Escape (13 page)

The place was nothing more than a little block of cement with windows. Its only identifying mark was the word
Diner,
which had been plopped down on top of the cement shoe box in huge, rusted metal letters. Perfect. They probably had the best cheeseburger in the Western Hemisphere.

“
There
?” Sam asked. “You're sure you don't want to wait awhile and find a McDonald's or something?”

“No,
there,
” Gaia insisted. “Come on. What, are you scared of the bikers or something? I'll protect you.”

“No,” Sam said. “I just. . .” His eyes suddenly darted up to the rearview mirror as if he were checking for something behind them.

“What?” Gaia asked. She turned to look through the back windshield. “What's wrong?”

“What?” Sam asked.

“What's back there? You just looked—”

“No—what? Nothing,” he said. “No, I'm just checking the traffic. . . .”

Gaia turned back behind them again. “Is there something—?”

“We can eat here,” Sam interrupted. “That's fine.” He signaled for the turn and pulled into the parking lot across the street from the diner.

Gaia looked over at him for a better understanding of his
blip of weirdness,
but the blip had passed. They got out of the car and traversed the gravel toward the door.

Sam still looked a little preoccupied, but Gaia realized that he was probably exhausted. He was, after all, still recovering from a massive injury, and all this activity couldn't be great for his health. Gaia did her best to keep her guilt in check as they took the two steps up into the diner.

We'll be back home so soon, Sam, I promise. We'll be in and out of that compound and we'll be back before the sun even sets.

Maybe a good meal was exactly what Sam needed. A good meal and the company of some of the finest people on earth, as far as Gaia was concerned. Truck drivers, waitresses, and bikers. She opened the door and stepped inside. And with only one step she realized. . .

There were certainly plenty of bikers. But as far as Gaia could tell, there were very few of the finest people
on earth. Okay. There wasn't one. In fact, judging from the looks that Gaia and Sam got the moment they walked in, she figured it was probably safe to say that the patrons of this particular establishment. . . had probably assaulted, robbed, or otherwise injured many of the finest people on earth.

Post-apocalyptic Puppet

ED HAD BEEN SPRAWLED OUT ON THE
cafeteria table for twenty minutes, watching Megan and Tammie squealing joyously about their benefit for Heather and passing out invitations to “the right people.” It was like watching some kind of
post-apocalyptic puppet
show as they bounced around from table to table, turning on their tilt-and-grin smiles for the privileged few and pretending the other ninety percent didn't exist. That ridiculous benefit. . . now that Ed thought about it, it really was something of a travesty. Had they even talked to Heather once to hear her opinion on all this silliness? Of course not.

The supposed “Friends of Heather” were hardly
thinking about Heather. They were thinking about looking like people who were thinking about Heather. They were thinking about the pictures of their party showing up on the society page of
Manhattan File
magazine. Ed tuned them out completely and returned to his
mental postmortem
on his evening with Gaia.

His chin was pressed down against the Formica table, hands dangling over the other end as he planned the perfectly worded speech that would finally make Gaia “believe in love,” as it were. Make her understand that he
wanted
to be there for all her battles and all her struggles and all her crises. The more he imagined this fictional dialogue, however, the bigger the pathetic frown of futility on his face grew.

Never happen, Ed. She'll never get it. Never
.

But when Gaia's hands suddenly began to massage his shoulders from behind, he felt an irresistible spark of hope shoot through him in spite of everything. In spite of their abominable evening and all the unfortunate facts of her inevitable nature, all it ever took was one little gesture. One truly intimate gesture like this and Ed was willing to forget it all.

He placed his hands on hers and pulled her down toward him, feeling her cheek press against his from behind. “Let's just forget last night, okay?” he suggested gently.

“What is there to forget?” her sweet voice asked just inches from his ear. In a faint Russian accent.

Ed snapped his head away as his eyes darted to Tatiana's face, so close to his that she had blurred completely out of focus.

