HOME | DD

Description
Lance awoke suddenly the next morning with the faint realization that something had happened the night before. Something that he hadn’t quite realized at the time. His ‘shield,’ for lack of a better description, had been up before he had been attacked. Previously, Lance’s ability only seemed to activate when he was in immediate danger, but it had been different fighting the man in the alley.
I did it. I willed my shield to protect me. Maybe, Lance thought, I can control this.
As he had spent much of his time the previous day, Lance once again turned his thoughts to a costume. He decided that since he would be going out primarily at night, he should wear a lot of dark colors. Perhaps black and maybe a dark blue or red color.
He needed a name. Sherry, the almost raped girl, had made that obvious. He wanted it to sound cool, yet not too dark. He didn’t want to call himself anything that made him sound evil. He decided to skip the name thing for now, since he wanted it to be something that would catch on, and he couldn’t think of anything right then.
So, instead, he focused on his face. He had to cover it up somehow, since he doubted he’d be able to run around holding his shirt up over his face during a fight or on patrol. Lance remembered that all of the heroes in the comics all wore the same mask.
What had that been called? After a few moments of thinking, the term ‘domino mask’ came to mind, and that sounded right. Now all he had to do was find one, or perhaps several, just in case. There was a party store not too far from where Lance lived. He figured he’d be able to go after work before heading over to Rain’s apartment.
Realizing that it was indeed morning, Lance looked at the clock. It was almost nine-thirty and Lance didn’t foresee himself going back to sleep, so he decided to get up.
Lance thought that he could use the time to tackle a few of the problems that were plaguing his ‘other’ life. First up, a name he could call himself.
He was expecting to eventually get some type of media exposure, whether he wanted it or not, as it very easily could have happened the previous night. In this day and age, with all of the cell phones and digital cameras out there, it would be impossible to avoid getting his picture taken, so he might as well be prepared for it. He started up his computer, and while he waited for it to finish loading, he thought of costume ideas.
Would he wear tights? Could he wear tights? Lance thought about it, and he came to the conclusion that; one, the spandex made his thin, muscular legs look like ski poles and two, anyone who had seen Lance run had already probably seen him in spandex tights, and it would be just one more similarity between Lance and his alter ego that could be avoided.
His computer was still loading all of the extraneous programs that were installed on his PC, which was currently also being bogged down by the anti-virus software.
Perhaps camouflage cargo pants? Lance thought to himself. Nah, kinda clichéd. Plus, I don’t want anyone associating me with the army. They probably wouldn’t like that. He decided that maybe black would work better, as it would blend in with an urban environment more easily.
His computer had finally finished loading and he blew out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s see…” Lance opened up the internet browser and went to a search engine. “I always thought ‘Zero’ would sound cool…” And apparently, so did every other internet user did too, as the search returned thousands of users with that name, or at least some part of it; along with several comic book characters.
“Well, shit,” Lance next tried ‘Barricade,’ since that was more or less what he was now, a human barricade. That one came up with several results, including the name being used by a giant, killer robot. “This isn’t going so well.”
He decided to once again skip over the name for now, instead deciding to get ready to face the day.
Since he was already awake and had extra time before he had to be at work, he figured he could get in some of the shopping needed for his costume. By the time he finished getting ready, it was almost ten o’clock. He didn’t work until noon, so he figured he had a good hour and a half to try to find as much as he could for his costume. Lance had two choices: He could head to the nearest mall and get everything in one place, or he could go over to the local department store, the party store, and, in a flash of brilliance, the army surplus store.
If he went to the mall he risked being spotted with whatever he purchased, items that could later be identified as pieces to his costume. With that thought, the plan involving the multiple stops won out.

The department store came first, as it was the closest of the stops to his house. Lance liked the idea of a dark red color to go along with the black, which is why he instantly fell in love with a darker, spandex-like workout shirt. He was, in his mind, admiring how he’d look with the shirt on, which is why he hadn’t noticed the salesman approach. He was about Lance’s age, but not nearly as tall, with medium length black hair.
“Hey, Lance. What ya got there?” The salesman was a classmate of Lance, but he couldn’t remember his name. Luckily, the teen was wearing a nametag, which read ‘David.’
“Just looking for something to practice in that kind of matches the bottom,” Lance lied. He hated being spotted by people he knew, especially lately, but being a prominent athlete in such a small town made it difficult to go anywhere without running into someone he knew, or at least someone that knew him. “I was seeing if you had this in red.”
“No,” David replied, flipping through the racks of shirts. “But that darker color would look better anyway.”
Shit, Lance thought, now he’s committed it to memory.
“Yeah,” Lance agreed, faking a bit of hesitation in his voice. “I guess you’re right.”
David picked up on the hesitation quickly, as it was his job to help the customer get what they want. “But I could always go check in the back.”
Lance continued to stare at the shirt. He knew that he was going to get this shirt, but he wanted it to seem that he was still making up his mind.
“No, it’s okay. You’re right, this one does look better, anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s been a huge seller lately,” Brian pointed to a gentleman approaching the cash registers. “That guy there just grabbed a couple a few minutes ago.”
Perfect, Lance said to himself. Now if I’m photographed, Dave here will probably think it’s the guy who bought more than one. The man that the salesman had pointed out was also tall and slender, like Lance, so long as any pictures taken weren’t a perfect headshot, he shouldn’t have any problems.
He thought that he should wear something over the crimson track shirt, like a vest or something. Lance remembered that he had an old black, hooded sweatshirt at home, which was bulkier than the running shirt he was now holding, so that would also help distort his abdomen and chest when he was in costume. Plus, the hood would help cover up the face more. Lance also thought that it would look kind of slick if he removed the sleeves.
He thanked David, the salesman, and said that it was good to see him again before Lance made his way to the registers.
After checking out and getting back to his car, Lance checked the time. It was now ten-thirty, which meant Lance had an hour before he needed to be back home. Thankfully, the next two stops were close to each other.

