disclaimer: not mine, copyright belongs to a big American company.
John Calhoun hadn't bothered to establish a rapport with the Krudskys. He didn't care for Brian, and Karen struck him as completely in her husband's shadow. She kept looking at Brian's face before she spoke.
But now, he was in the car with this girl, and he wanted her trust. She gave directions to his driver then sat back, fiddling compulsively with a silver chain bracelet.
"If you were my daughter I'd tell you how irritating that is."
She turned a steady gaze on him. "If. But you think I'm not."
"There have been false claims before."
"You've slept around enough to have to take them seriously?" How could she say that so coolly and wide-eyed? She was sitting in the sunshine, talking about sex, looking about 12, looking like Lolita. And why should John Calhoun take a verbal spanking from a baby blue collar? - how did my generation spawn these sanctimonious brats? - and he said smoothly "I'm sure you're not anticipating some sort of benefit-"
"Benefit. I met this incredible, romantic, sweet guy. We just - it was beautiful. And, next thing, my Dad is telling us to stay apart. It's not a benefit, Senator."
The car was pulling up at their destination. John read the sign: Charlie's Gas & Tow. "You're not interested in the Calhoun money" he said sceptically.
"I'm interested in Scout" she said. "And I'm not allowed to be."
John sighed. "He's not your brother. I want to talk to your dad and find out how this story started."
:
"-so where is Donna?" John Calhoun wanted to know.
"I have no idea. You are aware that this is personal and uncomfortable stuff for us?"
"It's personal and uncomfortable for me to be accused of being someone's father when I'm not."
"She lives in Carson. I have the address."
"What? Bella, are you in contact with her?" Charlie sounded betrayed, then he added - with an obvious view to parenting textbooks - "I mean, of course, she's your mom, and of course you - have you been seeing her?"
"No! She sent me a birthday present. Scout tore her address off the parcel."
"Why?" asked John.
"He wanted me to go see her. He said, I'd resolve a whole bunch of issues." Bella huffed out a sigh. "I said, he was only interested in the parentage thing. We argued about it a lot."
"That boy's too controlling" said Charlie. "Aside from the brother thing."
"He's not her brother" said the Senator, ignored.
"I think the arrogance is from his background" Bella was conceding. "But daddy, he's really sweet."
"Scout is not arrogant and controlling," Scout's father protested, unheeded. John didn't recognise his naive loving son in this. Besides, how could they bear to criticise him while he was god-knew-where?
"Isn't Sean really sweet too?" Charlie was almost pleading with Bella.
"Oh, daddy."
"Mixing with Rawley types can only lead to trouble." It was an article of faith for Charlie.
"Will's a Rawley type now daddy."
"Huh."
"And Jake? Jake's a friend of mine too."
"The boy with the motorcycle?"
"Yes, that's Jake."
"Isn't he one of the missing boys?" asked John. He'd met Will once, but he didn't know the others.
"He's best friends with Hamilton."
"Hamilton" said Charlie disapprovingly. "He's the one who dates every girl in this town and then breaks her heart." He glared warningly at Bella, who looked un-phased.
"You're very aware of the town gossip" said John, amused.
"I have two little girls to worry about."
"Scout and Will and Jake all keep steering me away from meeting Hamilton" said Bella calmly.
"And these are friends of Scout's" said John, trying to put it together.
"Willie Krudsky's his best friend."
"Scout talks a lot about him."
"He's so smart" Bella boasted.
"I hope the Rawley thing works out for him" Charlie said seriously.
The Senator was surprised. "I thought you hated Rawley."
"Will needs to get out of this town."
Bella said "His dad hits him."
"Bella!" Charlie said sharply. "We don't know that."
"He's been in hospital, all right?" Bella looked stubborn. "Someone should do something."
The Senator had a sinking feeling that the disturbingly self willed Bella had plans for him regardless of whether DNA linked them.
:
The young man from the Embassy was anxious to be supportive. He asked how today's meeting with the police had gone.
"It was a waste of time" Steven said roundly.
"Don't say that" said Kate, turning away from him. She explained to Mr Bradley that the Met had brought in a psychologist who specialised in criminal profiling.
"What's next? Psychics?" Steven knew he was being obnoxious but he was tired and losing hope.
Kate doggedly continued to tell the young man about the profiler. Steven tried to listen.
- she prides herself on telling a good story ..not accurate, be it noted, but good - "How did you notice all this detail?" he asked more politely, adding "I was mesmerised by the steel bolt through his skull."
"It was an eyebrow piercing Steven."
"Well I don't know how he expects to be taken seriously as a professional-" he broke off in the middle of his stale rant.
