Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (30 page)

Maybe she didn’t even want it. She’d been through a lot. Who knew what new fears and concerns were brewing in her mind now that so much had changed?

“So, how was class today? Did I miss anything?” I asked.

“Good. And no, you didn’t miss anything important.” She
opened the door that led from the garage to the house and we stepped inside.

“Are you doing okay?”

“I’m feeling better, yes.”

Finally.

“Good.”

“Mom’s going to pick up Chinese food after work tonight
to celebrate.”

“Cool. I know this has been hard on everyone. I wish I hadn’t been such a burden to you guys.”

“
You weren’t,” said Alice, clasping my hand. “I felt confident
it would work out. I trust my mom and she trusts you.”

“I’m glad it did work out.” I squeezed her hand. “We need each other… now more than ever.”

She sighed.

“Alice?”

She looked up at me with tired eyes.

“Besides… losing
her
… what else is bothering you? You seem… drained.” I closed the door behind us.

“Anything can happen,” she said, exhaling loudly as she flopped onto a kitchen chair. “It’s hard to plan life around something you can’t plan for at all. I’m scared.”

“I know what you mean.” I pulled out the chair beside her and sat. “And I’m sorry about this whole mess. Especially what they’ve put
you
through. At least you have me now. That’s definitely something you
can
rely on.”

A little half-crescent tugged at her lips. She cocked an eyebrow.

“This doesn’t make you some kind of adopted brother, does it? Because that would be
really
weird.”

I laughed hard and she cracked an honest, toothy smile.
It was a smile I hadn’t seen in a while. “No. It doesn’t,” I assured
her. “And yes, that would be weird. I wouldn’t want to make out with my sister.”

Alice burst out laughing and brought a hand up to shyly cover her mouth.

Anything to make her laugh.

Anything to get the old Alice back.

“It’s nice outside. Do you want to go for a ride before dinner?”

She shrugged.

I took it as a yes.

. . .

Traffic was sparse at sundown. We’d narrowly avoided Monday evening rush hour. I took a back road to get to downtown. We flipped open the visors on our helmets and enjoyed the cool air. Winter wasn’t much of a winter on the coast. Not like in Montana. High 60s doesn’t exactly scream “Christmas” to me.

Strands of shimmering white lights and coils of spruce and holly garland decorated streetlamps along the narrow downtown streets. Bright red banners swayed in the wind and speakers blared tired instrumental Christmas carols all around town. The same worn-out classics I’d been subjected to every day at work since Thanksgiving.

We stopped at a red light and Alice leaned against my shoulder.

“It’s pretty downtown,” she said.

“Yeah. It is.”

“My mom and I used to come every year and walk around
after Black Friday. Do some shopping. Get a waffle at Stan’s over there.” She pointed past my arm to a little cubby-hole of a bakery across the way.

The light changed to green and I squeezed the gas.

“Maybe we can come back after dinner,” I replied, raising
my voice to combat the growl of the engine.

“Maybe.”

We rode down several other streets and then circled back toward the main square where a huge Christmas tree stood, glowing with thousands of colorful lights and deco
rated with hundreds of oversized ornaments. I parked nearby
and we strolled down the block and past a string of brightly decorated shop windows toward the tree. It must have been a few stories high. We had to crane our necks back to see the bright gold star perched—slightly crooked—on top of the tree.

“Now there’s no way I could straighten
that
star,” I said, pointing a finger and tipping my head to the side. “I’m not
that
tall.”

Alice chuckled, recalling how I could touch the star on her tall Christmas tree back home without straining.

I hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her in to an embrace. She exhaled a sigh and nuzzled her face against my shirt. After a few moments, I took her hand and walked with her to a nearby bench. We sat beside each other near the foot of the tree and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She settled her weight against me and we sat there for a while, watching the colored lights twinkle.

The smell of pine saturated the air. Evening shoppers strolled by with bag handles draped over both arms. Many
had steaming drinks balanced precariously in their free hands.
I could almost taste the hot chocolate just thinking about it.

