He returned his attention to the road, and I went back to watching out the window.
It wasn’t long after our little talk that the first vehicle pulled off the shoulder for another practice session. This time, we started paired off, fighting back to back. Carlos and I moved together pretty well. He was fast and kept up with me easily. When we stood back to watch the rest, I saw Luke and Bethi were in sync too. Jim paired well with Grey, Emmitt, and Thomas. Winifred seemed to work him a bit harder than the rest. No doubt punishment for yesterday. The normal people radiated frustration, with Bethi adding a special blend of melancholy. Probably her hangover. The not so normal people didn’t emanate as much, for which I was grateful. My tender head and stomach were getting worse by the minute. Thankfully, after our allotted thirty minutes, we were on the road again in search of somewhere to eat.
We pulled into the first restaurant we saw. It looked like a little ma-and-pa place from the outside, and the inside confirmed it. There were maybe ten tables, and three of them were taken. The cook’s eyes rounded when he saw our big group come in. This time, we didn’t try to push tables together.
Carlos stopped at a table furthest from the other customers and pulled out a chair for me. Why did that make me hesitate and my heart skip a beat? He watched me closely. I’d asked for friendship, I reminded myself as I sat.
He didn’t sit next to me, but across from me.
“Can we sit with you?” Michelle asked. Emmitt stood just behind her.
“Sure,” I said.
Michelle sat to my right and gave me a shy smile. Emmitt pushed her chair in for her before moving to the other side of me.
“I’m sorry if it seems like I’m being hard on you,” I said.
“You are being hard on us, but I understand why.”
I felt Michelle’s burst of pity and knew what she would say before she said it.
“I’m really sorry about Ethan.”
My eyes stung and my lungs burned for a few seconds until I locked the new wave of grief away behind the wall that held the rest. Then, I nodded.
“Bethi said you two grew up together. How did you meet?”
A smile tugged my lips as I remembered.
“At school. On the playground. He was the new kid, two grades older. He wasn’t like the other kids who’d fall asleep if I tried to play with them. He was angry. All the time. He took a ball from a girl I knew.” I could still picture his face, so stubborn and set. “When I asked him to give it back, he tried hitting me. I was already in self-defense classes so I blocked it. It was our first spar.”
“How did you learn self-defense without putting the instructor to sleep?” Michelle asked. I was glad she didn’t ask more about Ethan.
“Back then, my pull wasn’t as strong unless I really tried. Plus, grownups hide what they feel more than kids do. Where I put a kid to sleep, a grownup usually barely felt it. It wasn’t until I hit my teens that what I could do grew.”
I remembered when I’d first figured out something was changing. A boy in my eighth grade class had asked me to go to a movie with him. I’d been flattered. Ethan had insisted on going with us as a chaperone. He hadn’t trusted the boy.
Once we were in the movies, the boy had reached over to hold my hand. My excitement at the contact had quickly turned to horror when the boy had slumped next to me. Ethan, sitting two rows behind us, had jumped the seats before I’d made a sound and pulled the boy away from me. That was when I’d known relationships beyond friendship were out.
The waitress came over with waters for everyone and asked if we wanted anything else to drink as she handed us menus.
“We’re fine. Thank you,” Emmitt said politely.
From a table over, I heard Jim say, “We’re going to starve.”
He was sharing a table with Charlene, Thomas, and Winifred. Charlene shushed Jim and continued to eye her menu. Jim caught my eye and looked at me hopefully.
“He misses Liam and Aden,” Emmitt said.
“Who are Liam and Aden?” I asked.
“My brothers,” Michelle said. She reached into her purse and pulled out a photo of two little boys standing in the spray of a sprinkler. “This is from this summer.”
Pride and love clouded around her.
“They mean a lot to you,” I said, studying their faces.
“The world. That’s why I’m here. Blake, the man controlling the Urbat, kept me prisoner for my premonitions. He used my brothers to keep me in line.”
I really did not like Blake.
“Where are your brothers now?” I asked.
“Somewhere safe, I hope.”
Her melancholy rained down on me. I gently pulled it from her. She smiled at the photo once again, and I handed it back to her.
We talked about her brothers a bit more as the waitress slowly took everyone’s orders. When it came to me, I asked for a simple BLT, no fries. Carlos gave me a calculating look, but I ignored him. My stomach wasn’t ready for anything heavier than what I’d ordered.