by Kim Cormack
Zach’s voice teased, “Moaning, you were moaning in your sleep. Good morning Brighton.”
Kayn opened her eyes and squinted in the sunlight that ruthlessly accosted her as it streamed through the open curtains, harshly proving them right. It was definitely morning. She was absolutely mortified. Was it seriously morning? She knew what she’d been dreaming about. They began to pack in awkward silence. She could see the obvious looks of disapproval that were being exchanged between her two roommates. She wanted to defend herself. Kayn wanted to tell them she didn’t want him. It was just a stupid dream. It was her sister’s memories. Nobody would buy those excuses, not for a split second. She hoped her friends would have enough loyalty to their positions as her best friends in Ankh to keep their mouths shut.
Kayn stood under the shower’s intense spray, imagining what it would feel like to have Frost standing behind her running his soapy fingers seductively all over her back. What in the hell is wrong with me? Kayn turned the shower to cold. She squealed as it became a lot colder than she’d expected it to be and began to laugh. Her mind was now free of her sister’s thoughts. All she had needed was a cold shower. What a cliché. Kayn stepped out of the shower onto the mat. She hung her head upside down and vigorously dried her hair with the towel. Her hair was still slightly damp when she flipped it back up. It hung in loose moist curls sticking to her back. She struggled into her shorts and a tank top with her skin still damp from the shower. This was what happened if you were last to have a shower and the towels had already been used. Kayn looked into the mirror and put on a touch of makeup. She walked out of the bathroom into the motel room to find it empty except for Frost, who sat on the bed waiting for her. Ignore him, pretend he isn’t even there. He was grinning as Kayn marched right past him as though he were invisible.
Frost stood up and addressed her, “I’m just here to be a gentleman. Zach said you needed help with your bags.”
Zach, you enormous asshole. Kayn turned around and stated, “Now that’s funny, using your name and gentleman in the same sentence.” Kayn only had one backpack; she didn’t need Frost’s help for anything. Kayn held it up and curtly stated, “I only have one bag.” He held out his hand offering to carry it for her. Kayn swung it over her shoulder and sparred, “No thanks, I know where your hands have been.” What was wrong with her?
Frost grinned at her and quipped, “I washed my hands when I had a shower this morning.”
She fought the sudden overwhelming urge to jump on top of him and beat him senseless with her backpack. That dream had really messed her up. She was acting like a jealous ex-girlfriend. Theoretically, she was sort of a jealous dead girlfriend. She looked in the mirror as she passed it and thought, Down Chloe.
Frost glanced back at her and said, “What did you just say?”
He had heard her damn inner dialogue. Kayn walked faster so she could get in front of him, she practically ran down the stairs to get away from him, needing him out of thought range. They piled into the motorhome and Kayn stowed her bag under the bunks. She felt jealous. Her inner Chloe had reared her head for the very first time and she was pissed right off. Kayn attempted to maneuver past Frost in the hallway.
He grabbed her arm to stop her and whispered, “You’re mad at me?”
She shot him her twin’s pageant smile as she coldly responded, “Why would I be mad?”
Frost didn’t let go of her arm. He allowed his grasp to loosen and slip from the top of her arm to her wrist. He pulled her closer to his bunk and whispered, “You’re actually mad at me for something?”
Why was he touching her? He had barely spoken to her. She smiled at his attempt to understand her hostility towards him.
His predictable inner douche reared its ugly head as he teased, “You could have joined us.”
Oh, that would have been the perfect first time.
Frost blurted, “No way, I just assumed that you and Smith, well, sealed the deal.”
Damn her inner dialogue. She said, “Stop listening to my thoughts Frost. I need to get by you. I seriously need to go to the bathroom.”
Intrigued by her behavior, Frost teased, “Go then, nobody’s stopping you.”
