The Field (7 page)

“Do you mind if we join the others at Bub's now? This American boy is starving and I could use a burger!” I pat my hand on my stomach, which, thankfully, is flat.

“Of course. Didn't you say something about ice cream?”

“They've got the best in town.”

The restaurant is crowded with families and teens out on the town. I see Will, Bonnie and Cole sitting in a booth at the back of the restaurant. Will and Bonnie are on one side and Will has his arm draped across the back of the booth behind her. Renee slides into the seat next to Cole on the other side of the booth, and I sit next to her so she's sandwiched between us.

“It's about time you guys got here,” Will says. “We're already done.”

“I can see that.” Their plates with the remains of their burgers, fries and milkshakes cover the table. “We took the long way. We're going to order something now if you want to hang out a while longer.”

“No problem,” Cole says. He's leaning on his elbow looking at Renee. “So, Renee, did Eric tell you about the survey we're
doing for Psych class?” The waitress comes and we order our food.

“No, he didn't mention it.”

“It's called Hot or Not.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” She's smiling warily at him, not sure where this is going.

“We're asking students whether they think different articles of clothing or characteristics are ‘hot or not,' and then graphing the results. It's very scientific.”

Bonnie snorts and laughs, making her blond curls bounce. “Ha! They're really just using it to find out what girls think is hot.”

“Well, of course. We also want to communicate what guys think is not hot.”

“Like what?” asks Renee.

“Number one in the Not Hot category for us is body piercing, except navel piercing, and tattoos, except very small discreet ones, if you know what I mean.” Cole smiles and raises his eyebrow.

“Also, too much make-up. That is definitely Not Hot,” says Will.

“What about what girls think is Not Hot?” says Bonnie. She's leaning forward. “How about BO and ratty clothes? Definitely not hot.”

“We can add those to the list,” Cole says. “Alright, let's switch gears to what is Hot. Renee, what about you? Anything that you find particularly attractive?” he asks with a deceptively nonchalant air. I was waiting for this. I figured he'd been leading up to something like this all along.

“Well, I think someone who has good manners and is confident is attractive,” she says, skirting the question.

“Ah, those are good traits, and I believe that your date, Mr. Horton, here possesses them, but what about appearance? Hair, for instance. What do you think of Eric's long soccer hair?” He reaches behind her to ruffle my hair, and I bat his hand away.

I feel like I should step in to deflect Cole's question, but I also want to know what she thinks, so I don't say anything right away. Renee turns to look directly at me, smiles and says, “Hot. Definitely hot.” Without missing a beat. I smile back and think,
Ha! She's definitely not shy
. Will lets out a low whistle. Then I feel the heat start to rise in my face and I'm afraid I'm going to blush, so I say, “Okay, let's move off of that topic.”

Fortunately, the waitress brings my burger and fries and Renee's milkshake right then. Will says, “I heard there's a party tonight at Todd Sloan's. Do you guys want to go?”

“That's kind of a party crowd, isn't it?” says Bonnie, a crease forming between her blue eyes.

“Maybe,” says Will, stealing a fry off my plate, “but come on, it'll be fun and we don't have to partake. Anyway, one beer never hurt anyone. Hey, we
won
tonight! I want to enjoy the moment.”

I turn to Renee. “Do you want to go? It'll be crowded and noisy.”

“I don't mind either way, really.”

“Well, if you don't mind, I'd rather skip it. I'm beat and it'll just be a bunch of people standing around drinking.” To Will, I say, “Renee says that Dr. Auberge is doing the remote viewing study tomorrow and we can go. We have to be there by nine.”

“That's cool. Don't worry, I'll be by to pick you up at 8:30.”

