Chapter 13
Tommy adjusted the knob, turning the radio's volume down. He then glanced over to Tanya. She had pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and was brushing some of the hair away from her eyes that escaped in the wind.
"Hey, did you want the top back up? The air isn't too cool—is it?" Tommy asked, looking back to the road.
"Nope! I don't mind the wind. Besides, this is the best part of a convertible," she said, leaning back into the seat.
Tommy shifted the gear as they stopped at the red light. He looked back over to Tanya, not sure how to ask his next question, "So, do you still like him?"
Tanya looked to Tommy, puzzled at his probing inquiry, "This is too weird to talk about with you."
"But you do still have some feelings there for him, don't you?"
"Why are you so interested in this? That's all you've been trying to get out of me for the last ten minutes! And, your light is green Mister," Tanya said, pointing ahead at the now green light.
Tommy sighed, knowing he was not going to get much more information from her this way. He then thought of the other half of the conversation. "Look, I just wanna see him happy."
"He seems happy to me." Tanya said as she let her hand glide over the door in the wind.
"That's because he's with you," Tommy said, with a sly smile.
Tanya slowly cast her glare in Tommy's direction. "This is the turn," she said, unimpressed by his observations.
Tommy turned down the short street and into the apartment complex's parking lot. As they pulled next to Kim's pink Beetle, Tommy glanced into window at the assortment of flowers. His mind drifted until he missed the parking curb.
"Hey, Tommy? Are you okay?" Tanya said, waving her hands in front of his eyes.
"Oh…yeah. Sorry about that."
"I'm more sorry for your front end," she said, with a chuckle. "Where were you just then?"
"I was…just thinking how great you two are together," he said as the top of the convertible moved back into place.
Tanya rolled her eyes and sighed as she opened the door, "Smooth. I'm going upstairs."
"Guys, why don't you let Billy and me pack the dishes," Katherine said as she gently pushed Adam and Rocky away from the box of unwrapped dishes.
"That's fine with me," Adam said, stepping away from the box. He was unsure how to pack the odd assortment of plates and cups, so he and Rocky resorted to simply stacking them all in a box and wadding newspaper on top of the stacks. Katherine was not pleased with their work.
"Yeah, this is harder than it looks," Rocky said, placing a glass on the counter.
"There are still some items in my room that need to be packed," Katherine said, taking some of the wadded newspaper out of the box. "You guys can handle that."
Adam and Rocky looked nervously at each other, as if each wanted to ask the same question.
"Kat," Rocky said slowly, lowering his voice, "you don't have any, um, unmentionable items in there…do you?"
Katherine rubbed her eyes, struggling to find the appropriate words for her friends. "Guys, Tanya and I packed all of our clothes already. These are just books, videos and knick-knacks."
"Alright, we can handle that," Adam said.
"Are you sure?" Katherine asked, taking a stack of plates from the box, realizing the entirety would need repacking.
"Sure! And if we can't, we'll just let the girls do it," Rocky laughed as he and Adam walked down the short hall to the bedrooms, passing Aisha and Kimberly.
Aisha looked to Kimberly, "Remind me to never ask those two for help moving. I don't care if they are my best friends."
Before Kim could answer, the front door opened revealing Tanya and Tommy still locked in a riveting conversation.
"…Tommy, I'm not telling you that!" Tanya said, closing the door behind the two of them.
"I'm just asking if you thought about it!" Tommy said, looking Tanya square on.
Tanya placed both hands on her hips and held her breath as she seemed to be forcing herself to hold back a few words.
"Come on, I'm just asking if the thought crossed your mind. Hypothetically," he asked gently as everyone now watched the pair.
Tanya slowly breathed out, letting her shoulders relax. "Yes, I have. Now, can we drop it?"
"Sure," he said, patting her shoulder.
"Hey, how did everything go?" Katherine asked, unsure of where the conversation was either starting or ending.
"Everything went great with the move. Tommy just started hallucinating on the way back," Tanya said as she walked over to the small dining area now staged with assorted lamps.
"Don't listen to her. There is definitely something there and I see it," Tommy said, avoiding the glare from Tanya as he focused on Katherine.
"Okay, I'm a bit lost here," Katherine asked.
"Oh he just thinks he's some matchmaker now," Tanya said, picking up one of the lamps.
"I don't think—" Tommy started.
"YOU SURE DON'T!" Rocky yelled from the room.
"On that note, I'm gonna head on back to help Jason out," Tommy said, peering at the box Katherine was unpacking as she wrapped the dishes with paper.
"Why don't I and the rest of the guys come back with you? There really isn't much left here to do," Billy said as he wrapped one of the glasses.
"Yes, and I know two guys back in the room that could do a much better job unpacking than they did packing," Katherine said.
"Don't say it too loud, they may hear you," Aisha laughed, knowing they were listening to the entire conversation.