The next store was the army surplus store. Stepping inside, Lance noted that it seemed more of an outdoor sporting goods store. There were vests ranging from the standard camo to the hunters’ blaze orange, along with the rifles and shotguns necessary for the activities that went along with the clothing.
The door chimed as Lance stepped through it and went into the store. A balding, older man standing behind a glass counter twenty feet in front of the entrance looked up and smiled. He almost instantly recognized the customer who had just walked into his store.
“Hey, what brings you here, boy?” the man asked. Before Lance could respond, the man interrupted him. “Hold on. Hey, Jay, come out here for a minute!”
Another man, who Lance assumed was Jay, walked out of a door way a few moments later. Jay looked older than the man behind the counter, and Lance figured that meant Jay was probably the boss.
Getting a good whiff of the store, Lance thought that it had a certain musty smell that Lance couldn’t put his finger on. Maybe the smell was meant to emulate an outdoorsy kind of smell, but Lance couldn’t remember a time that the woods had smelled like this.
“What do you want, Bob?” Jay growled, then noticed Lance at the entrance to his store. Jay looked very similar to Bob, but had a dark gray mustached and long sideburns. He nodded his head in a form of greeting, which Lance gave a half nod of his own in return.
He was still scanning the store while the two men glared at each other. The left side of the store was a series of larger windows plastered with the usual signs about some great offer the business was having. There were various other counters scattered throughout the store that were covered with knives and goggles and gloves.
Gloves! Lance hadn’t considered that before, but when he saw them sitting on the counter, he knew that he needed them. He couldn’t be leaving any fingerprints at crimes scenes for the police to track him down by. Not that he had ever had his prints taken by the police, but still, he couldn’t be too careful. It was a dangerous game that Lance was playing, and he needed to be cautious with every move he made.
“This here is the Maxwell boy,” Bob explained, causing Lance to snap back to reality as he heard his last name. Everyone really did seem to know him, even outside of the town.
“Really? The boy who keeps getting his name in the paper?” Jay grinned, walked over to Lance, and offered his hand to shake. Lance accepted with a quick shake. “It’s an honor.”
“It sure is,” Bob said from behind the counter. He didn’t rush over to shake Lance’s hand, so Lance assumed that Bob wasn’t supposed to leave the register untended. “What with you breaking all ‘em records.”
“I haven’t broken any, yet,” Lance admitted with a smile. Everyone loved it when he smiled. It made those around him feel comfortable, so he smiled often. No one even seemed to notice the fillings he had in the teeth on the sides of his mouth.
“Ah, but you will. All you Maxwell’s have been fast,” Bob said. Lance arched an eyebrow in response and gave the man a quizzical look.
Bob laughed, “We went to school with your daddy. He was on the track team, just like you.”
This was the first time anyone else had really talked about his dad. Come to think of it, Lance’s dad hadn’t ever really talked about it much, either. Sure, he would chime in everyone now and then whenever Mom would tell a story about the old days, but he never really talked about it much, himself. Bob was smiling with remembrance of the ‘good ol’ days.’
“Yeah, he was so fast he ran right out of town after he graduated,” Jay chimed in. It was true, Lance’s dad had moved away right after high school, got his degree, them moved back and married his high school sweet heart, who was Lance’s mother. Then he got his high paying corporate job, had two kids, and now traveled all over the country and rarely saw said children.
“But he came back.”
“Yeah, he’s come in a couple times, got all caught up,” Bob said. “He hasn’t been in here for a while now.”
Really? Dad never mentioned coming here. Though that wasn’t exactly unusual.
“Hm, lemme think,” Bob said, thoughtfully. “He bought a rifle or two and asked if we could hook him up with a good supplier. Even paid us a nice finders’ fee. Was really happy with them, I reckon.”
A gun? Dad bought a gun?
“A rifle?”
“Yeah. Weird thing, too. He asked about modifying it to shoot tranquilizer. Never did find out what he needed that for. But, enough of that, what can I do for you?”
Lance wanted to keep asking questions about his dad, but he knew that he was pressed for time, so he got to the point right away.
“My friends are taking me paintballing next weekend,” Lance lied and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He pretended to read from a list. “They said to get cargo pants, combat boots, and some gloves.”
“You want that for jungle or urban warfare?” Jay laughed. It was a plausible lie, as paintballing was still a big enough craze that Jay and Bob got a number of customers who came in for supplies, so they didn’t have a hard time at all believing Lance’s story.
“It’s at Sam’s Indoor, so I think they said urban.”
He also knew enough to keep going with his story, not that either of the store workers would have believed the truth anyway. Bob took Lance around the store to look at all the items he had requested. There were weapons of all kinds just littering the store. When they got to the pants, Bob paused to examine Lance more closely.
“You a tall boy, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Bob rifled through some of the pants, picked one out, and held it up for Lance to see.
“Try these, should fit.”
Lance took the pants, thought about asking if there was a dressing room, then decided against it after looking around. There was something about this store that just screamed manly, and he didn’t want to appear weak.
The combat boots appeared to go up to mid-calf and were black, matching the pants perfectly. He picked a pair of gloves that left the fingers intact, the kind that were always shown in police shows, which were a departure from the gloves that were usual attire for the sport that Lance would allegedly be partaking in.
He purchased the items, sighed to himself about not being able to try on the pants, and left after he promised to say hi to his dad for Jay and Bob.
One stop left.

He arrived at the party and costume shop at ten forty-five and noted that he had spent less time with Jay and Bob than he had thought. With any luck, he would be able to make it home with plenty of time to get to work.
Upon entering the store, Lance saw that there were all kinds of decorations for every type of holiday and special occasion that he could think of. He wandered through the aisles, surrounded by paper plates and ribbons and streamers. There were glass counters running along the edges, which were filled with costumes and accessories. The usual generic costumes like the police uniform were mixed in with the licensed movie costumes, which were a mixture of current and classic films.
It took a few moments, but Lance found some masks that might do the job. They were the cheap paper-like plastic Lone Ranger masks with the two cent strings, but that would have to do. He grabbed a handful out of the bin, paid for them, and left.
