The glass top of the lounger slowly rose, and Dan made his way out of the pod. To his right, Piper was still sitting in her pod. Her hands were clasped in front of her mouth, as she stared blankly forward in silent contemplation. After a while she unclasped her hands and rubbed her eyes, then made her way out of the pod.
"His story… actually checks out." she said.
"Glad to hear it." Amari said, almost sounding uninterested.
"I mean I didn't see any portals or windows to other worlds," Piper resumed, "But that was definitely not here. That placed you worked – that was in Southie! You were right by the ocean!"
"Yeah, we call that place 'Seaport.'" Dan replied, softly chuckling to himself.
"And your job, I mean, I couldn't understand a thing you were doing but all those numbers looked like something scientific!" Piper added.
Thankfully the concept of tax forms K-1 and 5471 were soundly forgotten post-apocalypse.
"And oh my God, those computers! You should've seen them, Amari! The colors and pictures – and you could access anything from there! All of the knowledge and news in the world…"
"Yeah, it's pretty nice," Dan nervously scratched at his neck, "But our robots are kind of lame, so I guess it evens out."
Piper flashed Dan a grin that was half sly and half sympathetic. She then looked down and locked her hands behind her back. She timidly kicked at the dirt on the floor, and then resumed speaking:
"And, um, you were right. How you got here – I don't know how it happened. You just went to bed one night and – and then you were in the vault…" She began playing with her earlobe with her thumb and index finger, looking almost guilty.
"Want to… maybe head to the Minutemen now?" Dan suggested.
"Yeah." Piper replied. She allowed Dan to lead the way out of the Memory Den. Dan check his Pimp Boy and saw it was still only 12:15 PM.
"Hey, uh, wanna head back to the alley?" Dan asked.
"Yeah." Piper replied, "I think that might be good.
The two started on their way to the empty alleyway, passing a slew of civilians on the way. Once in the alleyway, the made there way to the end by the now familiar green dumpster. For a moment they both were silent, unsure of who should speak first. Dan decided on Piper, but she needed another moment of awkward quiet to come to the same conclusion.
"Dan, I'm sorry." Piper apologized, sounding almost ashamed. The sincerity of her apology made Dan feel a little guilty. He did lie – and was continuing to do so – and yet she was the one stuck with all of the indignity. In his usually manner, he decided he could possibly lighten the mood with some humor.
"I'm sorry you saw my ex-girlfriend naked." he jested, giving Piper a fake, exaggerated grimace. Her laughter that followed was equal parts relieved, embarrassed, and nervous.
"Yeah, that was – uh – something. I think I get why you may have wanted to avoid sharing your memories." Piper replied.
"Yeah, some things are better left private." Dan said sheepishly. While the joke sounded good in his head – and it did seem to have the desired effect – Dan was a little regretful for bringing his underwhelming sex life to the forefront of the conversation. Thankfully, Piper distracted him with another question:
"Do you miss it?" she asked.
"Do I miss what? The – that world? Where I came from?" Dan asked, needing clarification.
"Yeah." Piper confirmed. Dan thought for a moment, and then sat down on the street, his back leaned against the brick wall of an old building.
"I don't know." he answered, "I mean, Piper, you saw me there, right? I was just some unemployed schmuck. I felt like I was going nowhere – I had no real purpose in my life. I'm not gonna lie, the world was better – no nuclear war can have that effect – but here…" he paused again, and noticed Piper was heading towards him to take a seat by his side, "Here I feel like I can do something. I can help people, I can maybe – just maybe – do something to bring down the Brotherhood. I could make a difference and help rebuild this place, actually do some good!"
[Piper Loved That]
"That's pretty admirable, Blue." she said, tilting her head and presenting another smile, "I don't mean to keep pressing you, but if you don't mind telling me… who was that girl?"
For a moment, Dan wished things were the way Piper saw them. He wished he had been trapped in this world, with no option or ability to head back to his own reality. Now more than ever he was reminded of the several disappointments reality held.
"What girl?" he asked, pretending to not know exactly who she was referring to.
"You know," Piper began, "For a while there this girl kept showing up. She was a little thing, with curly hair…"
"Oh." Dan butted in, "Annie."
"Yeah, her." Piper confirmed.
"I – I know how it feels." Dan quietly said.
Piper tilted her head curiously, but let Dan continue to speak.
