Orange Crush

Chapter 7 - Splitter Pine

***ALEX***

"Don't be so surprised that Kelly's so concerned," Fionna says as we drive on, deeper into the woodsy countryside outside of Anchorage. "To be honest, I'm kinda glad she never used to get super involved in our adventures. She was always kind of a worrier."

I don't respond to her. Instead, I watch Arianna navigate our ride around a hairpin turn with expert precision. I'm still not sure what her deal is - is she from Prime, Second, or in between like those Patel brothers? I never got to know the Patels very well, but Gabe says they're kind of a pair of jokers just like we can be at the best of times.

As she drives, I find myself thinking of a Bible story, of all things. The story of Lazarus, to be precise. I think it might've been the last one read during a mass I was at - rather appropriate since it was only a couple of weeks or so after Gabe died. Coincidence, I'm sure. But that story about Jesus being so distressed when Lazarus died that he opened the tomb himself - a tomb not unlike the one He was buried in for three days later on - and calling for Lazarus to come forth? I think I've just been waiting for a chance to reenact this story for myself, and now that it's the original Jesus who's entombed, it's my turn to be like Him to Josh's Lazarus.

"That's unusual," Luca says wryly. "Alex thinking about the Bible."

"It's not that unusual," says Gabe. "I used to worry about him when we were younger. He'd think of Bible stories instead of imagining his first time having sex."

"Is that true?" Luca asks.

"Fuck no," I say.

Arianna takes the next turn a little too quickly and loudly. "Why are boys?" she asks nobody in particular.

"Sometimes," Fionna says heavily, "I wish I didn't like boys as much as I do." She puts her hands behind her head and kicks her seat back a bit. I'm glad I'm the one sitting behind her, because only from her would I accept this kind of induced claustrophobia. Well, Kelly too, obviously. Both girls, both friends, because I love them both.

I really do, don't I?

That might explain why I'm so tempted to reach out and play with Fionna's hair as it spills over the headrest. Is it me wanting to have something to put in my hands, or me wanting to express affection that's been silently dying to make itself known for over a year?

I turn away from Luca and Gabe to try and minimize how much of my thoughts they can pick up on. I don't want either of them knowing how confused I am when I need to be in full-on Hero Mode instead.

Luca's lucky he's shied away from relationships lately. Love has always dragged me down. It's a drug like none other when it's there, but when my sources of it are away from me? I'm a fucking mess. Maybe I was wrong earlier to accuse Mr. G of trying to make me as someone most wouldn't think capable of love. Maybe he just made me extra-susceptible to its dirty wiles.

As evidenced by my growing need to touch Fionna. Some way. Somehow.

"What the...?" Arianna brings this small SUV to a stop before an unexpected roadblock. There's been a landslide, bringing down tons of dirt and at least two whole trees onto the road. All wheel drive or not, there's no way we're getting over that in this ride.

What's really strange to me is that there's no sign of any road crew trying to clear the obstruction. I mean, you're talking to a guy who's been known to look at road crews and think of them as potential threats, planted in our path by our enemies. Luca, I think, has had similarly paranoid thoughts himself while on missions - like White Shadows, the biggest mission of which he was ever part. But that's in San Francisco, where it's harder to trust anyone just by walking past them, because they're more than likely a total stranger. Here, in a less populated place like Alaska, I'd gotten the impression that people were more neighborly. Even if they tended to look strangely on outsiders like me and Luca. But I guess they also have to drive really far out to do road repairs if needed.