Time Is Ticking

♠♣Luka♥♠♣

It didn’t surprise me when Laurie sped into the school parking lot, jumping out the car and waving a bag of McDonalds around holding out what looked like a frappe with a huge childish smirk on her face. I smiled at her, automatically forgiving her for the night before, she bought me coffee, and most likely fries, which is the only thing I ask for whenever McDonalds is brought up in a conversation.

Laurie has always been like this; she isn’t the type to just, yell and scream and not feel horrible afterwards. So, whenever things like that did happen, she’d make it up to that person she yelled at as soon as possible by doing something that she knows they like. It’s why I couldn’t hate her, I loved her.

I raced to the car, jumping inside and snatching what I recognized as a chocolate chip frappe, and jammed the straw inside, sucking up the icy deliciousness. It made me feel more relaxed after the long first day of school. Refreshed.

“Well, mom is off on at a business meeting, and won’t be home right away.” Laurie informed me. I nodded my head, frowning slightly. Mom had been working a lot lately, taking late shifts and working herself over the top. “You want to watch some movies with me?” She asked, glancing at me and quickly adding, “You don’t have too if you don’t want to…”

I smiled at her, nodding my head eagerly. This was one of my favorite traits about Laurie; she stays up all night sometimes, bored to death. So she’ll surf the internet until she finds a movie or two to watch. Usually, when she does this she ends up finding some of the best movies ever, whether they are old or foreign.

“Look Luka,” Laurie began after a moment of sweet silence. “I’m really sorry for what I said to you the other day. I was just… I was upset and I didn’t mean to take it out of you.” She said, glancing at me for a moment before she went back to the road and we turned up our new street. I nodded to her. I had already forgiven her; I mean come on, a chocolate chip frappe and fries, hello? Uhm, that’s the ultimate way to get me to forgive you nowadays.

We got to the house and I headed straight for the living room, throwing myself onto the couch and just relishing in the salty sweetness dancing on my taste buds right now.

“So, do you want pizza or are you good with that McDonalds?” Laurie asked, ushering me to take off my shoes. I kicked them off and she frowned at me. I smiled and she shrugged taking her phone out. “Well, I want pizza; it’s gonna be pepperoni, in case you want some.”

As usual, Laurie always had the pizza place on speed dial, that girl was not only in love with the pizza there, but she’s conveniently dating one of the delivery guys, his name is Levi or something like that. It’s kind of sad I don’t know his name for sure; she orders pizza, all the time. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten fired for being gone so long when he delivers here, because, when he gets here, they drop the pizza off in the kitchen and they vanish for at least an hour. I shuddered; I don’t even know what they do while he’s in his uniform. Oh God, I hope Laurie wasn’t one of those chicks.

I rolled my eyes at her as she twirled a lock of her hair while she talked on the phone and placed the order, getting ready to request her uniformed lover.

Dammit, what made me think that?

I turned the TV on, nearly dropping my frappe when it started blasting something on MTV hits. It sounded like a song by 2 Chainz.

I’m different, yeah, I’m different...

Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.

“Luka!” Laurie hissed. I looked back at her, panicking. I opened my mouth to apologize but it was all caught in my throat. I quickly shut off the TV, choking on my own apology. I looked at Laurie, she was frowning at me, but when she registered the panic on my face, her expression changed to one of alert.

I was scared, I can’t breathe. Was this some kind of curse, a punishment? Was it because I yelled at her the last day I saw her? Was she the one pinning this torture on me? I can’t even speak to myself, was this all her doing? Does she hate me this much?

“Luka,” Laurie began, turning off her phone. I’m guessing her order was made. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?” She looked worried. I shook my head, I had to get out of there, the house, I felt like it was suffocating me.

I shoved my feet in my shoes and headed for the door, unbuttoning my shirt a bit, trying to do anything to breathe. My chest was tight and tears were stinging my eyes.

The doorbell rang.

My body jerked in surprise and I got just a bit of air in my lungs. I blinked back the tears, but still, I was having an attack of some sort, it was like there wasn’t enough air around me.

I slowly opened the door, wanting the person on the other side to at least think I’m normal.

I was greeted by black hair and strangely sea green eyes that looked up to meet my own boring brown ones.

Evan?

I blinked at him, and he looked at me for a moment before a smile worked its way into his facial features.

It was perfect, white row of teeth, impressive.