After we finish our food, Will, Cole and Bonnie leave to go to the party and Renee and I walk back through the neighborhood to the high school and my car. It's nice just to be with her and
talk. I feel really comfortable around her. A party isn't a good place to get to know someone, and I really am tired. When I pull up to her driveway to drop her off, I'm trying to decide if I should kiss her goodnight, and what kind of a kiss it should be. As I put the car in park and turn towards her, she lays her hand on my chest and leans into me. She stops with her lips just inches from mine. She can probably feel my heart pounding in my chest. I look into her eyes a moment, then reach my hand to the side of her head and close the distance between our lips. It's a soft kiss, just a momentary touching of our lips, but it's unreal. I don't want to rush things, so I lift my head and then lean my forehead against hers and whisper, “Goodnight, Renee. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night,” she says. “I had a great time.”

T
HE FEAR IS
strong, but the sense of urgency and foreboding is stronger. I have to act quickly or something terrible will happen. But what? What do I need to do? It's all confusion. Then comes the explosion. And heat. Intense, searing heat. Someone is screaming. It's too late! Oh God!

I wake up in my bed gripped with fear and drenched in sweat, the sheets wrapped around my legs. I lay there shaking and breathing hard while the realization sinks in that it was another nightmare. Not real.
Holy shit
. I roll onto my side and curl into a ball.
Breathe. In and out. Calm down
. I get up and walk shakily down the dark hallway to the bathroom, get a drink, splash water on my face and lean against the sink, feeling the cool, hard counter beneath my hands. The details of the dream aren't clear; just the fear and the urgency and the tearing, ripping explosion. Even that is starting to fade at the edges and slip away, thankfully. When I get back in bed I concentrate on thinking about Renee and our kiss to chase away any remnants of the nightmare. This time, my dreams are peaceful.

D
REW IS ALREADY
downstairs watching cartoons when I come down for breakfast. I took a quick shower this morning, basically
to make sure my hair isn't sticking out all over the place, and I want to have a bowl of cereal or something before Will picks me up.

“Hey, buddy, what's up?” I ask as I sit down on the couch next to him and put my bowl and the gallon of milk on the coffee table.

“Eric!” He pummels me with his fists and I retaliate by grabbing his wrists and pinning him to the cushions.

“You're doomed.” I transfer his wrists to one hand and tickle him mercilessly with the other. Just a little brotherly love.

“Okay, okay, stop!” Drew says between gasps of laughter.

“Alright, truce. I need to scarf down this cereal. What're you doing today?” I pour cereal into the bowl and fill it up with milk.

“I've got a soccer game at 9:30. Can you come watch me?”

“Sorry little dude, I have to be somewhere, but maybe I can go to the next one.”

Mom comes into the kitchen and starts the coffee maker. “Good morning guys.” She comes over to stand by the couch. “Eric, I would really rather you didn't eat in the family room, and please put the milk away next time.” She picks up the jug. “How about cereal with strawberries for you, Drew?”

“Sorry,” I say. “I'm going with Will to be part of a study with the physics professor I told you about.”

“That's fine. We've got Drew's game this morning and your dad already took Marcie to school to catch the bus for her crosscountry meet. We won't be back till this afternoon.”

My cell buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see a text from Will: I
N THE DRIVEWAY.
R
IGHT ON TIME.

“I gotta go. Will's here.” I get up and give Drew one last tickle.

“Bring your bowl and the cereal box into the kitchen please!” she calls out.

“Right. Will do.” I grab the empty bowl and box and leave them on the counter. Not exactly put away, but in the right vicinity. “See you later.”

“Y
OU MISSED A
wicked party last night!” Will says, as I climb into the Taurus. “A lot of guys from the team were there and everyone was dancing. It was crazy.”

“Late night?” I notice he's drinking a highly caffeinated energy drink.

“What are you, my mom now?” he replies with an edge to his voice, which surprises me because usually Will's so easy going. “I was home by one. I'll take a nap this afternoon, if it'll make you happy.” I'm a little ticked at this, so I say, “I don't care what you do. I just wondered if you were up late. Don't get shitty with me.”

“I just don't need you checking up on me, okay.” He takes a swig of the energy drink. “So, do you know where we're going?”

“Yeah, it's in a lab at the physics department at the university.” I'm still pissed about Will's remark. We talk about last night's game the rest of the way to the university—an easy subject.

