James continued to read page after page, looking for something related to the weird dream he had been having for the past few nights. It had almost turned into some sort of obsession. The more he thought about it, the fuzzier the details became. Just when he thought that he could figure something out, he found that he was no further along than when he started. There was obviously something going on, but at the rate he was going it was not going to be easy figuring it out.
He closed the Book and sat on the hard wooden floor, sighing. What did this dream mean? In his mind, he strained to zero in on the identity of this mystery woman, but every time he got close, he found that he just could not remember who she was. It was frustrating to say the least. Finally, after two hours of futile searching, he decided to take a break. He walked back upstairs into the living room, kicking around remains of the furniture, before heading out to his truck. As he closed the front door behind him, something out the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning to the source, behind a bush near his truck, he saw a flash of blue and white lights before things returned to normal. It was easy to see because it was dark outside, but what was it?
"Wes?" he called out. His first thought was that Wesley had for some reason glimmered in and out of the driveway. It made no sense, but there was no other explanation. "Wesley? This isn't funny. Come out!"
There was no reply. James sighed as he cautiously stepped around the driveway, towards the bush. He raised his hand, ready to tap into his power if needed, but nothing was there. He felt as if he was going crazy. Had anything been there in the first place? He put it out of his mind and stepped into the truck, driving off to nowhere in particular.
Wesley pulled at his right ear with his hand. A faint ringing sound whistled through his ear, causing an uncomfortable feeling. Although he pulled at it, the ringing continued for a while. This was going to drive him crazy if it did not stop.
"Are you okay?" Kim asked, returning to the table. "You look like a dog scratching for fleas."
"My ear's ringing for some reason," Wesley said. As soon as he told her what the issue was, the ringing gradually subsided until it was gone. "Hey, it stopped. Thank God."
"Good," Kim said before changing the subject. "So…I saw Matt when I was going to the restroom. He's having dinner with some girl. I didn't get a chance to see her, but we should stop by before we leave. Your brother always seems so busy. It sounded like he was on a business call when I saw him."
"That's Matt," Wesley said. "He's always up to something. The rest of us are trying to enjoy Spring Break; he's the only person I know who would do something as dumb as work during then."
An hour had passed and food had been served. While Stephanie politely sipped her coffee, Matthew continued to eat forkful after forkful of lasagna. Stephanie only looked at him in amazement. The portion given to them was absolutely huge. It was easily a five-person serving. She had barely eaten one serving herself. Now, the dish was nearly empty. Matthew was right; he was an eating machine.
"You are going to make yourself sick," she told him in a doctor's tone. "You don't have to eat all of this food right now just to prove a point. You should've gotten a to-go box and saved some for later."
"It all works out the same way," Matthew explained. "Now I won't be hungry later, so I won't even need a to-go box. You up for dessert?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Stephanie laughed. "You're already gonna have to roll me out of this place."
"Whatever, babe," Matthew said, taking Stephanie's hand into his and looking into her eyes. "You look great, never looked better. Besides, if you want, we can really work off this food later tonight…"
"You know I'm not that kind of girl," Stephanie said, gently squeezing Matthew's hand before letting go of it. "C'mon, let's go to the go kart place. That is, if you can even get up from that chair."
Matthew smiled as he produced a wad of cash from his wallet. Stephanie definitely had the right idea about getting out of there. The last thing either of them needed was to be confronted by Wesley. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible. The mere thought of knowing that his brother was in the same place as him made him uncomfortable enough. Stephanie's being there multiplied that feeling tenfold. He quickly counted enough money to cover the food and the tip, then briskly walked out of the restaurant with his date, not bothering to look back.