Kate was hunched in the corner of a big armchair. - if one of the dogs was here it would go up and give her a nuzzle - With a stranger present, Steven didn't feel up to public cuddling. "I'm sure he's good at his job" he said awkwardly.
:
:- Jake's - Will searched for a way to phrase it to himself. - Jake's hovering - He had noticed Jake's discomfort the first night of sleeping together, but Jake and Hamilton were actually even more awkward now. - and I wouldn't have thought that possible. It's almost funny, the way they keep staring at each other when they think noone will notice. I'm starting to think Hamilton wants Jake too -
"You're chewing your lip again" Hamilton told Jake.
"What?"
"Relax" said Scout, sitting up squinting and flopping back down again. Jake looked at him, an object lesson in relaxation, and lay on the extreme edge of the mattress, a perceptible no-go zone around her.
- they should talk to each other - Will thought. - There's so much tension going on there. I mean, Hamilton's crap at English class, but he must be able to string a few sentences together. He's negotiated all those girlfriends this summer. I suppose his best friend having a crush on him is a different kind of deal -
Hamilton inched into Jake's personal space.
- they always interact so physically - Will thought. - all that staring, all the not accidental touching. Can't they use words? Words aren't so complicated -
"Ow" Jake yelped.
- way to sound like a girl, Pratt - Will thought.
"..digging into me" Jake was whispering.
"Well it's more uncomfortable for me" Hamilton muttered.
"Can't you just take whatever it is out of your pocket?"
"Shut up Jake" he hissed. "(It's not an option.)"
Short, puzzled silence, followed by long, appalled silence.
- for some reason I don't feel threatened or scandalised like I would've expected - Will thought. - I've been walled up with these guys for days now and they're okay people. I suppose I'm pretty much prepared to accept any quirks they throw at me. Besides, Jake isn't a surprise. Ham, though .. Does it make me a bad person that I find this freaking hilarious? - He rolled over to get the orange streetlight out of his eyes, and exchanged a smirk with Scout. He felt better about himself. - Scout's always open to all kinds of people. And totally non judgemental. And he's laughing. He's not a malicious guy. So, that's cool then - He looked forward to talking over Jake and Hamilton with Scout the next day. - Scout's the best person ever to talk people over with. He's really into what makes them tick -
Scout was snoring lightly and Will was starting to drift off when he heard Hamilton again.
"You're pretty self contained about this."
"What do you mean?"
Though speaking softly, they both sounded far less sleepy than Will felt. His eyelids were so heavy. His face slackened and the room and the quiet conversation faded to black.
"I'm all ..you know."
Very dryly, Jake said "I know."
"And you're all-"
"What."
"Not worked up."
"You think that?" The mattress creaked when she moved. "God. I'm going to regret this, but-" She swallowed audibly.
"Playing with my fingers is evidence that you're, uh, worked up? You know, that's debatable."
Jake arched off the mattress, pulling free the waist of her tops. One, two, three, four layers.
"Jake, wait-"
"They're asleep." She guided his hand up under her shirts.
"Where's your-"
"I took it off to breathe."
"Is this a sketchy moment?" he asked cautiously.
"Are you worried I won't respect you in the morning dude?"
"I am worried. You'll regret this." His hand rested, tensely, under hers on her stomach. The coarse material of her inner shirt grazed the backs of his fingers. He prayed his palms wouldn't sweat. They had tuned the occasional rumble of traffic out of their awareness.
"So take your hand away. You don't want me."
"Are you insane?" Clothing rucked when he sent his hand higher. "Oh."
Very quietly: "Yeah."
"Why?"
Exasperation won out over self consciousness. She turned her head and raised her brows at him.
"No, uh, I mean, why'd you let me?"
"I wanted you to know, I want you too. This place makes me think of all the time I've wasted playing safe. I wish I'd thrown caution to the wind earlier. I should've told you."
"Yeah, you should've. You messed with my head." He did something that made Jake suck in a ragged breath. "I wish we could do something about this.
"You're touching me now."
"Two chaperones. Touch me back before they wake up."
Will had bad dreams that night. He relived the night they'd got tossed in the room. Once more Scout's voice was in that blaring monotone it got when Scout was truly furious and he was in that stance of total huff he'd perfected over months of stand offs with Bella. Beyond him, Hamilton was so pale. Will's palms sweated and he felt nauseous with fear. He wanted to do something, at the very least to shut Scout up before he provoked something terrible, but he was paralysed. Hamilton was in terrible danger, they were all in terrible danger.
He woke up still afraid. God, he hated this room. This morning he felt so foggy it was a while before he and Scout talked about Jake and Hamilton.
"Ham's playing it cool again now" Scout observed.
"For our benefit. Huh."
Across the room, they saw Hamilton blowing Jake off about something. Her jaw set.