He noted how quickly he was able to get in and out of the store as he was driving away. Probably because he hadn’t had anyone trying to chat him up. The cashier barely looked at Lance when he had checked out. She had that bored look and was probably wondering what she had done to deserve her job, wishing that she could be doing just about anything else. So, no god-like treatment here, no ‘what’re ya buyin’’ or anything like that. It was nice. Lance liked the attention, but he didn’t care for it everywhere he went, what with some people treating him like he was some a celebrity. He hadn’t done anything worthwhile, not anything anyone knew about, anyway. He was just a high school athlete who happened to be able to run fast over raised slabs of wood.
Lance arrived home with enough time to scarf down a can of spaghetti-like product. It wasn’t even the name brand stuff, either, which made it just that much harder to eat.
When Lance walked in, he heard his mom and Eva over in the kitchen giggling like school girls.
“Hey, honey,” his mom said as he walked into the kitchen. “We were just talking about Eva and Ryan’s date.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Hey, did you hear the news?” Eva chimed in. Lance’s heart sank. What if Sherry had told the police all about him? What if they had figured it out on their own? Lance didn’t think the police would believe the attacker, if he even remembered anything that had happened during his drunken stupor. They would probably just chalk it up to the rapist being the bad guy. The might follow it up with a few questions, but hopefully the girl he had saved had come through for him.
“They’re having a follow-up to that special about super heroes that you used to watch all the time. The commercial said they have shocking new evidence.”
“What, that they were full of shit?” Lance asked angrily.
“Watch your language,” his mom scolded.
“Wow, aren’t you the cynical one?” Eva added.
“Sorry, when is it?”
“Not for another week or so.”
“This was just to hype it up.”
While Lance was relieved that the news wasn’t about him or his ‘other’ self, he still felt nervous. Things were just piling up too quickly for Lance to fully absorb.
He had gone from normal teenaged high school student to fledgling super powered crime fighter in less than a week. And he now had a costume, no less. Still, even though he had done his best to control everything he could, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control everything that could possibly happen.
“What do you have there, Lance?” his mom asked, referring to the bags he had brought in with him.
“Nothing much,” Lance said. He pulled the shirt out of the bag. “Just some work out clothes.”
Fortunately, he had thought ahead enough to shove the other two bags into the one from the department store, thinking it would look less suspicious if he had only had one bag.
“I like the color. Doesn’t quite match the school’s, but I think it looks okay,” his mother approved. “Don’t you think so?”
“It’s a shirt, mom,” Eva replied.
“Yeah, they didn’t have a brighter red, so I went with this,” Lance explained.
“Still, it looks nice. What else did you get?”
“A new pair of pants and some shoes,” he said. He was met with a pair of disapproving glares. “What? I need to look good for when I break the record next week. Besides, I’m not sure I’m going to keep them, anyway.”
This was so he had an excuse for when he showed up to the meet not wearing anything new.
“Well, keep the shirt,” his mother advised. “It looks just darling.”
“And now I’m going to have to take that back, too,” he said sarcastically.
“Hey, now. Don’t get smart with me,” his mom said sternly.
“Sorry,” he apologized, then said he had to get ready for work. After running around all morning looking for pieces to his costume, the can of spaghetti seemed liked a gourmet meal.
He brushed his teeth, hid the other items he had purchased, and then left for work.

Work dragged on for Lance that day, probably due to the fact that he had so much on his mind. He had all of the normal problems of being a teenager: school, sports, girls; with the added bonus of having to worry about not only having special abilities, but also not getting killed while using them.
He flittered in and out of focus long enough to remember to ask, “Paper or plastic?” Then he’d go back to thinking about life, though he’d mumble some sort of thank you as the customer passed him on their way out the store.
Eventually, though, Lance’s workday did end, and he couldn’t have been more relieved. He would go home, shower, and then get ready to go to Rain’s. He had been considering calling her and canceling, but after he punched out, he found he had a voice mail from Ryan. He suggested that he, Lance, and, of course, Eva could all ride together, so that had effectively cut off Lance being able to cancel.
Lance desperately wanted to try on the costume he had put together, but he hadn’t had the time before work, and it looked like he wouldn’t have the time before leaving for Rain’s place. He felt like a little kid on Christmas who had to wait to open his presents, even after he had found out what they were.
Surprisingly, Eva was ready to go before he was. He found it odd mostly because he hadn’t told her when they were going to be leaving. Yet, there she was, all set to go. Rather than ask how she knew when to be ready, he simply told her that it was time to go.
Lance was driving everyone, which meant he wouldn’t be able to visit the ‘Full Moon’ after Rain’s.
It was silent in the car as they went to pick up Ryan, since Lance didn’t really want to hear any of the details on his sister’s date with his best friend.
It was Eva who finally broke the silence.
“So, who is this Rain? What’s she like?”
Lance had no answer, since he didn’t really know Rain any better than Eva. All Lance knew was that Rain was an attractive blonde who had moved to their city after turning eighteen. Rain also may or may not be trying to seduce Lance, but he didn’t clue Eva in to that little fact, since he didn’t know what to make of that.
He also didn’t know what to make of the conversation he had overheard between Rain and Principal Decker, which he had just remembered overhearing. It was like everywhere he turned there Rain was in his way, but that could just all have been coincidental.
It was at that moment that Lance realized that Rain could be connected to the manifestation of his powers, and that thought scared him. That meant there was at least one person who knew what he could do, and that she was watching him. Or, as Lance considered, it was all just one large coincidence and that he was merely looking too far into it. It could be that Rain wasn’t hiding anything and she was exactly who she said she was.
Lance, instead, told Eva about how Rain was an orphan, who, after turning eighteen, had moved to their city to finish out her senior year of high school. Lance didn’t want to tell Eva about his suspicions, as she wouldn’t understand, and he also didn’t want to judge Rain until he could find out exactly who she was one way or another.