What she truly needed was for him to let go of her wrist. He was gently holding her wrist with one hand and gently stroking her pulse point with one of his fingers. What’s going on? She felt like she was going crazy. He must be doing something to her with his gift. He was making her want him. She found her eyes glued to the curve of his lips. She remembered how they had felt as they trailed kisses across her abdomen. She looked at the floor and forced herself to remember that he had not been kissing her. Those were Chloe’s memories. She wasn’t Chloe. She wasn’t Chloe. They could never be together. He would speak and she would end up smothering him with a pillow. She was Kayn. Frost was a horrible idea. What was she thinking? Kayn Brighton suffered from an overabundance of common sense. It obviously kept her from having as much fun as the others. She began to forcibly push her way past him. Frost stopped gently touching her wrist and let her go. Kayn shut the bathroom door behind her and attempted to catch her breath. The skin on her wrist where he had been gently stroking her still tingled with pleasure. She looked at her wrist and she stroked her pulse point with her own thumb. Kayn held her wrist to her heart and knew that Chloe was not going to stay dormant. She wasn’t going to be able to hide this. He was going to find out that she had Chloe’s memories. She was going to give it away as it popped into her head. Kayn stared at her reflection and pointed her finger against the mirror and whispered, “You are making this really difficult Chloe.” She stayed in the bathroom until she calmed down. Kayn stared at her reflection in the mirror, knowing she was not even fooling herself.
They drove for many hours, only stopping for lunch and gas. They played cards and watched movies together. Kayn usually avoided playing video games when the guys got into them. She would opt to read a book instead. Frost disappeared with Grey. It was their turn to drive the truck. Kayn was finding it hard to focus on the book she was reading. It was an excellent novel, but the endless driving was painfully sedating sometimes. She decided it was time to shut her eyes for a minute or two to recharge her mental battery. She climbed onto her bunk, snuggled under the covers and drifted off to sleep. Chloe’s memories played like a hot, steamy, R rated movie in her mind.
Frost gently stroked her hair and whispered in her ear, “You’re talking in your sleep.”
She awoke knowing what she had been dreaming about. She was a deer in the headlights to his grinning face. In those first moments before she was fully awakened she hadn’t had time to hide her true feelings. He’d read them loud and clear. This was the moment that would start their seductive tango. There was one giant problem. Kayn could not dance her way out of a paper bag…
There was a brief moment of silence before Frost whispered, “You remember being with me, don’t you?”
Kayn whispered back her reply, “It was just a dream. I could have one about Grey tomorrow night.”
Grey looked up from what he was reading on his bunk, winked and said, “I hope you do. It sounded like a steamy one.”
Kayn shimmied her way out of her bunk and past an intrigued-looking Frost. She was going to hide in the bathroom. It was the only place to hide in the motorhome. Kayn yanked on the door frantically. She stammered, “Come on...Seriously.”
Frost followed her into the tiny confined space outside of the bathroom. The door opened and Mel shimmied by them with a giant grin on her face. Kayn attempted to slink into the bathroom but Frost shoved her inside and shut the door. They just stood there breathing and staring at each other for a minute. Every single nerve ending in her body screamed at her to close that space between them.
Frost whispered, “Listen...I always manage to say the wrong thing where you’re concerned. I know you’re Kayn. I know you’re not Chloe. I just wanted to know, if you shared Chloe’s memories. I know who you are. Tell me you don’t feel anything when you
’re with me and I’ll never ask you again.”
Kayn was still confused about what her sister’s feelings meant. Chloe wasn’t a separate entity inside her. She didn’t want to have these feelings. Not for him. She was desperate to keep her life as uncomplicated as possible. She wasn’t stupid. In the dictionary under the word player, there was probably a smiling picture of Frost.
Frost whispered, “Now that’s not very nice. I understand why you don’t want to care about me. Yes, it would probably be complicated but I assure you my name is not under player in the dictionary.”
Kayn asserted, “Stop listening to my private thoughts.”
Frost chuckled, “We’re in a confined space and you are thinking really loudly.”
She started to explain, “I had a racy dream, that’s all it was. It was just a dream.” She could tell he didn’t believe her. She looked down at her feet, anything to avoid looking into his insanely seductive eyes.