"You loved Dicksmash, despite him being – well, what he was. I know how that feels. Have – have you ever heard of Italy?"
Piper shook her head. Dan saw that most of the street had been covered with a thin layer of wet sand, and so, using his finger, he began to draw in it.. He always loved history and geography, and while he could not draw a map of the world perfectly, he knew enough to get the areas that were important. He drew a rough outline of North America, followed by Europe – ending at the Balkans. He figured Russia wasn't too important for this story.
"We're right here." he made a small dot with his finger on the east coast of North America, just above Cape Cod, "And here is Italy." he circled the boot-like peninsula jutting from southern Europe.
"You see," Dan continued, "In my dimension, when in school, you could spent a few months at another school; in another country. I went to school here, but I got to travel to Italy, in a city right here." he made another point with his finger, in central Italy on the west coast, "A city called Rome. It was the best four months of my life. It was an ancient city, full of buildings and monuments that had been around for millennia. One day, on a trip to this city called Siena, I met a girl. Annie. I was just looking for a recommendation for where to get lunch, and she pointed me in the right direction. She decided to join me and – oh, God, we talked and laughed for hours until our tour guide forced us back on the bus. From the moment I met her I knew there was something special."
"Dan," Piper interrupted, "You don't have to keep going. I get it."
"No, no." Dan insisted, "It's okay. It's almost… therapeutic to tell somebody – I mean, if you don't mind?"
Piper nodded, and so Dan continued, "I saw her every day for those four months. We talked, toured the city, we did everything together. One night we visited this beautiful church – San Giovanni in Laterano – and we spent the whole day talking about it. The marble sculptures, the mosaic in the apse… fuck, even the ceiling. We decided to grab a few drinks after. I even remember the bar – some shithole called G-Bar across the river. I got a black Sambuca and she got a B-52. After enough drinks I had the courage to talk to her. Tell her the truth. I loved her, and I wanted to be with her forever."
Piper's eyes widened. Dan glanced at her and chuckled.
"No, I didn't say that. I just said I liked her, and I'd like to take her out sometime. Now, she was from the U.S. Right around here." he dotted another spot in the northern center of the U.S., "A city called Chicago. She told me it couldn't work. She was too far away, and once we got back to the States it would be impossible to stay together." Dan paused and tapped his foot on the ground three times, "Maybe two weeks before I got sent here, she got engaged. Guy was a soldier, still deployed. He spent most of his time at a military base in Gaeta." he dotted another spot in Italy, just south of Rome.
"Engaged?" Piper asked.
"It means," Dan paused again, "You want to spend the rest of your life with somebody else."
"Oh." Piper replied. Dan didn't take much time to continue:
"When she told me it wouldn't work, I understood. We were far apart, it would've been tough. But then she decided to shack up with some… fucking jarhead halfway across the world!" Dan stopped, and took a couple of deep breaths, "I get it. Most people's lives' don't have a happy ending. I understood when she told me it wouldn't work, but some part of me hoped that maybe, maybe in the future, we could be together. Then, she decides to spend her life with some guy farther away than me. That day in Siena I met the love of my life." again, he paused and tapped his foot, "She didn't."
[Piper Loved That]
[Piper Admires You!]
Dan suddenly felt Piper's hand grip his, and she clutched it tightly. Her eyes stared deeply into his, as her mouth formed a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sorry." she murmured.
"You don't have to be sorry." Dan replied, "I just want you to know I get it. When you thought someone was perfect – your soulmate – and they turn out to be just see you as another person; somebody they'd pass aimlessly on the street. It's like trying to open a door in a burning house. You kick and you scream and try with all your power to get through, but it does nothing. It doesn't budge. You just let the fire consume you as you hopelessly struggle against an unmoving object. I understand."
Piper and Dan sat there for a moment. Neither of them made a sound, just appreciating each other's company. Then, suddenly, a young hooligan made his way into the alley. He wrenched his arm back and chucked a green object at the pair. The speedy article whizzed through the air, eventually striking Piper painfully on the ear.
"Ow, God! What was that?" she shrieked in pain, gripping the side of her head. Dan got up and walked over to the object, picking it up and quickly examining it.
"Is – is this a lime?" he asked aloud, to no one in particular.
"What the hell is a lime?" Piper asked, still holding her sore ear.
"I – I didn't think there were limes here…" Dan contemplated, "Who did this? Why would you throw a lime at people? We were having a moment!"