I heard footsteps and then Jess pushed Drew over to the side. Her eyes went wide. “Oh, shit! Did they walk in on you? Do I need to hurt Maxie?”
“Stop calling me Maxie.”
“We're just taking a nap,” I protested. “Really.”
“Sure you are.” Jess crossed her arms. “I bet as soon as we leave, you two are going to start-”
“You two are so cute!” Lisa burst into the room and jabbed Jess in the side before she could finish her sentence. “Oh wow, so totally cute! Naptime, right?”
I lifted my free hand again and gave her the thumbs up. “Thanks, Lisa, you're the only decent one out of all these animals.” Nikki was still giggling silently.
“Naturally! Drew's a bear, Max is a lemur, and Jess is a hedgehog. And I'm a panda!” Lisa beamed at me. I wondered how long it had taken for her to assign all those animal characteristics to us.
“A lemur? Really?” Max's protest was cut off as Lisa started pushing everyone out of the room. She winked over her shoulder at me as she thrust them out the door and slammed it shut. Max's voice was momentarily audible from the hallway. “We'll knock next time!” I groaned. This was going to start a whole new set of rumors.
“Your friends are so weird,” Nikki said.
Chapter Sixteen
After Shade left, the end of the trimester was almost anti-climactic. Absynthe's training was less intense, and much less painful. While she drilled us as hard as Shade had, it was without malice and she never deliberately hurt either of us. Our sessions were short and focused due to finals. The lighter pace let me heal and let us both study.
The road trip to Florida that we had planned back in March was coming up. I called home just before finals to let my dad know and he had acknowledged it without comment. A day later, I received an e-mail from my mom, wishing me a good trip. I was surprised that my dad had actually told her. Either way, I had their blessing to go.
By unspoken consent, none of us had said a word about it to anyone else. For my part, I didn't want Nikki to know. I did feel a little guilty about keeping it from her, but we spent so much time together, it had kept me from hanging out with my roommates and other friends. Getting a little time away from her would made it all the better when we saw each other again, I reasoned. I suspected Drew and Max felt the same way.
The last Friday of the month was the last day of finals, with most exams being crammed into the morning by professors who wanted to leave as much as we did. That evening, Max and Drew and I hung out with Andreas, watching movies, trying out some of his new creations, playing video games. Over the course of the evening, Lisa and Jess dropped by, then Nikki came looking for me, and Kaitlyn came looking for Nikki and Lisa. Andreas kept pulling chairs out to give people a place to sit, and started to dip into his liquor stocks.
By eleven, we were all very comfortable. Nikki had excused herself to the bathroom a couple of times, and I suspected that she was using her psionic powers to control how she was metabolizing alcohol. I had considered doing the same thing, but I was enjoying my buzz. Seemed silly to me. She was missing the entire point of having a few drinks.
“So what is everyone doing over the break?” Andreas asked, loud enough to cut through all the other conversations. I tensed. The topic had come up between Nikki and I, but only in passing, and I had just said that I wasn't sure yet. I didn't want to be the one to reveal that we had been planning on a road trip for the past few months.
“I'm going home again!” Kaitlyn said, jumping to her feet and staggering a little. “Going home to my beautiful beaches and skies and boys!”
“Silly Cali girl,” Max grumbled.
Kaitlyn turned to look at Max, then picked her way around the room, one step at a time, until she was standing right in front of him, then bent over to stare him right in the face. I was sure that he wasn’t focusing on her face. Judging by Jess's expression, she was thinking the same thing, but in much more negative terms. “You think Cali girls are silly?” she said. “Well, we're not. We're just like any other girl. Pretty girls who like pretty boys. Nothing silly about that!”
“If you say so,” Max agreed. Kaitlyn sniffed, then straightened up and picked her way back to her previous seat. Max watched her go, then looked over at our host. “What about you, Andreas? Going back to the land of eternal winter?”
Andreas sighed. “I have not had the opportunity to return home in two years now.”
