Synthetic Love

I woke up alone in the bunk. I had no idea what time it was, but considering none of the other bunks were occupied, it had to be late. Had I actually slept late for once in my life? Then again, it was pretty late by the time the cops had let me go, free of charge. I shook my head, stopping myself from thinking about it. I made my way to the small bathroom and changed out of yesterday’s clothes. I tossed the bundle of discarded clothes back on the bunk to put away later, before making my way towards the front of the bus. I stopped outside the door when I heard voices.

“So that’s the master plan?” I heard Balz ask. He sounded nervous. And a little excited.

“It’s the best we’ve come up with,” Ricky said.

“But should we really be doing this?” Angelo questioned.

“I don’t care,” Devin said quickly. “This is what we need to do, and now is the time to do it.”

“Relax Ghost, we’re all behind you,” Angelo replied. “I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say we’ll do anything we can to help.” I spun around quickly when someone put a hand on my shoulder. Allie. She put a finger to her lips before motioning for me to follow her to the back of the bus, away from the conversation. I waited until she closed the door to the back room before saying a word.

“What are they talking about in there? Why did you pull me away? And why aren’t you in there with them?” The questions poured out, while Allie sat patiently, waiting for me to finish.

“You heard more than I did, so you have a better idea of what they’re talking about than I do,” Allie said. “Everyone’s in there, except us. I’m not that great with secrets, so I was left out. And to keep you occupied while they’re talking. Now sit and watch the movie with me.”

I sighed before taking a seat next to Allie. “Do I want to know why we’re watching this?” I asked, as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast began playing.

Allie shrugged. “I found it online, and I’ve been wanting to watch it recently. Probably because of that line from Devil’s Night, ‘And now beauty has become the fucking beast.’ It’s been running through my head for a while now.” That made sense. I guess. It still bothered me that the guys were having some sort of secret meeting though. What could they be talking about? “Cheer up girlie, everything’s going to be fine,” Allie said. “Just don’t let them know you heard anything. Ryan woke up in a bad mood this morning, and we kind of had a small argument this morning. If you could please not say anything, then he won’t get pissed for screwing up.”

“Of course,” I said quickly. “I would ask if he’d gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, but there’s only one side of the bunk to get up on,” I added, smiling. Allie hugged me tightly before we sat back to watch the movie. Not long after, the guys came back. They joined us for a few minutes before slowly drifting off to find something else to do. Looks like Disney princesses aren’t their thing. After Ryan whispered something to Allie and they left, it was just Devin and I.

“What were you talking about for so long?” I asked.

“Uh, we were, um,” Devin stuttered, not meeting my eye. “It was an important matter between us guys. Nothing you need to worry about.” I didn’t say anything, but shifted on the couch, moving slightly away from Devin. I could see the hurt look in his eyes when I did that. “Anna please,” he said softly. “Please, look at me. I swear I’d never do anything to hurt you. You’ll know what the discussion was about in a few days.”

I took a deep breath. “Ok, I believe you. But I don’t like this. I don’t like you keeping secrets from me.”

“This will be the only secret I ever keep from you,” Devin said, staring straight into my eyes. I let him pull me back against him. We remained silent for the rest of the movie.

The next few days passed slowly. I tried questioning Devin and the others several times a day, but nothing seemed to work. I couldn’t get even a hint from them. Allie had about as much luck as I did. I was worried, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I trusted Devin. I had to.

And three days after the mysterious meeting, something told me that I would know what they’d been planning. I just hoped it would work as well as they’d planned.