Coma (Paranormal Romance) (9 page)

“What's with the frowns?” Shawn said,
startling us. All three of us forced a smile.

“Oh, nothing,” Helen replied, and handed him
a fresh towel. “Girl stuff.”

After fifteen minutes of awkward silence, and
Brad and Shawn's confused look exchange, Helen turned to me, and
said: “Let's go for a walk.” I nodded, and started getting up. She
said to the guys, “We're gonna get our feet wet. It's too hot. Be
back soon.” She placed a kiss on Shawn's lips, and signaled Maya to
follow.

With our heads bowed, we walked through
shallow water without a word. I watched crystal clear water caress
my ankles until Helen said: “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make a big
deal out of it.”

“Don't worry about it, Helen,” I said,
knowing she was worked up because of my past, not my present. “It's
not like we have to agree on everything. Like I said, you both had
good points, and I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about it
anyway.”

“I just want you to be happy. I didn’t want
to sound so unsupportive,” Helen's eyes watered, and I hugged her,
then pulled Maya into the hug.

“Life's not all roses. I'll be okay,” I said,
and Helen snorted.

“So, BFFs again?” Maya said in high pitched
voice.

“Was that ever in question?” I replied, and
we laughed, glad that our fight was behind us.

~*~

I came home rather sunburned. Mom went to get
Dad from the airport. I was looking forward to seeing him, and
telling him all about my job. Mom and I had agreed to keep it a
secret until he came home to surprise him. With some free time on
my hands, I decided to take a bath, and apply some skin
moisturizer. Those burns were bound to sting like hell
tomorrow.

Relaxing in the tub, I thought about what
Helen had said about Zack. Reason told me to listen to her; there
was no way to have a normal relationship with him. Thinking I
could, would be plain crazy. But that place deep inside of me that
usually made me feel out of place was screaming now to be heard.
There was something about him that made me feel alive, that made me
feel like I needed him. All my life, I felt as if a stark had
dropped me off in a wrong place. Messed up delivery, I guessed. And
now, with Zack in the picture, I felt as if everything fell into
its place, and yet, I couldn't have him. Annoyed, I threw a sponge
toward my feet. It landed with a loud splash.

For as long as I have lived, I had to hide a
piece of me from the world. All my past relationships were
okay––regular guys doing regular things––but there was always
something missing. It was all too superficial, and I needed depth.
That's why I never was head over heels in love with someone. In my
view, relationships didn’t include secrets. To commit, I had to
feel safe, trust completely, and surrender all that I am to someone
who would do the same. Corny soul mate kind of thingy. What was the
point in having a relationship if I had to hide who I was for the
rest of my life? One time, hearing me say that, my girlfriends said
I needed to come down from that cloud, and look at life for what it
was—anything but a fairytale.
Men are from Mars, and women are
from Venus
—Helen would quote a famous book title. I couldn’t
settle for that. If things really were like that, I’d rather spend
my life alone than with a Martian. Mom had her opinion on that
matter. She said the problem was that I dealt with boys, not men,
and that things would change in time. I begged to differ. Looking
at Dad and other grown up men, all I could see were the same boys,
only more facial hair.

So what was it that I wanted? What differed
Venusian men from Martian? And why did I feel Zack was different? I
knew nothing about him. That was yet to be discovered. Mom’s car in
our driveway ended my internal debate. I must have lost track of
time, and now had to hurry up. I dried myself, applied a thick
layer of lotion, and impatiently tapped my foot against the tiles,
waiting for the lotion to soak up. There was no time, so I put on
an expendable T-shirt that foreseeably glued itself to my skin, and
hurried down to see Dad.

We exchanged hugs, with me suppressing
painful moans when he put his arms over my burnt back. It was
almost midnight when we finished talking about my job, sunburns,
and Dad’s conference. Before I went to bed, Mom and Dad had agreed
to stop for coffee at Mario’s before work to see me in action. That
made me nervous big time, and I tried to talk them out of it. No
luck.

~*~

The next morning, I woke up way before my
alarm clock went off. My mind was too busy to sleep, sorting out
what I feared more—my parent’s visit, or Fat-man. I hoped Zack
would come, and share some good news before I got to work, but he
didn’t. That’s why I was extra careful exiting the bus. It was too
early in the morning, but if Zack’s efforts had failed, I was in
big trouble. Couple of glances around the block reassured me I was
alone, so I entered Mario’s. None of the staff were there yet, so I
decided to make some coffee for myself to steady those edgy
nerves.

