A snarl built on my face and I marched across the road. He owed me a thank you. I tried to relax my face and smile, think better of him. It had been a rough situation. Maybe he just forgot or was too stressed at the time. But I was about to give him a second chance.
Few people were in the park, and if they were they rushed through rather than lingered in the neglected property. A wooden play fort dominated the central area. This kind of relic play structure wouldn’t get built these days for being too dangerous to kids, but was the kind kids loved. I saw one boy look longingly its way before being dragged the other way by his dad. The lawn throughout was uneven, spotted with dandelions and longer than it should be. I shuffled through it to the bench where the guy I’d saved sat.
I stood still in front of him and he didn’t move. Ignoring me, or absorbed in the dog-eared paperback, I didn’t know. The same weird, cold, emptiness I felt when I first saw him crept into my bones. I cleared my throat and he looked up.
He looked better in the daylight, less pasty and more ivory skinned. I spaced out for a moment wondering how my olive skin would look pressed against it. Where did that come from?
“Hi?” He sounded confused, but I couldn’t get an emotional read. There was a slight rosiness to his cheeks and under his eyes, almost like he’d been crying. But of course he hadn’t been crying. He was some kind of emotionless robot that couldn’t say thank you.
“Do you remember, the other night? I was, uh, the alley, and those guys, and, uh, I’m Livvy.” My inability to sense any hint of emotion from this guy threw me. It was just like watching TV. I could see the movement and angles of his face and body but couldn’t sense anything real. Almost as though he wasn’t even really there.
He nodded slowly and a tiny smile emerged. Or maybe it was a nervous tic. I couldn’t tell either way with this blank slate. Even Donnie showed mountains of emotion in comparison.
“I remember. I’m Dean.”
Okay, still no thank you. It might be slow coming. I could give him time.
“I was just about to get a coffee. Want to join me?” I thumb-pointed over my shoulder at the coffee bar in front of the mall.
Dean stared at it for a moment, his eyebrows twitching. He closed his book and I saw it was so worn it had no real cover anymore. I wondered what he was reading.
“Sure.”
He stood up and I juggled my bags back into carrying order as we crossed the road. I ordered a strong cappuccino and Dean waved off getting anything. We took a booth and my bags piled around me on the bench.
“So…” I struggled to be subtle. “Are you feeling okay? Since, you know, I saved you from those guys?”
Dean shrug-nodded but didn’t say anything. I ground my teeth.
The red around Dean’s eyes made them look less gray, more the color of worn denim. They had a depth I kept falling into. I couldn’t help staring, trying to get some hint of what this guy felt. All I got from him was that chilling, hollow feeling.
He leaned back in the booth and unzipped his jacket. The baggy shirt underneath was gray and it struck me that he seemed to be wearing the same clothes I saw him in before. Not that they were unique in any way to tell for sure. They were clean, and I could smell plain soap and a smoky musk as he pulled his jacket off. The stitching had come undone around the collar of the t-shirt and the fabric was thin.
His hair fell down in front of his face, soft and also clean. Maybe it just looked stringy the other night from sweat. His lips were moving.
“Uh, sorry, what?”
“I said I was wondering what you wanted to talk to me about. Are you okay? You seem upset. At least, you aren’t smiling like a fool like you were after chasing those guys off.”
Great. I had no idea what he was feeling and here he was making guesses about me.
I pulled my lips closed tight. “It’s just my teeth. They’re all crooked. I didn’t realize before but now I kind of hate them.”
“You were prettier when you smiled.”
He said it so plainly, like it was nothing. Not praise, not flattery or a shot at getting something from me. He said it just like a fact, like the sky is blue.
I shook my head, looked into my foamy coffee and added another sugar. Nothing Dean said had any emotion.
“Your teeth give you character. It’s cute, the way one crosses over the other a bit at the front-”
I put my hand over my mouth.