"HEY!" Rocky yelled from down the hall, "WE HEARD THAT!"
"THEN STOP YELLING AT US!" Tommy yelled back.
"Remind me I need new guy friends," Kimberly said to Aisha.
"You're lucky," Aisha said, watching as Adam and Rocky meandered back in the living room, "at least you didn't meet them as middle schoolers."
"You know, Kat, you have a lot of small and breakable items. What's the deal with all the ballerinas anyway?" Rocky asked, holding one of the small, porcelain figurines from Katherine's collection.
"Rocky, I'm a ballerina!" Katherine exclaimed, grabbing the figurine from him.
"Yeah, but, do you need them to remind you of it? I mean, come on! You've got like twenty of these creatures back there," Rocky said, still unaware of how much he was annoying Katherine.
Adam sought to distance himself from the conversation when he noticed Tanya attempting to pack some of the lamps. She had unscrewed a floor lamp's midsection and was having trouble with the base.
"You look like you could use some help here," he said, holding the base steady as she turned the lamp's core.
"Hey, thanks," Tanya said, rolling the lamp on its side and twisting the collapsible core.
"No problem," he said, holding the lamp steady. As he kneeled beside her, he pondered the times she must have talked to Aisha about him. He was unsure what he was feeling, but it began to swell and he could feel the emotions bubble just under his consciousness like a raging river.
"Great! Now this one is ready to pack," Tanya said, smiling down at him and breaking the ruminations in his mind.
He looked at the now fully collapsed lamp as Tanya picked up one of the flat, unused boxes in the corner.
"So, how has it been going?" she asked, as she sat down on one of the folding chairs to steady herself and tape up the box.
"It's good…"Adam stopped and glared at Tanya, the emotion reaching his throat. It choked him like the hard swallow of peanut butter and bread, stuck just beyond the reach of all common sense. The words tumbled out like vomit before he could bring them back, "Why did you tell Aisha about us?"
Tanya put the box down, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"When we were dating, didn't you talk to Aisha about me? She said you asked her how to get to know me better and told her details about our relationship—things that were going on between you and me!"
"Adam, that was three years ago. We were in high school. Why are you bringing this up now?" she said, her voice steady and firm.
"Because, it seems like you could have told me you were talking to my best friend about us three years ago!"
"The reason I talked to her was because it was hard to get closer to you. When I wanted you to open up you shut down. It was like there was a wall between us that I couldn't get around."
"So you manipulated me into liking you? You went to her to find out how to get to know me and get closer to me? There was nothing authentic about us!" Adam's voice began to rise and shake.
"You know what Adam? I was trying to get to know you as a friend! And I could talk to Aisha whenever I wanted because she's my friend, too!" Tanya said, feeling her own anger rise.
"Yeah, you knew her for all of like two weeks and convinced her to give up her powers to you. You knew she should have been the one to return with the Zeo crystal and not you. You wanted the power so bad, you stole it. Sounds like a great friend to me! You should have never been a Ranger!"
Tanya stood looking at Adam, shock and hurt visibly starting to settle into her expression. The others looked on with disbelief. Aisha held her hand to her mouth, as if she were attempting to stop Adam's words by pantomime.
"I knew you were upset with me for how things ended between us," Tanya said, slowly, holding back tears, "but that's the lowest you could go!"
"Adam, what's the deal with you?" Rocky ran over to comfort Tanya.
"How could you say that to her!" Aisha spoke up, walking up to Tanya on the opposite side.
Adam stood in the middle of the living room, looking around at his friends as they watched in horror and shock. Tanya pulled away from Rocky and Aisha, going back into her room.
"Maybe you should leave, Adam," Kat said.
Adam clenched his teeth, still seething with the sudden rage that overtook him. "Yeah," he said quietly.
Adam walked out the door, letting it slam behind him.
"I had better go after him," Rocky said, following Adam out the door.
"I'll come with you," Aisha said following Rocky.
"Where did that even come from? I have never seen Adam get that angry," Kat said, leaning into the counter.
"I have, but only once." Tommy said, looking toward the door.
"So have I," Kim said.
Katherine looked at the two, puzzled and confused.
"It was when we were under Hate Master's spell. But that was…" Tommy paused, his face frozen.
"Tommy, what is it?" Kim asked.
"No…it's just…for a moment I could picture that day as if we were there again." Tommy said, still dazed, "Anyway, when we were under that spell we were taken over by this extreme emotion. It was like this blinding rage. Adam and I were ready to kill each other right there at Ernie's."
"When was this?" Kat asked.
"It was just before you came to Angel Grove. It was, like, one of the worst experiences we had as a team…at least emotionally. I said some really horrible things that I didn't remember then, but they still haunt my dreams," Kim said.
"Hopefully he doesn't say anything else he shouldn't," Tommy said.