Iona puts her helmet on and climbs on her bike. Starting the engine she pulls out onto the street and heads off towards the main road.
Jack has now spent the past twenty minutes stuck in his head staring at his draft for English. It's taken him these twenty minutes to realize that he's not going to get anything done tonight. His thoughts keep circling back to the thought that maybe, just maybe. if "she" is living next door things might not be so bad after all. It doesn't really change anything, but it changes everything.
His phone starts ringing. He answers it to hear David telling him that he'll be home in about an hour. He explains that the orientation's run over firstly because there were a few students who'd shown up late, and secondly because they were being shown a few of the extracurriculars that carried on later into the evenings. They both say goodbye and hang up.
Jack then decides that since he has time until David gets home, and he's clearly not getting any work done, he might as well go out for an evening ride. His bike finally arrived over the weekend and he hasn't had a chance to take it out yet. He quickly pulls his gear and his helmet out of his cupboard. As he's moving around his room he looks to the window trying to see if she's maybe back in her room, but her curtains are still tightly closed. The lights are off too so he can't even tell if there's someone in the room or not.
'I guess she's already asleep.' He's still holding out hope that it is her living next to him.
He hurries downstairs, and out the front door. He walks around the house, through the gap that separates their two houses, to where he had parked his bike after it'd arrived.
He moves it out, and after looking both ways he's off. He keeps going faster and faster, Hoping that maybe if he rides fast enough, if he rides far enough away from everything, everything will just sort itself out. Wishing that when he gets back home his dad will be there. That maybe he'll just wake up from all of this and it'll fade away like a nightmare that never really happened. So he keeps going faster. Not going anywhere. Just riding. Chasing the last light of day.
He slows down seeing the traffic light turning red. He pulls up next to another biker, and he rolls his eyes. Tight fitting gear shows a smaller frame, dressed in blue and black. Everything from the riders boots to their helmet matching. It even matches the colors on their bike. Everything looks brand new too in a sort of never-been-used-before kind of way.
'People thinking they can just buy their way into knowing what they're doing on a bike.'He thinks annoyed that there's someone else out on the roads now. Before he can try to work out what sort of person would dress like that the light turns green and they pull away faster than any inexperienced rider would dare. He finds that he's having to push it to keep up with them. Before too long he's beside them again and then he passes them.
They're out of the town now and riding down the main coastal road, almost racing each other to some unknown finish line. Daring the other to go faster. The other rider then takes the next right, and Jack nearly misses it because of how fast he's going now. 'I don't know who this is, but they sure seem to know their way around here.'
Feeling the need to find out who's under the helmet he follows them as they ride up the side of one of the many mountain roads that line the coast. They pull into a colder sack, and turn around heading back down the mountain, towards the main road again. Jack's thoughts, now far from daily reality, are focused on trying to find out who this other rider is.
'I've never seen anyone ride, or move like this, before. I have to know who this is.'
Back on the main road heading back the way they came, they start racing each other again. Jack can't help but smile. They've now been out riding for about forty minutes. Two things happen now. One; The streetlights start turning on. And two; Jack realizes more or less how long he's been out riding. He also realizes that he needs to get home. Now!
He'd been enjoying the ride so much that he'd forgotten that he still has to get home to let David in. With a new purpose he speeds up, following the way map in his head to get home. At the turn off he nods a goodbye to whoever they are. He then turns left down the street to get home. He then sees them coming up behind him again. They then pass him, removing any worry that they might be following him. A few turns later and they've disappeared from sight. He turns into his street, and from the other end he sees them again. They pull into the driveway of the house next to his.
He turns into the gap, and looks back to see Iona taking off her helmet and shaking her hair out. It falls to almost perfectly frame her face. She brings her hand up and smooths down the little hairs that are standing up after she took her helmet off. Sure enough, it's her. Who else, Dearest Reader, did you think it was? I mean I reminded you at the start of this chapter that she'd left for a bike ride before it got too late. Well seeing the surprise on your faces was worth it nonetheless. Oh right, we have a story to get back to. Jack is certainly more surprised than you were. Just look at all those surprised and hopeful thoughts spilling through his consciousness.
'It can't be...can it? Padmé? Dammit I wish I knew her real name. Wait, does that mean that she really is living next door to me? It has to be her. This is the best thing that's happened to me since we got here. No, this is the best thing that's happened since Dad went missing.'
She still has her back to him while he's quieting his mind. Still sitting on his bike he takes his helmet on. He gets off, still watching her as he heads in the direction of his front door. That's when she then turns around and he lets out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Trying to play it cool he raises his hand to fix his hair, but he freezes before he can lift his hand high enough. 'She's smiling at me.'
