Chapter Twenty-Two: The Mohawk and the Smoothie

Morning caught me in a much better state. Sleep is an amazing thing. Who would have thought 8 hours would help that much?

Of course, by the time I got back to the hotel and got in bed, it was 3 a.m., which means when I woke up, it was 11 a.m. Karina was pacing for me to stir.

"Are you going?" she asked when I emerged in jeans and a t-shirt a half hour later. I knew exactly what she meant, but I played dumb.

"Where?"

"To see him!" I had to smile at her exasperation. "He's meeting you at noon."

"I know," I said. I sighed and plopped down on the couch. "I'm not sure." Karina's eyes bulged.

"Okay, did you see him?" she said. "He's hot!" I stared at her before I busted out laughing. "Well, sorry, but he is! And he obviously cares about you."

The cynic in me debated that. "Sometimes," I said. Karina studied me.

"What happened between you two?"

I rolled my neck, cracking it, and then I stared up at the ceiling. How or should I even answer that? Given what I'd promised LT and Captain Rhodes not to say, I wasn't sure I should really pinpoint how I'd met Lake. But she didn't ask that.

"What happened?" I repeated. "He basically blew me off because he thought I was interested in someone else."

Karina stalled.

"Nice, huh?" I filled in. "I don't know if it's a good idea for me to go through that again."

"How long have you known each other?" she asked. Hmm, that was another complicated question.

"Not long," I answered. "We only knew each other for a couple of weeks, if that, before things went bad."

Karina gasped. "Two weeks, and he's out here looking for you? Wow." I blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Karina said, laughing at me, "most guys won't lift a finger for a girl they barely know. And he came to your rescue." I rolled my eyes.

"He did not come to my rescue."

"He did, and you should be flattered. So what if he screwed up? Give him another chance."

I left the hotel reluctantly at noon.

-0-0-0-

With traffic in any part of California (and San Diego no exception), it took me awhile to get to the boardwalk. I didn't rush though. I leisurely strolled down the boardwalk until I saw Cory's. It wasn't much to look at. A basic bar and grill place, probably where you hang out with friends after work, but not a date place.

I was fine with that.

Then I saw Lake. He was sitting on the sidewalk outside the grill, his knees propped up and his arms resting on the kneecaps. He wore sunglasses. I'd never seen him in sunglasses before. With the mohawk, it enhanced the bad-boy, biker look.

Why is he still here? I'm not going to deny it; I was late on purpose. Checking my watch, it was 12:35, and I thought for sure he'd be gone. Maybe I was pleased he stuck around, but I dreaded this meeting.

Didn't I?

He stood up smoothly when he spotted me. Behind my own sunglasses, I took the chance to stare at him. He wore a t-shirt that played up the sexy rebel look—a black shirt texturized with rips and patches. It wasn't sloppy, and on him, it looked intimidating. Funny that a guy with a mohawk could be intimidating, instead of ridiculous. In my mind, I laughed at my own thoughts.

The pants he wore were khaki cargoes, made more for the skater than a 30-ish male. I was glad I didn't dress up at all. My jeans were the old pair you always keep because they're a comfort, and a small men's t-shirt from a surf shop. Nothing fancy. I didn't have to impress him, I reminded myself when I got dressed.

I stopped ten feet away from him. A blonde on rollerblades weaved between us. I expected Lake to follow her with his eyes, but he didn't take them off me. I fiddled with my hands.

"Thanks for coming," he said. Was he going to mention I was late? "Hungry?" He nodded backwards at Cory's. Truthfully, I was. I skipped breakfast, half because it was so close to lunch when I woke anyway. But the place looked stifling. I didn't want to be trapped at a table.

"There's a smoothie place two minutes that way," I said, pointing down the boardwalk. He fell in step with me in that direction.

It took the awkward two minutes to get there, during which time I asked Lake how the team was.

"They're good," he said. "A lot has been going on, but we haven't been sent out yet." He was alluding to something. Did he mean the Yakubu situation? Our government was still trying 'diplomatic' means, or so the papers reported. I nodded along without delving into that further.

We got to the smoothie place. I ordered a mango-guava concoction, and Lake ordered some weird juice I'd never heard of. I let him pay.

While we waited for our order to be made, we sat on abnormally tall stools. We were far enough apart that we could have been there separately. There were several customers in the store as we waited, some waiting for their orders like us, and a few new arrivals. I noticed that as everyone waited, inevitably their eyes wandered to Lake. One woman, probably in her 40s, quickly looked away as soon as she laid eyes on him. A man in his 50s frowned openly in his direction.

I wondered what they thought. What did they think of Lake, just superficially in their snap judgments? Wasn't this California? There were more diverse, 'interesting' people here than anywhere else west of the Mississippi, so why were they wary of Lake?

Lake shifted, his eyes raking over the other customers. I saw a few flinch and look down. I had to cough and cover my mouth to hide a grin.

"Lake!" The servers behind the counter shouted his name. Our order was up. I could feel everyone's eyes on both of us now as we got our cups. Maybe I surprised them, being with Lake.

As we left the place, a father with his son pulled the boy out of Lake's way. I shot the man a withering look. He did a double-take at me. I glared at him more, figuring I might as well give him a legitimate reason to fear one of us.

I shook my head once we got outside.

"Are you used to that?" I asked him. Lake frowned, until he saw me point back at the smoothie place. He smiled.

"Yeah. Kind of fun, isn't it?"