Frost gently touched her chin and lifted it up so she was looking at him and said, “You’re probably the smartest girl I’ve ever known. You are far too intelligent to fall for me. I just didn’t think you could want me back...As you. That’s all I meant by that.”
His lips hovered a breath from hers. He was going to kiss her. She wanted him to. He saw the desire in her eyes and grinned as he stepped away from her, opened the bathroom door and abruptly walked away. Damn him.
She could feel the ground shaking underneath her feet and knew they were driving on gravel. They were stopping somewhere to eat. This was horrible timing. She wasn’t going to have time to regain her ability to stand upright before leaving the bathroom. She placed her wheat-colored curly hair back in a ponytail and applied her sparkle coconut body lotion to her arms and legs. She was holding on to her rituals of humanity. It was stupid but it made her feel just a little bit more powerful.
Kayn made her way down the tiny hall and pushed her way out of the door into the cloud of dust that the motorhome had created. She coughed a few times and covered her eyes to avoid the dust and she followed the others. She attempted to avoid direct eye contact with Frost as she approached. He was like a cat with a toy. She’d have to face this awkward situation head on. He’d enjoyed teasing her that night. She couldn’t help but wonder how far he would take it now that he suspected she wanted him back. How far did she want him to take it?
Burgers, Shakes and a Side Order of Phobias
He was still grinning at her as they congregated together in the entrance of the small highway diner to read the menu on the door.
“After you ladies,” Frost announced as he politely opened the door and they all walked through, except for Kayn. She was watching a car pull out of the dusty parking lot. They had been travelling for days, without stopping. It felt so unbelievable to stretch her legs. She watched the cloud of dust flow behind the car as it disappeared into the distance. The diner looked surprisingly similar to the one they had lunch at yesterday. She turned to catch Frost’s amused gaze.
“Don’t even think about running, it’s time to eat,” Frost teased. He added, “You remind me of one of those finger traps. You, Kayn Brighton, are as difficult to figure out as one of those.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. Had he just insulted her?
He chuckled, “That’s not an insult. It’s a compliment on your originality.”
Kayn paused as she purposely brushed by him. She smiled, making eye contact without shyly looking away as she usually did. She could tell by the intrigued look in his eyes that he’d taken her forward behavior as a dare. It was like she was playing a game of chess with him and she only knew how to play checkers. He walked behind her as she slid into the booth next to Lexy.
Frost left her at the table and said, “You guys know what I want. I’ll be right back.”
Kayn looked up from the menu; her mind flickering through memories of Kevin. They were always joking about horror movies together. It was a rule that you never for any reason said the words, I will be right back. Kayn looked back at her menu. The ominous phrase, ‘I'll be right back,’ was often said in retrospect to horror movie folklore. This token quote had been used at some point in every single B horror movie since 1970. It was far less ominous when you knew that you could never actually die. The whole premise of horror movies gave her little to quiver over now. Kayn attempted to shift in the booth and her thighs stuck to the pleather bench seat. Kayn winced and glanced around the diner as she attempted to inconspicuously peal her thighs off of the seat. She shimmied over to give herself a little bit of elbow room, so she could eat without taking out the person who sat next to her. As she read the names of the dishes on the menu she couldn’t help but grin. This was one of those campy roadside diners that had downright weird and funky names for everything on it. Even the simple, bland and downright normal was made exciting and new by some strange pun or play on words, The Hell of a Gut Bustable Combustible Burger. Kayn grinned and thought Frost would order that one for sure.
Something random would always remind her of the family she had lost or of Kevin. She knew she wasn’t the only one who had those feelings. Grey was staring at a little girl. Melody was staring at a couple of little boys. They were sitting at a table across the diner eating ice-cream with their mother. They never brought up the moments before their Sweet Sleep. It was an unspoken rule. It was difficult to concentrate on the good in each day when you were busy soaking up every last ounce of joy in your afterlife with a happiness sucking sponge full of devastation and loss. There was no point in living in the past. It had already happened. Kayn glanced up as the waitress asked for her order. Being a creature of habit, Kayn always ordered one of three things. She requested a Grill ‘em Up Batterless Chicken Burger with a side salad and dill dressing.