And with one look from him and that smile, the wind was knocked right back into me.

What is this… feeling? I thought as I took a deep breath.

“Whoa, hey Luka, what’s up?” He asked, still smiling at me like I didn’t just inhale like I’d just resurfaced from a long dive. I blinked at him, and for some damn reason, there was a stray tear, that damn rebel tear, and I felt weak all over again. “What’s wrong, are you alright?”

The worry in his voice and the look on his face sent a chill through my body and sent heat to my face. I shrugged and forcefully wiped away the tear that he looked like he wanted to gently brush away.

What the hell is this? I wondered to myself.

“Luka, who’s at the door?” Laurie popped up beside me and I jumped to the side, looking at her horrified. She laughed at me shyly, her way of apologizing. She turned her attention to Evan, whose attention was still on me with an uneasy gaze. “I’m sorry, who are you?” Laurie asked.

Evan blinked and I stared at him as he smiled and looked at her. There it was again, that free breathe of air; it was so light so carefree. He reached and touched the back of his neck. “Oh, uhm, my name is Evan and I live about five houses down the street.”

“Oh, what brings you this afternoon?” Laurie asked.

“Just to say hello and welcome you to the neighborhood.” He held out a cream colored envelope with small cursive printed across the front.

“What’s this?” Laurie took the envelope and studied it.

“My mom is gonna be having a yard party on Friday. She’d like you to come and meet every one who lives in the street, it’s an invitation.” He announced. “You’re welcome to bring a dish! But please, don’t bring any dessert foods…”

“Why not?” Laurie asked.

“My mom has that covered… my house smells like the land of milk and cookies from Sharkboy and Lavagirl, only, with cake and chocolate.” He laughed.

Another gust of air filled my lungs. My God, what’s happening?

“Well, I’ll tell our mom about it when she gets home from work.” Laurie said, reaching inside and placing the invite on the table by the door so my mom would see it. “Thanks for the invite.” She said cheerily. I glanced at her and then saw the car in the drive way with a sign that said ‘Pizza Hut’ on the top.

Wonderful, what’s-his-name is here.

“Well, hope to see you there!” Evan said, his eyes following Laurie as she seemed to forget that he was there and ran to her boyfriend. Evan blinked and then looked at me. “I hope that’s free pizza.” I didn’t even try to reply, knowing me I’d probably die trying to mouth anything. So I just shrugged.

Evan smiled sadly at me and looked back in the direction of where I presumed his house was.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow Luka, let’s eat lunch together huh? Oh, and we need to meet up and finish that project.” He told me. I nodded. “Well then, see you.” He waved as he bypassed the couple giving each other weird looks and said things to each other that I was probably better off not knowing.

I sighed and walked back inside and found my frappe.

I’m gonna need something to calm myself down.

The next day at school was, strange. Well, no, it was just flat out awkward. Evan was like, connected to my hip, and surprisingly, I wasn’t as pissed off about it as I normally would be.

“Hey Luka, when do you wanna get together and finish that project?” He asked as I made my way out of the building after school. It’s Thursday and the student body was busily talking about their plans for the weekend.

I shrugged.

“Uhm, would it be okay if I came over today? Or do you wanna come over to my house?” He asked, pausing for a moment to think. “I think it’ll be better if you come over to my house, that way, if things don’t turn out right, your house won’t burn down.” I gaped at him, not knowing how to respond to that.

I don’t want to do something that could evidently lead to my demise! He must have caught my expression and punched my shoulder playfully, laughing.

“Don’t worry, if anything happens I’ll protect you. You’ll be fine!” He assured me. I pushed a half smile on to my face, and cautiously nodded my head. His smile beamed. “Alright, I’ll come and get you as soon as I get home!” He shouted as he ran to catch the bus, while waving at me.

I shook my head as he slammed into the door of the bus, visibly scaring the bus driver. The door jerked open and there was a shout from out the door, Evan smiled and reached to touch the back of his neck, something that I’ve begun to notice happens a lot. He looked back at me and winked, making me chuckle lightly to myself.

What a character that Evan Greene is, what a guy.

“Who was that you were talking to? He looks familiar.” Laurie asked when I got in that car. I sighed and grabbed a random pen out of my bag, pushing up the sleeve of my jacket.

His mom is throwing that party tomorrow. He lives on our street. I wrote. I held my arm out to her and she frowned, but nodded anyway.

