Intermission // Van McCann

20. Everything Can Go On

Van and I walked to the light rail hand in hand and I leaned into him as we waited for the crosswalk signal.

"Did you have fun playing bingo?" Van questioned.

"I did," I admitted. "I don't remember it being so much fun."

"One of these days, we'll go to a bingo hall for a date."

"Can we invite Bondy? I'd like to see Agnes in action."

"Believe me when I tell you you don't want to see that."

"Fair enough." We crossed and made our way to the station, looking at the schedule for the next run. "Did anyone ever flirt with you?" I asked casually. Van seemed a bit hesitant to tell me. "You can tell me. I can handle it."

"There was one lady. Her name is Eleanor. She'd chat me up and I thought she was just being friendly so we'd talk. She'd ask me questions and at first they were innocent enough. Like where I was from, what I was doing here, and so on. And then she started asking me if I had a girlfriend or if I was seeing anyone. Nothing happened and I haven't seen her since but that was a bit strange. I swear she was married because she wore a wedding ring."

"So nothing like what Bondy went through, huh?"

"No. For some reason, they go nuts for Bondy! To them, I was probably just a boy."

We got on the light rail and took a seat next to each other.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Van asked. Even though he didn't say their names, it was obvious he was talking about Bondy and Leigha.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Who knows? I can text her tonight and ask," I replied.

"No, it's fine. If they want to tell us, they'll tell us. I don't want to pry. It's none of my business."

I began thinking back to yesterday and was still surprised we managed to bring Bondy back. For five days, we put everything on hold to do what we could to save Bondy. We are now a week behind in terms of work and I know for sure we have a bit of catching up to do next week. I also realized we left Professor Hayes behind without thanking him.

"Did you hear from Professor Hayes after we left for the hospital?" I questioned. Van shook his head no. "We never got the chance to thank him."

"We can always reach out to him. We have his contact information," Van replied.

I looked at my hands in my lap. I know things aren't the same between us and Professor Hayes anymore but what he did was very sweet of him. He didn't have to help us but he did. Some would say he did it because he was sorry, but another part of me is saying he did it because he still genuinely cares about us. I had sort of forgiven Professor Hayes but I still don't fully trust him but I don't hate him as much as I did. I'm a firm believer that people can change and that it's good to forgive people and to give them second chances but I wasn't sure about how the others felt.

"Van, can I ask you something?" I asked slowly.

"What is it?"

"This is just a thought but what do you think about inviting Professor Hayes to our wedding?" I was expecting him to be upset that I'd suggest such a thing but he just looked at me questioningly.