“Ryan tells me she’s very into you,” Eva teased. Hadn’t he already had this conversation with Eva? He couldn’t really remember. Maybe he had had it with Ryan and it was all so very familiar to him now.
“I’m not sure,” Lance replied. “But, either way, it doesn’t matter.”
He was flattered by Rain’s advances, if that’s what they were, but he knew in his heart that he couldn’t cheat on Keri. Lance was steady in his resolve about that. He wouldn’t hesitate to end their relationship if he thought that it was over, but Lance wouldn’t be that guy, he wouldn’t be the guy who was forever labeled as a cheater.
‘How’d your last relationship end?’ Lance played out in his head. ‘Oh, I cheated on her,’ followed by the ‘Yeah, this just isn’t going to work out.’
“Oh, there’s Ryan’s house!” Eva exclaimed with girlish glee, interrupting Lance’s thought processes.
Shit! There goes any chance of those two not hooking up. He still harbored the secret feeling that Eva and Ryan wouldn’t work out as a couple. Now he realized that Eva really did want to be in this relationship, and there was nothing Lance could do about it. He hoped that his sister wasn’t just another piece of ass to Ryan, as that would force Lance to be physically violent towards his best friend.
The thought of his friend thinking of his sister in sexual terms also disturbed him, and he tried to push that from his mind and he turned on the radio to try to help block out the mental image of his sister in an intimate relationship with Ryan.
“What is that for?” Eva asked about the radio being turned up so loudly. She was puzzled by Lance’s sudden mood swing. “Was it something I said?”
“You don’t want to know,” Lance replied.
“Aw,” Eva teased. “Is big brother still mad about me dating his best friend?”
“Yes, now shut it. There he is.”
Ryan strode quickly from his house to the car, yelling something back to his parents as he moved toward the waiting car.
Ryan opened the car door and sat down, and Eva smiled at him before turning back to Lance.
“I thought you were okay with it.”
“I am,” Lance said quickly. He didn’t want to continue the conversation now that Ryan was also in the car.
“Okay with what?” Ryan asked from the back seat. This was how it worked when Lance drove. The seating was determined by the order of entrance into the vehicle and no one ever had to give up their seat unless it was of their own volition.
“He’s not okay with us dating,” Eva pouted. “He said he was okay with it.”
“I am okay with it,” Lance asserted.
Ryan ignored Lance.
“Why aren’t you okay with us going out?” Ryan asked.
“I’m fine with it, really, I am.” Lance turned up the radio louder. “Everything is just fine.”
Eva and Ryan glanced at each other.
“He’s not fine with it,” they said in unison.
“I’ll sing,” Lance threatened. He was a terrible singer. He had a good singing voice; it was just that he was absolutely tone deft. He could not match a pitch correctly to save his life.
“God no,” Ryan replied, being both serious and joking at the same time. There was silence in the car, with the loud rock music being the only sound in the vehicle.
“So, what’re we doing at Rain’s, anyway?” Ryan asked to change the subject. Lance turned the radio off before answering.
“She said hanging out and watching movies, so I assume we will be hanging out and or watching movies.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Y’know. There’d be some chillin’, and perhaps some forays into the world of cinematic viewing. Perhaps even at the same time.”
“I get the point, man,” Ryan relented. He turned his attention to Eva. “So, tell me, babe, he a smartass at home too, or is it just me?”
Babe? He called her babe? Just beneath the surface, Lance was livid. They had one date. One date! And he is calling her babe?
“No, dude, it’s not just you,” Eva replied. Lance was relieved that at least Eva had picked up on the whole ‘babe’ thing and responded with her own retort. “Our mom thinks it’s because our dad isn’t around long enough to straighten him out.”
“Oh…” Ryan said. He caught on to what Eva had meant and figured he’d have to choose his words carefully from then on.
“Speaking of which, dad gets home from his trip tomorrow,” Eva informed Lance.
“He was on a trip? Hell, I was beginning to think he had run out on us,” Lance replied.
“That isn’t fair!” Eva bellowed, and fairly loudly for a sixteen year old girl. “He works hard for our money, and who do you think paid for all of those new track clothes you bought this morning?”
She was very mad, as she was very defensive of her father.
“One, I did. I do have a job, you know. And two, how do you think he’ll react when he finds out you’re going out with Ryan? No offense, man.”
“He’ll be happy for me!”
“He’ll pretend to be! No offense.”
“None taken, but, uh, guys…we’re here,” Ryan interrupted. They had arrived at the apartment complex next to the grocery store where Lance worked. Rain had been waiting outside in a plastic folding chair on her small porch and walked over to greet her guests. Eva and Lance stopped arguing long enough to get out of the car and slam the doors. Lance calmed down some as they walked towards Rain.
She was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing the day Lance had given her the tour of the school, which Lance still found very pleasing visually.
“Look, Eva, I’m sorry,” Lance apologized. She was walking to the right of him, and Ryan was to the right of her. “I was just joking.”
“Yeah? Well, it wasn’t funny, even as a joke.”
The argument was unusual for Eva and Lance, as they normally had a very strong relationship. Lance was also very surprised at himself. He couldn’t recall the last time he had raised his voice to his sister. Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure he ever had done that before that night.
Eva and Lance were silent as Rain greeted them. They just nodded in acknowledgement.
“Whoa, what’s up with them?” she asked Ryan as they all walked to the door of her apartment. “Does it have to do with me?”
“No, no. It’s just a sibling spat, it’ll pass,” Ryan replied.
“Oh, okay. Whatever,” Rain said as she opened the door for her gusts. Everyone’s eyes lit up in amazement as they looked in on her apartment. Before them laid on of the most lavished living rooms any of them had ever seen. A real leather wrap-around couch encompassed the room, with an expensive looking table, which looked to be made of rich mahogany, in front of it. The masterpiece of the room had to be the large, liquid crystal display television across from the couch. Like satellites orbiting the planet, there were surround-sound speakers dotting the room.
“How…?” Ryan gasped. It wasn’t very tactful of him, but he often spoke without thinking.