“Luka, writing on your skin is bad.” She scolded. I shrugged and licked my thumb, rubbing at the ink on my arm roughly. She looked at me from the corner of her eye, a smirk at the corner of her lips. I smiled at her; I must look like a kid. “Luka, can I ask you a question?”

I raised my eyebrow at her sudden question, seeing the look in her eyes as she lowered her lashes in thought, and not liking the path this conversation was sure to take.

“Promise, you won’t get mad, I just… it’s just a question.” She mumbled shyly. I nodded slowly, frowning at the red light we’d stopped at. “Do you—can you—why don’t you—I…” She looked at the light and sighed. “I miss the talks we used to have.” She said. “W—why’d they stop?”

I closed my eyes, knowing exactly what she meant. I didn’t necessarily know how to respond though. I can’t quite explain to her why I don’t speak, well, more like I can’t. It just… it hurts to even think to form words. I took the pen again and uncapped it.

It… hurts… I wrote on my arm, so she could see. She read it and then started the moving the car, seeing at the light was now green and we were getting honked at.

“I see…” She muttered. Her eyes darkened with sadness and confusion and I just looked out the window, feeling horrible that I can’t explain to her what I really mean.

When we got home my mom was busy in the kitchen, she felt really bad that she wasn’t home to make us dinner yesterday. So now that she was home, she was cooking up a storm, literally. There was steam everywhere, I felt like I’d just walked into a sauna.

By all means, it wasn’t the bad type of steam, unless, of course, you and vegetables had a bad relationship. Too bad I wouldn’t be home in time for the meal. I was just about to head down the stairs and tell her so, somehow, but the doorbell rang and I rerouted my destination.

“I’ve got it!” My mom shouted, zooming past me and almost knocking me over. I stared at her back, wondering what’s gotten into her. I mean, I know she wanted to make dinner really bad, but all this other energy was worrying me.

I stood close behind her as she opened the door, and sure enough there stood a slightly out of breath Evan with his backpack still on his back.

Did he even go home? I wondered.

He blinked in the face of my mom for a moment before he gained the voice to speak. “Hello, you must be Mrs. Mayfield.” He breathed. My mom smiled at him, and if he wasn’t down on the porch, I’m sure she’d be breaking her neck to look up at him.

“That is right, and you are?” She asked.

“Oh, my name is Evan, I live up the street, and I go to school with Luka.” He explained. “And I was wondering if he could come over to my house, we have a project that’s due tomorrow.”

“Oh, yes—Luka!” She called blindly into the house; I walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. It was tense, and I could see her smile was slightly forced. “Oh there you are honey.” She looked back at Evan. “So, how long will you two be? I have dinner on the stove, and it’s ready.”

“Oh, my mom has tuna casserole in the oven, so Luka can eat over my house, unless… you don’t like tuna…” he looked shyly at me. I smiled at him and my mom looked at me.

“Do you wanna eat dinner over there?” She asked me. I shrugged. “You can if you want, it’s fine with me if you go.” I nodded and shoved my feet in my shoes.

“Mom, uhm, the pot on the stove, is boiling over…” Laurie poked her head out of the kitchen, a look of worry on her face. “So I’m gonna turn it off.” Then she disappeared. My mom looked back at then kissed me on the cheek.

“Luka honey, I won’t be home when you get back, I have to go back to work and finish some paperwork.” She informed me. “Don’t be out too late, and make sure you make sure your sister is alone in her room.” She looked at me pointedly and I have a feeling Laurie and her lover got caught in their shenanigans.

I almost laughed, but I nodded my head instead.

I waved to her and then closed the door behind me, sighing as I looked at Evan who still had a shy look on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is your mom okay?” He asked. I blinked at him as we cut across the lawn and proceeded to walk down the street to his house. “She seems stressed.” He shrugged. I sniffed and looked up at the sky.

My mom was working too hard. That’s why she’s stressed. She’s taking on more work than she has to. I don’t know why she’s doing it; maybe she’s looking for an escape, but from what? That’s the true question. I’ll ask Laurie somehow, maybe she knows, maybe we can find out together, and help her.

We arrived at a nice white house a couple minutes later, the attached garage was wide open and a table was set up on the inside. I noticed that the car that I assumed belonged in the garage was parked across the street and up a little ways, as far away from the house as possible.