Sipping warm coffee, I tried to visualize my
parents sitting at one of the tables, and me serving them. It
shouldn’t be too hard. Sure, it was important for me to show how
good I was at it, but if stage fright ate the best of me, I was
certain Mom and Dad would find it cute, not clumsy.

At that moment, something crashed behind my
back, and I almost fainted from fear. I heard myself scream as if I
were watching from somewhere else. Before I almost passed out, I
caught a glimpse of Jake hopping on one foot, holding the other in
both hands. The thing crashing must have been Jake’s bare foot
hitting something, or the baseball bat still rolling on the
floor.

“Oh, it’s you,” I said when I managed to get
ahold of myself.

“Morning to you, too,” Jake growled, and I
tried to look somewhere else, because he was wearing only briefs.
I’d hate to see anything slip out of those. That image would surely
imprint in my brain. “What are you doing here this early? I thought
someone had broken in.”

“That man from yesterday attacked me when I
was going home, so I came in earlier to avoid running into him,”
that was the briefest explanation I could offer.

“Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head and said, “No. I managed to
escape.”

“You should have come to me. I would have
made him regret that decision!” Though he sounded serious, his hair
defying gravity, bare feet, and briefs, made it less so. Seeing him
like that took the edge off his usual grim self.

“Thanks, Jake. If he tries it again, I will.
Coffee?”

“No, thanks. I’m off to bed,” Jake rubbed his
eyes, and went back upstairs. Just before he disappeared around the
corner, to my disgust, he scratched his butt. If my day was gonna
be anything like my morning, I’ll be lucky to live through it.

The rest of the staff came in and, our
morning continued as usual. When my parents showed up, I was ready
and calm. They said they were proud of me, quickly sipped their
coffee, and left for work. I wondered why I was worried in the
first place.

As the end of my shift was nearing, I became
restless. Zack still hadn't showed up. I thought not calling the
police might have been a mistake, after all. Was I that dazzled by
him that I believed he could perform wonders? To be on the safe
side, when my friends rolled in, I planned to ask Maya and Helen to
give me a ride home.

Sudden influx of customers postponed my plan
to hitch a ride for after the shift, and that's when I saw Zack in
front of Mario's. When our eyes locked, he made two slow nods, and
smiled. I took that as
problem solved
. After that, he
pointed at himself, then me, and then motioned behind him toward
the bus station. I guessed he meant he would wait for me at the
station. That stirred a couple of butterflies in my belly,
obliterating my reason. Oh, I was a goner.

I couldn't wait to get out of my apron and
meet Zack. I was anxious to hear how he managed to make Fat-man
forget. Joining my friends at the table seemed like such a waste of
time, but I had to do it, or they would suspect something was
wrong. As soon as I sat down, I said I had to go home earlier
because of my dad. Five minutes seemed like forever, but I had to
keep my body language under control, or Helen would have been on to
me. I wasn't in the mood for one of her lectures again.

Crossing the street, my heart quickened its
pace, and each step closer to Zack did funny things to my insides.
The problem was, he wasn't alone. There were other people waiting
for the bus. I stopped next to him, and stared at the pavement.

“Do you have time for a walk?” He asked in a
low voice. I nodded. “Follow me.” Like an obedient puppy, that's
what I did. Slightly further away, he said, “I think we're safe to
talk now.”

I looked up at him, and those green eyes
under a rich layer of lashes met mine. The world ceased to exist. I
wasn't sure what day it was, or what I wanted to talk about. I just
wanted to freeze the moment. As we strolled side-by-side, his
little finger grazed the side of my palm, sending snake-like
electric vibes through my arm.

“Did something else happen?” Zack asked, and
I shook my head. “You look,” he paused as if he searched for an
appropriate word, “confused.”

“No, I'm waiting to hear what happened with
Fat-man,” quickly, I broke my trance.

“Oh, that. I spent the entire night next to
his bed,” he chuckled. “The man can snore!”

I chuckled, too. “And it worked?”