“Do I afford all this?” Rain finished for Ryan, who was just left nodding in agreement.
“Government assistance, mostly. I do very well in school despite my aversive history. I guess it’s kinda like getting a scholarship for getting good grades and being an orphan. Plus, a lot of my foster parents were very generous people.”
Lance, Eva, and Ryan all nodded in a mixture of acknowledgement and agreement.
“Want anything to drink? Eat? I have soda and I can put in a pizza or two,” Rain offered. Lance said he’d have a Coke and Eva and Ryan both said they’d have the same. Rain beamed a smile and trotted off into what was presumably the kitchen area.
As soon as she was out of the room, Eva swatted Ryan on the arm.
“Ow! What was that for?” Ryan asked, rubbing his arm, stunned that his new girlfriend had just hit him.
“How could you ask her that? Knowing what she’s gone through and all,” Eva hissed.
“What, I didn’t ask anything,” Ryan said. It was technically true, as he hadn’t finished asking the question. Instead, he had just implied it with his inability to form the words and his slack jawed stare.
“It’s okay,” Rain assured her new friends, coming back into the room with the drinks. “I believe in just putting it out there so now one has any questions when it’s all said and done.”
“So,” Eva started. Ryan cupped his hand over her mouth and whispered something into her ear. She giggled and nodded.
Rain suggested that they should make themselves comfortable on the couch and get the party started. She looked like she was blushing as they all took a seat. Whatever Ryan had told Eva, it probably wasn’t very appropriate. Thankfully, Lance hadn’t picked up on that, otherwise there might have been even more yelling.
For the record, the couch really was as comfortable as it had looked.
“Who else is coming, Rain?” Ryan asked, rifling through Rain’s DVD collection.
Rain looked a bit hesitant to answer.
“This is it, to be honest,” she explained casually, then turned her focus to Ryan, who was still going through her movies. “I haven’t gotten around to getting any of the new formats yet. But, uh, I invited everyone I knew. Quite frankly, this is more people than I expected. But, it’s cool. I take it Eva and Ryan are dating now?”
“Since last night,” Lance replied. The coldness in his voice could have frozen the room. Rain picked up on the fact that Lance wasn’t exactly happy about that. There went the usual banter of ‘How long have you two been going out?’ and ‘How’d you two meet?’ since Rain now knew the answers to both questions.
“How’s the ‘Holy Grail’ sound to everyone?” Ryan asked to break the tension.
“Sounds great,” Rain said.
“Yeah, can’t see that one too many times,” Lance agreed, as everyone in the room turned to glare at him.
“What? I was serious.”
The group went back to just staring off into space while Ryan struggled to work Rain’s DVD player. Rain picked up a remote control and pushed the power button, causing her large TV to spring to life. Setting back onto the couch, Ryan pushed himself between Eva and Lance, which forced Lance to move closer to Rain. Lance glared over at Ryan, so he didn’t notice Rain attempting to hide a smile. Ryan put his hand over one side of his mouth, as though that would keep anyone else from hearing him.
“I think she likes you, man,” Ryan said as he pointed at Rain. Lance leaned closer to Ryan.
“I think she can hear you, man.”
Rain blushed deeply and looked away. This time, Lance whispered so that only Ryan would be able to hear.
“Now, shut it and watch the movie.”
Lance found that he was actually enjoying being this close to Rain, with her pretty blonde hair waving ever so slightly, her perfect, slightly-tanned skin, and her nice, big…his thoughts turned to Keri. He wondered what she was doing and hoped that his hanging out with Rain wouldn’t add to Keri’s paranoia. Flashes of Keri not being faithful to him immediately brought on a feeling of dread.
What if she is with some other guy right now? What if his tongue was doing its best to get inside her pretty little mouth? What if…?
Thankfully, Rain broke his train of thought.
“Something on your mind?” she said, gazing at him with a smile.
That is such a pretty smile, Lance thought. He found that he couldn’t help but flash a great big smile right back at her.
“I was, uh, just so into the movie, you know?” Lance said, trying not to disturb Ryan and Eva next to him, though with the way they were eying each other, Lance thought they could use a little disrupting.
“But it’s the ‘Holy Grail’,” Rain said, leading him.
“Yeah…”
“It’s like the funniest move ever made, and you haven’t even laughed once,” she explained.
Lance hadn’t even been aware that the movie had been playing, but sure enough, there were the familiar sounds of coconuts banging together.
“Yeah, it’s just really deep. Very engaging,” Lance replied, which caused Rain to burst out laughing.
That is such a cute laugh, Lance thought. Okay! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!
“What’s on your mind, Lance?” Rain asked, propping her head in her hand to look at him.
“It’s nothing, really,” Lance said. He gazed at her for a moment, soaking in her beauty, then turned back to the movie. He laughed at all the talk about swallows, as did Rain.
The mood in the room changed at that moment, as Lance had been very tense, but now everything seemed so relaxed. It was though a light switch had been turned on, or, in this case, off, and everything just clicked. Lance could feel the worry and tension dissipate from his body.
When did the lights go off? Lance wondered. He didn’t remember anyone turning off the lights, yet they were off. How did that happen? I must have really been out of it to not notice that.
As the film progressed, Lance became more and more relaxed. It was about half an hour into the movie when he had realized that Rain’s right arm was entwined in his and that they had been holding hands. This realization caused Lance to jerk his arm away suddenly, catching Rain’s attention.
“What?” Rain asked, suddenly becoming aware of what had happened. “Oh, I’m so sorry. God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“I’m not. It felt…nice, and it’s not like it really means anything, right?” Lance asked. “I mean, it’s not like we have to go out now, just because we held hands.”
“No,” Rain agreed. Her embarrassment had caused her to turn red and she was trying not to sound like an idiot. “I just…when did that happen?”
Lance shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“This is so embarrassing.”
“Hey, it’s not like we kissed, right?” Lance reasoned, though somehow that made the situation even more awkward.. He hadn’t done anything too serious, so he figured he hadn’t actually cheated on Keri. To do that, he probably would have to kiss another girl, or worse.
