by Lake, D. K.
"You and Lane both found each other when you needed each other, he relies on you to look after him, he looks to you for everything. The thought of losing you leaves him feeling like he has no reason to be here, he wouldn't know what to do, that's why he needed to find a way to fix you, and why he made it his mission to get you to Colorado to see his brother. He would literally be lost without you."
"I know. I do worry about him, how he would cope without me."
"That's why he gets so protective when there's another guy around, he doesn't want to lose you, you're his everything, and Drew makes him feel threatened."
My eyes slid to Josh and I knew he had been listening to Drew and me earlier.
"But I don't think he's your everything."
"And you would know?"
"I know what I see. Lane was always your traveling companion, and it wasn't so bad having him around, and you love him because you've been through a lot together and you've grown close over the years but I don't think you're in love with him."
"I'm with Lane." I simply responded.
"Really, I don't see you making out with him up against trees."
"Stop it!" I hissed.
"You know, I wondered why Drew didn't leave and why he came back as well. I thought he was sticking around 'cause he wanted to hang out for a bit longer and I thought we got on well and I'd made a friend, but now it all makes sense why he's still here. The way he looks at you, the way you two are when you're together, it's like you talk a secret language that only you two understand, the way you laugh together and bicker. The only reason he's still here is because of you. He's not really interested in anyone else."
"That's not true, you two talk, he's your friend."
"Not really. I'm just someone he puts up with, and everyone else is expendable. He's not even interested in D.C. and he thinks it's a waste of time, he's only going because of you." Josh said casually, picking up the sticks and stepping over me. It was as if he had already come to terms with the fact that Drew didn't really like anyone here and that he was only here for his own reasons; me.
Chapter 20
I let Josh's words sink in. Even Josh knew there was something weird going on between Drew and me. So I hadn't been imagining it. Was he really just here for me? I searched the room and found Lane watching me. I waved and he smiled back but it didn't last long, Drew sauntered back into the room and took a seat next to Josh and they whispered among themselves and Drew briefly glanced in my direction. I gave up trying to figure Drew out and grabbed a magazine off the counter that was all about fishing and bait. I hated being stuck in such a confined space with nowhere to go. And I hated how much Josh's words bothered me so much. Of course, I loved Lane. I mean, I love Lane. End of story.
Nothing would ever happen between Drew and me. I was with Lane, that's just how it was. I wasn't about to dump Lane and start dating Drew, I mean how silly did that sound anyway, we weren't in high school. Anyway, no one dates anyone anymore. You just end up with whomever you're thrown in with and you're just lucky if that person loves you back. We would get to Washington and Drew would get bored and go back home.
I kept to myself, busy with my magazines, learning all the different names for a bunch of fish and random stuff I would have forgotten all about come tomorrow. Rosie sprung a pair of hairdressing scissors from her bag and offered to cut everyone's hair as a thank you for taking them in. Josh jumped up straight away and Rosie used an old towel out the back room and placed it around his shoulders and got to work on his floppy mop-top. I had gotten used to it being longer, falling into his eyes, it made him look younger.
"So how did you two first meet?" Josh asked, making conversation.
Rosie walked around Josh and stood in front of him and held his head straight to check her work.
"Tobias went to my school." Rosie answered.
I curiously glanced over at Tobias, even with his face all swollen and bruised I could tell he was older than Rosie. A lot older. I didn't think she meant he was a student there but Josh didn't pick up on this.
"So am I doing you next?" Rosie looked up at Drew.
"No thanks." Drew grunted and went back to cleaning his bow.
"Whereabouts are you from? I detect a southern accent." Rosie smiled at Drew, trying to get him to talk to her.
"Nowhere important." Drew muttered and stood up, leaving the room.
Rosie frowned and snipped at Josh's hair.
"Don't worry about him. He's PMSing." Josh joked.
Rosie giggled. She appeared a lot younger when she giggled like a little girl.
