Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1) (18 page)

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” she says, licking her lips. “You’d like it if you tried it.”

“I’ll pass.” That’s just gross. I saw something on the Food Network once that said the slimy things are actually alive when you eat them.

“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I have to go check on the booze. The last time my mom had an event, we ran out of scotch and it wasn’t a pretty sight.” He takes off in the direction of the house.

Under different circumstances, I would have been annoyed by Alex leaving my side again, but I have Jaime with me now and I’m glad to have a moment alone with her. I quickly fill her in on what I saw earlier. “Let’s go find him. I swear, he looks just like him.”

She polishes off the last oyster on her plate—ick—and thanks the guy who got stuck with the unfortunate job of shucking and follows me as we go in search of old-man-Cooper. It doesn’t take long to locate him. We find him huddled over in the corner of the yard, alongside what looks to be some very important looking men. Then again, anyone who’s over the age of forty looks important to me. Even Jaime’s dad is there. The men appear to be in deep conversation.

Jaime pokes me with her elbow. “Oh my gawd, you’re right. It’s him, only older. What the hell, you think that’s his dad?”

“Nah, too young I think. I want to get a closer look at him.”

Jaime pulls my arm back in order to stop me. “You can’t. What if he recognizes you?”

“Why would he? There’s no way it’s the same Cooper. He’s probably a relative or something. But it’s going to kill me not knowing.”

“How are you going to get past the old geezers? They look pretty intense.”

“I don’t know. Look, I’m going to go find the ladies room while we wait for them to stop talking. Wait for me?”

“Yeah, sure. But don’t take long.”

Um, unlike some other girl I know? “Just wait, okay?” Even though I’m grateful she’s here, she really can be a pain sometimes.

The bottom floor half bath is occupied, so I run up to the second floor and thankfully find a bathroom. I’m paranoid about locks—my OCD moment—so I flip the latch a few times to make sure it functions correctly.

After I finish my business, I wash my hands and go to unlock the door. Damn, it’s stuck. I double checked the latch and it locked and unlocked earlier with no problems. Why isn’t it working now?

Great, now Jaime is going to wander off and I’m going to have to go through the trouble of finding her again. I take a deep breath and try the door knob again. It still won’t budge. What am I supposed to do now? I can’t just bang on the door without bringing attention to the fact that I’m locked in the senator’s bathroom, so I drop the toilet lid down and sit. I need to think. I can always call Alex on my cell, but I’m too embarrassed to tell him I got locked inside the can, not to mention how beyond mortified I’d be if he has to ask his mom for help.

Think Etta!
Okay, it’s not my first choice, but it’ll have to do.

I get up off the toilet seat and back up against the wall, facing the door. I focus my energy on the locking mechanism and try to jiggle it around, using my mind like a bobby pin. Since I can’t picture the inside of the lock, I explore the different possibilities: left, right, clockwise, counterclockwise.
Open.

Just when I start to think it’s useless, the knob pops out of the door frame and clanks on the tile floor. Oops. I think I exerted a little too much oomph in my focus. I’m so not telling Alex or his mom who broke their door knob. I’ll let them think someone else did it.

Using the circular hole left by the falling knob as a handle, I pull the door open. As I make my exit, I run into someone trying to get in.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you.” Of
course
there’s someone waiting outside to witness the door fall apart. Just my luck. I look up to see its Mr. Thornberry, Jaime’s dad.

“What happened to the door?” He points to the broken door knob lying on the floor next to his feet.

He’s going to rat me out anyway, since I’m the only possible culprit, so I tell him the truth. “The door got stuck and wouldn’t unlock. Guess I tried a little too hard to unlock it.”

Jaime’s dad still gives me the creeps, just like he did before. No wonder she spends so much time at my house. I’d want to avoid him as much as possible if I were in her shoes.

“I see. And how did you manage to break free?” He tucks his hands under his arms, waiting to hear my explanation.

“A hair clip.” I give him my best smile as I slide past him down the hall. “See ya!”

I can’t find Jaime fast enough. Now it’s time to get a better look at the guy who looks like Coop. While Jaime and I debate whether or not I should approach him, I see him head for the bar. Here’s my chance. Jaime stands back as I attempt to make a fool out of myself—again.