When we get there, Renee is checking people in at a table in front of the lab. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and she's wearing a lab coat, which gives her a sexy librarian look. She's talking to a man and a woman who I guess are married or boyfriend and girlfriend. When she's done, she turns to us.

“Hi, I'm glad you came.” I love that she really looks happy to see us (
me
?).

“Hey. You look very official.”

“Why, thank you.” She pulls the lapels of the coat together and makes a serious face. “It helps people to know I'm part of the staff.”

“How does this work, and what will we actually be doing?” Will asks.

“It's a remote viewing study with bonded pairs, as opposed to random pairs. You'll be in separate rooms, and one of you will be viewing images on a computer screen. The other one will try to identify what he is seeing on the screen. We're looking at both the ability of the viewer to send or communicate the image and the ability of the receiver to identify it.” She hands us each some papers. “You need to fill out these questionnaires before you start, and you'll each be paid twenty dollars for the half hour session.”

“Are you measuring psychic ability, or mind-reading or what exactly?” asks Will, a bit skeptically.

Renee either doesn't notice his tone or chooses to ignore it. “You could call it that. My father is studying the degree to which people are able to tap into the consciousness of others and how the relationship between people affects our ability to communicate in that way.” She points to a table and chairs further down the hallway. “You can complete the questionnaires over there.” She turns to the people who arrived behind us.

We sit down at the table, and Will says in a low voice, “Seems like a weird thing for a physicist to be studying, don't you think?” I kind of agree, but I just shrug.

The questionnaire starts out with basic stuff like name, age, address and my relationship to my bonded pair—
not so good at the moment, I think
—and then asks a lot of questions about experiences and how frequently they happen. ‘Do you experience
coincidences? Seldom, Sometimes, Often.'
Seldom
. ‘Do you ever get a feeling of déjà-vu? Seldom, Sometimes, Often.'
Hmmm, seldom
. ‘Do you ever know that something is going to happen before it does? Seldom, Sometimes, Often.'
Do I? Yeah, when I'm in the goal and I feel like I know where the shot is going to go
. I answer ‘Sometimes' because it doesn't always happen and I'm not sure if it isn't just athletic instinct or something like that. The next question really throws me, though. ‘Do you ever dream about something that later comes true?'
No!
—the word immediately and strongly fills my head.

I've had the explosion dream twice, but so what? It doesn't mean it's coming true. I'm just not going there. I mark ‘Seldom' and move on to the next question.

We give the completed questionnaires to Renee, and she has us wait at the table for one of the graduate assistants to come get us for our session. After about fifteen minutes, Dr. Auberge himself comes out of the door to the lab. He talks to Renee for a minute and then comes over to Will and me.

He's dressed in slacks and a polo shirt. I guess he doesn't need the lab coat to look like a scientist. He extends his hand for each of us to shake and we both automatically stand up.

Will shakes his hand and says, “Hi, I'm Will Asplunth.”

“I'm Eric Horton,” I say, as we shake hands. “You were a guest lecturer in our AP Enviro science class.”

“Yes, Renee told me you were coming today. And you are also teammates on the Varsity soccer team?”

“Eric's the goalkeeper and I'm the center back. We've played together for years.”

“Ah, the defensive team. Well, I'm pleased that you've decided to participate in the study. I wanted to get some younger subjects and your bonded pair relationship is unique. Not the usual
romantic or family relationship. If you come with me, I'll bring you back to the study rooms and my graduate assistant will get you set up.”

We follow him to the door and pass Renee on our way. “I guess it's our turn,” I say to her.

“Okay. I'll probably be gone when you're finished, so I'll see you later.” She gives a little wave goodbye.
Damn
. There goes my chance to casually ask her what she's doing the rest of the weekend. Now I'll have to text her. The whole guy making the first move thing really sucks. Although, I guess it would suck if you were a girl and you thought you had to wait for a guy to ask you out. Not that girls don't do a lot of asking out, they do, and frankly I like being asked out by a girl. It's just that most of the time, guys are expected to do it.