“That's pretty sad, Viking,” Jess said. “Why don't you make some time?”
“I do not have the technological prowess to create time.”
“That's not exactly what I meant.”
I chuckled. Kaitlyn had collapsed back into her seat and was reaching for her glass. Nikki was sitting next to me, her gaze on me. She hadn't said much at all tonight, but I had caught her looking at Drew and Max with what I could only consider disapproval. Was she growing to dislike them, or was it just the setting here that she wasn't enjoying? Maybe it was just the alcohol thinking for me.
“As I have said before, Norway is not a land of eternal winter,” Andreas said. “In fact, due to the Gulf Stream, most of the country is as temperate as Canada. My home is to the southwest of Oslo, near Larvik, and our temperature around this time of year is just a little colder than Plattsburgh. The weather is nothing like what you experience here, though.”
“I don't know about that, it can get pretty weird around here,” Max said.
“Weird does not begin to describe what it is like at home.” Andreas shook his head.
“I think it'd be cool to go visit there,” Jess said. Max's head snapped around to stare at her. Jess kept talking as if she didn't notice. “All the Scandinavian culture. It sounds like fun.”
Andreas rubbed at his eyebrow. “We do not wear horned helmets, Jessica. No matter how much you wish it was so, it is not so.”
“What are you going to do over break, Jess? Big tournaments? Conventions? Geek parties?” Max asked.
Jess flicked a hand at him. “No plans. I was actually going to stay here over the break. Might work in the computer lab over the break to earn a little cash. Been spending too much, going out shopping with Lisa all the time.”
“It's not my fault you're a big spender,” Lisa protested. She was sitting on Drew's lap in one of Andreas' big chairs. Drew's eyes were closed. I wasn't sure if he was really asleep or just faking it. Probably faking it. He didn't want to be the one to break the news either.
“Oh, I don't blame you, Lisa,” Jess said. “I blame Maxie.”
“What? Why is it my fault?” Max demanded. “I'm nice enough to drive you both around and I barely even get a thank-you.”
“Thank you, Maxie!” Lisa called across the room to him.
“Stuff it, Maxie. You're an enabler. Every time we go to the mall, you always insist on going into the electronics section, wherever we go, and I always end up buying something. It's a good thing I don't have a credit card like Lisa. I'd be hitting the limit already.” Jess reached down for her glass and downed the last third in a single gulp. “Your fault, Maxie.”
Max spluttered, then mirrored her gesture, downing the remnant of his drink and placing it on the table between them. He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and then pointed at Jess. “It's not my fault you can't control your spending habits, woman. Don't you go trying to pin your weaknesses on me. If you don't want to spend money, don't come with us next time.”
Jess slapped her hand down on the table. Drew nearly jumped out of his chair, dumping Lisa to the ground with a crash and a squeal. Her head missed the table by inches. Jess ignored the commotion and spoke directly across the table to Max. “Don't come with you? So much for being a nice guy. You're just an asshole with terrible smoker's breath.”
Lisa's head popped up to stare at her roommate. “Jess? When did you get close enough to Max to know that his breath is that terrible?”
Jess flushed as red as her hair, then buried her face in her hands. “Oh, for
fuck's sake,” she muttered. Max smirked, then leaned back in his chair. The smirk slipped off for a moment, but returned full force when he noticed that I was watching him. Seemed like their relationship was developing nicely.
“What are you doing over break, Lisa?” I asked as she sat back down on Drew's lap. Drew's eyes were already drifting closed again. “And why is Drew falling asleep?”
She peered at Drew, whose eyes fluttered open for a moment, then closed. “I don't know!” she announced. “He must be tired from all that studying we did!”
“I didn't notice him studying at all,” Max said.
“It's a euphemism,” Jess snapped.
“You're a euphemism!”
“That doesn't make any sense at all, but I'm going to kick your ass for it anyway.”