“Oh, excuse me,” I say, purposely bumping into him. “Is it just alcohol at the bar or do they have sodas too?” I sound so lame, but it’s the best I can come up with. Somehow I doubt ‘don’t I know you from somewhere’ will work in this situation.

The Cooper look-alike laughs. “If they serve rum and cokes, I’m sure the bartender has something appropriate for a young lady like yourself.”

“Thanks. Hey, are you a politician?”

“I’m a defense contractor actually. And yourself?” I can tell he’s just humoring me. He probably thinks I’m cute for trying to flirt with an older man. While the Cooper I know makes me shiver whenever he’s near, this guy stops me cold—the bad kind of shivers.

“Oh.” I’m not sure what I was expecting, asking him what he does for a living, or even that he’d throw the question right back at me. “I go to Dominion Hall Academy.” I check the line and he’s one away from reaching the bar. I’m running out of time to ask any more questions. “So, do you have any kids?” Okay, that cinches it. I’m officially a loser. This guy knows I’m certifiably nuts by now. But I have to ask, just in case he is Coop’s dad. Maybe he’s an older brother or something.

“Uh, no, not that I know of,” he chuckles, amused by his own joke. The bartender interrupts, asking to take his drink order, so the man turns his back to me while he orders a scotch on the rocks. Alex wasn’t kidding about the scotch.

Drink in hand, he starts to make his way back into the crowd. This is it. “Well, it was nice talking to you. My name is Etta.” I stick my hand out, forcing him to reciprocate.

“The pleasure is all mine young lady. Cooper,” he shakes my outstretched hand. “Cooper Everett.”

I drop his hand and for a moment just stand there gaping at the unoccupied space left by the man who shares the same name as Cooper. I can hear someone in the background.

“Miss? What can I get you?” The bartender asks again.

“Oh, nothing,” I start to walk away. “Just my sanity.”

B
efore we left Alex’s house last night, Jaime and I had agreed to meet up twenty minutes before physics class. I’m totally behind in my homework and my intention is to ask her for help before class, but after what happened last night, discussion of the mysterious man takes precedence.

“I can’t believe that man was Cooper,” Jaime says. “It’s just not possible. Is it?” She seems genuinely perplexed. I’m glad I had her check him out for herself. If she hadn’t, I’d have to wonder if I’m just imagining things.

“It just doesn’t make sense. The guy at the bar said he didn’t have any kids, but he’s the spitting image of him. Not to mention they share the exact same name. I think there’s more going on than Cooper’s letting on,” I admit. At some point I’m going to have to bite the bullet and let Jaime in.

Her face turns all haughty like. “I knew there was something off about that guy! Why don’t you just ask him?”

“You don’t have to look so smug. Besides, he doesn’t always answer his phone and I don’t even know where he lives.”

Jaime ponders that for a second. “I thought you guys were good friends? He certainly knows how to find you,” she points out. “I’m sure he’ll show up eventually. He always does.”

She’s right. Cooper always magically appears whenever I need him most. But given the circumstances, even this is all too bizarre. The man I met at the fundraiser seemed like a nice enough guy, but there’s something about him that seemed off. Could he really be Cooper? If alternate realities existed, is it possible that it is the same person, only from a different reality? But if that’s true, it can only mean one thing.

I know I’m taking a risk by asking, but then again, it’s not like I’m actually going to reveal that alternate realities actually exist, so I ask anyway, “Hey Jaime, do you think time travel is possible?”

This strikes her as hilarious. “Where did that come from? No, I don’t think it’s possible. Why? You think Cooper is from the future or something?”

No, more like the past.

“No,” I sigh. Bouncing theories off Jaime probably isn’t the brightest idea, but it’s not like I can come straight out and ask Cooper about it. At least not until I figure out a reasonable explanation for his look-alike.

“Hey, do you want to sleep over on Friday?” Jaime has already become bored with the conversation and changes the subject.

“I thought you wanted to go hot tubbing in Wintergreen?”

“Yeah, about that. The folks put a kibosh on that one. So you do you want to come over instead?”

