10/17

Episode 8, Chapter 33

"I still don't like this."

"And, you've made that perfectly clear," Laney said sweetly to her scowling friend as they appeared inside a bathroom at the coffee shop. The awareness hit them both as they registered Clint's presence outside the door he was guarding for them. "I told you, you don't have to come out. You can stay in the bathroom if you want. Clint promised not to poke around in your head and I trust him. Or, you can jump home, until I'm ready to go." Parker glared at her.

"No, I said I'd stay. I want to meet this Clint ki... ah your friend," he corrected himself, badly. "You go out first, I'll stay behind and count to one hundred, so we aren't leaving the bathroom at the same time." Laney shook her head. He was trying. She'd give him that.

"I'd hug you, but we're standing in a bathroom. That jumps right over the line to the too-weird territory," Laney said, laughing and offering a fist bump instead. Grinning, Parker tapped his fist to hers, then pointed at the door.

"Go."

Laney cracked the door, glanced out, and strode into the hall. Clint stood at the open turn into the main space. At her approach, he turned to her and smiled.

"Your friend going to join us?" he asked, glancing behind her. She nodded.

"Yeah, he'll be out in just a sec."

"He, huh?" Clint noticed. "Well, does 'he' have a name?"

"Yes, and I'll be happy to introduce you when he comes out," she whispered as she walked to the counter, getting clear of the bathroom hallway. She didn't want to give anyone reason a to connect she and Parker until they met at the table.

"Oh, it's like that is it?" he said, looking back at the hallway, while she considered the menu above the barista. Laney didn't see Parker come from the back, but she did hear Clint's small utterance of "Hmm,". Glancing at him, she could see the mischievous glint in his eye that she was beginning to recognize.

"Clint," she warned. "You promised. Stay out of his head or this is not going to end well." Flashing her his toothy grin, he turned his back to the approaching Parker to face her entirely.

"I did promise. I said I would leave your friend alone. I'll stay out of his head for the entirety of this visit," he assured her. "But the glare he's giving me is just asking for," he paused to consider his words. "Well, lets just say I am very good at attitude adjusting."

"Excuse me?" Parker asked the slightly shorter boy. Clint had not bothered to keep his voice down as Parker walked up. "You don't even know me. What's your problem?"

"That's funny, I was about to say the same thing," Clint retorted, his face twisted in a mocking smile.

"Knock it off, you two. Seriously," Laney growled as she stepped between the two puffed up teens. Laney shot a look around the room at the other customers, no one was paying them any attention. "I sure hope you're doing your VR trick to everyone else, because this really not something we need an audience for," she said, her eyes narrowing on Clint. Without taking his eyes from Parker's his face split in his signature grin.

"Yeah, don't worry. I got us covered, stretch. You know I got your back."

"Like you had her back last night when a mob tried to kill her," Parker sneered. Clint's face turned serious for the first time she'd met him.

"I would have if I'd known about it, and Laney knows it," he snapped, his eyes flicked to hers before boring back into Parker's.

"See, I'm not so sure. I think it's pretty suspicious, as hell that you show up on her doorstep that day and a mob suddenly finds its way to her house that night. That's pretty damn coincidental, don't ya think?"

"What? You think I had something to do with that? You're crazy. I've done nothing but try to protect her," Clint roared, taking a step toward Parker, hands clinched to fists.

"Maybe, maybe not," Parker yelled right back, taking a step towards Clint, putting them almost nose to nose. "You could've been followed. You could be working for that Clinic you seem to spend so much time around." The two of them had clearly forgotten the smaller female literally being squished between them. Laney flattened her body and pulled from between them. Before she could speak, Clint narrowed his eyes and responded.

"Look dude, I don't get followed. I know exactly where every brain is within a hundred yard radius of me in any direction at all times. No one sneaks up on me. No one hides. I can always find you and I can make you see whatever I want you to see. If I hadn't promised Laney I'd stay out of your head, pretty boy, you'd think you were buck naked right now, in the center ring of the circus, with the clowns closing in to pelt you with pies and spray paint." This made both Laney and Parker step back to stare at Clint with wide eyed shock. Parker's face became comical with indecision. In the beat of silence, Clint wagged his eyebrows and pretended to honk his nose. The motion Parker's undoing. He totally cracked up.

"What," he guffawed, his his voice going up an octave with surprise. "Why? Where? How did you even think of that?" he said, shaking his head and leaning on the counter, he was laughing so hard. Clint, back to his usual laid back self, joined in and shrugged.

"I don't like clowns. I didn't know your phobia so I went with a generic one that would scare the crap out of me. I figure it would make anyone pretty damn uncomfortable."

"And, you can really do that? Make people see and think that crap is real."

"Yeah, pretty much. What's real, after all, besides what your brain tells you."

"That's nuts."

"Yeah, it's not bad."

"Can you show me?"

"Next time, sure, but not right now. I promised Laney I wouldn't mess with your head and I'm sticking to it." Clint said, flicking his thumb at the flabbergasted Laney.

"Fair enough. So you don't have any idea who attacked Laney last night?" Parker asked, regaining some of his threatening posture. Clint sobered just as quickly.

"I don't know who did it, but I'm going to find out, and when I do, clowns are the least of the fears I'm going to unleash on their asses." Clint growled. He and Parker sized each other up for another long beat. Finally, Parker stuck out his right hand.

"Parker Carlisle, nice to meet you." Clint shook the offered hand

"Clint Locklear. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you do portals or something. Parker nodded.

"Teleport, but close." Clint screwed his face into an exaggerated expression, stroking his chin as though he were impressed and nodded.

"As far as powers go, that's definitely one of the cooler ones I've heard about." He gestured at the counter where one of the baristas was cleaning around and resorting a group of flavor pumps. "You guys want to order and get a table. I need my whipped frappe fix."

"And I'm thinking I need one of those giant cookies in my belly," Parker added, putting more emphasis on the last three words. The two of them turned to study the menu.

Completely lost, Laney stared at the two boys enjoying their budding bromance.

"Okay," she said loudly. "What. The heck. Just happened?" Two heads turned toward her, their foreheads scrunched.

"What?"