"Where'd you learn to cut hair?" I asked, flinging my magazine over the desk and walking over to them.
"My mom's a hairdresser. Or at least she was a hairdresser. She showed me the basics before she left."
"I'm sorry." I said robotically.
I never knew what to say when people were talking about death or they were crying. I usually said the wrong thing, saying I'm sorry was always my go-to.
"It's ok, she passed away before the outbreak. She stepped onto tracks."
"Oh, that's horrible."
Rosie shrugged. "I think she did it on purpose." she said casually and then stepped back and ruffled Josh's hair up and smiled.
"And I think you're done."
Josh stood up and rubbed his hands over his head, brushing out all the loose pieces of hair. He walked into the back room and disappeared into the bathroom with a flashlight.
"Are you next?" Rosie held her scissors in the air looking in my direction.
"Um, no I'm okay."
"You sure? I could take a little off the ends, get rid of these split ends." She reached out and started touching my hair. Split ends? I didn't have split ends.
"I wouldn't mind a trim." Nick took a seat and distracted her away from me.
"I haven't had my hair cut by anyone in years. I usually run the buzzer over it when it gets a little too long." Nick said.
"Buzzer? Hair clippers...but how would they work without electricity?" Rosie asked curiously.
Good one, Nick.
He swallowed and looked at me.
"I'm guessing you used a battery powered one." Rosie smiled and ran her hand through his hair.
"Uh, yes." Nick smiled and ran his hands down his pants.
"We haven't found anywhere with electricity since the power went out after the outbreak." Tobias said, bringing a stool closer to us.
"There are a few places still lucky enough to have power. The prison where I met Josh, they had power and running water." I said.
"Prison?" Rosie asked confused.
"Not actual prison, just a large group of people taking shelter inside the prison building. It had electricity and showers, and there was a food drop nearby."
"What's a food drop?" she asked.
"Oh, it's a government thing. When they set up the safe-houses they ordered regular drops to be flown out to them."
"I didn't think the safe-houses were even real. No one we knew was ever contacted to go so we all thought it was fake." Rosie said.
"No. They're real. They're still a few around. They're really hard to find though." I said.
"So you had running water, electricity, and food. It sounds amazing." Rosie looked at me with a smile.
"I guess it was."
"Was?" Rosie lifted her head to look at me before snipping at Nick's hair.
"I mean, it is. It's still there but whether we ever get back there is another matter."
"So this family you're on your way to see must be really important to risk your lives trekking across the country." Rosie said as Josh walked back into the room.
"I haven't seen my brother for years, but if there's a chance that he's still alive then I have to go and look for him, you know. Alex and the others wouldn't take no for an answer when I said I was leaving and I didn't want anyone to come with me, but they insisted. So here we are." Josh said.
"Here we are." I added, fake smiling as Rosie's eyes slid to m
ine again.
"His name's Thom." Josh continued.
I was hoping that was the end of it, but Josh was turning a little lie into a full-blown backstory.
"We grew up in Salt Lake. Look, here's a photo of us at the Grand Canyon with my mom and dad." Josh flipped open his wallet and showed Rosie.
"Huh, you look very different from each other."
"I had a little more weight on me back then. But Thom was always getting sick as a child, it took a toll on him, he never seemed to be able to put any weight on."
Josh studied the photo and then shoved it under my nose but I had already seen it. I pulled a tight-lipped smile and appeared interested. Not that I wanted to be reminded of Thom and what I did to him. I looked at Lane to see if he was listening but he was busy playing with the pop-up tent.
"Well, I hope you find him." Rosie said.
I shifted uncomfortably. I felt bad for not telling him but I didn't want him to hate me.
"Do you like your hair?" Rosie asked Josh.
"Yes, thanks." Josh replied, touching his short hair.
Rosie finished cutting Nick's hair.
"Hey, I uh, saw a toilet out the back is it all right if I use it?" Rosie asked and nearly all of us responded with a "Nooooo!"
