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I knew I couldn’t tell anyone what I knew about Orrin and Rob.  No one would believe me anyway.  I wasn’t sure how much I believed it myself, after all.  However, it was two different men who had the same insane abilities.  Who happened to both find and single me out to help them: within a week of one another.  Never once had I attributed it to the findings of the eggs.  Why would I have?  There was no way they could be connected, anyway, with the eggs being hundreds of thousands of years old, or more.

In school the following day, Rob wasn’t there.  It was the first day since I’d met him that he wasn’t in school.  Despite myself, I was hoping there was nothing wrong.  However, at the same time, I felt bad because it meant I’d have more time to get to know Orrin.

We sat next to each other in every class.  I helped him when he needed it and was generally as friendly as I could be.  He was polite and friendly in return, never trying to invade my personal space and always eager to learn something new.  To anyone else, he would have come across as a teacher’s pet.

He had girls coming up to him all day trying to talk to him and generally push me out of the way.  If he had wanted to go hang out with them, I wouldn’t have cared, but he always politely excused himself so we could go to class, or eat lunch, or study together.  It had to be the surfer boy appearance he had going on from the slight changes he had made to my original suggestions.

It meant a lot to me that he’d rather hang out with me than to go make new friends.  At the same time, I caught myself feeling a bit jealous of the thought that he might want to hang out with other people.  I hadn’t felt that way about Rob, and that thought just made me feel even worse.

Once again, after school, I called up Toni.

The better part of two weeks passed with this general flow:  Rob vying for my attention, me vying for Orrin’s.  Something had to give, and I knew it.  I just didn’t want to see it.  Thankfully, I had been blessed with friends like Toni.

“Girl, you need to make up your mind,” my friend’s voice filtered through the phone.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s obvious you’ve got it for both the new guys.  You can’t have your cake and eat it too, you know.  Or something like that.”

Sighing, I slumped in my chair.  “I know, I know.  But…  I just don’t know what to do about it.  I want to be friends with both of them…”

“Honey, if I can see it so can, everyone else.  It’s not friendship that’s on your mind.  You need to really sit down and think about things before they get out of hand.”

Getting up, I went over to flop on my bed.  She was right, and I knew it.  Truth was, I was pretty sure I liked Orrin more, even though I had reprimanded Rob for the exact same behavior I was trying to do.  I had put myself in a real pickle that was for sure.  “What do you think I should do, Toni?”

“Girl, don’t ask me.  I’m not into guys remember?  You’d be better off asking Kate, or your mom, scary a thought as that is.”

Rolling over, I stared out my window.  The sun was just going down and everything was covered in the pre-darkness twilight.  “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.  I just…  I don’t know.”

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?  Something you’re not telling me.”

I couldn’t tell her everything.  It was completely out of the question.  “No, not really.  It’s just…  I have a lot of thinking to do is all, I suppose.  I’ll call you later.”

Without waiting for a response, I hung up the phone.  I needed to go for a walk.  I got my jacket out of my closet and headed downstairs, stopping in the kitchen to let mom know I was going out for a while, and that I’d take the cell phone in case she needed something, or I did.  As usual, she answered with the customary, ‘Don’t be gone too long’ and I was out the door.

Walking gave me time to think.  I didn’t think I’d come up with an answer by the time I got home, though.  Toni was right.  I did like them both, and it was probably my own fault.  I couldn’t tell either of them, and I couldn’t keep going like I was.  It wasn’t fair to anyone.

Walking down the street toward the park, I was totally unaware of the footfalls behind me.  I didn’t notice the new presence until I stopped to sit on the swings, in fact.  Not until he came up behind me and gently gave my swing a push.  Of course, I just about screamed and jumped off the swing.  If it had been anyone else, I’d have killed them.  Staring back at me was Orrin.

“You scared the life out of me, you jerk!”  I stormed toward him, pushing his chest when I was within reach.

Smiling softly back at me he replied, “I didn’t mean to.  I thought you heard me behind you.  I wasn’t exactly quiet or anything.  What are you doing out here, anyway?”

Tucking an arrant strand of hair behind my ear, I turned away from him.  “Thinking.  What are you doing out here?”

