Orange Crush

Chapter 4 - Flowers

***ALEX***

"Don't worry too much about it, man." Luca's hand is a comforting weight on my shoulder. "Romance ain't the only love there is."

"I just wish Kelly could've come up with me," I say. "I mean, I know she's not as adventurous as most of my other friends, but I'm hardly an adventurous type either." I bite my lip, only to have to unbite it when I pick up my glass of Coke and take a sip. I'd semi-jokingly asked for rum in it as well, and naturally got denied - though not enough to completely, 100% refuse me service. Sure, I'm a legal adult now, but not legal enough to drink. And I don't have a fake ID in case the guy at this Portland International Airport drinks counter cards his customers. He probably does, too. He's a serious enough type. Tall, heavyset, reminding me of Luca's dad, actually. But a Latino version.

"And yet, who's the one who always goes around jumping at the call to adventure himself?" Luca lets me go, then nudges me, almost making me drop my drink.

"But that's what I love about her. I thought with her, I'd have to hold myself back and stay normal, you know?"

Luca's about to drink his Coke too, but he stops short to avoid snorting the soda up and out his nose. Good thing too, because he's grown a pretty good mustache and I'd hate to see him ruin it. And he says I'm the hairy one, though that really only applies to my chest and stomach. "Let me tell you, dude," he says. "Don't hold back for anyone. That's why I broke up with Mel. I held back for her 'cause I thought, waiting would make it so much better when we finally slept together, right? Like at prom last year with you and-"

I ball up my napkin, threatening to throw it at him.

"But she didn't wanna wait any longer, so...yeah." He sighs through his nose, that very nose he almost scoured with Coke a minute ago. "And you say you're not adventurous, man? Sometimes I wish I had your balls."

"Doesn't make you any less of a man to be a virgin," I assure him. "Can't believe I have to say it, but it's true."

"It is, but still, you were hella quick to lose yours. And y'all call me a Scag." He winks at his own stupid nickname.

"Because I'm autistic and I basically assume that once that bell rings, people who think I'm hot suddenly think I'm not."

"'Women?' Not into 'girls' anymore, huh?" He smirks. "Turning eighteen really made a mature man out of you, too."

"Give yourself a couple months, you'll get there."

Another guy sits on my other side. He's about my height, white as hell, with a blond skin fade visible under a black Vans cap. I do a double take, thinking, wait a minute. Gabe's not supposed to be here yet. He's not supposed to be here, period. He's not meeting me and Luca in this airport at all. The only reason we're stopped here in Portland is because Josh, not being omnipotent like his daddy, goofed it preordering those Alaska Airlines tickets. Flights do go to Anchorage direct from the major airports in the Bay Area, but somehow he ordered the tickets for a flight from PDX to ANC. Probably to save money? I couldn't tell you.

"What's up, man?"

I jump a little in my seat as the guy talks to me. "Oh, I'm sorry," I tell him. "I thought you were someone else."

Luca nudges me again, and sends me some thoughts in an undertone, even by telepathic standards. Dude. Dude! Isn't that ChronoWulf?

"Hmm," says the guy. "Must be a beautiful man, then. Wonder what's good here..." He nods at my drink. "That a rum and Coke?"

"I wish," I mutter. "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Never stopped me." He even has a very Gabe-like voice. Are we sure it's not him in disguise?