False Idols - Published Version

Chapter 20

                  

Sarah stretched out her hand and touched the chain link fence of the ranch a moment before Michael did. They were completing a routine training run, but during the last mile they had accelerated faster and faster into an undeclared race until they were in an open sprint towards the wall.

Sarah leaned over and held her knees as she panted to get her breath back. Besides her, Michael sat down in the orange dirt and gulped in air.

Unable to stop herself, Sarah grinned at him. "Slow poke."

"Whatever," he said, laying fully back in the dirt and squinting his eyes in the sunlight. "I let you win."

"You're such a jackass," she complained, kicking a cloud of earth towards him, not sure if she was angry or just playing angry.

Michael extended a leg and hooked a foot around the ankle that was supporting all her weight, yanking her off balance and into the dirt next to him. He guffawed loudly until the dusty air got into his lungs and he started choking.

Sarah pushed herself up by leaning on his shoulder. "OK, can we start talking to each other again?"

"Sure," he said through gritted teeth. "You're the one who started it."

"I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have locked you out like that. I was... it was a tough time for me."

"Look, this is hard on me, too. I thought we were... you know." He didn't meet her eyes. He was staring across the ranch towards the dormitory where they'd first met. "And then you and Nick Lal... I thought..."

"Let's forget it ever happened." Sarah didn't want to get into a discussion with Michael about whether she really had feelings for Nick. Of course she did. Only it was stupid and pointless because she was never going to meet him again as a friend. She could only observe him from afar, as a spy. It made her feel like a stalker. She wanted to put it behind her, and behind Michael as well.

"All right," he said noncommittally.

"He thinks I'm dead."

"So?"

"So nothing's going to happen. Just forget about it."

"I said all right," he said, dusting himself off and turning towards the ranch.

She realized he was going to just turn away and run back to the ranch without saying another word. Her effort to break the ice had failed, and their relationship would stay bad, maybe even get worse. When would she get another chance to make things right? It might be never. No, she had to do something to end the tension. "Michael?"

"Yeah?" he half turned back, but he was still stepping towards the ranch.

"Michael!"

Now he turned and faced her, a look of impatience on his face.

"Wanna get dinner with me? I know this great place called the ranch mess hall."

He grinned despite the lameness of her joke. "All right. Let's get back and hit the showers."

***

"Nice move!" Laura called to Kobus.  The two had teamed up against Nick and Abril in a two-on-two basketball game. Kobus had just received a high pass from Laura, faked left and, displaying remarkable dexterity for a polar bear, slipped between Nick and Abril to score with a slam dunk on the fifteen foot high basket.  The crowd of thousands of artificial fans cheered enthusiastically, while beaming cheerleaders deftly climbed into a human pyramid.

"Ay Dios mio, that's the game. Fifteen to twelve, to the combined might of Laur-Bus," groaned Abril. "I'm hungry. Why don't we check out my new restaurant?"