Michael (The Airel Saga, Book 2) - By Aaron Patterson Page 0,60
repulsed by her crassness. But then we laughed, and sharing that moment with my Kimmie took me back to movie nights at my house, popcorn fights and talk about boys. It made my smile fade all too quickly. Those days might never return, I realized.
There was a picturesque little marina nearby on the other side of the railroad bridge, with I-84 roaring along above us as well. I looked up and stopped. Beech Street. And off in the distance, like a beacon of hope: A hotel. “Oh, thank GOD!”
“Do you think there’s a restaurant?” Kim seemed to be perking up.
“Yeah, and I bet they even serve DEAD RHINOCEROS,” I said, mimicking her raucous tone from earlier. We laughed until we nearly peed our pants and fell over in the grass, and then I decided what the heck: I tackled her. We rolled around giggling and wrestling, letting all the tension go at last, sending her bag flying. We rolled into Michael and Ellie, who stood there looking down at us, bemused. But we weren’t done yet; there was more pent-up tension to release. We rolled around a bit more, wrestling each other.
When we were through, trying to recover, I pulled myself onto my elbows and looked up. Ellie had gone, presumably to get us some rooms, and Michael was sitting at a picnic table, his chin in his hand, looking out at the river. I wanted to go to him, enjoy the moment with him, but I thought better of it. Kim was such an odd man out; she needed an advocate.
“Hey,” she poked me. “Thanks for that.”
I smiled at her. “No prob.” Then I widened my eyes in mock surprise. “Dang, girl,” I said, looking at her hands, “You need to find a bar of soap!” They were crusted over with dirt and possibly even bruises, especially on the palms, which I thought was really weird.
She withdrew them and looked ashamed. “I know,” she said. “I know, right?” She made a whooshing sound and said, “It’s been really messed up, hanging out with you lately.”
I felt really bad for her. “Kim, I’m so sorry…. Maybe we should have just taken you home.”
“No way,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss this for nothin’.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, you. Don’t try to act tough. It doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m not acting.”
“Okay, whatever,” I said, thinking. “Hey…I’m sorry for my part of what happened on the train.” I thought back to how I woke up to find Michael missing, went to go find him and found Kim instead, and then… “I don’t know what happened once Ellie showed up and started freaking out.”
“Yeah, she’s got her bags packed for a power trip,” Kim said. “She’s lame. I hate her.”
I looked at her, surprised a little at her extreme tone. “Yeah, well, I guess I do too.”
“Airel, I love you.” She looked like she was about to cry.
“Kim, what’s going on with you?” I blurted out. I didn’t really want to know just then, I had to admit. But she was obviously emotionally unstable.
“It’s nothing,” she said, wiping at her eyes with the cuff of her dirty red sweater. She looked like a meth addict.
“It’s okay to be weak, you know, to need a break. Even I need—”
“Even you, huh?” she said, the hurt in her tone pretty obvious. “Look, I know I’ll never be like you. I’ll never have cool angel powers. I’m ugly; I won’t live forever…” she got a distant look in her eyes and put her hands in her sweater pocket.
“Kim, I didn’t mean anything by—”
“Where is it?” she interrupted me. She sounded scared, her eyes darting all over the grass.
I laughed at her, but it came out fraudulent. “You’re acting really weird, Kim. Where’s what?” I looked from her eyes to the grass and back, judging the situation.
“My…my, um…” she fumbled.
“Your what?”
“I lost something,” she said, her voice choked up. “I think it happened when we were wrestling…”
“What, you lost something…?”
“Yes!” she was suddenly very irritated. She pulled her bag close and unzipped it, keeping her body between me and it, peeking inside, rummaging around in it. “No, it’s not here.” She sounded desperate.
“Kim, honey, what’s wrong?”
She stopped, frozen, her eyes distant. “Oh…” she said robotically. “It’s nothing. I…I think I made a mistake.”
“Kim, what the heck is wrong with you? What did you lose?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing. Right. I don’t buy it. Now what did you lose? Tell me.” Now I was getting angry.