“Sorry, I’m saying dumb things. You shouldn’t feel bad about them. But you’re going to get them fixed anyway, aren’t you? I guess you’ve got the money to do it.” Dean eyed the bags that surrounded me.
“Oh, the shopping. I kind of came away for a while without packing and needed some things. The money isn’t really mine. It’s sort of complicated.”
“What about that necklace, is it really yours? You were wearing it the other night too. Silver, or…?”
“White gold.” I wrapped my hand around the heart shaped pendant I had been wearing since the earthquake, covering it from sight. “I spent all my allowance on it. And I didn’t bring any other accessories with me. Well, I got some new stuff today.”
Dean rolled his eyes. I didn’t have to sense emotions to know the ‘poor you’ look.
Did he think I was spoilt? Is that what he was getting at? He was all questions and no answers. I wanted desperately to know why his eyes were red, whether he had been crying or not. I wanted to know how he felt about being attacked and how he felt about me saving him, and I couldn’t read a thing.
Embarrassment unfurled in me without warning, coloring my face. I gulped my coffee to hide it.
A beeping noise distracted me and it took a moment to recognize the message tone of my new phone. I apologized and pulled it out of my pocket.
A message from Jake. I smiled at his name, then pulled my lips back over my teeth again.
Coming to pick U up. Meet west mall exit. C U in 15. Team Stuff.
I typed quickly.
C U soon.
I slipped the phone away and told Dean I had to be somewhere.
He helped me load my bags up again and thanked me for the coffee, even though he didn’t have anything.
I wasn’t sure if I’d see Dean again. I could ask for his number. Could I use my power to make him ask for mine? He didn’t seem attracted to me. I should have just said goodbye, but instead I blurted more crazy words.
“You really think my teeth are okay?”
Dean half-smiled and walked away.
***
Donnie’s jeep stopped in front of me where I waited on the curb, balancing my purchases. I threw them all in the back and climbed in next to Emma who shuffled into the middle seat. It was a full house, with Donnie driving, Jamie shotgun, Jake and I in the back with Emma as an unfortunate barrier between us.
“So, team stuff?”
“Last night at the fire we were getting to know the strength of your powers. Today, it’s time to prove you’re one of us, part of the team.” Jake gave me a serious look, with just enough flirty smile to make me swoon. “Today is a fundraising activity.”
“Oh, like, charity work?”
Emma barked a high pitch laugh that faded into a giggle.
“Fundraising for us, for the team,” Jake continued. “We’re headed to a bank to make a withdrawal. We need to stock up on the spending cash.”
Donnie drove us downtown. Mall and glitzy CBD made way for the industrial and housing estate district. I shook my head. They’re just going to the bank? Why did this need to be done as a team?
Emma fished around in a massive designer handbag on her lap and threw what looked like a dead animal to Jamie. She grabbed more hair from the bag - wigs - and passed a black one to Jake. She took a blond wig in each hand and dangled them in front of me. “We’re both going to be blond, like sisters. You’re going to look so cute blond.”
I took the wig. A buzz of excitement came from everyone else in the car. “We’re not just withdrawing money, are we?”
“Sure we are. Just not ours,” said Jamie.
“Um…”
Jake sighed, shaking his head. “My little brother and his abundant tact. It’s not a big deal. You’re with us on this, aren’t you, Livvy? We have to do this to stay a team. Do you think we should have normal jobs with our powers? We’re better than that.”
Donnie glanced at me in the rear vision mirror. “Taking on a new team member is expensive too. Where did you think the money you spent today came from?”
Trust fund? Inheritance? Lottery? I guess that was all a bit naïve. Who has any of that? And I just went out and spent their money, however they’d gotten it, like I had every right.
“But, are you really talking about robbing a bank here? That’s all kinds of dangerous, and, well, illegal.” My heart pumped hard and I wasn’t sure what to think. It was all just too surreal. Movie stuff, not just-left-the-mall stuff. But I couldn’t deny I was excited too.