“No, I guess not,” Rain said as she looked past Lance. “But, uh, don’t turn around.”
“What? Why?”
Saying don’t turn around to a teen, or anyone for that matter, was like a death sentence on not getting the person to turn around.
Behind him, Eva and Ryan were passionately kissing, and the sounds of lips locking onto each other were permeating the room. He had actually started to wonder why they hadn’t reacted to Lance and Rain’s sudden movement and now he knew why. Ryan and Eva were locked in that old as time, deadly game of tonsil hockey.
And on only their second date, too! And that was if they could even call watching movies at Rain’s apartment a date, which Lance didn’t think they could.
Still, there they were, sitting next to Lance making out while they were on a couch with other people on it, one of them being her brother. And it was his sister and his best friend, too. The jumble of emotions rising in Lance quickly turned to anger.
Reacting quickly, Rain jumped off the couch and asked, “Who wants pizza?”
She pulled Lance up off the couch with her and used her free hand to push Ryan on the shoulder.
“Ow, hey, what the hell?”
“Do you want some pizza?” Rain asked.
Eva realized that Rain and Lance were staring at her, and that they knew what she was just doing, which caused her to turn a deep shade of red, which seemed to be the color for the evening.
“I could totally go for some,” Eva said finally.
Rain wrapped both of her hands around Lance’s upper arm, and aside from noting how strong and muscular it was, tried to pull him up.
He was giving Eva and Ryan an icy cold glare, feeling like a cat ready to pounce, just waiting for an opening, when Rain broke his concentration. Again. She was getting very good at that.
She was still pulling on him, trying to get him to cool off and not immediately kill Ryan, as that probably wouldn’t be the most prudent thing to do in the long run.
“Come on, I need some help in the kitchen.”
Lance knew that it was just to get him away from the scene on the couch, as it doesn’t take a culinary genius to make frozen pizzas, but he relented and followed Rain to the kitchen anyway.
For being an apartment kitchen, Lance noted, it was incredibly well furnished, just as the living room had been. It made him wonder what Rain’s bedroom looked like, and he shook that thought from his head, as that kind of thinking could only lead to naughty things. Things that Lance knew he shouldn’t be thinking about.
Rain pulled open the freezer to a medium sized refrigerator and began poking around inside. She shuffled through some meat looking things and asked, “Okay, what do you want on your Tombstone?”
Lance didn’t reply. Instead, he just stood there in the middle of the room fuming.
“I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically. “That must’ve been pretty brutal, huh?”
“Kinda…”
“’Kinda?’ You were ready to tear his head off.”
“Heh, yeah,” he said, cracking a smile. He didn’t know why he did that, but there was something about what Rain said that forced him to.
“Why did you let them do it? Go out, I mean,” then Rain added. “If you don’t mind me asking?”
“It’s okay,” Lance said. “I figured it wasn’t up to me, really. If they hadn’t gone out last night, they would’ve gone out eventually. I figured I’d just let them figure out everything on their own. Who am I to get in their way?”
Rain nodded in agreement before speaking, “Still, even with seeing that, I bet tonight isn’t as bad as last night,” Rain said casually. Lance’s stomach dropped.
What?
“What?”
“Your date with Keri?” Rain reminded him. “What? She can take cheap shots at me, but I can’t at her? That’s not fair.”
“What, oh,” Lance forced a chuckle. “I get it now. Yeah, funny.”
“You okay? You don’t look so good,” Rain said, worried at Lance’s sudden change in condition.
“I’m fine, really,” Lance lied, attempting to regain his composure. “No, tonight has been good, really. Not what I was expecting at all, but still good.”
“Yeah?” Rain smiled. Lance was really starting to love that.
“I was expecting more people, less intimacy…”
“And a lot less of your sister making out with your best friend,” she added. Rain was very good at stating the unsaid, at saying what Lance was thinking. That also almost killed the mood.
“And a lot less of my sister making out with my best friend,” Lance repeated. They were both smiling again, which Lance liked.
This is more like it, Lance thought. Rain opened the oven and bent over to put in the pizzas she had selected onto the trays.
That is…very…nice, Lance though of the view. Rain was smiling to herself as she felt his stare on her. He was beginning to want something and it wasn’t just the pizza.
“You know, if you stare any harder, it might just burn a hole right through me and cook these faster.”
Her comment startled Lance, and he felt himself get hot in the face.
“I’m…” he started, then caught himself. “I apologize.”
“Don’t,” she said as she set the timer and spun around to face Lance. “You’re a guy, it’s what you do. It’s bred into you, genetics and stuff. Boy, you do turn red fast, don’t you?”
“Always have, I guess.”
For as long as Lance could remember, he embarrassed easily, and it had hindered his ability to talk to girls earlier in life.
“It’s cute,” Rain said, and she meant it entirely. Lance and Rain stood in her kitchen for what seemed like an eternity as they just gazed at each other. Finally, Rain cleared her throat and spoke. “Do you mind me asking another personal question?”
“Not at all. Shoot.”
“Why are you with her?” Rain was blunt and straight to the point. Lance’s stomach dropped at the question. In the back of his mind he had expected that question to come up, as it seemed to with everyone Lance talked to, but he hadn’t expected it so soon.
“Keri?” Lance asked to clarify. It was also a stall while he formed an answer.
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “I mean, no offense, but I’ve been here a week and all I’ve heard about you two as a couple is how epic your fights are.”
“She’s not always like that. She’s usually kind and sweet. But yeah, she does have a temper. I don’t know, I guess I hadn’t really thought of not being with her.”
That was only a half-truth, as he had though of not being with her plenty, and, like teens often do, find someone else. But every time he did that he had concluded that he was better off with Keri than without her, as teens also often do.
“I just don’t understand how you could stay with her when she can make you feel so miserable,” Rain moved in closer, allowing Lance to catch a whiff of her. To Lance, she even smelled fantastic, “Even when she’s not here.”