Lily snickered, “Wait… Let me give everyone’s order. I bet I can guess them all.”
“Okay shoot,” Grey chuckled and put his menu down.
Lily raised her eyebrows, scanned the page and began to speak, “Grey will have a Humongous Beef Brawler Steak Sandwich, rare but he actually wants it medium. He will throw a hissy fit if it’s still bleeding. He would like that with poutine and a beer, some kind of funky honey ale. Melody wants a Funky Chicken Caesar Salad and one of those giant silver blender milkshakes that I see on the counter over there, strawberry flavored. Frost wants the grossest double burger patty, wiener filled heart attack in a bun on the menu…So that will be the ...” She scanned the menu. “Oh, unquestionably, the Hell of a Gut Bustable Combustible Burger and a beer, he could care less if it’s draft. Now Lexy can be tricky but my guess would be she will order the same thing as someone else at the table. Okay, I know, how about a Grill ‘em Up Batterless Chicken Burger with poutine and a chocolate milk shake.” They all burst out laughing.
She looked at Zach who said, “Oh, I’ll have exactly what Lexy ordered.”
“I’ll have one of those too,” Lily grinned and added.
Frost got side-tracked by a swooning girl on the way back from the bathroom. He managed to escape and make it back to the booth. He slid in next to Lily, kicked Melody under the table and stated, “I bet you three all got the same thing again?”
“Sort of,” Melody chuckled and glanced at Lily.
Lily put her arm around Frost and gave him a half hug. “You got a version of your favorite burger, of course.” Frost was always on an endless personal mission to find the most incredible burger and pizza parlor in the world.
Grey made a plane out of the drink flyer and flew it at Frost’s forehead, “It’s my feet you are playing footsies with, by the way.”
“Sorry to disappoint you but it’s not me. I know you love it when I touch you like that,” Frost chuckled.
A moment went by and Grey’s eyebrows raised again. He threw a sugar pack at Frost, “Cut it out! You’re beginning to creep me out man!”
Frost looked up from the drink menu and frowned, “I’m not playing footsies with you Chuckles.”
Gre
y could obviously still feel something tickling his leg. He glared at the next usual suspect and teased, “Listen Lily, no means no.”
Lily said, “Do try to get over it Grey. I’m afraid that ship has sailed.”
“Okay, not funny. That was half way up my leg,” Grey accused as his eyes widened.
“Oh Shit!” he squealed and hissed, “Get out of the booth! Get out! Oh, my God! There is something furry in my pants!”
“That’s what she said,” Zach whispered to the group.
Everyone began to howl laughing as Grey began to squeal, “Oh crap! Oh crap!” He undid his pants and squeamishly struggled out of them. His pants left in a bundle on the restaurant floor to the other patrons’ astonishment. Grey stood there for just a second frozen in terror, wearing nothing but his tight gray colored underwear. He began to jump around like a girly girl squealing,” Oh shit! Shit! Shit!”
The pants on the floor began to move and then out from under them crawled the largest black rat any of them had ever laid eyes on. They all began to howl, laughing in unison. Grey was still squealing and shrieking like a little girl. He jumped up on the seat in the booth. Zach was hysterically laughing to the point of crying.
“I’m out of here!” Grey stammered, “That grotesque creature was in my pants!”
“That’s what she said,” Frost added to the long standing clan joke.
The waitress walked up and picked up the rat and chuckled, “Sorry, this is the boss’s kid’s pet. He must have gotten out somehow. It’s not a wild rat or anything. It’s just a house pet.”
“Your house pet was in my pants!” Grey hissed causing some of them to sputter a bit of laughter out even while attempting to stop.
Zach whispered, “That’s what ...”
Grey raised his hand and threatened, “I swear if you finish that sentence I will kill you in your sleep.”
“Okay sweetie,” Lexy whispered. “You can sit down now. The big bad rat is gone.”