White Shadows

Chapter 26 - Don't Save Me

***ALEX***

Talk about waiting till the last minute. Well, almost, but not quite. In the last week of July, I finally plucked up the courage to reach out to Juliet and ask if we could meet up, face-to-face. And then it took several days to make the travel arrangements. Planes and airports aren't so efficient anymore, not with the TSA still on high alert almost two months after White Shadows.

But now, here it is, July 31st, 1:15pm. I disembark from the plane and make my way to the baggage claim. It takes about twenty minutes for my suitcase to make its way to me, and then I head for the exit.

Before I get there, though, Juliet finds me. She's not waiting in the concourse with a cardboard sign bearing my name, but it warms my heart when I recognize her anyway. At least after video-chatting with her the other day, I know to look for her wearing her hair shorter, dyed blonde, with pink, purple, and blue stripes on her bangs. When I reach her, she stands on her tiptoes so she can kiss me.

"I've missed you," I say.

"Me too." She takes my hand and walks me out into the warm, sunny LA day outside.

"I thought it would be hotter here," I say.

"You've come on a good day," Juliet says, shielding her eyes as she glances around the driveway in front of us. "It's only eighty degrees in Anaheim today. Usually it hits ninety or more every day this time of year."

"I've been to Disneyland often enough to know that," I laugh. "So...you told me your brother would be picking us up?"

"Yeah...oh, speak of the Devil, there he is." She points down the driveway at an approaching ocean-blue Jeep. It looks like the ride of a surfer dude with long blond hair and only a puka-shell necklace above the waist. Hell, with his cargo shorts and tank top, the Jeep's driver looks like he really belongs on the beach. SoCal, I guess.

"You know," he says as Juliet and I climb into the backseat, "I would've thought I'd be the first of us to date a high-schooler."

"Even with your well-known preference for older women?" Juliet laughs.

"Two years older doesn't matter so much to me at my age. Wait till you're a super-senior yourself and then we'll talk." He rolls his eyes at the ceiling, then puts the Jeep in gear and drives off. "So you're the greasy teenager who'll be sharing my room for the weekend?"

"Alex Snow, at your service," I say, pretending to bow as much as I can while seated and belted.

"Well, unlike most teenagers," says Juliet's brother, "you sound like you've got a decent sense of humor. I'm Carl, by the way. Although if you wanna yell 'CORAL!' at me, then go ahead and get it out of your system."

"Why would I do that - CORAL! Go wait in the house, gorrammit!"

Carl sticks his fist out behind his seat. "Bonus points for cussing like on Firefly, man."

I bump fists with him. "It just came to me."

I'm not much of a stranger to LA traffic, actually. Every time Mom's taken me and Gabe to Disneyland, we've driven the whole way. Invariably, whenever we reach the outskirts of LA in the afternoon, it takes us two hours from there to reach Anaheim. From LAX, there's much less distance to cover, but being the middle of the day doesn't do us any favors.

Once we've reached our destination, Carl stays long enough to see me and Juliet into the house, then turns around and heads for his Jeep again. "Aww, and I don't get to keep on getting to know you?" I ask, pouting at him.