“Hm? I guess you’re right, kind of…”
Lance leaned in closer. They were less than a foot apart now. There was a sense of tension and urgency that was building and Lance knew where it was leading.
“Kind of…?” Rain replied in a hush tone. She too knew where it was leading as time seemed to stop and the teens’ lips parted…
“Hey! You two! How’re the pizzas coming? I’m starved,” Ryan called from the living room. A moment later he poked his head into the kitchen and looked in on Rain and Lance, surmising what had just happened. He didn’t know that the two hadn’t actually kissed, but just assumed that they had. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“No, we were just talking and keeping an eye on the food,” Rain replied, stepping away from Lance shyly and checking the timer. “Still got five minutes left, Ryan. Why don’t you go on back out there and keep Eva company?” Not having to be told twice, Ryan darted back to the living room, where Lance and Rain heard him say, “Still have about five minutes left,” and then silence. Awkward silence.
Lance shot Rain an angry glare.
“Sorry, just wanted him out of here,” Rain apologized. There were minutes of silence after that, where the two teens looked around the kitchen, awkwardly avoiding each other’s eyes.
“How’d that happen?” Lance asked finally, breaking the silence.
“I don’t know. We were talking and it just did, well, almost,” Rain stared into Lance’s eyes. “It just felt right, I guess.”
“It did, but it doesn’t now.”
“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Rain said, sounding disappointed.
“Still, we went from talking about me having a girlfriend who I’d never do that to, to almost kissing!”
“I’m sorry, it just…”
“Felt right? I know, but I almost just screwed up big time there.”
Lance was shaken by what had almost happened. He had almost destroyed his relationship with both Rain and Keri. He couldn’t have been friends with Rain if they had kissed, and his relationship with Keri would’ve ended once she found out that he had betrayed her. He started to feel like he needed to sit down
“Will Ryan say anything? I mean, he’s kind of weird, but he’s not too dumb. He has to know something was going on in here.”
“He won’t say anything,” Lance said. “Though, he’d probably be ecstatic if I broke up with Keri and went out with you. But he won’t say anything. He knows Eva wouldn’t forgive him if he ratted me out.”
“Oh, but do you want to do that?” Rain questioned, referring to the part where Lance would go out with her instead of Keri. She knew the answer, but sometimes a person just has to hear it from the source.
“No, I’m sorry, but now,” Lance shook his head. “I like you… a lot. But…”
“But you love her,” Rain understood. Lance would always hate himself and probably her, if that’s how he ended his relationship with Keri.
“I do,” Lance said, slumping his head down. “I’m so stupid.”
“No, you’re not.”
Rain stepped over to Lance and on her tiptoes, kissed Lance on the cheek. “You’re sweet, and loyal, and you almost made a mistake, if you can call it that. But you’re not stupid.”
Lance secretly wished that she had let her lips linger on his cheek longer, as they were cool and dry, but not in a bad way. He immediately punished himself mentally for thinking that way and reminded himself how much he cared for Keri.
The timer for the pizza went off and Rain removed them from the oven, placing the two hot pizzas on pans on top of the stove. She opened a drawer, took something out of it, and handed the pizza cutter to Lance.
“Would you be so kind as to do the honors?”
“But of course, milady,” Lance bowed and took the kitchen tool from her hand, also taking comfort from her touch.
Why was he acting this way? Feeling this way? Before tonight, he would never have seriously considered being this close to another woman, let alone take this much pleasure in it. So why was he doing it now? It wasn’t just because she was as close to physical perfection as Lance thought a girl could get, which Rain was. He knew it was because of how comfortable he felt around her. Lance felt like he could immediately spill his heart to her, in a way he had only ever been able to with Keri.
“Can I ask you a question?” Lance asked. There was something that had been bothering him the entire evening. She said go ahead, so Lance asked. “Why aren’t there other people here tonight?”
Rain looked at him, then thought about the question for a moment. “To be honest, I was only going to invite you, but I figured that wouldn’t have worked out, so I had you bring Ryan along. You were the only one I’ve connected with at school. Everyone else just gawks at me when I walk down the hallway.”
“Can you really blame them?” Lance replied, then yelled that the pizza was read to Ryan and Eva, who had probably resumed making out on Rain’s couch. “I mean, you look so beautiful.”
“That’s sweet. But that’s part of the problem. I’m the new girl, an orphan now less,” she explained. There was a lack of movement in the living room, so Lance yelled again. “Guys see me as a piece of meat, girls see me as competition, and the teachers see poor little orphan girl all alone in the world.”
“That’s not true,” Lance said, attempting to comfort her.
“Yes, it is,” Rain said, pulling ceramic plates from a cupboard. “You more than anyone knows it is. No one sees me, they all see the stereotypes, but they don’t see me.”
Rain looked as though she were ready to cry and Lance rushed to wrap his arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” Lance said, and he meant it totally. Rain didn’t notice that he had used the taboo phrase and just buried her head in his chest.
“The first great guy I’ve ever met and he has to go and have a girlfriend, she muttered, her makeup staining his shirt. Ryan must have finally remembered that he was hungry as he walked into the kitchen.
“Jeez, get a room you two.” He saw that Rain was crying and began to apologize. “I’m sorry. I’ll just go…”
Rain jerked her head up at the sound of his voice, “No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine. Did Eva want any?” She wiped her eye and began piling pieces of the steaming pizza onto the plates.
“Uh…sure,” he replied hesitantly. Ryan cursed at himself for not being more attentive to his new girlfriend, especially when her big brother was standing right there. He squeezed past Rain and Lance, picked up two of the plates, and quietly left the room.
“That friend of yours, he has a knack for walking in at the wrong time,” Rain commented.
“You have no idea,” Lance replied.
Ryan had walked in on just about every person on Lance’s family in the shower. All except Eva, oddly enough. That also meant he had walked in on Lance’s mom, and his dad, and once at the same time. He was no longer allowed in any room at Lance’s house with out first knocking.
“Come on,” rain said, offering Lance a fresh can of soda. “Let’s go rejoin the party.”