He smiles back at her before he's brain starts playing back the events of the afternoon. 'Wait...why is she smiling? Doesn't she remember what happened, like not even two hours ago? Cause I certainly remember, not that I would want to forget. Shouldn't she still be pissed off at me? Girls normally hold onto something like that..right?'
All of this goes through his head in less than a hot minute. She then lifts her hand, and is now waving at him. Wait no, she's waving passed him. This only goes to confuse our poor boy even more. He turns to see who she's really smiling at. Two boys and a man, who looks to be about forty, are driving up to the house in a small grey family car.
He lowers his hand quickly. 'Must be her dad and her little brothers. Odd, David should be home too about now.'
He looks closer at the boys in the car. One looks a lot like Iona. The same light brown hair, and upright posture. The other one looks nothing like them at all. In fact Jack is noticing that he looks a lot like David. Better yet it is David. Seeing him in car sets Jack off, just a little bit, 'How stupid can he be? He knows better! He knows better than to get in a car with someone he doesn't know. Even kids who didn't grow up in our kind of home know not to do that.'
He's not even concentrating on what's happening now. All he can think of is telling David off for this. Angry at how thoughtless his brother could have been to get into a car with people they don't know.
The sound of a car horn brings him back to the present. He's standing where Iona's dad normally parks the car. He clenches and unclenches his fist realizing how stupid he must look in front of her. Her giggling to herself a little bit isn't helping either. He quickly walks up to the front door to unlock it, shaking his head as he does so. Too embarrassed to look back he can hear David saying goodbye, and thanks for the ride home before he calmly walks up to the house.
"Hey, Big Bro. What's up?"
Jack doesn't say anything. He waits until they're both inside so that he can lock the doors again. It's late and it's already getting dark outside. Jack continues to stay silent. David puts his bag down sitting down at the table across from Jack. Then Jack starts to speak slowly, quietly, weighing each word out. "What do you think you're doing? You should know better than to just get in some person's car. After everything that's happening, do you really need to be reminded about what could happen to you. How can you be so stupid? Do you want someone to take you away? It's like you never think."
Trying hard not to shout and wake their mom. Trying hard not to let his anger get the better of him, but no amount of self-control can keep the harsh tone out of his voice or make the words softer.
"Chill your nuts, okay. Stop being so paranoid. Not everyone is out to get us you know. I was just catching a lift home with my new neighbor and friend, and his Dad who's a teacher by the way." David can see that he's angry, but he carries on explaining anyway. Angry at the fact that his brother's angry at him for getting himself home safely. " Look we're in the same class, we've both just moved here, we were both stuck with first forms for an orientation that we don't need. It's all cool, okay? No big deal. Besides it's already late, do you really think walking home would have been any safer? "
His relaxed tone isn't helping Jack's temper. 'He needs to start thinking like Mom and Dad before he ends up in trouble. Great, now I'm thinking about Dad again, this isn't what I need to be focused on right now.'
Jack suddenly wants to be as far away from David as he can get. He takes a deep breath to calm himself, "Whatever, we'll talk about it in the morning. I'm going to bed. There's food for you in the microwave, just heat it up. I'll see you in the morning."
Sometimes it's easier to get angry than it is to admit that you've been scared. Jack is walking the line between shouting loud enough to wake their mom and everyone else on the block, and crying every tear he's held back for the past six months. Neither of which, he tells himself, his mom needs to deal with today. He can hear the microwave beep and David pulling a chair out.
'I shouldn't be yelling at him. I should be there to ask him about his day, and help him with homework if he needs it. I'm sorry I can't be the big brother you need right now.'
He gets to his room and closes the door. He just wants to get into bed and sleep until life sorts itself out. Until things can go back to the way they where before his dad went missing. Before they had to move to the other side of the county. A world away from any kind of home he knew.
"I wish we could just go home and not have to worry about having someone trying to kill us, or something else happening to one of us. I wish we didn't have to be here!"
He shouts at his wall. He kicks his drawers. Holding onto the last strands of anger that hold his tears at bay. Wishing that the whole world would just go away and leave him alone. He paces around his room a few times until he's calmed down enough to think of going to sleep. Getting ready to go to sleep he's not focused on anything that's going on around him. This explains why he's down to his underwear by the time he hears a small giggle that draws his attention to the fact that his curtains are open...and so are his new neighbors. The lights are on, and she's sitting by the window. Looking across the gap that separates their two houses. Looking right at him.