No Safety in Numbers (15 page)

“Launch the tear gas!” a voice shouted.

“Not in a confined space!”
The Senator
.

A muffled boom like a gunshot. More screams.

Lexi slid the scanner onto the desktop and they huddled around it, silent, mesmerized. After some time, they noticed that they were holding on to one another. And when the screams finally died down, when the chatter over the scanner became mere orders to herd the former rioters into their stores, the three stayed there, woven together, until Lights Out buried them in darkness and they curled on the cement floor to sleep.

TUESDAY

T
here were limits to how long a person could remain positive in the face of adversity, and Shay had reached hers. She had spent the night in SnoozeSelect taking care of Nani, who shivered with cold one minute and threw her blankets off the next. Around midnight, she developed a cough. Of course, when Shay asked Nani what was wrong, she said
It’s nothing, I’m feeling better, just a cold.
How was Shay supposed to help when Nani lied about her symptoms?

Although the mall god had announced at Lights On that free food would be provided at the former testing stations, there was a long line at the Burger Baron. Shay had eaten her free ration, but was hoping the servers would give her some soup, as Nani refused to eat solid food.

Shay had scoured the entire diabetes section of the
Merck Manual
, for which she’d paid a significant chunk of change yesterday afternoon, and had found nothing to
explain what a cough and chills had to do with diabetes. She’d ordered Preeti to buy Tylenol, since that was what Ba gave them when they were sick, but Nani couldn’t swallow the pills. She spat them out, complaining that the pills stuck in her throat. So Shay had Preeti get children’s liquid Tylenol. Nani spilled half the bottle when a fit of coughing took her mid-sip.

Apart from the two shopping trips, Preeti had been useless. She whined about going to Hollister, how Shay had
promised
they could sleep in Hollister. Shay had finally blown up at her and screamed
You want to go to Hollister, then go!
And Preeti had left.

“We’re out of toaster sticks,” the girl at the register droned when Shay reached the front of the line.

“Do you have any soup?”

The girl spoke into her headset mic. Shay heard the voice on the other end reply in the negative. “Not until noon,” she said.

“Then just a coffee,” Shay said, dropping a bill on the counter.

Shay slunk away from the registers with her steaming cup and plopped into a seat. She considered going to the clothing depot—along with the free food, it had been announced that people on the outside had donated clothing—but from the shouts echoing up from the first-floor fountain, it sounded like it was already too much of a madhouse. She was definitely not volunteering for the requested “Cleanup Crew.” No gift certificate was worth entering the bathrooms for longer than absolutely necessary.

Brilliant sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling. Shay closed her eyes, let the bright light burn through her
eyelids. It must have been a beautiful day outside. She tried to remember what day it even was.

“Hey there.”

Shay cracked open her eyes and shielded them with her hand. Ryan stood in front of her, the sunlight behind him forming a blazing halo. God, he was pretty.

“I’m so glad I found you,” he said. He had a bruise on his face. Somehow, it made him even better looking.

“You were looking for me?” she asked, trying to seem nonchalant.

He smiled that irresistible half smile. “Well, yeah,” he said. “We have a date to make up.”

His use of the word
date
energized her better than any cup of coffee. Preeti was in Hollister, Nani was fast asleep…

“You want to go to the bookstore?” she asked, standing. Was she trembling from lack of sleep or the nearness of him? She rolled and unrolled the hem of her kameez between her fingers.

“Can we go somewhere else first?” he asked. “I want to show you something. It’s kind of my secret.”

“We’re already sharing secrets?” she asked.

“I read your poems.”

“Tagore’s poems,” she corrected. “What secrets of mine could you learn reading them?”

“You made notes in the margins,” he said. “Your favorite poem”—he sat and began folding a napkin—“is about a flower”—he took her coffee stirrer—“only the spirit can touch.” He lifted his creation: a paper flower on a stirrer stem. He held it out to her. “My mom taught me to make these.”