“Like a slumber party?” I’ve never be to one before. Although technically, having lived at Dominion House with thirty other foster kids was like a perpetual sleep over I couldn’t wait to end.

“Sure. You, me, a tub of popcorn, and a couple of chick flicks.”

“I’m sure it will be alright with Aunt Maggie.” Jaime spends so much time at my house, I figure my aunt will want a break. Maybe this won’t be so bad. It will also give me a chance to get to know this Jaime a little better. Besides, a sleepover does sound kinda fun when she puts it that way.

“I’m in,” I accept her invitation just as the bell rings, signaling the start of class. Now I just hope Miss Stone doesn’t call on me to share last night’s homework.

No such luck. If I had the opportunity of taking the course for the whole semester, like the rest of the class, instead of being dumped here the last part of the year, I’m sure I could have figured out the assignment. And of course, Miss Stone decides to call on me to present my circuit diagram. I don’t know why they’re called simple volt meters, there’s nothing simple about them. So I slowly make my way up to the front of the classroom and I’ve got nothing.

“Miss Fleming, please see me after class.” I receive a stern look as she allows me to return to my seat.

Great, now I’m possibly facing detention—do they even have detention at a place like this? Or worse yet, additional homework. I sit through the rest of class with my head firmly focused on my desk. I’m afraid that if I look up, Miss Stone will only single me out again and give me her usual scowl.

The bell rings and I watch as everyone exits the classroom. Jaime shoots me a look before she leaves. Now it’s just me and Miss Stone. I’m tempted to tell her about my experience with alternate realties for real this time. At the very least, she’ll think I’m just unbalanced and let me slide.

“Etta. What seems to be the problem? Your progress has significantly dropped below what is required for this class. This is not the kind of work I expect coming from you. Is there a problem at home I should know about?” For a split second, she actually appears concerned. Then it’s gone. “Have you asked your father to help you with your studies?”

“Uh, my dad isn’t home at the moment. He’s away on business.”

She gives me a hard look. “I see. Do you know when he’ll be back? I don’t want you slipping in class.” Her eyes flicker, as if something suddenly occurs to her. “Etta, what lesson did we go over before we broke for winter break?”

Is this a trick question? “I think, well, I—” I lower my head, embarrassed. “I’m sorry Miss Stone. I don’t remember.” Hell, I don’t know why I have to apologize. It’s not my fault I don’t remember the damn lectures from last fall. I wasn’t even here! I raise my head to look back at her.

Her eyes widen. “I see,” she says again. “Well, then, I expect you’ll make a good faith effort on your assignments the rest of the semester. Is that understood?”

I sigh. “Yeah, I understand.”

M
y aunt is thrilled I when I tell her I’m doing a girls night in with Jaime. Something about behaving more like a teenager, she says when she gives her permission. She has a point; I never really had much of a real childhood.

I quickly head up to my room to pack a few things for my sleepover. When Jaime first suggested it, I was hesitant, but I’m actually looking forward to it now. I stuff a few items in my bag: pjs, toothbrush and my hair brush. I figure I can just borrow anything else I need. This is actually going to be fun, I tell myself.

Before heading over to Jaime’s, I pop in the kitchen to say goodbye. I choke back surprise at seeing my teacher sitting comfortably in the kitchen. Aunt Maggie, the great hostess that she is, has already offered her coffee and homemade scones.

“Miss Stone, what are you doing here?” God, I hope she didn’t come by to tell my aunt I’m flunking physics.

“April,” she says, turning the stool around in order to address me. “You can call me April.”

“Am I in trouble?” I thought our little meeting after class was the end of the discussion. She didn’t say anything about coming over to discuss my poor grades.

“Maggie?” Miss Stone turns to my aunt for assistance.

They’re on a first name basis now?

My aunt tears herself away from the fridge and answers for her. “Honey, this isn’t about your studies,” she smiles. “I’m well aware of your poor performance, but that’s not why she’s here. April is your advisor.”

Huh? I’m supposed to get private tutoring now? How is this not about my grades? “Can’t I just study with Jaime?”

“What? Oh, no. She’s not here to mentor you on a scholastic level, April is your advisor. Every beginning traveler has a guide.”