Chapter 15: Northwestern, Northwestern
"Alex," Ella breathed, "Let's split up. Meet me at the CIA Headquarters in 72 hours," Alex nodded, racing to put on his sneakers, "Godspeed," she mumbled before racing into their second bedroom.
Alex wasted no time before leaving. He grabbed his wallet and a bottle of water, laced up his trainers, and left the front door wheeling his bike behind him in under a minute. He took the service elevator out of the building and snuck out the back entrance before anyone realized what happened.
Alex figured that it'll be easy to get to Washington in 72 hours. The CIA had given him a credit card to use before he and Ella left, and he planned on finding a public computer, purchasing the first plane ticket to Washington, and simply camping out for the next 72 hours on Joe Byrne's dime. It didn't take him long to find the Atherton Public Library-a landmark he and Ella had discovered during the two-week exploration of the area.
He wheeled his bike inside, face drenched with heat from the Texas sun. He ducked left, ignoring the librarians, and made his way to the nearest desktop computer. He was booking a 6pm flight to Dulles International Airport near Washington DC when he realized with dismay that he had given his card to Ella to buy them lunch yesterday afternoon. He sighed and pulled out his own personal credit card. However, before he typed in his information, something else caught his eye. Alex considered his options for a second before selecting to not rot in a CIA-funded hotel room for nearly three days.
In no time at all, Alex touched down at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. After seeing how many cities Austin could fly him to directly, he broke down and flew to Chicago on a whim. He hadn't seen his best friend, Sabine Pleasure, since Christmas. Alex knew she would be in town, as her first semester as a Journalism major at Northwestern University was just about to start.
He still remembered her excitement after she was accepted. It was the same top-notch program her father had attended when he came to the United States for college. Now every time they FaceTimed, she was always decked out in Northwestern's signature purple and white. He had texted Sabina before lifting off, so as not to completely catch her off guard.
He walked through O'Hare's endlessly long terminals before finally reaching daylight. After all of these years, Alex was still not particularly fond of flying. Turning on his personal phone off of airplane mode, he had no significant notifications except for Sabina's dorm address–he had always been clear with Jack and Tom that they couldn't text him while he was away, and it wasn't like there were many other people out there blowing up his phone aside from the occasional meme sent through Twitter from an old football mate. Alex really needed some more friends. Some that, you know, didn't question long absences, unexplainable injuries, and half-assed lies. And who didn't care if all Alex wanted to do was kick around a football or go drinking to ease the pain of the rest of the world. Goddamnit, it was no wonder that all of Alex's acquaintances were either mates from the gym or buddies from a local dive bar with careers of questionable legality.
Alex elected to take a train from the airport to Evanston, as he always felt a little safer on public transportation as opposed to something private like a cab or an Uber.
When Alex finally saw Sabina, he wrapped her in a tight hug. He had only seen her a handful of times since that weird period where they lived together out in California: 3 Christmases where she came back to London and another spring break where he visited the Pleasures, and he had really missed her.
"Sabina! How have you been?""
"Alex, I've been great," Sabina said into his chest, "I am so thrilled to see you!"
"Me too. It's lucky that I was in the neighborhood!"
"Texas is hardly the neighborhood," Sabina laughed, and began walking Alex up to her dorm.
"More neighborhood than London," Alex said with a straight face. Sabina rolled her eyes and chuckled. After that, the two of them walked up three flights of stairs in silence.
When Sabina finally let Alex into her dorm, he was punched in the face by a poster containing a very familiar face.
"Sab, any reason why you have a poster of the late and not-so-great Damian Cray on your wall?"
"Of course," Sab laughed, "He is the reason my dad could afford to send me here in the first place. You think he could afford to send me to a private school without his book sales?" Alex looked at her, with amused disbelief, "That, and uh, my therapist said I need to face my fears."
"Sab, that does not seem like the healthiest way of dealing with trauma."
"Alex, when was the last time you dealt with trauma in any way except compartmentalization?"
"Yeah, fair point. I'm happy you're in therapy though."
"Why, because I'm crazy?" Sabina joked.
"Sab, I hate you sometimes. I'm just really happy you're getting the help you deserve" Alex said genuinely.
Sabina softened up. "Yeah, me too." She kissed Alex on the cheek. Alex let out a breath. Sabina had a really difficult time after the events of Damian Cray. It was especially tough for her after her parents dragged her off to San Francisco away from everything she knew. Above all, Sabina had her pride, and it took years for Alex and her parents to convince her that it was okay to seek professional help. That may be slightly hypocritical of Alex, who has made it his personal mission to avoid therapy at all costs. There was, in his opinion, no reason to pay to fix something that was just going to get broken again two weeks later. Plus, any shrink he would be allowed to see would absolutely spill his guts right back to Mrs. Jones.
In no time at all, it felt just like old times to Alex. In just an hour, Alex had become an expert on all the people, hookups, and drama in Schapiro Hall. With the number of sordid details Sabina was able to procure and remember about her classmates, Alex was confident his friend would be a great journalist someday.