“Yeah, it worked! I had to be sure it did, so
I spent the morning with him, as well. It was hard to get him to
speak aloud about his day before. I can't read minds, you know,” he
raised a brow.

“Crap! That didn't cross my mind,” I said,
realizing that his task was much harder than I originally
thought.

“I made him believe it was Jake who served
him, and that if he ever showed his face at Mario's, Jake would rip
him apart. I kept reminding him about that, and he argued aloud
with Jake about it.”

“What if he remembers the truth?”

“I don't think he will. When I mentioned you,
all he said was that he wished the new girl had served him instead
of Jake.”

“Thank you.”

We reached the park, and I sat down on the
bench. Zack sat next to me, spreading his arms over the back of the
bench, and crossing his ankles. Every cell in my body was aware of
his arm behind me, and his body inches away. He seemed oblivious to
that, perfectly relaxed. I wished his arm would drop around me, but
instead he turned toward me, and said:

“You are different today. I don't think it
has anything to do with the Fat-man,” he looked at me
inquisitively. “You're too quiet.”

“What? You miss my bitchiness?” I laughed to
cover my tracks.

“Hell, no! But I watched you enough to know
this is not your usual self,” a smug grin covered his face, sending
all my blood into my cheeks.

“Okay, mister know-it-all. Then you tell me
what's wrong with me,” tossing the ball to him seemed like the best
option. Sure as hell, I wasn't gonna tell him what was on my
mind.

“Hmm,” his eyes widened, “I don't know, but
I'll find out.” A playful boyish grin flashed across his face. He
pulled his arms back, and stood up. I thought it was time for me to
step up, and do something for him, so I said:

“What happened to you-needing-my-help
story?”

“I still do, but you made it clear you didn't
want to,” he tucked his hands in his back pockets.

“I do now. You helped me with the
Fat-man—”

“That's not why I did it!” Zack clenched his
teeth together.

“I know, and that's exactly why I changed my
mind,” I smiled. “Tell me. What do you need me for?”

Zack sighed, and sat back down. He dropped
his elbows on his knees, and put his head between his palms. “For a
while, I've been trying to reach a person that might know something
about my situation. I saw her medical file in the hospital, but
couldn't reach her because she's out of my Lyra radius,” he tilted
his head toward me, and smiled.

“Lyra radius,” I chuckled. “Is that how you
call it, or is it a spur of the moment?”

Zack slouched back, and crossed his arms
behind his head. “No, that's how I call it. You're my sun, my life
revolves around you. Literally. Did you forget that I cannot go
further than a certain distance from you?” He smiled, but unlike
the first time I spoke to him, he didn't seem to be annoyed by it
anymore.

Maybe I should have kept my thoughts to
myself, but it itched to get out, so I said, “You're less annoyed
by it.”

He didn't respond, only his lips curled a
bit, and then he continued, “Would you be willing to go with me to
see her?”

“It depends. Where is she?”

“A psych ward some thirty miles away.”

“A crazy person? Really?”

“Out of all people, you should know crazy is
not really crazy,” he chuckled. “I mean, you're the one talking to
an empty bench,” he pointed at himself.

“Ouch,” I pressed a palm over my heart. There
I was, being stupid again. I wanted to fall into a hole and hide.
“When do we leave and how?”

“I didn't mean to offend you,” Zack took my
hand from my chest.

I don't know what got into me, but I snatched
it back, and stood up, saying, “You didn't. You just said the
truth.”

Embarrassed, I felt the need to escape, so I
turned my back on him, and distanced myself by taking a few steps
away. “You didn't answer my question,” I said, and started fiddling
with some loose threads on the hem of my shirt.

He didn't reply, but I didn't want to turn
around and face him. A couple of moments later, he said,
“Tomorrow,” right next to my ear. Instantly, I stiffened up. I
didn’t hear him coming behind me. His breath moved several strands
of my hair. Feeling him standing behind me, nothing but a thin
layer of air separating us, my breathing sped up. He scooped my
hair, and placed it over my left shoulder, leaving the right side
of my neck bare. “After work,” he leaned forward, closer to my ear,
completely annihilating that thin layer of air between us. I drew a
sharp breath, and then he said, “If you have time, we could catch a
bus and be home by ten.”