She gave us a weird look and frowned.
"It's blocked." Josh explained.
"Oh, I'll just nip outside."
"I'll um, come with you, keep a lookout."
"Thanks." Rosie smiled at Josh but I couldn't tell whether she was just being nice or whether she actually wanted him to follow her. I could never pee if someone was nearby listening. Ugh. Josh and Rosie disappeared out the back door and when they came back in she tapped Lane on the shoulder as she walked past.
"Lane, do you want me to cut a little off yours?" Rosie asked.
"Um," Lane ran a hand through his hair that was starting to curl around his ears. "Sure, why not?"
I went back over to my spot on the desk and lifted myself up.
"What do you think?" Josh came up to me and leaned on the desk.
"Looks good. You'll have the ladies falling all over you, but I did like the mop-top."
"Mop-top?" Josh laughed. "I think I'm glad it's gone if you were referring to my hair as a mop-top."
"Well, you wore it well, and it went with your freckles."
Josh tipped his head back and looked at me.
"I think I've given up on any lady falling all over me. It's pretty hard to find a girl nowadays, they're either crazy and want to eat me, gay, or taken."
"I could give you the name of a great dating website." I teased.
"Oh, yeah, what's that? Find your match at ZombieLove.com."
I laughed. "No, I was thinking of that other one, find the one at DeadbieDating.com."
"How about find love in the zombie apocalypse, sign up now, join Corpse Brides."
"Ew." I playfully pushed him in the shoulder. "Anyway, you never had to look far to find a girl. Back at the prison, you had girls lining up to talk to you."
"Yeah...but they weren't for me."
"Not even Tammy? She had the biggest crush on you."
"Tammy?"
"Yes, Tammy. You know another Tammy?"
"She used to make fun of my dimples."
"Aww, that's only 'cause she had the hots for you."
"Huh." Josh mumbled to himself.
Rosie made small talk and Nick got sidetracked and started talking about science stuff, and I mentally zoned out. Rosie was sweet enough and Tobias was friendly to everyone, and I didn't mind having them stay with us. Rosie cut Lane's hair in the same style he had it in high school, a little shorter at the sides and longer on the top. I had to admit he looked good.
"Do you think your boyfriend will feel differently about a haircut when he gets back? I don't mind, really. I can just take off a little if he doesn't want it short." Rosie said, looking at me and I was very aware of everyone else looking at me.
"Wh-what, Drew?" I said, flustered, shaking out a sleeping bag.
Rosie nodded with a confused smile on her face. She thought I was with Drew. Why would she think that?
"Uh..." I could feel my cheeks getting red with everyone's eyes on me.
"Alex is my girlfriend." Lane spoke up.
"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I just...never mind. I feel silly now. I'm always jumping to the wrong conclusions." Rosie shook her head and put the scissors away.
I went back to my sleeping area, creating a little nest under the pop-up tent with room for only one and it was missing the front panel and had no door, I think it was more of a beach tent thing.
"Just out of curiosity, why did you think they were together?" Lane piped up.
I froze, listening from inside the tent, crawling over my sleeping bag to peek out.
"Oh...uh, it was just a guess." Rosie answered and her eyes flickered my way for a second and I slid back into my tent hideout.
After the weirdness had passed, everyone started to sort out their sleeping bags and where they were going to sleep. Drew returned and kept to himself in the corner. Josh tried to talk to him a few times but Drew looked fed up and Josh couldn't get him to talk.