“Okay,” Lance said. “But just because we didn’t, doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”
“I know.”

After Rain and Lance returned to the living room and settled back on to the couch, Eva noticed that Lance and Rain seemed to be sitting awfully close to each other. The film ended a little while later and they switched over to cable television. Being a Saturday night at nine p.m., there wasn’t much on, just reruns of bad shows they hadn’t bothered to watch in the first place. So they flipped through the channels for about an hour before mustering up the energy to switch out the DVD.
Ryan had decided to be a jerk and picked out a horror movie. The plan was two-fold. He figured that Eva would probably get scared and clutch to him during the more frightening moments. Ryan also knew that Lance absolutely hated horror movies where the filmmaker used a lot of cheap thrills like things jumping out suddenly.
Fortunately, Lance had Rain clutching onto his arm the entire film, and, due to their conversation in the kitchen, Lance didn’t mind the contact with her soft skin quite so much. Not that he had really minded it before, but his mind was more at ease since he knew nothing would happen.
The movie wrapped up at around midnight, and the group decided to call it quits after that. Eva stretched on the couch while Ryan gawked at the exposed flesh of his girlfriend. He was still thinking that he was a lucky, lucky man.
Lance tried to ignore his friend, who was drooling over little sister, so he continued to flirt with Rain.
“Why do you own horror movies if you get that scared?” he joked.
“It’s fun to watch them and get scared when you have someone to hold onto,” she replied with a wink. “Besides, I could feel you squirm when all those zombies popped out.”
“I just think that they should focus more on psychological terror and less on just having shit pop out at you,” Lance explained.
“And Lance is so afraid because he thinks it could really happen,” Ryan added. Lance was afraid of zombies, probably because of their being such a favorite topic for the film industry.
“It’s just as likely that there will be a zombie invasion as your superheroes will inherit the Earth,” Lance retorted. He knew Ryan was very defensive of the superhero topic because he whole heartedly believed that super powers existed. Little did Ryan know that Lance knew for a fact that superheroes existed, because Lance was one, of sorts. Well, one without a name, but he did have a costume.
“What?” Rain asked. “Superheroes?” Rain had seemed shocked and serious for a moment, before forcing herself to relax.
“Ryan here thinks people with abnormal abilities walk among us,” Lance explained with a laugh. He had to keep up the lie, so that no one could ever discover the truth about him.
“They do exist, man,” Ryan said, growing more agitated by the second. “They have proof.”
“Right, anyway,” Rain led her guests to the door. “This was great. We should do this again.”
“Definitely,” Eva smiled, resting her hands on Ryan’s shoulder.
“Real soon, I hope,” Ryan said. He was still thinking how hot his girlfriend was.
Lance hung back as Ryan and Eva made there way back to the car.
“Please don’t kill Ryan on the way back,” Rain said with half a smile. She was beginning to think that Lance might actually do it.
“I won’t,” Lance promised. “I guess I’m still getting used to it.”
Lance started to turn around, but then stopped and hesitated.
“We did the right thing here, right?”
Rain agreed, though she almost hated to, but she did. She gave Lance a hug, then squeezed his hand.
“You’re a good man, Mr. Maxwell. I hope to do this again soon.”
With that, Lance turned and left, joining his friend and sister, who were waiting by the car for Lance to unlock the doors.
They were halfway home before Ryan decided to speak up.
“So, what, ah, what happened there in the kitchen?”
“Nothing, we were just talking. That’s all.”
“That didn’t look like ‘just talking’ to me,” Ryan prodded, and Eva decided to join in.
“Oh, and what did it look like to you?” she asked.
“It looked like the Lance-man was getting some from the Rainanator,” Ryan was all smiles at what he thought were very clever nicknames. No one else in the car thought so.
“Please don’t ever say that again,” Lance said flatly. “And seriously, nothing happened. You walked in before anything could.”
“So something could have happened?” Eva said, now very interest in the conversation. She had demonstrated repeatedly that she didn’t care for Keri, and she thought the sooner Lance dumped her, the better. That, and Rain seemed like a very nice girl to Eva, and a good match for Lance. She hadn’t seen him that calm around other people in a long time. It seemed like he had always been the center of attention, but not tonight. No, tonight it was like Lance was at peace, their argument from before they had arrived at Rain’s aside.
“Yes, no, nothing could have happened and nothing will happen, got that?” Lance demanded forcefully.
“Fine,” Eva and Ryan agreed. They both knew to keep quiet around Keri. Why stir up trouble when they knew nothing would come of it, anyway? Lance would stay with Keri because, like the foolish teenager he was, he loved her.
Still, deep inside Lance, something had changed. The night had been a conflicting roller coaster of emotion. He knew nothing could come of it with Rain, at least not at that time, but she had left an impression on him, one that he would not easily be able to shake, though the feeling would be put on the back burner for awhile.
They arrive at Ryan’s house and, after an extended farewell from Eva, Lance and his sister finally headed home.
“I like her. She seems nice,” Eva said, referring to Rain. She knew Lance would do his own thing, just like she had done with Ryan, though with her brother’s nudging, but she still figured she could put her two cents out there.
“Good,” Lance saw where the conversation was headed and he was not in the mood.
“You like her, too?” Eva asked. Lance really had had enough of this for one night, with the constant prying into his thoughts grating on his nerves.
“I guess so,” he replied, trying to let his displeasure for the conversation known. He wanted to scream, Stop it! Mind your own damn business, sis. Can’t you see this is tearing me up already without having everyone harping on me about it?
But he didn’t. He let his silence speak for him, creating an awkward atmosphere in the car for the rest of the drive home.
They crept into the house after arriving home, not wanting to awake their sleeping mother.
“Well, that was fun,” Eva whispered as she headed up the stairs towards her room. She said good night as she reached the door and closed it behind her.
Lance mumbled good night and went into his own room.
It had been an eventful day for Lance, and the next might prove to be equally eventful. He found that he had a lot to think about, but for once it didn’t keep him awake as he drifted off to sleep.