“Thinking.  Should we think together?”

Turning back to him, I couldn’t help smiling in return.  “I don’t think we’re thinking about the same thing.”

Shrugging, he leaned against the pole that supported the swings.  “So?  Besides, maybe we are.  How do you know?”

I hated that when I was around him I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.  He just had that effect.  “Well, then why don’t you go first?”  I moved to sit back on my vacated swing.

Moving up behind me to push again, he started to talk.  “I just hate not knowing.  And I’m not just  talking about how I got here and stuff.  I must admit, I’m sure a lot of people would think it a gift, not knowing where you came from, if you had family somewhere, who you were…  But, I’m sure a lot more would agree with me that it’s so nerve-wracking.  It’s enough to drive a person crazy, I’d bet.”

Nodding as I let him push me, I agreed.  “I bet.  What else is on your mind?”

He didn’t reply for a minute or so.  I almost thought he wasn’t going to.  “I’m concerned about the other one.  Rob.  It seems strange to me that the second day I’m here, when I’ve established my own identity, he’s not.  And the fact that he seems to be branching out to a, well, a less than savory part of the student body.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’m being neurotic.  I just can’t put my finger on it, is all.”

I listened quietly as he spoke.  Now that he’d mentioned it, I was seeing what he was pointing out.  It seemed Rob was less and less involved with our crowd and more and more involved with what I’d also deem the wrong people.  I was never one to judge, so I hadn’t even thought to entertain the idea of mentioning it to him.

“So, you still have no idea about your past or anything?  Nothing at all?”

I heard him sigh behind me.  “No.  Nothing.  I’ve tried forcing it, but all I get is a blank.  I can’t, in all honesty, remember anything before showing up in French class that day.  I don’t know how I got there or where I had come from to get there.  Nothing.  Just sitting in class.  Then you walked in and it was like I had a focus point.  I know that probably sounds really corny.”

I couldn’t help smiling again.  “Yeah, it kind of does.  So, where do you stay since you don’t have a home?”  I didn’t mean to just blurt it out, but I had been curious from the beginning.

“I don’t know, really.  It’s like I get to a certain point, a place I know I need to go, and then it all goes blank until the next morning when I head back to school.  I sit in the park, or at the diner, to do my homework.  If the weather’s nasty, I’ll stay at the library until they close.”

I didn’t know what to say so I simply sat there and let him push me on the sing.

“What about you?  What’s got you out here thinking?”

What should I tell him?  I couldn’t tell him that it was he and Rob who had me out there running circles in my mind.  Though, I was sure that his male ego would have kicked in at some point and he would have been ecstatic that he was driving me out of my mind.  Guys are like that.

“It’s…  complicated, really.  I can’t really talk to anyone about it until I figure it out for myself, you know?”  I hoped he’d leave it at that.

“Yeah, I suppose I know what you mean.”  It was silent behind me a moment, and then he spoke again.  “Hey, can I confide something in you?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I get glimpses of things.  Things I think are from the past.  Like…  I’m not sure how to explain it.  I saw dinosaurs, and a bright flash of light.  And then they all died.  And the earth froze over…”

Smiling, I harrumphed a little.  “That’s in every science and history book on the planet, Orrin.  It’s the extinction of the dinosaurs and the on-set of the ice age.”

Again he was quiet for a minute.  I turned to look at him over my shoulder.  “No.  It’s more than that.  It’s like I’m watching it from above the ground as it’s happening.  Like I don’t know.  Maybe I’m supposed to be seeing it, or something.”  He looked up at the evening sky, the clouds laced with the last hints of pink and purple before night truly took over.  After a time, he looked back down at me, his eyes seeming old and troubled.  “It’s as if I were there.  Like, really there.  It’s like they’re memories, not dreams, or me thinking about school.  Like I was really there, just like I’m here now, with you.”  He continued looking at me until I looked away.  “That can’t be possible, though…”

I leaned back against him, stopping the swing, letting our body heat mingle.  He was a good head taller than me, so I didn’t have to worry about him eating a mouthful of my hair.  I just felt that he needed the contact, to know that there was someone else out there he could connect with, share things with.  I didn’t want him to feel alone.  No one should have to feel alone.