We all sat around for a bit and chatted about random stuff, Rosie stayed next to Tobias the entire time, stroking his dreadlocks and nuzzling her nose against his cheek, and they kept calling each other baby or babe. We soon decided to get an early night and we all settled down into our sleeping areas. Lane rolled out a bag on the hardwood floor next to my tent, he didn't even bother to use an extra sleeping bag under him to make it more comfortable. Not that it mattered because he was asleep in seconds. I had to listen to Nick as he spouted poetry to help the rest of us off to sleep. He used to read poetry and stories to Robin and I and he'd get really into it and explain every little thing to us, he was an old romantic at heart. I tried to fall asleep. I rolled around, got too hot, got too cold, kicked everything off. Nick had gone quiet some time ago and all I could hear was the soft snores coming from Lane. I sat up and peeked out my tent, checking everyone was asleep, thinking it wasn't fair and I wished I could just fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Everyone was still, but movement over in the far corner caught my attention, and I saw Drew sitting in the window display, resting one arm on his bent knee and his other leg rested on the floor leaning back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. His head lolled to the side and our eyes connected in the dim light. I said nothing and slid back into my tent and forced myself to go to sleep, keeping my eyes shut. Nick's voice stayed in my head, filling it with poetry verses and stories of lost lovers, and I finally fell asleep thinking about windy moors, tall grass, and a certain moody guy.
Chapter 21
You know that feeling when you're asleep and you know you're being watched so you instantly wake up. It used to happen to me all the time when the family cat, Larry used to sit on my pillow like some furry ginger creep, watching me, probably plotting all the different ways to kill me just so he could sprawl out across my pillow all day and not be disturbed.
Well, I got that feeling.
My eyes shot open and I saw a Zippo lighter being waved in front of me. It snapped shut and I saw Drew crouched down next to me inside the tent.
"What the hell, Drew?!"
"Shh!" He placed his finger on my lips and I leaned up on my elbows. I looked around and could see everyone was still asleep.
"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting all the way up.
"Nothing. I couldn't sleep."
"You couldn't sleep so you woke me up? Wow, you really are a jerk. Now, go away so I can go back to sleep." I fell back onto my sleeping bag and turned away from him.
"It's too stuffy in here. Wanna go for a walk?" he said, tickling the back of my neck.
"Are you really asking me to go for a walk in the middle of the night? You're crazy."
"Walking helps me to wind down, and I need some fresh air. I don't know what Nick ate but it's disgusting."
Now that he mentioned it, it
did smell a bit odd in here. Ugh.
Drew stood up and started to leave. I thought about it for all of three seconds.
"Wait, I'll come with you." I bounced up and was surprised at how awake I suddenly was. I quickly grabbed the sweatshirt I had picked out from the display stand, grabbed the first weapon I could see which happened to be a machete and hurried after him. He held the door open for me and I pulled the sweatshirt over my head as I stumbled out the back door in a hurry. Drew caught me with one arm and said nothing as he helped me stand up but I saw the stupid grin on his face. It wasn't as dark outside as I had been expecting it to be, the silver moonlight shone through the trees and the air felt refreshingly cool against my clammy skin. I caught Drew looking at my sweatshirt.
"What? It's cute."
"Not so cute when it's trying to eat you." Drew poked me in the tummy.
On the front of my sweatshirt, there was a large wolf face and the last time Drew and I had seen a wolf was when we were running away from Anton and being chased by his pack of wolves.
"It's still cute." I smiled at him and he nodded his head to the trees and we started walking.
Drew had managed to find the plainest sweatshirt in the store which was just plain black with some nature reserve logo on the front, paired with his tatty brown pants that looked like they had more holes than fabric and the same scruffy boots, and I spotted the same flannel shirt tied around his waist that was ripped in places.
"Are they going to be all right on their own with the door unlocked?" I asked.
"There's no one out here. No one alive that is. They'll be fine."
We walked for a couple of minutes in silence.
"How's your arm?" I asked.
"I don't think it's going to fall off anytime soon. How's your forehead?"
"Sore. I haven't looked at it since Nick stitched it up and covered it over."
"You need to change those dressings."
"You need to change yours as well." I countered, thinking he hadn't mentioned my cheek which had an obvious bruise and it was his fault.
He pulled out the Zippo again and flipped it open and closed it again.