Contractor (31 page)

"That was freakishly specific," Mark

said. "Are you speaking from personal

experience or something?"

"Just going off of the fact that you

consider shit everywhere a sexual fetish."

"Don’t judge me," Mark said.

"And then what about your tongue?"

Daniel said. "You couldn’t even eat with a

sunburned tongue. Enjoy starving for a

week."

"That’s bullshit," Jensen said. "No one sit around outside with their fucking tongue

out."

"Yeah," Jack said, "it wouldn’t be on the tongue. I’ll accept the asshole part."

Daniel nodded. "Sunburn’s still worse."

"I’m torn," Mark said.

"I’m sticking with fever," Jensen said.

He looked at Jack. "Also, what the fuck is

with this topic of conversation?

Jack shrugged. "Dunno. I’m drunk. By

the way, Daniel, before you were drunk you

were pretty awesome at being the

commander. You didn’t tell me you played it

that much before."

"I used to be into video games, comic

books. That was a while ago."

"You’re a closet nerd?" Jensen said.

"Every guy is a closet nerd," Mark said,

"they just keep it quiet. Some guys are your

normal video game nerds. Some are car

nerds. And there’s stuff like book nerds,

trivia nerds, music nerds, outdoors nerds.

They just don’t call it nerd for stuff other

than things that make you get off your ass or

that also appeal to women. That’s the thing."

"That was deep," Jensen said.

"Thank you."

"Not as deep as I was in your mother,

though."

Daniel burst out laughing. Even Mark

chuckled. Jack groaned.

****

Mark and Jensen had left. Daniel had

shut off the TV. He was sitting in his chair,

thinking. Just thinking.

His buzz was dying, and as his senses

came back, he could finally hear his body

shouting for water. He sipped from a plastic

cup. It helped with the headache.

Jack was up on his bunk, splayed out

over the sheets and blankets. He had a soft

snore. He was also about to fall out of his

bed.

Daniel set his cup down, stood up, and

started roughly shoving his friend further

back. Jack awoke with a startled grunt.

"Wassa…what the shit?"

"Just making sure you don’t fall down

and crack your skull open."

"Uh…" Jack seemed to realize where he

was, and what was happening, and he

scooted back. "Oh, thanks."

"Yeah, man. No worries." Daniel sat

back down.

"Ey, Dan."

"Yo."

"Thanks, man."

"It wasn’t a big deal."

Jack shook his head. His voice was

slurred, still half-drunk. "No, I mean…for

stuff. You know. Just…being cool. And

friends."

"…no problem."

Jack’s snores started again.

Daniel sipped his water.

****

"Come on," Rachel whined.

"For god’s sake, Rachel, we’re in

college. Figure it out yourself."

"I seriously don’t get this."

"Then you seriously need to work on it,"

Eleanor said, "and stop bothering me about

it."

Rachel and Eleanor were sitting in the

common room. Eleanor had just finished her

calculus homework; Rachel was still mired

in the middle of it.

And Daniel had managed to sneak up on

them.

He slowly raised his head behind the

back of the couch and took a deep breath.

"AHHH!"

They both shrieked. Rachel flipped onto

her feet and balled up her fists. Eleanor

crouched on the cushions like a cat. It was

quite an athletic performance. Daniel

laughed at the looks on their faces.

Rachel sighed and let her hands drop.

"You bastard."

"Oh, yes, just what I needed," Eleanor

said. "More Fitzgerald." In a moment, she

was seated again, hands folded in her lap,

poised like a model. It was almost uncanny

how she always looked perfect.

"Don’t be jealous, Eleanor," Daniel

said. "There’s plenty of me to go around.

Whatcha up to?"

"I’m trying to get Elly to help me with

calculus," Rachel said, "but she’s being a

jerk."

"Honestly," Eleanor said. "Try reading the textbook."

"That thing makes my head hurt."

Daniel propped his elbows on the tops

of the blue cushions. "Why are you in

calculus, anyway?" he asked Rachel.

"You’re an English major."

She made a face and flicked her eyes at

Eleanor. "Scheduling issues."

"You’re smart enough to get it," Eleanor

said. "Apply yourself."

"Apply myself. Apply myself. That’s all

I hear from you people." Rachel pouted and

flopped on the couch. "Math hates my brain."

"Maybe I can help," Daniel said.

"Absolutely not," Eleanor said. "She

won’t have you as a crutch during the test."

"What are you, her mother?" Daniel

rolled his shoulders. "I can teach her how to

do the problems, not just give her the

answers. You can huff and puff and blow

some houses down in the corner over there."

"You’re pushing your luck, Fitzgerald,"

Eleanor said. "She doesn’t need your help.

And I don’t need a headache."

Rachel sighed. "Please keep talking

about me like I’m not here."

Daniel almost responded to Eleanor, but

decided there were more pressing matters.

He hopped over the couch and sat down next

to Rachel. She snuggled into him.

They’d gone on several dates, now, and

things were going quite well. That mutual

secret hung in the air, but it wasn’t bothering

him too much.

Daniel couldn’t ever tell her he was a

contractor. It simply wasn’t an option. He

could not get her involved in that world. But

he couldn’t help but wonder what her secret

was.

He glanced at Eleanor. What was the

connection?

Eleanor’s lips pressed together at the

sight of their cuddle. She stared back at him

for a moment, then silently sat on the far end

of the couch and opened her laptop. Daniel

felt extremely pleased with himself.

"How do you learn math?" Daniel

asked.

"…memorize how to do the problems,"

Rachel said. "Isn’t that how everyone does

it?"

"See, there’s the issue right there.

