Beat 94: Consider Disconnections, Consider Connections
“More than friends,”
Lloyd repeated. “Oh. You mean lovers, right?”
Sheila pulled away from
Lloyd, as if his denseness had pried them apart. “W-well, what else is there?” she asked. She lowered her head and pressed her fingers
together, her face reddening yet again.
“I mean…you know…if you want to…I-I-I wouldn’t mind.” But she jerked her head back up, and held her
hands out in defense. “Oh, but only when
you’re ready! I don’t mind waiting -- we
really should take things slowly, shouldn’t we?
I am pretty new at this, after all.”
“You want to be my
lover, huh…?” Lloyd folded his arms and
stared absentmindedly at the sky. For
once in his life he went silent, with the only noise coming from him -- and
indeed, the only noise in the plaza’s alley -- being the shuffling of feet
across oil-splattered concrete. And when
he’d done that a few dozen times, he glanced to the east, mouth covered and
gaze airy.
“Um, Lloyd? Do you -- are you --?” Sheila shuffled in turn, but not nearly as
long. “We can be more than friends,
can’t we?”
Lloyd turned back to
her. “Why?”
“Don’t misunderstand
me, Miss O’Lea- Sheila.” Lloyd pressed a
hand to his chin and looked downward, as if genuinely trying to solve some
convoluted case. “I’m just having a hard
time understanding your…well, your everything,
I suppose.”
“What’s there to
understand?”
“To begin with, why
me? All things considered, I’m the least
viable candidate for love that one could imagine. I would think that you could -- and should --
do much better than trying to pine for my affection. Granted you already have it in excess, but if
it’s love you want, you’d do well to look elsewhere.”
The mere thought forced
Sheila to recoil. “You’re serious? Who else is there?”
“Arjuna, for one.” Lloyd counted off on his fingers. “He’s intelligent, he’s reasonable, he’s
likely to meet with success in his life far sooner than I will, he’s reliable,
he’s skilled…really, the list goes on for quite a while, and that’s ignoring
the fact that the two of you already have a connection. I don’t think I would be able to live with
myself if I refused to point you in his direction; he truly is a better match
for you than I could ever be.”
“But you’re so nice,
and brave! And you’ve helped me out so
much!” She bit her lip. “Am I…am I not good enough for you?”
“That’s a question I
could ask you in turn.”
Lloyd and Sheila’s eyes
met. As expected, Sheila kept up her
usual look -- bashful, a bit red, and struggling to keep up her eye
contact. But unexpectedly, Lloyd met her
nervousness point-for-point with calmness.
A steady gaze; a smooth face; a slight smile. He had a peacefulness about him that might
have been more unnerving than anything else.
“I would gladly accept
you as my lover,” said Lloyd. “But what
makes you think I’m worthy of being yours?”
Sheila tried to stammer
out a response, but couldn’t. She could
get her mouth to move, but not a single sound came from it; she just resorted
to fidgeting, and let her eyes dart randomly through the alley.
And Lloyd just kept
staring at her. He didn’t expect an
answer, not with Sheila in her current state.
And sure enough, he didn’t get one.
“Um, aren’t we supposed
to be on a date?” Sheila asked, finding the courage to look up at Lloyd -- and
the energy to plaster a smile atop her face.
“We should keep going. Th-there’s
lots of fun to be had in this town!
Well, probably. But anyway, let’s
keep moving. It’s such a nice day out,
and I’m having a really good time with you so far!”
“Sheila --”
But Sheila broke into a
quick skip before Lloyd could get out another word. She moved past him, and -- when she saw she
hadn’t moved in tandem -- she held out a hand.
“Come on. I want my first date to
be full of smiles. So let’s just forget
all the nasty stuff and keep on going, okay?”
Lloyd looked at Sheila’s
hand, then her face, then her hand, and then finally her face. “Hmmm.
Usually I’m the one that’s offering a hand,” he said with a smile. “But I’m more than willing to try something
new every once in the while. If you
would lead the way, I would gladly follow.
And of course, I’ll be certain to make your first date a remarkable
one.”
Sheila nodded, and took
hold of Lloyd’s arm -- and without another word, she dragged him out of the
alley as fast as she could.
She’s quite the runner when she wants to be, Lloyd thought. He stared at the sky once again. It’s
just a shame that there are some things you can’t run away from.
*
“That’s what you get
for trying to run,” said JP.
Arjuna rubbed the back
of his head furiously, his crunched-up face still damp with sweat and
tears. “How could you do this to
me? This is kidnapping! This is a felony! This is punishable by law! What did I ever do to the two of you to
deserve getting treated like this?” He
shook his head rapidly, sending his seaweed-style locks slapping against his
face. “Don’t tell me you’re out to ruin
my record for perfect attendance! Or
worse yet, you want to make sure my GPA drops!
I’ll have you know that my scores are --”
Mrs. Overdose glanced
at the backseat. “So is every kid in
this town insane, or…?”
JP shrugged and crammed
his hands in his jacket pockets. His
grumbles ended up muted thanks to the rumble of Mrs. Overdose’s car, steering
the three of them through the streets on the way to their destination. But muted or not, nothing could keep JP from
massaging his blooming headache out of existence -- and Arjuna’s wailing hadn’t
helped matters. “Be thankful I didn’t
try to raid your wallet.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, I’m really thankful the only thing you did
was try and give me a concussion!”