"I'm taking Hamilton aside" Scout said abruptly.
"Uh, Scout-"
"Hamilton." Scout was calling him over.
"Yeah." Hamilton was distracted.
"No, no, no" Will moaned, his head in his hands.
"You know, as a friend you're a really great guy. You're a nice guy. You're pretty cool." - well, I've got his attention - Scout glimpsed Will's reaction to his speech so far. He felt like explaining: I'm about to convince him to blow off his reputation. I've got to build him up first. He concluded the speech. "But, as a boyfriend you're like, this careening sucky disaster on legs."
Hamilton was frowning at him. "Scout. I'm not planning to date you. Ever."
"Will woke up for some of last night."
"What?" Hamilton looked mortified. He jerked round for confirmation from Will.
Will blushed guiltily.
Hamilton said, panicked "Stop talking about this."
"Look, if you're bisexual, fine. But I think you should stop messing with Jake's head."
- Ham's going to take a swing at him - Will thought with utter conviction. - Right now. No, wait, maybe Jake can stop him -
Jake was ambling over now. "What's up?"
"Will heard us last night" Hamilton said sharply.
"Oh god." She backed up a few feet on instinct. "I am so mortified."
Scout shrugged. "So. Ham was wearing his heart on his sleeve for once. I'm just saying he should be more consistent about the way he treats you."
Hamilton glowered.
"It wasn't his heart Scout" Will felt obliged to point out.
"Thanks for putting the romance right in there you ..poet" Jake spat. You'd think poet was a swear word.
"Romance?" Will repeated. "What are you, a girl?"
"Uh ..yeah?"
"What?" went Will.
"What?" went Scout.
"Jake, are you sure?" demanded Hamilton.
She was shivering with nerves. "It's like you said Ham. Everybody's going to know soon. Might as well be honest."
"Honest" Scout burst out. "Are you saying this is true .." He looked at her closely. "Are you really a girl?"
"Um ..I think I look fat in bikinis" she offered.
"Oh. Right." Scout looked nonplussed.
"If you saw her cd collection that would kind of clinch it for you" Hamilton mentioned in a detached tone.
"Shut up fender playing boy."
Will stared at Ham. "How long have you known?"
Hamilton met his eyes. Will saw he was still extremely angry. "An embarrassingly short time."
"This changes nothing" Jake said decisively.
"Huh?" asked Scout.
"As far as you guys are concerned. It's none of your business."
Scout looked as if not knowing any more would kill him. "You know" he said coaxingly "It's psychologically healthier not to bottle stuff up."
"Back up Calhoun."
Will nudged him and muttered "Don't push them any further. Especially Hamilton."
"What? Oh, okay." Scout planned to come back to this later.
Steven exclaimed "Look! When was that film out in the States, six months ago?" He was walking through Leicester Square with Kate. They had been arguing again, and he wanted to change the subject.
"Six months ago. Hamilton was desperate to see it. He and I went together. You weren't there. Some work thing, you pulled out."
Steven sighed. "Pay a little attention to reality. I maintain our quality of life by holding down a job, Kate. You'd think there were two children in this family."
Kate gasped, either hurt or angry at his tone. He couldn't tell. He was sick of endlessly reading her emotional state and tailoring his responses to it.
"You're the sensitive one" he said. "Why are you unable to take account of my emotional reactions to all of this?"
"Because you don't have any" she shot back. "You're like-" She pointed stabbingly at an out of work actor, spray painted silver and impersonating a statue.
Steven was suddenly aware of the dense crowds. Bystanders were openly eavesdropping on him and Kate. He glared at them and weaved away through knots of young people, avoiding eye contact. It was just like Rawley. Oh, no, in Rawley they would all be dressed in Abercrombie & Fitch. He sniffed disdainfully at local street fashions.
He almost walked into a big yellow sign. It was a police appeal for witnesses of a gay bashing. He stared at it blindly. Kate caught up with him. She barely glanced at the sign. It had nothing to do with her baby.
The sign's date was the day Hamilton had been in Southwark to see Hamlet. Steven doubted many witnesses would emerge. There had been a cloudburst on that day in London, reducing the pedestrians to a blinker visioned few. It occurred to him that he had spent an obsessive amount of time reconstructing last week.
Steven reverted to their argument. "I only said that we don't know police business."
"You always had a strong sense of demarcation." Over the last week she'd been thinking of Steven with anger and contempt. It showed in her voice.
Steven's face was too calm. "If we're not expediting anything, it's self indulgence to stay away from Rawley-"
"I am Not. Leaving. Without Hamilton." Kate interrupted.
"But we're not contributing." Steven was rawly miserable. He looked round self consciously and began to walk again. Fast.