He took her hand, gently, his fingers slowly winding into hers, and pressed the flower to her palm. Warmth radiated from Shay’s hand to her body, out, then down.

“Onward?” she asked.

“Onward,” he answered.

Ryan handed Shay a mess of nylon webbing. “You have to, um,” he stammered, “put this around your, well, legs?” He was blushing. “Here, let me show you.”

He stepped into the two bottom loops, then pulled the waistband, sliding the loops up his jeans, and fastened the harness like a belt. “See?” He lifted his shirt slightly, exposing smooth skin and just the barest hint of navel, then pointed, like she wasn’t already staring. She wondered if he was really just showing her the harness.

Two can play this game.

“I think my kameez is going to get in the way,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

She walked—feet barely touching the tiles—to a changing room, undid her choli, and slipped the kameez over her head. She then pulled the choli back on, fastened the clasps between her shoulder blades, and slipped the harness over her jeans.

The choli fit tightly around her curves, ending just above her waist, leaving her belly exposed to the top of her low-riding jeans. The harness wrapped around her natural waist, the padding hugged her skin. She liked her body. Why not show it?

Stepping out of the room, she saw that her plan had the desired effect. Ryan’s jaw unhinged itself, he looked
so stunned.
Maybe he really was just showing me the harness…?

She swallowed the nervousness that bubbled inside at this realization and decided to just play it cool. So she’d upped the ante. He was a boy for whom the ante should be upped.

“Now what?” she said as if she were confident in her half nakedness.

“Huh?” he said. “Uh, ropes.” He snatched a rope from the wall. It was already knotted around a metal D-ring. “You want to go first?” he asked. He seemed to be fighting the urge to drop his gaze.

“Sure,” she said.

He paused for a moment, then reached forward and quickly slipped the ring around a small loop on the front of her harness. His hands came distressingly close to her skin. Gooseflesh pimpled her belly.

He stepped back, his cheeks fiery with blush, and attached a different metal gizmo to his harness. “Now climb,” he said. “I’ve got you.” He looked into her eyes and flashed his half smile, and she knew that he did.

Standing nose-to-wall, she wrapped her hands around two small lumpy handholds just above her head, put one foot on another lump, then lifted off the ground. As she moved spider-like up the wall, she felt him tighten the rope between them.

“You’re almost there,” he shouted.

She reached up and touched the ceiling. There was a small ledge nearby and she scooted herself onto it. She wasn’t high off the ground, but she may as well have been
orbiting the earth, from the dizzy feeling she got looking back down at him.

“Now jump!” he said. He pulled the slack from her rope.

She leaned back off the ledge, feeling the strength of his hold on her, then dropped, her hair whipping across her face, until the rope caught her, jolting her, forcing a yelp of laughter from her already smiling lips.

He lowered her down slowly. She hung limp until she felt her feet touch the ground.

“Great, right?” he said, steadying her.

“Amazing.”

He climbed next. He moved expertly up the wall, his hands gripping holds barely bigger than a knuckle. When he reached the top, he sat on the ledge and switched the D-ring to the back of his harness.

“You got me?” he said.

She tugged the rope tighter. “I’ve got you.”

And he fell, his eyes locked on hers as he swept toward her. She nearly let go of the rope, she was so overwhelmed by him. But she held on, catching his weight against her hips. He smiled, feeling the sudden link between them, and kept smiling all the way down.

“I can’t believe that was your first time,” he said. “Climbing, I mean.” The rope hung limp between them.

“I had a good teacher.” Shay felt an incredible urge to touch him, but feared she might burst into flame.

A sales guy came over to reprimand Ryan for using the back loop on the harness, blathering on about liability or something, but they just detached themselves from the
rope, slipped out of their harnesses, grabbed her bag, and drifted away from him.

When they reached the door, Ryan took her hand and the sensation sent shock waves across her skin.

“What next?” she asked.

But really, who cared? So long as they were together.

O
h my god,” Maddie squealed, sloshing her decaf mocha inside its paper cup, “you have to tell her about Tomo’s party the other weekend!”