I looked down at Alice as she rested her eyes, her head pressed against me. A gentle breeze whipped through the locks of her dark brown hair. The thought of her surrendering, trusting me, made my heart ache.
This was so right, it hurt. But it was a good hurt. A pure, wholehearted, all-sacrificing kind of hurt.

We’d been together for a year. I remembered asking her to be my girlfriend just after the holiday dance last year around this time. Then came our first real kiss the night of
the Christmas party at her mom’s house. The kiss that brought
my fluorescence to life. The kiss that changed
everything
.

“Would you mind getting me a drink?” she murmured, nudging me gently and looking up at me with a smile on her face. The violet light of dusk reflected in her gaze, tinting the blue purple.

“It won’t spoil dinner, will it?” I asked jokingly.

“Nothing spoils Chinese,” she said with a smirk.

“True. It’s so greasy and sweet. Alright then.” I reluctantly slid my arm from around her shoulders. “What would you like?” While we’d been sitting there, people had been popping in and out of the café just down the street.

“No, wait,” I interrupted her just as she separated her lips to reply. “Let me pick out something, okay?” I stood from the bench and took a few steps before turning around to look at her. “Are you going to be alright by yourself?”

“For ten minutes? I think so, yeah. Besides, I’ve got pepper
spray,” she whispered, gesturing toward her bag and raising her eyebrows in exaggeration.

She did have pepper spray. A little girly-pink can of it, too. But there’s absolutely nothing girly about pepper spray in the eyes. Besides, our neighborhood had a low crime rate and I wasn’t that worried about leaving her in the middle of a bustling town square.

I shrugged and walked off toward the café.

I propped open the door for an exiting woman and little girl. They thanked me and then I entered behind them, the glass door closing behind me. A brass bell jingled above the doorframe.

A sweet menagerie of smells assailed my nostrils. Waffles
. Freshly brewed coffee. Caramel. Cinnamon.

My mouth started to water.

“Hello,” the young woman behind the counter smiled and straightened her apron. “Welcome to Stan’s. What can I get you?”

Alice and I both loved tea, but I had a taste for something
else.

“Uh… can I get a large hot chocolate and medium black tea latte, please?”

“Sure thing.” She poked a few buttons on the cash register.
“That’s eight dollars even.”

I handed her a ten. She gave me back the change and then slid the receipt over to me. I tossed a buck into the tip jar.

“I’ll get those right out to you,” she said in a cheerful
voice as she reached under the counter to grab two Christmas-themed
paper cups. I took a seat at a little table a few feet away and waited.

A young couple came in—a girl latched onto the guy’s arm. The two snickered quietly. I smirked.
Cute.
Is that how Alice and I looked to others? They seemed barely past the first kiss phase, if I was reading them correctly. All bright-eyed and smitten with each other. A little too oozy for my taste—in public, at least.

“Here you are, Brian.” The barista set two drinks on the counter.

“How did you know my name?” I asked, getting up to retrieve them.

“It’s me, Christy. I used to work at Jacques’, too, but I quit a few months ago. You don’t remember me, I take it?”

Her round face and curly black hair did look vaguely familiar.

“I think I do. Yeah. Sorry, I’ve been going through a lot lately and life’s been hitting hard. Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Brian.” She smiled with her eyes. “We all have tough times. Merry early Christmas. Oh, and I hope she likes her drink,” she added.

She’d read between the lines. And she was right; I had a girl to get back to.

“Thanks, Christy.” I took up both steaming hot to-go cups and headed back out into the streets toward the main square.

Alice was waiting patiently on the bench, her hands folded
neatly in her lap and her gaze lovingly fixed on the Christmas
tree.

“Hey.”

“Yay! You’re back.” She straightened up and reached to take the drink from my hand. She sniffed the steam wafting from the slot in the lid. “Smells good. What did you get?” She leaned over as I sat beside her and I held my cup under her nose. “Hot chocolate? Mmm…” She closed her eyes and took a second sniff. “Delicious!”

I felt stupid. I’d only gotten one hot chocolate, and by the look on her face, I could tell she wanted it.