“Honey, it won’t be dangerous at all. We have our powers, remember? We’re just going to walk in, bat our eyelashes, ask for the money, and walk out with it. We already scoped this bank, and it’s old school. No security screens or anything yet. My lunch date was with a worker from there who told me all about the place. We would have left it a bit longer, but now’s the best time to hit them. It’s welfare check day, and the bank tops up its tellers for everyone coming in to cash their checks. Easy pickings.” Emma adjusted her wig into place and reached between the front seats to turn the rear view mirror onto her to preen. She then turned her preening onto Jamie and Jake’s wigs, also now in place. They looked so different, their hair now jet black with mature cuts. Still super handsome.
Jake brushed Emma away and put on some dark sunglasses. “You’re just going to be lookout for us this time. Until you get some work done we won’t get you taking on a teller, just in case.”
“I don’t know if I can do this. Isn’t it wrong?”
“No one will get hurt and the bank won’t miss a few cash drawers. We’re not taking the vault or anything insane. And we’ll use the money to help us do more heroic stuff later on. Promise.” Jake winked, and I swore I heard Jamie chuckle.
I breathed out very slowly, letting it puff out my lips. To be Spiderman, struggling to get by every day while balancing work and heroism, or to be Batman, never wanting for a thing? The team needed the money. I could understand that. No one would get hurt, and it would help us save people in the future. I wanted to agree, wanted to justify doing this.
I tried to shut off the part of my brain saying
no, no, no, no, no,
and focused on Jake’s smile. It didn’t help. That fake smile. How much of him was real at all? Everything felt wrong.
A physical pain bloomed in my chest and I realized I was scared of him. Scared of what I was doing. Terrified of all of them and what they would do if I didn’t cooperate.
Jake watched me, waiting for my response. I put the wig on. I tried not to let my emotions show.
Emma tilted her head and giggled. “Donnie, drive around the block a couple of times while I sort out this girl’s hair.”
***
Donnie waited with the car down the street and Emma and I walked into the bank first. A reasonably large place, old fashioned like she said, standing in a row of mostly closed businesses in a dying business district. Only a pawn shop, second hand clothing store and tobacco shop were still open nearby. Inside the bank, a musty smell rose from the threadbare carpet, and the wooden counters looked more like something out of an old western movie than a modern bank. Perspex dividers had been bolted on top of them, and a ticket machine stood at the front like a welcoming robot, but they were the only parts of the place that didn’t feel like they were from the 1950s. Even the customers inside were generally old, mixed in with a few builders and laborers.
We were seriously going to rob a bank. I played through my memories to how I ended up here. So much was a blur, compelled by these perfect people. But I couldn’t blame them. I’d made decisions, I had wanted this. Well, maybe not
this
, exactly. I made sure my oversized sunglasses were still in place and tugged downwards at my wig as though I could cover all of my face with it. If I still felt bad when this was all over, there had to be a way I could back out gracefully, right? Would Jake just let me go?
Emma scoped a security guard and went to do her job, flirting with him and keeping him entirely occupied. I just had to take a seat and keep watch. Only the bank was busy and there were no seats left. Small detail, but I had to breathe through an anxiety attack as I tried to stand casually in the corner.
Jake and Jamie came in not long after us and took numbers. I practically counted the seconds waiting for them to be called to a teller. I considered doing a runner, but knew Donnie was watching the street.
Jake was called, and Jamie a split second after as two tellers cleared. They were middle-aged ladies who I could tell were already swooning at their approach. Maybe this would be easy after all.
I admit it was fascinating to watch. Jake leaned forward, his lips almost up against the Perspex barrier. I could see the attraction oozing from the lady. She probably would have played with her hair if it weren’t back in a very tight business-like bun. She kept on talking and giggling with Jake as she pulled a cash bag from the desk and opened the cash drawer. She cleared it into the bag a wad at a time.