“Orrin, I really don’t know what to tell you, honestly.  If it were anyone else, I would probably call you crazy.  However, knowing what I already know about you, I can’t make a guess at anything, no matter how out of the ordinary it sounds.  Let’s face it, you’re not normal.”

I could feel his breathing against my back.  It was slow and rhythmic, like anyone else I knew.  Tilting my head to look up at him, I realized he wasn’t really paying me any attention.  He was looking across the park.

Following his gaze, I could just make out a shadowy figure on the other side.  Normally, if I were alone, I would have been scared.  But, I wasn’t alone.  I watched the figure slowly move into the lamplight, waiting for what might come.  Somehow, I wasn’t entirely surprised when I saw it was Rob.

“So,” he drawled as he leaned against the lamppost, “imagine my surprise at finding you both here, together, while on my evening walk.”

Self-consciously I stepped away from Orrin, the comfort of the heat of him disappearing from my back making me feel vulnerable.  “Hey, Rob, nice to see you.  We were just talking.  Glad to see we’re not the only idiots in the park after the sun goes down.  Won’t you join us?”  I knew I was babbling, and I wasn’t sure why.  Rob, after all, was one of my friends.

Orrin had yet to say anything.  He was a quiet presence at my back.  I didn’t dare turn to see the look on his face for fear I wouldn’t like it.  As it was, I didn’t like Rob’s tone of voice.  All we needed was some kind of confrontation in the park.

Rob pushed off from the post and started to walk toward us.  His hands were jammed into his pockets, like usual.  Nothing about his stance or expression indicated malicious intent, but I was skeptical.  His green eyes never left my face the whole time he slowly approached us.  “Just talking, huh?  Anything good?  Maybe I’ll join the conversation.”  He sat down on the swing next to me and pushed off.

Finally Orrin spoke.  “It wasn’t really anything important; just a couple of friends trying to think out loud.  You know how it is.”  He abruptly started pushing me on the swing again.  I could practically feel the two bristle toward one another, like dogs circling a bone.  Guess who the bone was.

I sighed and let Orrin push me.  There was no point saying anything.  There was nothing I could do to stop where this was heading, and it was partly my own fault.

Rob continued to look straight ahead into the darkness as he went back and forth on the sing.  “Yeah.  I know how it is.  I know exactly how it is.”

The tension was killing me.  I felt like I was going to burst.  The vibes those two gave off were almost tangible.  The air between the three of us practically crackled with it.  Toni was absolutely right.  I had to do something before this went completely out of control.  Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Orrin started again.

“You know, Rob…  It’s not polite to go skulking around in the dark like that.  You could have really given someone a fright.  It’s a good thing it was just us.”  The tone in his voice said all too well how unappreciated the apparent spying was.

Without missing a beat, Rob replied back to him.  “I wasn’t skulking.  It’s not illegal to take a walk in the dark.  If you didn’t have something to hide, you wouldn’t be so defensive.  Do you have something to hide, Orrin?”  I saw him glance at the other out of the corner of his eye.

“No.  And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you; but what about you, Rob?  Been hanging with the shadier people around school, haven’t you?  What’s up with that?  Going for a new look, perhaps?”

What was going on here?  How had this turned into an accusation contest?  And, better yet, what was I going to do about it?  Before I could interrupt, Rob answered.

“As a matter of fact, Orrin, for your information, yes.  I’m getting tired of a lot of things.  Namely this.”  He turned to us to plainly indicate the fact that we were together.

It was time the bone got a say.  “Look.  I’m sorry if I’ve done something to offend you, Rob.  If I did, it was unintentional, honest.  I just want to be friends with both of you.  Is that really too much?  Honestly?”  I stopped the swing to watch him, waiting for one of them to respond.

Stopping his swing and standing up, Rob looked at us.  Finally he sighed and spoke softly, turning away as he did.  I almost didn’t hear him.  “I can’t do that.”

With that, he slipped into the shadows of the trees and all but disappeared.  I got up and turned to Orrin, rather unsettled.  I didn’t know what to say.  All I could do was shiver in the warmness of the night air.
 

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[L.I. Black]