“
Whoa
.” He laughed uncomfortably. “I thought you were—”

“Why do you want to forget last night?” Tatiana laughed, dropping down into the chair next to Ed's and leaning closer.

“Okay, close-talking alert.” Ed straightened up in his chair and wiped the
zombified yearning
from his face.

“What?”

“Don't sneak up on me like that, okay?”

“Relax.” Tatiana giggled, freeing her mane of long blond hair from its ponytail, swinging it all in front of her face and then flipping it back, letting it fall perfectly over her shoulders.

“I'm perfectly relaxed,” Ed assured her.

“Tatiana!” The native call of the FOHs suddenly rang out through the entire cafeteria. Ed cringed at the deafening frequency of their joyous squeaks.

“What's
up
, ladies?” Tatiana chirped at top volume. She flashed a massive grin as Megan and Tammie scampered up and dropped down into the two opposite chairs.

Ed turned to Tatiana, arching his eyebrow ever so slightly. He'd heard of fast friends before, but Tatiana seemed to be setting a new record. On the other hand,
when the FOHs locked onto their targets,
they tended not to miss.

“Oh my God, I
totally
loved your ideas for the party,” Megan squealed, ogling Tatiana with wide-eyed admiration.

“Oh, thank you.” Tatiana smiled humbly. “I just thought the teeniest bit of decoration would make it a little more special, you know? More tasteful.”

“You were totally right,” Megan crooned. “They were
perfect
. Perfect. Melanie is out shopping right now at Kate's. Laura is checking on my balloon order. It's all totally coming together. What do you think of the invites?”

“Perfect.” Tatiana smiled even more widely, taking one of the invitations. “We really do think alike, uh?”

“Totally,” Megan agreed.

“Well, I'll put in the flower order after next period,” Tatiana said. “And everything is all set at Pravda. I talked to my friend last night, and it seems the management is going to be out of town, so she's going to help us do a little something special for the alcohol situation, what with it being a benefit and all. . . .”

Ed gave Tatiana another sideways glance. He still seemed to learn new little tidbits about her every day. He'd certainly never seen her with the particular “naughty little smile” she was flashing the girls. Nor was he aware that Tatiana could simply make a call and arrange a private stash of booze. It was actually a
relief to see that she had a slightly wild side. Sometimes Ed worried about her perfectionist streak.

“
Genius
,” Tammie gurgled, smiling back reverently. “You're a genius. Well, the turnout is going to be
huge
. We've got some NYU, some Columbia,
some
VS, though there's very little point, given the dearth of hot guys here.”

“
Nice,
” Ed quipped. He couldn't decide which thing to be offended by first. The fact that their concern was how many “hot guys” would attend a benefit for Heather or the fact that he had just been dissed.

“Oh, relax, Ed.” Tammie groaned. “You're taken.”

“Taken, but still hot.” Tatiana laughed, mussing up his hair like a dog. Ed gave her another puzzled glance, and she tugged her hand away quickly.

For the briefest millisecond Ed found himself troubled by Tatiana's recent weirdness. He actually wondered if they needed to have a two-second chat just to go over the fact that their
slight unfortunate dip
into romance was totally resolved—and more than over. She had completely concurred with the “just friends” plan. Did he need to remind her that he and Gaia were totally, one hundred percent together?

But his worry was quickly replaced by a torturous and spiky rock that landed in his stomach when he caught himself thinking he and Gaia were totally one hundred percent together. That was the overstatement
of the century. A cloud of gloom fell over his face before he could even hide it.

“Oh, Ed, don't look so sad.” Tammie sighed. “You're hot, okay? You're no Jake, but you're hot.”

“What?” Ed uttered, not even sure what Tammie had just said.

Megan's eyes suddenly widened with desperate urgency. “Wait, is Jake
coming
?”

“Of
course
he's coming,” Tammie replied. “He's basically the entire VS hot guy contingent. I mean, besides Ed,” she added, tossing Ed a patronizing nod. “But I think Jake should count double based on his hotness. . . so that's three. He's hanging out after school/preparty with us, remember?” Tammie suddenly looked at Tatiana with a blinding grin. “Oh, Tatiana, I forgot to even ask you—can we come to your house for that?”

