Fluke

41: Plans

Brett's phone alarm rung out all through the house.

"Brett," Jia called, and when he didn't reply, she called his name louder.

He still didn't respond.

"For fuck's sake, he's going to burn the bacon." Jia shook her head. "I don't even eat that shit, but I can't imagine that burnt bacon is pleasant."

I rose my eyebrows. "He left bacon unattended?"

"It's still bacon, though, so it's automatically better than half the food pyramid, even if it's nothing but a pile of ashes," Logan said.

The three of us, plus Carter, all sat around the card table with a different book in our hands, but we called it our book club anyway. It was finally my turn to read A Natural History of Bar Harbor, Maine, and while it wasn't nearly as thrilling as Whale Evolution Volume One, it was still a decent way to spend my last few days at Paradise City.

Fifty whales had swum their way into my life, but they'd never know how much they meant to me, even if I was just an annoyance.

Brett came running past us and into the kitchen. "Shit, fuck, sorry, my bad."

"You're lucky you didn't burn this place down," I said.

"I don't need a lecture, Darrell," Brett replied, and I took in a breath and went back to my book.

For the past few days, Darrell had been sleeping in until eight, since his rules didn't matter, and no one listened to him anyway, which I was sure was a way to try to make me feel bad. I didn't. Redheads didn't have souls. Everyone knew that.

Darrell was the least of my worries, anyway. Even though he tried his best to make everyone else on the island just as miserable as he was, he couldn't change the fact that I was born for Paradise City, and I had to leave the one place that ever felt like a home.

Who would have thought that we'd all survive, and that dirty, damp Home Sweet Home mat outside the front door would actually be true?

Read the words, Rea. The book is more interesting than falling into an inescapable state of depression.

I would be forced to go back to learning the old-fashioned way, and coming from an old-fashioned West Virginia small town, I was pretty qualified to say that it wasn't the life for me. Not many people threw themselves into the ocean to chase whales, and even fewer understood why anyone would do that.

I looked up from my book and peeked over the pages at Logan.

"What, Rea? I'm trying to read," he said, and I looked back down at my book.

"You're not doing a very good job if you got distracted by my minimal movement," I replied.

Jia chuckled, and when I looked over at Carter, he was wrapped up in his book, just like how everything he did captured his entire being for those moments.

He never really opened up, but he let us into his world, and I supposed that was how he showed his friendship. I hoped that, at least. Otherwise, I was still just as bad at socializing as I was when we first began our paradise.

Jia put her book down on the table. "I'm bored."

"Yeah, me too. Sorry, Rea, but Whale Evolution Volume One sucks," Logan said.

"I'm sorry that you have no taste," I replied, and I set my book down too.

Carter didn't, though. He loved learning even more than I did, and any information was fascinating to him.