Debbie sat up. Because she had fallen asleep waiting for Alex, she was still wearing her regular day clothes, and he found it amusing to see her sitting sleepily on the bed in such proper attire. She hadn't even taken off her coat.
When he looked at her, he thought of everything that had happened to them, and how strange and chaotic their lives had become. And yet, in spite of everything else he was now expected to be, the sound of her calling him by his name made him feel perfectly normal. With her, he was still the boy from Preston. He was still just Alex.
Suddenly, he smelled food, and he realized that he was very hungry. "Debbie, did you cook for us?" he asked and stroked her face.
She smiled joyously back at him, as if she had forgotten about it herself. "Yeah. I did it while I was waiting for you."
"Debbie, you didn't have to do that," he said in a grateful but concerned voice. "You're in school all day, and then you're doing homework. You shouldn't exhaust yourself."
He looked at her. What if get hurt again while I'm not looking? he thought. He didn't want to say it out loud.
She only smiled back at him. She seemed to know what he was thinking. "You don't need to worry about me, Alex," she said. "I've never felt better. And I'm not planning on having any more accidents. Are you?"
He gave her an exaggerated look of mock sternness, but he couldn't keep a straight face. They both laughed. "Come on, let's go eat," she said, and led him out to the kitchen by the hand.
She hadn't been idle while he had been away. On the table stood a bowl of soup, a plate of fresh vegetables, and two pieces of meat with fried mushrooms on the side. They looked simply cooked but immensely appetizing, and Alex's mouth watered from the wonderful smell they gave off.
"There's a bottle of beer in the fridge," he remembered. "Should we share it?"
Without answering, Debbie walked across the kitchen and got the bottle out of the fridge. When she handed it to him, he noticed immediately that it wasn't the same bottle that he had put in the fridge.
"What's this?" he asked and inspected the bottle. "Is this light beer?"
"Yeah," Debbie answered with a smile. "Look, Alex. With everything that's going on, I don't think we should be drinking strong alcohol at home. Especially not you. We have to take care of ourselves. And each other. Otherwise we'll pay for it when we're older."
Alex chuckled. He hadn't thought about it, but perhaps Debbie was right. He had almost started thinking of himself as being above illness, as someone whose only concern was physical injury. But even if that were true, there would be no harm in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The most important thing was the way that Debbie had phrased her concern. When we're older, he repeated to himself. She was imagining a life for them in old age, still at each other's side. He was deeply moved and felt as if he might start to cry. He decided to change the topic.
"The soup looks delicious," he said and picked the ladle out of the soup bowl. "And still warm."
"Is it?" she asked. "I must have only slept for a few minutes. Here, let me."
She took the ladle out of his hand and began to stir the soup. As she did so, their eyes met, and they smiled at each other. There was a warmth and a tenderness in her eyes that was even greater than Alex had seen in them before.
"There you go," she said and handed the ladle back to him. "Here, try some."
Images of family dinners from his childhood sprang into Alex's mind. They were images of a blissful domestic harmony that he hadn't experienced since he was little, and he had thought them lost to him. A happy homelife wasn't something he had dared to hope for in a long time, but here they were. Right in front of him, because of Debbie. It felt more right than anything ever had. This was where he was meant to be.
Alex took some soup and tasted it. At that moment, it was the best food he had ever eaten. He had not known how hungry he really was, but that first spoonful of soup brought it out in full force. He couldn't help himself. He finished to soup in a hurry, grabbed some vegetables, and gulped the meat down as if he had no time to chew it.
When his plate was empty, he pushed it away from himself and looked up at Debbie. To his surprise, she had hardly started eating. He became embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have waited for you, so we could eat together."
Debbie only laughed. "It's all right," she said warmly. "You were hungry, apparently. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Let me just finish eating, and then we can go to bed."
"Go to bed, huh?" he said mischievously. "I wish we could."
She looked surprised. "What?" she asked. "Is there something wrong with that?"
He thought of their kiss in the Moon Palace, and he felt as if he was living in a dream. Here he was with the girl of his dreams, and they shared everything and depended on each other. But there were things they were not yet allowed to do.
"We shouldn't," he said. "It isn't time for that yet."
She gave him a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Of course it is. It's already dark outside."
He looked at her and smiled. "Well," he said. "As long as you promise that we're only going to sleep."
Debbie blushed. It seemed that she was finally catching on to what he was saying. "Oh, I didn't mean that," she said as she turned a deep red. "Obviously, I only meant we should go to sleep."
They did the dishes together, and then got ready for bed. Alex took a large towel with him from the bathroom and laid it on the floor. They kissed goodnight, and Debbie got into bed. Alex lay down on the floor and put the towel over himself. It wasn't long before he heard Debbie breathing heavily. She had fallen asleep.
He lay awake for a long time, thinking about her and about them. He couldn't wait to share all of himself with her, but they had promised to get married first. He knew that she was as eager as he was, but it seemed that he had misinterpreted her. She hadn't been suggesting what he thought she had been. She hadn't even considered it. It made him love her even more.
**
The next morning, they had a quick breakfast together before Debbie went to the university. Not long after she had left, Alex went to check on how things were going at Oak Ridge. All of the students and staff greeted him with warmth and respect. He was truly the principal now. He was gratified by the respect they showed him, but it also made him strangely uneasy.
Teenagers shouldn't look up to their role models too much, he thought. It might lead them astray. They need to think for themselves.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered.
"Alex, its Joe Hall," the voice on the other end said. "It's been a while. Are you too busy to get in touch with your old schoolmates?"
Alex was taken aback. With all the craziness that had happened since he left Preston University, he hadn't thought about Joe in ages. "Hey, Joe," he said joyfully. "How are you?"
"I'm doing just fine," Joe answered. "Actually, I've just bought a house. In Baltimore. Will you come over and see it?"