"So yeah, Steph from room 312 caught her roommate Lynn cheating on her boyfriend Gabe with Pete, this guy from her psych class in Steph's own bed," Sabina gagged.
"That bitch," Alex exclaimed and shook his head, carefully keeping everyone's names straight in his head. It was during "Girl Talk" times that he was most grateful for his sharp mind.
"So anyways, this led to Steph pulling Lynn by her ponytail off of Pete."
"Ew. Wait, Sab you don't mean…"
"RIGHT off of his dick," Sabina interrupted proudly, "Apparently it was so small that Lynn just flew right off, no resistance or anything."
Alex covered his mouth in shock. "Poor Pete. How did you even hear about this?"
"Oh, Steph and I went to a frat party last night and after like six drinks she spilled her guts out to me on the walk home. Anyways, stop interrupting me. After Steph pulled Lynn off of Pete's carrot stick of a penis, Lynn got super pissed and started screaming at Steph. Steph was obviously mad since her roommate was fucking some random dude in her bed in the middle of the goddamn day so she started yelling back. They probably would have kept going if it weren't for what Pete did."
"Don't tell me…"
"Pete was pretty, uh, far along, and decided there was no better way to finish than by watching two girls having a screaming match, and they were interrupted by a loud moan and his cum literally all over the floor. Steph ran to her RA and moved out immediately."
"Sab, if he was as poorly endowed as you said, he would have had no issue putting his trousers back on and running home to finish up. There was absolutely no reason for him to stay in poor Steph's bed."
Sabina threw her head back and laughed. "Wow, Alex, you seem to speak from a world of experience," she teased.
"Hey now, not me, but you hang around the football locker room enough, and you start to hear things. And see things," Alex shuddered.
"You literally just described my dream," Sabina winked. Alex chuckled. Sabina had always been boy-crazy since the early days (and likely before) of their friendship. The two of them shared a few messy kisses in their younger years, but it had never progressed much beyond that. Alex and Sabina had talked about it, a real relationship, once right after the events of Damian Cray, but with Sabina moving across the world and Alex being unreachable doing god-knows-what for indeterminate amounts of time, they both knew it was a disaster just waiting to happen. Alex couldn't leave Sabina without notice and worry her like that. Plus, Alex was very much a relationship guy (without, of course, the time to maintain one) while Sabina was much more interested in the chase. Alex had clung onto the idea of them being together for a little while longer than she had, grasping for her stability, but eventually realized that he would likely only hurt her and there was probably a reason why Blunt and Jones had always gone on about spies never being allowed to marry. Not that marriage was in the cards with him and Sabina. Obviously. It seemed that the two of them were better off as friends, Sabina being a constant in Alex's crazy, dynamic life, without the added pressure of anything more. Fine, there may have still been some residual feelings on Alex's end, but he loved Sab enough to not put her in the position of rejecting him. If she would reject him. Which she absolutely should. He was, admittedly, a little weak, and would occasionally allow his mind to wander to what could have been if they had never met Damian Cray, Sab never moved to America, and Alex had a semblance of normality in his personal life.
"So, Sab," Alex shook his head to erase his wandering thoughts, "How about you, anyone here catch your fancy yet?"
"Oh absolutely," Sabina said dreamily, "Kai from down the hall is *chef's kiss.* We're like, talking stage-adjacent right now," she sighed and Alex laughed. Leave it to Sab to not even be able to commit to the talking stage. "How about you Alex?"
"Nothing to write home about. A few first dates here and there but no returning customers. Turns out it's pretty hard to make a connection when you have to lie about your job, family, and scars," Sabina frowned, "Oh yeah, I am married now," Alex remembered suddenly.
"Alex, I want every detail," Sabina demanded, "I need a name, headshots, her Instagram, and her sun, moon, and rising signs immediately."
"Who said it was a 'she?' Tom and I got married last weekend and we have been looking for the right moment to tell you." Sabina looked meaner than half of Alex's long cast of supervillains. "Fine, fine, it's a work thing. I can't tell you anything more, but she is a 'she.'"
"Ahh, how romantic–a workplace marriage of convenience," Alex cracked up, "I'm fighting Tom to be the best man in your wedding once you fall in love with her. Unless she's a fucking Gemini. Then I'm ending this relationship for you right here and now," Sabina promised.
Alex nodded solemnly. "It's what has to be done."
"Seriously though, you contact me the second this becomes more real than some weird work arrangement," Sabina demanded. Alex began to protest, but his friend cut him off, "Uh-uh, absolutely not. I'm not saying you have to make it something more, but if you do, I need every last detail down to the color bra she's wearing." Alex nodded because it was not humanly possible to say no to Sab when she got like this.
A moment later, Sabina went to the bathroom. With the reminder of his wife, Alex powered up his mission phone, realizing he had forgotten to in his haste to get to Evanston. Connecting to WiFi, he was shocked when a flurry of text messages and missed calls from a certain Eloise Greenwald poured in. He quickly dialed her back.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Ella's voice demanded, picking up after the first ring.
I would love nothing more than to "Girl Talk" with Sabina and Alex. I know that they would be so hilariously bitchy and judgemental together.