You’ve got no real strategy, so you’re

floundering around wondering what the hell

you’re supposed to do."

"Thanks for the tip, Sherlock."

"Baby steps." Daniel took her notebook

and started writing on a blank page. "Doing

math is like building a house. The laws and

rules are your tools. If you know your

toolbox inside and out, you’ll never see a

problem you don’t know how to handle.

That’s five hundred times better than trying

to memorize the problems." He wrote the

two theorems that pertained to the section

she was working on. "The most important

thing would be to learn how to separate out

what you actually need from the rest of the

crap in the chapter. That takes time, but I can

help with that part until you figure it out."

"…ok." She tapped the paper. "So how

do these help me?"

"Look at this problem." Daniel led her

through the textbook example with a finger,

showing the difference between how the

theorem was written and how it was actually

applied. He then immediately flipped to a

work problem of the same nature. She

stuttered her way through it. He let her check

back with the rule as needed.

Rachel sighed. "I can’t believe you

wrote that from memory. You’re surprisingly

smart."

"Surprisingly? I take offense to that."

"You look too hot to have any brains.

Some people have all the luck."

Daniel grinned. "Right back at you,

sweet cheeks."

"Sweet cheeks? Did you find that

compliment in a time capsule somewhere?"

"Stop concentrating on my raw animal

magnetism and focus," Daniel said. He

slapped the notebook. "Do you know the

definition of the derivative by heart?"

"…I memorized it for the first test?"

Rachel offered hopefully.

"You need to be able to explain that off

the top of your head. So let’s back up and

start there."

As Daniel taught, he quickly realized

how little foundation Rachel had in the

subject. She must have been getting along by

the skin of her teeth. He sighed. "This is

turning into a lot of work."

Rachel looked at where Eleanor was

busy clicking on her laptop, then back to him.

"Well, sorry if I’m not a genius like some

people."

"It’s turning into too much work for

tonight," Daniel clarified. "The next test is the Friday after next. That gives us 12 days."

"You’ll really tutor me?"

"Sure, why not?"

Her cheeks blushed slightly pink.

"Thank you. But I wouldn’t want to take time

away from -"

Daniel waved her off. "Don’t worry

about it. Plenty of time to whip your math

into shape after class."

"Whip, huh?" Rachel grinned. "I kinda

like the sound of that."

"Do behave, Miss Ashworth." He kissed

her. She kissed back.

"You two are sickening." Eleanor stood

and folded her laptop under her arm. "I’ll be

in the room. Don’t be late again, Rachel.

We’ve got work to do." She marched away.

Daniel and Rachel were left alone on the

couch.

"If this is sickening," Daniel said, "I think I’d like to venture on into disgusting."

Rachel didn’t crack a smile. She sat back

with a serious look on her face. "What’s the

matter?" he asked.

"Eleanor. She’s not taking us very well."

"So what else is new?"

"She always gets short with me when

she’s irritated," Rachel said. "She’s about as short as a midget right now."

"Just let her fuss," Daniel said. "Stop making it your problem."

"I’m worried she’ll -"

"That’s her problem."

"She’s my sister."

"So why is the Great Wall of China

sitting there?" Daniel said. "Talk to her."

"…I couldn’t -"

"Rachel." He tapped her shoulder. "It’s obvious every time I see you two. You’re her

loyal subject. Suddenly you’ve struck out on

your own, and she’s lost. Tell her that you

need some space. She’ll come to terms if you

give it to her straight." Daniel scratched his

ear. "Probably. I mean, you’re basically

sisters, right? Sure, you fight sometimes. I’m

not always in love with Felix. But you work

things out over time."

She looked away from him. "…it’s more

complicated than that."

Daniel thought hard. She always ended

it with something vague when he started

circling in on the nature of their relationship.

It was at the core of her secret.

He was starting to form ideas worthy of

a conspiracy theorist. The Astors were

obviously a powerful family. He’d looked up

a bit of information and discovered that they

were the people that actually owned Times

Square before it was called Times Square.

Who knew how much influence was being

exerted over Rachel? How one-sided was

their sisterhood?

He had to wonder what Eleanor was

doing at Northeastern. Not to put down his

own school, but she reeked of Harvard’s

corn cob pipes.

He decided to let it go. They did make a

promise, after all. "Just my two cents,"

Daniel said. "I don’t really know what I’m

talking about. You’ve known her for eight

years."

"Sometimes a stranger’s perspective can

be valuable," Rachel said. "But…it’s

complicated."

"Very complicated." He turned her head

with his hand and kissed her on the forehead.

"I don’t like it when you’re upset. I’m right

here, ok?"

"I know. Thank you." She smiled. "It’s weird. I feel like I’ve known you forever."

Daniel stretched. "Well, we live in the

same dorm, huh?"

"Yeah. Umm. Thank you, for helping me

with this, too."

"A girl in need is a princess indeed,"

Daniel said. "Seriously, you can ace this

test."

"You think so?"

"Easily. I’ve crammed twice as much in

a quarter the time. We just have to run

through the problems until you can do them

without the cheat sheet."

"Yeah. I guess…it’s really tough to read

math." She fingered the page with the

theorems they’d written down. "With

everything I need in one place, it’s a little

easier."

"You know what I don’t get?"

"What?"

"Why doesn’t Eleanor help you out?

You keep telling me she’s a genius, right?"

Rachel sighed. "Elly is…she’s just one

of those people that’s good at everything on

the first try. It just comes to her. But she’s an

awful teacher. She can’t explain herself."

The more Daniel heard about Eleanor,

the more paranoid he got. She was rich. She

was spoiled. She was talented. She’d never

had to work hard. She was probably used to