Arjuna poked at his head. “I
seriously need to see a doctor! Somebody
hold up some fingers! Or ask me what my
birthday is! What did I have for
breakfast eight years ago today? Oh crap,
I can’t even remember that! My brain
must be about to leak out of my ear!”
“Enough is
enough.” JP’s foot bumped against a
slender duffle bag on the car floor. “Or
do you want me to give you another taste of --”
“No, no, no! I’ll be good!
I’ll cooperate! I’ll help you do
whatever you want! Just please, don’t
hurt me! I’ve got thin skin!”
“At least he’s makin’
it easy for us,” said Mrs. Overdose.
“Well, easy enough.”
JP nodded slowly, and
turned back to Arjuna. “You know, we
wouldn’t have had to get so rough with you if you’d just cooperated in the
first place. Okay, sure, I don’t blame
you for wanting to bail at the sound of my brother’s name, but when you give
such a shaky response over the phone…well, it’s only natural for us to come
investigate.”
“And by ‘investigate’
you mean ‘kidnap’, right?” Arjuna asked.
“You brought this on
yourself. How am I supposed to react
when I see you trying to run for the hills?
Granted this little kidnapping thing was more the idea of grandma over
here, but in all fairness it was a good idea.
Grab you, take you in, and give you a little heads-up on what’s going to
go down. And it didn’t even cost you a
dime. Be thankful.”
Arjuna slumped in his
seat. “I guess I’m just lucky you took
me in later instead of earlier. My free
periods technically make me free to go after lunch -- but now my student
council duties are going to suffer…”
“You’ve got worse
things to be worrying about than the student council.”
“Such as?”
JP gave him a cold
stare. “Sixty percent of our core group
is a mix of stupidity, insanity, and barely-contained bloodlust. If we’re going to have a shot at keeping our
normal lives -- or just our lives in general -- we’re going to need someone
who’s smart. Someone who’s in the know,
and can help us out with whatever we ask for.
So from now on, we’re going to use you for information -- AND since I
hear you’re some kind of genius inventor, you’re also going to start outfitting
us with the tools we need. Of course,
keeping quiet about all this is probably in your best interests…you know, for
obvious reasons.”
“You want me to be your
servant?”
“We can use the word
‘outfitter’ if you like.”
“So basically, you want
me to be your information broker and blacksmith -- and I’m guessing you want me
on call for anything else you could ever want.
Just out of curiosity, you know that the stuff I make costs money to
build, right? I’m gonna need some kind
of compensation if you want me to be your personal assistant.”
JP’s stare turned
arctic. “Grandma. Can I borrow your gun for a second?”
“You know you’ll blow
your arms right off your shoulders if you try that, right?”
“Worth it. So totally worth it.”
Arjuna held up his
hands. “Okay, okay, I’ll do whatever you
want! Just don’t shoot me! I like my
guts right where they are, thank you very much.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m getting kidnapped and
forced into slavery by a middle school kid and a…a…” He tilted his head as he examined the front
seat. “For…fif…sixt…seven…an old lady?”
“Bit of advice, kid: if
I have to pull over, you won’t be makin’ it back to school.”
Arjuna flopped against
the back seat, and stared at the ceiling as a delirious smile crept across his
face. “Hitmen,” he muttered. “I’m being kidnapped and employed by
hitmen. It’s like every deity in the
universe hates me -- and I’m pretty sure that Hinduism has a good three hundred
thirty million of them. I probably
should have converted a long time ago.”
“Hey. Chatter time is over. Informing time starts now.” JP grimaced at Arjuna. “Start talking. Where were you during the big school brawl
this past Monday?”
“I…wasn’t around, to be
honest. The principal sent me out on an
errand, so I ended up missing it. By the
time I got back, I saw everyone rushing in to the auditorium. Though why is beyond me.”
“That’s because there’s
a masked man on the loose with mind control powers -- but as far as we know,
his powers work best when his targets are indoors. Same goes for his illusion powers, too.”
“Powers? Are you serious?”
“I wish I wasn’t. Hard to believe, I know, but the concept of
normalcy seems to crumble more and more by the day. But the important thing is that we have to
figure out what this guy can do, what it has to do with this town, why these things
are happening, and most of all, how we stop it.” JP’s brow tightened. “My brother’s got a power of his own, but
right now I’m having a hard time believing that boosting someone’s self-esteem
is going to stop a man who’s already shown how he can brainwash an entire
school. And on top of that, there’s
still --”
“Powers, huh?” Arjuna nodded, and hummed to himself. “That’s…interesting.”
“That’s some nice word
choice there,” said Mrs. Overdose. “Got
somethin’ on your mind?”
“Well, yes and no. I mean, it’d just be too big of a
coincidence, all things considered. It’d
be too easy. To silly. Too unreal.
But if there really is evidence…”
“Evidence of what?” JP
asked.
“Maybe evidence of
everything you need. Because the way
things are looking now, that masked man isn’t the problem here. Porbeagle is.”
TO BE HEARTINUED…
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