Three Converts

Part 33

"Ohmy- Lucy." She flew into me, nearly knocking me over. I clung tight to my wayward friend. I heard the guys talking, but could only focus on my friend. My friend! We were laughing and crying and trying to catch our breath like we'd just run up and down the mountain path a hundred times. "What- I mean, what?!" she shook me. I laughed, listening to her try to put a sentence together, but I wasn't having much success with my own vocabulary. "How are you here?!" she finally blurted.

"I left! Ohmygosh, Misty, I had to leave!" And I began sobbing in earnest.

She pulled me in again, this time gentler. "Of course, you did. Of course." She didn't ask questions, and I thanked her over and over.

"Ah. 'scuse me. But what the heck."

Misty laughed, and hearing her loud, bubbly laugh again brought me to tears all over. "Babe!" she cried, pulling him to her. "This. This! Is my long-lost friend. Lucy. Lucy, this is Rocco."

"Pleased to meet you." I was a little sheepish after having just wagged my finger in his face. He seemed more so.

"The infamous Lucy?! You escaped too?" he whispered quietly. "Did anybody follow you?" he looked nervously past me. Misty swatted him. "Rocco! Manners!"

"Oh! Yeah, nice to meet you too. I've heard all about you. You were the hardest part of leaving that forsaken commune from what Misty says."

Smiling, I said, "This is Griffin. He's-" I didn't know how to finish that sentence. He was a million things. "He's helping me." I finished, stupidly. Griffin raised his eyebrows at me, amused. He shook Rocco's hand as if we hadn't just had a whole emotional conversation with him.

"Wait. Oh no. How did you find me?" Misty asked, biting her lip, the way she used to do every morning before going down the mountain to try to make a conversion.

"We didn't find you! I had no idea where you were. We met Jerry and Eliana-"

"They had a girl, Babe!" Misty shrieked and jumped up and down.

"They had to run away because of his awful parents." She explained. Rocco didn't seem offended.

"Speaking of my parents, they won't stay in front of that tv forever. Maybe we should move this conversation elsewhere"

"For sure," Misty agreed. "Come on. We can go to the Squeaky Wheel. I work there!" she said proudly.

The Squeaky Wheel was the kind of place the council warned us about. The "gaping maw of hell" were the exact words Brother Augustus used to describe it. Misty pushed through the doors happily and was greeted by customers and workers alike. "Hi all! I'm back!" she moved us to a booth with a wobbly table, and helped herself to a tray and drinks before sliding in next to Rocco and distributing the beverages. "On the house!" she smiled. There was a friendly buzz in the place that made up for the lack of lighting. I jumped to see one man asleep on the bar, but Misty laughed. "That's Gregor. He's harmless. Works the night shift at the quarry. He'll fall asleep anywhere he gets the chance."

"Now!" she slapped her hands on the table, "Tell me everything." I recapped every detail, watching her expressions change. She cringed, frowned, shook her head, then smiled just a little when I got the part about my struggle with Franklin.

"Misty! Are you smiling? It was awful!" I accuse her.

"Yes! No! Right! It is awful. I just have a hard time feeling bad for that sonofa-"

"You think the pillory was bad?" Rocco cut in. I felt Griffin stiffen beside me. "Show 'em what they did to you, Babe."

"It's not a competition, Rocco," she murmured. I wiggled to unstick myself from the seat a bit.