?” He asked, and I nodded, smiling. “Absolutely, undoubtedly certain?”
“Yes,” I said. “Come to think of it, it was long decided. I just didn’t realize it.”
“Asking you to marry me would be nothing compared to this. You know that, right?”
“What? I can’t divorce a temporal g
uard?” I purposely quipped.
“You can. That wasn’t the point,” his brows furrowed. “It’s the level of commitment I was referring to.”
“I know,” I giggled. “That’s what tipped the scale,” I winked.
He threaded his fingers through my hair, and placed his hand on the back of my neck, then pulled me closer, “I love you,” he murmured against my lips, and dived in.
Practice was officially over. Our commitment was about to be consummated.
~*~
Sophie wasn't making any progress either. For reasons beyond me, Ethan and Zack were certain we would do it eventually, so they were busy scanning the area for best cryobox hideouts, and looking for materials to build them. Every day, we would meet for coffee at Mario's after my shift. Ethan was rather blunt about his interest in Sophie, but she would brush him off just as bluntly. She had one goal, to become a temporal guard, and nothing could stand in the way of her private crusade. In my opinion, she liked Ethan more than she let any of us know. He seemed to enjoy her nasty bites, or at least wasn't bothered by them.
Now that I was clear on my choice of life, I needed some help with the way I planned to execute it, so the moment we sat down, I laid out my plan. Or at least the initial idea.
“Listen guys,” I said, smoothing my palms over the table, “I need your gray cells focused on something.”
“Why do you think Ethan has any?” Sophie smirked, and Ethan gave her the evil eye. Zack chuckled, liking the way Sophie challenged Ethan.
“I don't want my parents to experience my death,” I said, feeling my palms getting clammy.
“Not that again,” Sophie huffed, showing her annoyance.
“No, no, let her speak,” Ethan elbowed Sophie, “Zack is strangely perky today,” his eyes flashed with suspicion, “And I think it has something to do with this.”
I smiled, and Zack's cheeks flushed. “It does,” I said, slightly chuckling, “I'm coming with.”
Sophie jumped up in her seat, clapping her hands, and squealed, “Finally!”
“What do you have in mind?” Zack asked, tucking my hair behind my ear.
“I'm thinking about faking going away to college somewhere far away. Some place where normal communication would be difficult to maintain, but they wouldn't suspect anything was wrong,” I looked at them hopefully, because I didn't know any place like that. “I know I have to be dead to them eventually, but this would be a transitional thing. At least until they get used to my absence.”
“How about Antarctica?” Sophie chuckled, earning a few stern looks from the three of us.
“This is important to me, Soph,” I slouched back, crossing my arms, “And I have to pull it off perfectly. There’s no room for error.”
“I know,” Sophie rolled her eyes, “You've made it more than obvious over the months.”
“Why college?” Zack asked, his mouth forming a small circle.
“Seems plausible,” I replied, “Why? You have other ideas?”
“Maybe,” Zack said, narrowing his eyes on a distant spot, pondering something.
“Don't keep us waiting,” Ethan threw a napkin at him. Without looking, Zack caught it and sent it flying back at Ethan.
“What about a job?” Zack's eyes darted back on me.
“What about it?” I said, searching his face for a hint. Sophie and Ethan equally confused.
“Maybe we could find you a fake job in some God forgotten place. That would be even less suspicious,” Zack sputtered, and our eyes widened in response.
“Oh, that's brilliant,” I said. “Before I decided to take a break, I was interested in chemistry. Maybe we could find something that would involve that.”
“If you are a good actor, we can fake receiving a letter from an institute in Cambodia calling you to come work for them,” Ethan suggested, playing with the napkin.
“No,” Zack jumped in, a bit too fast, “Nothing easily verifiable, or with too many people. It needs to be remote, but has to seem important.”
“Let's not forget,” I said, “My parents are smart, with good connections. They will most definitely check out the place before they give me their blessing.”
“Sophie's joke about Antarctica isn't a bad idea,” Zack spouted, to my surprise. I looked at him, blinking. “Don't dismiss it right away. Important research goes on down there, and it's remote enough, with terrible communications.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled, seriously considering it.
“See,” Sophie was gloating, “Gray cells,” she pointed to her head. We chuckled.
“So you don't use your head for combing only?” Ethan glanced at Sophie, semi-innocently, biting his lower lip to suppress an emerging grin.
Sophie shot him a stern look, “No, Ethan. Unlike you, the rest of us do something with what's inside,” she grinned, smoothing one of her locks.