“Lisa, any plans for the break?” I repeated, trying to cut off the other two before they got into another fight. They were either going to get married or kill each other at this rate.
She waved her hands in the air. “Going home. Spend some time with my old friends, see my little brother before he goes off to college himself, maybe find a job for a couple of weeks. Might go off on a family vacation. No idea! Parents don't tell me anything!”
Kaitlyn suddenly stirred. I thought she had passed out after confronting Max. “Hey, Nikki?” she called. Heads turned. Nikki hadn't said anything in the past ten minutes or more and everyone seemed to have just realized this. “Weren't you going on a trip or something?”
Nikki flushed and looked away. It was news to me if she was going somewhere. “Well, I'm going home for a week, and then we'll be taking a trip to Ireland and England for two weeks,” she said.
“That sounds pretty cool,” I said, trying to draw more out of her. Why hadn't she told me? “Going to see all the tourist attractions?”
“I guess,” she said. “My dad won the trip in a contest, so it's probably a guided tour.”
“Going to London?” I pressed.
“Yeah.” She looked down at her glass, which was still mostly full, then looked back up at me. “How about you? Did you ever decide what you were going to do?”
I looked at Max. He shrugged slightly, then glanced at Drew. Drew opened one eye, then nodded at me. Great. They were going to leave it to me to reveal the plans. Just what I didn't want to do. “Road trip,” I said.
No one said anything. All eyes were on me. “You don't have a car,” Jess pointed out, then her eyes went wide. “But you do,” she said, swiveling to look at Max. All eyes turned to him.
“Road trip,” he said with a shrug.
Lisa prodded Drew with her elbow. “Road trip?” she asked.
Drew nodded. “Road trip.”
“And just where are you three assholes going?” Jess demanded.
“Florida,” I said.
Jess slapped the table again, all the glasses clattering. Drew flinched again. “You three idiots are going to Florida. In August. Are you insane? Do you have any idea how disgustingly hot and humid it's going to be down there? Why don't you three try going somewhere sane for the summer break?”
“Jess, my dear, where exactly would be a sane destination?” Max asked. She spluttered at him without a clear answer. He smirked, then leaned back in the chair. “Besides, we've been planning this since before spring break.”
Dead silence again. Drew touched his forehead and winced. I adamantly refused to look at Nikki. “You three have been planning this for that long without a single word to us?” Jess asked. “What, pray tell, are you going to do there?”
“A bonding experience?” I said. “A rite of passage? Something like that?”
“Andrew Lee Grant.” Lisa slid off Drew's lap and planted her hands on her hips. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because we didn't want you to flip out when we wouldn't take you along,” Drew said.
Lisa took a deep breath and stood up straight. “My feelings are hurt,” she declared. Drew's eyes went wide and he immediately crossed his legs. Lisa shook her head. “Really hurt,” she said, then turned and walked out. Jess followed her, throwing a nasty look at Max over her shoulder as she left.
“You didn't tell me either,” Nikki tele'd me. She was looking away, eyes closed, not letting anyone see the telltale glow. “You hurt my feelings too, Kevin.” She stood up and swept past me, not looking down at me as she passed, then closed the door behind her. Typical woman. She hadn't told me about her trip either, but I was the one in trouble.
Drew let out a long sigh. “That didn't go as well as I had hoped,” he said. “Are you going to walk out on us too, Kaitlyn?”
Kaitlyn shrugged. “I guess. I don't see the big deal, aside from you boys hiding things from them. They'll get over it. Someday.” She lurched to her feet and swayed to the door.
After she left, we sat in silence. I knew I should have told Nikki about it, but she would have been upset either way. Even if she couldn't have come, she would have been upset that I was going. At least now I knew that she'd be off enjoying her vacation while we were enjoying ours. I reached for my glass and found it empty. “Got any more?” I asked Andreas, breaking the silence.
He stirred and looked toward the back of the room. “I am afraid that I am down to my final reserves. My apologies.”
“Sorry we didn't tell you,” Drew said.