We walked along the boardwalk, sipping our drinks. I felt a little easier now, but I waited for him to speak next. It wasn't my idea to be here.

"How's the boy?" he said suddenly. I blinked. Boy?

"Oh, Sam?" I clarified. He probably didn't know Sam was his name, but Lake nodded anyway. "I assume he's okay. His arm got burned, but I imagine his parents took him to the hospital."

"You haven't heard from them?"

I shook my head. "I just met them last night." Why would I hear from them? Lake smiled.

"That was really brave of you, what you did," he said. I opened my mouth to thank him—"Suicidal, but brave."

My teeth clanged as I snapped my mouth shut. I took a breath. "Suicidal?"

"It's becoming a habit, risking your life to save someone else," he said. His tone was so nonchalant, but I heard some amusement. I got ready to rail into him— "Hey, don't get mad. I'm certainly not complaining."

"Are you mocking me?"

He smiled. "Complimenting."

"Sure you are."

He shut up and we kept at our drinks. I heard him slurp at the ends of his juice. He tossed the cup in a trash, and stopped, staring out at the ocean. I stood awkwardly nearby, but I didn't want to be right next to him. I looked to the shops on the other side of the boardwalk, and drained more of my smoothie.

"I guess I should just get to it," he said. He circled around so he was standing in front of me. He took off his sunglasses and pocketed them in the cargoes, then tucked his hands in his side pockets. "I don't know if it came out clear enough last night, but I'm here for you." I blinked.

"For me?" I heard him fine, but he just blurted it out.

"I know you're still mad," he said. "I hurt you. After everything you did to keep me alive, and after everything we survived, I let some stupid jealousy get in the way, but I can't change what I did."

I blinked again. I seemed frozen in place.

"I screwed up," he said. "I want to make it up to you. And so there's no confusion, I want to see you more." He winced. "Get to know you better. Date. Whatever."

He paced a little then. Finally, someone other than me was uncomfortable.

I made myself stop staring at him. What he said made my heart speed up. It wasn't eloquent, not that movie speech that any Mr. Darcy-type would come up with, but this was Lake.

Lake. Not your average guy. Not like any guy I knew, really. This was the man who'd scared me half to death and attacked me in a jungle. Who had been shot defending me and others. Who, even wounded, had taken down rebel soldiers, time and time again. But that's all I really understood about Lake.

I drew a deep breath. "Lake, I hardly know you."

"I know, but I'm really not the pig you've seen," he argued back a little earnestly. He was making this hard for me—getting desperate made him really cute. But I couldn't just be swayed by that.

"I won't sugar-coat it," I said. "You really hurt me, in Virginia." Shame clouded over his face. "I . . . I don't want to be hurt again."

He didn't say anything for awhile. We both stood there, facing each other but not looking at each other. I heard the ocean clearly, combined with people laughing and talking.

"Do you feel anything for me?" he asked. I took a step back. The question unnerved me. It felt unnatural to answer it honestly. . . .

"Yes," I whispered. There was a twitch to his eyes, some hope.

"Then take the risk," he said. "It's not even life-threatening." I shot him a look. Despite his joke:

"Everything we've been through is based on danger," I said, "and running from people trying to kill us, gunfire, bombs—" He laughed, and I gave in with a smile even though I was completely serious. "It's not normal. And that's all that we have in common."

"Maybe," he said, "Maybe not. Bombs aside, are you too afraid it won't work between us to give it a chance?"

The moment he said 'afraid' I flinched. Afraid? Was fear really at the heart of things here? No, there was more to it than that, but I couldn't ignore what he said. I was afraid. I knew it, and what was worse was that fear already led to so many regrets. Me, hunkered down in the hills above the village. Me, afraid to face anyone I knew there. I was such a coward, to be afraid of what could be. Especially when I knew that if we hadn't had our falling out in Norfolk, I'd be happy to be with Lake.

"You're right," he said. "We don't know what we have in common. That's why I want to find out." He stepped toe-to-toe in front of me and took both my hands in his. "Instead of people trying to kill us, I want to have a late night dinner together and just talk. Instead of hiding in a war-torn building, I want to make out with you in a movie theater, hold your bags when you're shopping, open every door for you, come back from an assignment and know you're just as excited to see me as I am to see you." He looked down at our hands. I couldn't form any words. At all. I just felt my heart bruising my chest, and his warm, rough hands on mine.

He slowly slid his right hand up my left arm until I felt it at my neck. I raised my eyes to see him. I heard his shoe scuff the ground, moving closer to me so our bodies pressed against each other. He kissed me. And it didn't take long for me to kiss him back.

I let myself enjoy the moment, fairly confident that no building would blow up around us this time. I felt him smile against my lips, and soon I was smiling too.

Gently I pushed him back. His smile turned to sheepishness, and I shot him a weird look.

"What?"

"Red told me to kiss you in case nothing else worked," he said.

I balked at that. "Seriously? Red told you that? Red, who I turned down after he kissed me?"

Lake thought that over. "Yeah." He didn't sound so confident now. I smirked at him.

"Kind of a risk, don't you think?" He was seeing the flaw in logic—

"Yeah, but it's the guy you turned down because you were in love with me." He smiled victoriously.

If I weren't charmed by that twisted logic, I might have been smacked him. Instead, I kissed him.

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a/n: Thanks again for all the reviews! Next chapter to come, hopefully by early next week. Thanks!