“Of course.” Tatiana smiled. “Absolutely—”

“I knew you'd say yes.” Tammie laughed.

“
Yes
,” Megan agreed with a pronounced nod of excitement. “We are coming to your house and we are raiding your closet.”

Ed's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he heard it. The closet raid. Already. After two days. Maybe Heather
was
becoming psychic?

“Sounds good to me,” Tatiana said.

“
Perfect
,” Megan chirped. “I am
so
dying to see your entire collection.”

“Well, you're all welcome to come over.”

“Um. . .” Ed stepped in on Tatiana's conversation and stared at her, trying to give her the appropriate code with his eyes.

“What?” she asked innocently.

He couldn't believe how little she was thinking this through. For Gaia's sake, he didn't want to have to spell it out in front of Tammie and Megan, but judging from Tatiana's blank face, he guessed he would have to. Tatiana seemed to have forgotten that her bedroom and apartment were also
Gaia's
bedroom and apartment. And if Tatiana thought that she could bring a herd of FOHs into Gaia's house without the potential for bloodshed. . .

“Won't, uh. . . Gaia get a little. . . annoyed?” Ed tried to make his point as lightly as possible.

“Oh, Gaia won't be home,” Tatiana said, nearly in passing. “I love it. You can all help me pick something out for tonight.”

“Where's she going to be?” Ed asked.

Tatiana turned to Ed and went into a bizarre two seconds of
deer-in-headlights syndrome.

She looked like she'd suddenly needed to power down and restart. “Gaia. . . you mean?”

“Yes,
Gaia
,” Ed repeated, searching Tatiana's eyes for returning brain function. “Where is Gaia?”

“Oh. . . oh, I have no idea.” Tatiana laughed. “But you know she won't be home, Ed. She is never home.”

That was certainly true. Gaia was always appearing and disappearing at will, not even telling Ed where the
hell she was going. The thought of it made Ed want to drop his chin down on the table again.

Megan turned to Ed. “Ed, you should come over, too.”

“To raid Tatiana's closet?” he muttered.

“
No
, Mr. Gloomy-Face. To hang out with Jake. Jake's supposed to hang out with us, but now you guys can do ‘boy' things while we do ‘girl' things. It's perfect.”

However gloomy-faced Ed had looked before, he doubled it. “I'm supposed to sit and do ‘boy' things. . . with
Jake
?”

“He's
cool
, Ed,” Tammie insisted. “He's really cool. You'll like him.”

“Yeah,” Ed uttered in a monotone. “I think I'll pass—”

“Ed, come
on
,” Tatiana moaned, giving his shoulder a jovial shake. “Come over, okay? I will let these girls take my entire wardrobe if I don't have someone there to talk some sense into me.”

“She's right,” Tammie assured him. “I've already seen her in two skirts that I'm totally borrowing.”

“I really don't think—”

“Ed, what are you going to do instead?” Tatiana crossed her arms and stared at him with a well-meaning frown. “Sit in your house alone and look gloomy until the party?”

Ed had no response for that. It was, for the most part, exactly what he had planned to do if he couldn't have that dream conversation with Gaia. Particularly if
he couldn't even
find
Gaia for the evening, which he was beginning to think might be the case. But now that Tatiana had announced the depressing plan so publicly, he realized that it was, in fact,
too
depressing. Even more depressing than sitting with Jake and doing boy things, whatever the hell
that
meant.

“Okay.” He sighed.

“Perfect,” Megan said, standing up out of her chair. “We'll meet you guys in the lobby after school. Let's go, Tam. We need to finish handing out the invites.”

Megan and Tammie said their good-byes and drifted back into their puppetlike bouncing, leaving Ed and Tatiana alone at the table.

“They are so
nice
,” Tatiana cooed. “I had no idea they were so nice.”