There was a camera in front of the table. Evan opened the small screen on the camera and turned it on. He then dropped his backpack onto the table and motioned me to follow him.

“Common, I’ll show you to my mom and then I’m gonna need some help bringing stuff downstairs.” I nodded.

We entered the house through a door in the garage. Upon our entrance I heard the slamming of cabinets and the banging of what sounded like a spoon and a pot. Evan sighed and I looked at him in alarm. It sounded like his kitchen was being raided by the FBI and all he’s acting all nonchalant! He reached and touched the back of his neck, and smiled at me.

“Dinner is ready.” I blinked and followed him reluctantly into the kitchen and dining room area.

We passed a table for four with placemats for two. There was a small platter in the middle of the table, possibly for putting the hot dish of whatever the meal on. The table was chestnut brown with matching chairs.

Then we entered the kitchen with an island in the middle. The décor was nice, black marble counter tops and wooden cabinets. Stainless steel stove, dishwasher and refrigerator.

Dancing around the room was a small brunette wearing an apron with a wooden spoon in her hand and clearly and iPod in the other. Evan was shaking his head at her, his arms crossed.

“Leave her alone for five minutes longer than usual and she gets lost in her own world.” He mutters. “Well, might as well have a little fun with it.” He shrugged as he waited for her to turn her back on us.

He crept up on her and peered over her shoulder to see what she was stirring in the pot. His eyes glistened as he smiled and reached over and dipped his finger in the mysterious substance. He shoved his finger into his mouth as the woman whirled around and shrieked in horror.

“Dammit Evan!” She exclaimed. “That’s twice!” She glared, yanking the headphones from her ears. “Why do you look so butt hurt? I should hit you with this spoon!”

“I think I burnt my finger…” He whined. I stifled a giggle. All attention was on me after that.

“Who is this?” Her face turned a light shade of red as she realized my presence.

“Oh, mom, we have a guest for dinner.” Evan said through his finger, which was still placed in his mouth, making him look like a fourth grader. “This is Luka, son of our new neighborhoods, and my classmate.”

After the awkward confrontation with Evan’s mom, we sat down and ate dinner, which was amazing. I’ve never had tuna casserole so delicious, my mom never makes it really, so having it for the first time in forever, and this was a good impression.

We cleaned our plates and then she set us off to our own devices and promised she’d call us as soon as dessert was finished.

So, here we were in the garage with the camera now rolling. I was staring in horror as Evan poured some type of chemical into the already bubbling substance of mixtures and color, saying something too scientific for me to comprehend. I was so thankful for these goggles that were protecting my eyes; otherwise I’m sure I’d be blinded. Just the aroma alone was making them water.

It was all I could to was hand him whatever powder or liquid he pointed to and hope nothing exploded in either of our faces.

“Hand me the yellow powder Luka.” He ordered, I hesitantly complied, holding it back and giving him a warning look, telling him to be careful, like every time he asked for something, and just like the other times, he’d nod to me and smile.

He took the beaker of powder from me and started sprinkling it into the glass that was sitting over the burner thing. Oh God, I know nothing about science, I’m gonna fail.

What happened next happened so fast I didn’t have time to think.

Evan lurched forward unexpectedly, pouring nearly all the powder into the glass. As if that wasn’t a bad enough sign, his breathing got heavy and he grabbed my arm as he dropped to the ground, dragging me with him. I covered my ears as the table shook and the something popped.

I starred at Evan, he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were wide and trained on the ground. He was clutching the front of his shirt and you could just see that he was struggling to breathe.

My mind at that point was all over the place. I didn’t know what to do, how to react, what to think. I don’t even know if I was breathing. My head was spinning and I felt like I was going to pass out.

Something just exploded.

Something is seriously wrong with Evan right now.

Those are the only two things I was remotely sure of.

I had to pull myself together and help him. Obviously whatever was wrong is unexpected and he looked terrified. I take my hands from my ears and I touch his shoulder, bringing him back to reality as he coughed into the crook of his arm. He pulled away from me, I could see him sweating.

This isn’t normal, and I’m worried. I haven’t been this worried about someone else in a long time.

“Could—could you excuse me for a moment? I—I’ll be right back.” He stumbled on his words just as bad as he stumbled into his house in a rush.

Again, I haven’t been this worried, nor have I been this confused in a long time.