Other Places 2: Road Blocks (16 page)

The others, thankfully, all started coming in about three, like they were supposed to, with Hiram being the first one through the door, then Bob. Jen was a bit later, since she had to come from school, and brought her homework with her in a clear plastic backpack. That was so she couldn't take weapons or bombs to class. When she'd first told him that, Zack had thought she was kidding, but it was apparently a thing now and all the kids had them. Not by choice either.

It made him glad that he'd been home schooled.

Bob was in the back, taking his turn being shouted at, meaning Lisa got to eat something, while Hiram went over the store itself to keep it tidy and Jennifer did complicated math that was beyond what Zack could do at all.

Hilde stood and stretched a bit, then smiled big enough so that her heavy canine teeth showed.

"At least I got to use my gift to go home. I would have liked to stay longer, but someone had to retrieve the Shaman and our Leader. This is a good thing and a kindness, allowing us to pay for their passage with work. Am I needed at the moment however? I should go and see to my front desk duties if not." It was what she did, running the desk, being that she was so cute as she'd said, compared to the others. She wasn't wrong there either.

'Thata boy Zack. Now just get her to bend over and...' MH didn't finish the thought.

Zack got that the guy was horny, but he'd been hitting the sexual stuff a little hard for some reason, lately. It wasn't that much more than normal, but enough that it was becoming apparent. He'd have to ask about that when he got a chance.

'Except you won't, will you? You're walking around just working constantly, not even knowing
why
. If you aren't going to go out and have some fun, you could at least let
me
have some every now and then, you know? Get out to a club, or go on a nature hike that doesn't have me searching the bushes for anti-government rebels. Anything. Paint a freaking picture...
Macramé
. I don't really
care
, just do something before my head explodes from boredom.' The hiking line got Zack thinking, since he could use more exercise.

"I should take up weight lifting. That way I could walk with more than thirty pounds some day." He spoke out loud, not really thinking about it, and was shocked when Hilde clapped suddenly, instead of looking at him funny.

 "
Yes
! I will get you a trainer and arrange for a time. Perhaps three times a week to start? That will give you some chance to heal, between times. How exciting! Yes!" She didn't wait for him to say anything else, practically running from the store, which was just a walk for her, but still quicker than he could have gone.

It was a good idea, but MH sighed in his head and sounded miserable. '
Not
what I meant. Not at all.'

There was no name calling at least, which was a good thing.

Then, other than tension wafting off of the back room, from all the phone calling. Nothing happened until about four, when the florist got there, pounding on the back doors of places, since that's what Zack had suggested they do. The woman that came in to the candle shop smiled and passed things to Lisa and Jen, which meant that they both stood there, blinking for a bit, having not been expecting anything at all, it seemed.

Lisa read her card and nodded, then moved in and gave Zack a big hug.

"Thanks. This means a lot. I... Well, it's been a day. I
hate
this holiday."

Jennifer hugged him too, and kissed him on the cheek, which Hiram saw as soon as he walked into the back, glaring suddenly. He did soften when he saw the red Mylar heart balloon that went with the little flower arrangement. It was mainly daisies, instead of roses, since he really wasn't trying to get the girl into bed. Lisa had a rose. It was yellow and not red, for much the same reason. No balloon for her. She got a giant chocolate chip cookie on a stick.

The ex-thief just sized up the situation and snorted, a bit disgusted sounding.

"Kiss-up. I suppose for arbor day you're going to get them little trees to plant too?" He sounded skeptical.

It was a great idea though, wasn't it?

"No, I'll get
everyone
little trees. You can help me pass them out. Good thinking. You're a genius Hiram, you know that?"

"Sure I do. But does anyone appreciate me? Nope. It's always just checking the wallet and making sure they have their visa card on them. Like I'd take that without the PIN?"

On the good side it meant that Zack was going to be allowed to go home a bit early for once, since there didn't seem to be any pressing need for a sales clerk, what with the Mall being shut down, but it wasn't going to happen, he realized, about the time that Kaitlyn called.

Sounding like a boy.

"Hey Zack. Could I get a trip to Keeley's? She said that you needed to be ready to go out to dinner too. She's driving?" There was a hopeful tone to his voice, which meant that Kyle thought that Zack might just say no, even if he didn't want that for whatever reason.

"Sure. We can leave from here." He tried not to sound defeated at least. After all, it was part of the arrangement he'd made with Keeley, and it wasn't exactly hard, compared to some things. He just wasn't that great in social situations. Plus it would probably mean talking to her mom, and trying to explain everything.

It didn't take Kyle long to get in the door, since he was already at Westfield. He was dressed nicely, but more casually than Zack was, in jeans and t-shirt, but with a nice black jacket over it. The shirt was a deep red, and the shoes were designed for looking sharp, all black and shiny, not for walking. Zack had to hope that he was dressed all right for it. Also that no one would ask him too many questions, since... Well, he didn't know what to say if they did.

The trip was a bit of a walk, but Arizona was already getting dark and cool, so it wasn't miserable or anything like that. Kyle kept up a steady stream of chatter the whole time, and very carefully didn't touch Zack at all. It was good, because while he wasn't gay, the guy was good looking enough to cause him to freak a bit, if they got too close. It was a thing he'd dealt with before, Kyle, so he handled it like a pro.

"So, double date. Nothing fancy, burgers and a school thing. I have no clue what it is. A basketball game? I mean I know what that is, but not how it's played. They didn't teach us that one at little Alede school." He made it sound like that was a normal thing too.

"Me either, in my sheltered home schooling. You should claim that too, probably. That way everything you don't know can be written off as your parents not being the best ever. If it comes up."