“Game, set, match,” Ethan said, throwing a napkin in front of her as if forfeiting the game.
“Guys,” I called, “Back to Antarctica.”
“How good are you at chemistry?” Zack asked.
“Oh, pretty good actually. I got some great scholarship offers from several colleges, and even some companies,” I bragged a bit.
“And you chose to wait tables?” Ethan snorted, shaking his head in disapproval.
“I wanted to think about everything before I signed any contracts. They don't spit out that much money without fine print binding your ass till you die,” I sneered.
“Ethan and I will go back in time to see what Antarctica would find interesting to fund,” Zack skipped right over to the point, “And then we'll make it happen.”
“But,” Sophie said, “How are you gonna get your parents to agree to it?”
“I'll start by showing huge interest in that direction. Make them believe it's my dream,” I smiled, “All I have to do is show them how badly I want it.”
“And we have to make the offer from Antarctica seem as a perfect fulfillment of that dream,” Zack added, completely following my line of thought.
“That should do it,” I clasped my hands together, “They usually let me follow my dreams,” I smiled thinking about Mom and Dad, “They're pretty awesome!” My heart sunk thinking of what I was actually planning on doing. To them. Zack sensed it, so he put his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder. His eyes radiating support and understanding.
“That's what makes it so hard,” Zack said, gazing softly in my eyes. I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“You will have to defrost me every six months, though,” I said, gazing up at him, “I will have to keep some level of communication with them.”
“Sure,” he smiled, smoothing his thumb over my chin, “That can be easily done. And you can hop to Antarctica every now and then to send them some letters. You don't have to defrost to do that.”
“Really?” My eyes widened. Zack's lips tipped up, and he nodded. “Cool!”
“So...” Sophie said, “We're doin' this?”
“Yeah,” I smiled, squeezing closer to Zack. “We’re doin’ it!”
~*~
Chapter #17
It happened in April. I was the first to move myself into the new realm, and then Sophie followed. Since we were trying to do it for months without any substantial progress, eventually we stopped trying so hard, dedicating our attention to other things, and that must have done it. My exit was totally accidental. Zack and I were discussing a paper I was supposed to write for our fake Antarctica project. He was browsing data on my computer, while I was resting on the bed. Finally, he found something useful, so he said:
“Ly, come check this out.”
I stormed over, and glanced at the screen, “Oh, yeah,” I chuckled, “That's what we were looking for,” I lowered my glance on him. He was looking at me as if he were gonna melt at any moment. “What?” I asked with a half smile, wondering what brought it on. He reached into his pocket, and took out a small, black patch, then pressed it against my wrist. I felt a prickling sens
ation, and then a sharp stabbing pain for a second. “Ouch!” I grimaced, grabbing his hand.
“No, no, don't move it,” he said, stopping me. “I have to ground you in this realm. Let it sink under your skin.”
My eyes widened. I knew what that meant. Slowly, I turned my head toward the bed in anticipation, and gasped seeing my body peacefully resting there. As soon as the patch had sunken in, Zack placed a soft kiss on my wrist, and stood up. His eyes were gleaming, staring strongly into mine. A smile reached his eyes, and he cupped my face, then kissed me.
“You did it,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. Pride was written all over him.
“I did!” I said, my voice too high from excitement. I wrapped myself around him.
He picked me up, and spun us around my room. “Remember this day,” he said, smiling wide, “This is your new birthday!”
I couldn't get the grin off of my face. All those months had finally paid off. I felt ecstatic, alive, complete, and happy. I looked at my new self, then Zack. He wasn't hovering anymore, and if I hadn't known where I was, I would have never thought my body could be invisible to anyone. It felt so normal to the touch; the overall feel was one of normalcy. Yet, my body was spread out on the bed, and I was standing in the middle of my room.
“Go ahead,” Zack said, seeing me staring at my body. I glanced at him, unsure what to do. “Examine it. Touch it.” He smiled, urging me to do it.
I edged closer to the bed, fearing what awaited me. It was strange to look at myself from that perspective. It was me, but it wasn't. I dared to sit down next to...to me. I reached out, and poked it, snapping my hand back. Zack chuckled, and I smiled faintly, feeling goose bumps covering my new body in response.
“It's like rubber,” I said, confused at how it felt. “Like it's not even me.”
“Uh-huh. It's like coma, you can't feel physical sensations that happen to that body, because the most of you is in this new one,” he explained, placing his hand on my shoulder.