Andreas shrugged and brushed his hair back behind his shoulders. “My feelings are not hurt. Your adventures are your own. Even if I could go, I am not sure I would. Traveling long distances does not bring out the best in me. Also, the climate of the southern states does not appeal to me. I would much rather return home in summer.”
“It's not like you can't afford it, right?” Drew asked. “Don't you get a stipend and research grants? I know you've been doing paid work over each break since I've been here. What's the deal?”
Andreas smiled and looked toward the glass in his hands. “In truth, I am not sure I have a home to return to. My parents are not on the best of terms. My younger sister has spoken with me several times about how they act around each other, and how unhappy she is there. I am hoping to have her come here for her birthday next year, or perhaps the year after. Perhaps it will encourage her to leave home as well.”
Max chuckled. “Is she hot?”
“I would never allow you to lay a finger on my little sister, Maximillian. Never.”
“I think that might have been the Viking speaking there,” Max said. “I was just kidding.”
Andreas nodded, then yawned. “Sorry. The drinks are going to my head. Have you determined what route you will take?”
“I was figuring that we'd go around the city, past Washington, then just head south through the Carolinas,” Drew said. “Why, do you have a better idea?”
“I think we should take a look.” Andreas stood up and gestured toward the partition at the back of the room. We walked back there, revealing a large glass-topped block of a table. The table looked to be about six feet long and four feet wide, maybe a little less. The surface was glass, but it looked layered, and in the center of the table, looked a little deeper, like it was hollow underneath. Andreas walked to the far side of the table and I heard a drawer roll open, then the tapping of keys on a keyboard. Light suddenly glowed beneath the glass surface and resolved into a computer boot screen. “You've got to be kidding me,” I said. “That's an enormous screen.”
“Finally got it running, dude?” Drew walked around and peered closely at the glass. “That screen is so awesome. That's what you spent all your money on, isn't it?”
“Part of my research funding,” Andreas said. “Mostly personal resources.”
“What is it?” I asked. The computer had finished booting. It seemed like some version of Linux, not one that I recognized, but the penguin logo had appeared during the boot sequence. “Some sort of tabletop display system?”
“Not quite.” Andreas reached a hand across the table and touched the icon labeled as the system's web browser. I heard a hard drive whir
ring and the browser's home page appeared, apparently some Norwegian site with words that were completely unintelligible to me, even more so for being upside down. Andreas typed in the address to a popular mapping website. The browser flicked there, with south being the direction facing Andreas. He frowned, tapped the close button on the browser, then touched another icon on the desktop. The screen went black, then reappeared, rotated ninety degrees. He brought the browser back up and went back to the website, now displayed in portrait mode instead of landscape mode.
“Touch screen?” I asked. “How did you do that? I didn't think anyone made touch screens this big.” I couldn't imagine how a large touch screen would be useful for everyday use, but it could be awesome for some applications.
Andreas grinned across the table at me. “I simply rolled my own multitouch system. There are a number of guides online. A fun project in my spare time.”
I touched the screen where the search box was located. The typing cursor snapped to it. Andreas typed in the campus address, then an address in Florida that Drew recited from memory. A long path traced south from New York to our destination. “It seems as if you are going to go right through several major cities if you follow this route,” Andreas commented. “Correct me if I am wrong, but the traffic in those areas will lead to several delays.”
“You're right,” Drew said, peering at the map. “Any suggestions?”
Andreas tapped the zoom tool, then touched the map several times around Washington, DC. He pointed at a location northwest of the city. “There. Take this interstate route around the western side of the city, staying far from the Beltway. It will also allow you to skirt New York City at this point.” He dragged the map up to the northeast and pointed out where we'd diverge from the shown route, then dragged the route line to that point.
Max frowned and dragged the map back to the route to the far west of Washington. “Seems like a bit of a shame, going around the capital like that. I wouldn't mind taking a side trip there.”
The Fire In My Eyes Page 22