"Point. Are we there yet?" He looked at his feet, but wasn't limping or anything, which got Zack to wave lazily in the correct direction.

"There."

The place was a simple ranch style house, and nice, being fairly new, but it wasn't a mansion or even an eighth as large as her other place at all. He marched up to the door, ready to take his relationship lumps with Sherri, but after knocking it was Keeley that opened the door for them, no mom in sight.

Clearly she was guarding her away someplace, to keep her safe, from the potential of marauding Mirror Hims.

"Hi! Come in." He got a hug, but Kyle didn't, which Zack figured was her marking out which guy was for the slightly round faced girl standing back in the living room. The place had rifts and shortcuts all over it, he realized, now that he had a chance to look. Probably from Keeley popping in and out all the time, forcing temporary Nodes into existence.

She looked great, naturally, but was dressed down and not wearing much makeup at all. That meant her friend, who was a little better than average looking, but bumped up a few places due to good clothing and artful face painting, looked nearly as cute. Kyle moved to her instantly, as if drawn by a magnet.

"Why, hello. Are you Becky? I'm Kyle, your date for the evening. If Keeley had told me you were so hot I would have insisted on it being a real date, instead of just trying to make this other guy jealous." He really seemed to mean it too.

Zack didn't have to say anything, and Keeley didn't do much more than suggest they leave a bit early, since the game was going to start soon, it being a school night.

"Not that I know why they decided to put the early season games on Thursdays this year. Or, well, I have some guesses, which all involve a string of murders that took place a few months ago, and trying to keep the city's youths under control. If that's the plan, it's a horrible one, of course. It just means that even more people will be off running around without direction tomorrow, but what can we do? Mitch needs to be schooled, and tonight is when the school district decided it should be done." Then she practically marched out to her car, which was... Marvelous.

The outside looked like it had been beaten by a hobo trying to get at its precious gasoline for drinking, then fixed. Several times. It was a purplish-red color, but not shiny or pretty at all and had primer spots in half a dozen places. That was all fake, he could tell, since there were no warps or rifts carried with it from real damage. It was
just
paint. When it was turned on it started instantly and made so little noise he almost missed that it had happened, except for the faint vibration of the thing.

So, in short, it looked like a piece of shit that someone's poor mother would buy them for their birthday, but was basically a race car inside. Even if it
had
been the first one, it still would have been better than his non-existent vehicle, so was impressive that way too.

Becky was in the back with Kyle, who kept lightly touching her, flirting just a bit, but not actually taking it further than that, yet. Becky was clearly interested, but they kept their voices low, as Keeley explained the whole thing to them.

"Mitch does the game announcements for the home events. I'll strategically seat us so that he can't help but notice his hot friend, Becky, sitting with Kyle. Zack, we need to hold hands and make it really clear that this is the most special Valentine's Day ever. I have some props in the back for that. Mitch has taken it into his head to like me, not seeing that Becky is clearly the better choice. The idea is to make her look valuable, and me very taken. Then, after the game, we're all going out to King's Burgers, which is a local place. Not really nice enough for a date, but Gary, another friend of ours, has made a point of getting everyone, including the announcer and the sound crew, to head out there after every game so far this season. That's where Zack and I will leave for a while, so that you two can be 'alone' and really turn the heat up. Tonight the plan is for Mitch to notice it. Pull out the stops, Kyle. Or at least half of them. King's is a family place after all." She sounded a little too efficient for a school girl, but the others seemed to just accept it.

Zack cleared his throat though.

"Of course, there's the part where I look about thirty. Aren't I just a tad old to be hanging all over you? What will your friends think. Or, for that matter, the police?"

She drove with her eyes straight ahead, focusing on going exactly the speed limit, there was a light laugh from the back, but she spoke normally, for everyone to hear.

"I can fix that. We'll do it before we go in. You'll look a bit old still, but close enough to pass for the night, just being my secret college age sweetie. Probably just in it for the sex. You know how your type is." She shook her head slightly, but smiled at the same time.

"You're not wrong, except for the part where I want to get you into bed. Too young for me. So..." He locked it down then and managed not to speak about possible wars, Vampires or most of his life. It meant that they had to listen to a recounting of how well the basket ball team was doing that year, but he could put up with that for an evening.

Before they got out of the car, Keeley pretended to put makeup on him, but was actually running a strange magical device over his skin. He could feel it working, tightening things and smoothing the lines that existed around his eyes. When she held up a little mirror for him, he did look a lot younger. About twenty or so, instead of like a student there. Kyle could pass, but if Zack were the Principal and saw him hanging all over Keeley,
he
still would have kicked him right the heck out.

He paid for all of them, since it seemed right, and wasn't that expensive. If he were taking Keeley out on a date, that just made sense. Of course, he was also a cheapskate it seemed, but at least he'd gotten her some flowers, which were in the back of the car, like she'd mentioned. Becky had some too, but they weren't
as
nice. They took them in, showing off a little.

"It's a bit obvious, but I doubt that Mitch will pick up on it that clearly. He's a bright boy, but not the kind to think of anyone as trying to trick him like this."

The crowd in the pull out bleachers was larger than he'd thought it would be, being nearly seventy people. Zack remembered the plan, so took Keeley's hand to help her sit, wondering which of the three people at the table in front of them would be Mitch. It probably wasn't the older one with glasses, since he was about forty, so one of the others. On the good side they both looked normal. One was dressed a bit funny, wearing a brightly colored shirt and camo pants, but he seemed to not be a secret Shifter or Demon, so it probably didn't go beyond having a poor sense of fashion.