“Oh. Oops. I mixed them up. The hot chocolate was for you.” I took the cup from her and offered her mine. “They must have mixed up the sizes,” I added, thinking fast.

“Yay!” She cupped her hands around it and nudged me with her arm. “Thanks, Brian. I love you so much.”

I smiled and tried to act cool about the screw up. “You’re
welcome.”

“Gonna have to let it sit a while, though. It’s super hot.”
She pried the lid off the top and scooped a dollop of whipped
cream off with her tongue. Then she popped the lid back on and set the cup by her feet.

“Yeah. Mine, too.” I set mine down beside hers. “Oh well.
We’ve got some time before your mom gets home.”

She leaned her head against my shoulder.

“So, what do you want for Christmas, Alice?” I had to ask, seeing how I’d already screwed up the drink order.

“Having you is more than enough,” she replied, tightening her arm around mine.

Nice answer, but not helpful.

“No, really. I don’t even know where to start this year. Any ideas at all would be great considering how short on time I already am. Sorry.”

“A kitten!” She squealed and bit her lip.

My eyes widened and my smile went flat.

“Just kidding! But I would like a cat someday, so I hope you’re okay with that.”

“Sure.” I shrugged. Cats. Kids. Dogs. Whatever. I didn’t care one way or another as long as it made her happy.

“Yes!” She rubbed her hands together excitedly.

“But really, Alice. Something I can
actually
get you this year
?
”

“Oh, right.” She screwed her face up and squinted. “Hmm.
Trying to think of something I haven’t already told Mom or
Sam. Oh, I don’t know, Brian. I don’t need anything else.” She
tangled her fingers around her dolphin pendant and shrugged.
“I still love this, though. I can’t think of anything. Really.”

Apparently, I’d never top the necklace I’d given her for her birthday…

“Wait! I’ve got an idea! How about… oh, God.”

I shuddered, feeling it, too.

Emptiness. Silence. A tingling on my skin.

The earth stopped.

And then we fell.

Chapter 13

W
e landed with a thud on rough, hard ground. I scrambled
to my feet and brushed dust from my jeans. Alice knelt beside me with her hand on her forearm, groaning in pain.

“Are you alright?” I helped her to her feet. She had bashed her arm against the concrete when we’d hit down and a bloody smudge decorated her skin.

“Yeah. Everything hurts.” She rubbed the back of her leg with her hand. “They didn’t have to drop us in the middle of…”

“Goddamn it!” someone shrieked behind us.

We both veered our heads.

Kareena clenched her fists and pushed her lower lip out. “Where the hell are we?” she growled, stamping a high-heel on the pavement.

A flash of light caught my attention and I looked away from it. An unmistakable landmark loomed in the distance.

“Shit.” I released Alice’s hand unintentionally.

Towering above a series of other buildings, the tip of the
Eiffel Tower shimmered in white and gold lights. Behind that,
a huge black glass pyramid beamed with a blazing spotlight shooting straight from its peak toward the stars.

“We’re in Las Vegas,” I said, shaking my head. “Las-freaking-Vegas.”

I pulled Alice closer and tangled my arm around hers.

“Don’t take a step without me, please,” I whispered. “We can’t get separated here.”

Kareena came up beside us. “How the hell did we get here?”

“I don’t know, but… ugh.” I shivered, shocked by a brisk gust of wind that blew past, and pulled the collar of my shirt up around my throat. I reached into my pocket and took out my phone. It wouldn’t turn on.

“Damn it!” I shoved it back into my pocket. “Alice, can you check yours?” She and Kareena had already taken theirs out.

“Nothing,” Alice confirmed. “It’s like the battery’s dead.”

“Piece of shit!” Kareena whacked her phone against her palm.

“That’s not going to help,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The
Saviors must have done something to them. Who knows? We need to get out of here. So let’s figure out what we’re here for
so we can get it over with and hopefully be sent home. Fast. It’s late, and I sure as hell don’t want to be trapped in Las Vegas for the rest of the night. Or week, for that matter.”