I knocked on the side of the wall, the dull thudding just barely echoing into space.
I called again, "Jason, are you in here?"
This time he did answer, his voice guttural. "Yeah, I’m sorry…I kind of had a bout of… diarrhea?”
I don’t know why I would have thought he would have learned how to lie in the last twenty-four hours, but I decided to go along with it nonetheless.
“I hope you didn’t get food poisoning from lunch.”
“I might have…do you mind? I should be done in a minute,” he said, his voice slowly returning to its normal tone.
“Okay, I’ll be outside,” I replied.
I backed away from the bathroom's entrance and leaned against the concrete. I could only hope I was overthinking, and he was telling the truth.
I bit the corner of my lip. He didn’t owe me any truths because I hadn’t done much to deserve it. Yet the little flame of curiosity inside me wondered if he ran because of what I said, or if it had something to do with what I learned yesterday.
Initially, I had thought to use today as a way to get some answers out of him. But then he was sweet and adorable, bringing me to this lake and helping me get my footing on the icy ground. He was noticing the oddness of my situation. The money struggles, Dad’s experience as an investigator, and unlike Percy and Hip, who seemed to see things instantly but kept quiet, slowly trying to coax answers out of me naturally, Jason was more upfront, asking me directly what was up. I was afraid that if I began to poke around with his situation, he would do the same and next thing you know we’d be having to pack up again.
"Sorry about that." I looked up to see Jason coming out of the bathroom.
He looked alright, if a little pale.
"Are you feeling okay?” I asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to run off like that. I just didn't want to shout out my sudden need for the toilet,” he replied with a shaky smile.
I laughed. "Well, poop is poop. We all do it, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about."
Jason looked down at the skates in my hand and then to the ones that were still strapped to his feet. The blades were dented and chipped from his run across the hard, rocky ground.
I grimaced. "I don't think they will be happy about you destroying their skates."
"No, probably not. Hey, if I tell them I had food poisoning do you think they'll have pity on me?”
"I doubt it," I said with a snort.
It turned out the couple was forgiving, as they had replacement blades for most of their skates along with a sharpener. They came prepared, saying that this happened a lot more than we would think. Jason still had to pay them twenty bucks for damages.
As we made our way out to the car, I wondered if we would be ending the date here or if he had something else in mind.
As we got in the car Jason said, "As penance for cutting our ice-skating date short, I have a surprise for you,"
"Is it a million dollars?” I asked, batting my eyelashes at him.
He snorted. "Hell no, if I won a million dollars, I'd be keeping that to myself!"
"No fair,” I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. "didn't your parents ever teach you to share?"
"Didn't your dad ever tell you finders keepers losers weepers?"
I stuck my tongue out at him like a bloody two-year-old. I was delighted when he stuck his tongue right back at me, adding a raspberry to it, causing us both to break out into a fit of giggles.
Once our giggle fit began to break, Jason said, "Besides, if I were the one to win a million dollars, I could take you on nicer dates."
"I thought this date was perfect, Jason. Besides, I pride myself on being a cheap date."
"I feel like that's not something you should be proud of. Or at least don't word it like that," He said, breaking out into laughter again.
"I see nothing wrong with being a cheap date," I shrugged. "It just proves that we can have a good time with or without money."
"True. Though you do realize what it also implies right?"
"Why, yes, I do. And trust me, Mr. Monroe, you'll have to work a lot harder to get into my pants," I said wiggling my eyebrows at him.
He replied with a low, sensuous growl which heated up my core and encouraged me to tease him more. But we were driving, and I honestly didn't want us to crash if I distracted him too much. So, I sat back and studied him.
He looked really good in his olive-green canvas jacket and dark jeans. His brown hair looked soft and fluffy, and I wanted to touch it so badly that I slid my hands underneath me to keep them still. I also wanted to kiss him again. However, I wondered for a moment if it was because I liked him or because I was subconsciously trying to distract myself from the lies that I was giving him and the lies that I was getting back in return.
He looked over to me and gave me this devastatingly perfect smile that sent little butterflies fluttering about in my stomach. Oh, yeah, I definitely wanted to kiss him because I liked him.
I turned away from him and stared out the window. The trees we passed were tall and surprisingly green despite the snow that laid on top of them. I liked the forest. Cities were often too loud, too full of people. They made me nervous. I often wondered if the reason we stuck to small towns was not that they were obscure but because my father and Clint knew about my issues.
We would hear from our handler soon. I liked this one. When we moved from the south, despite having the same head, our handler changed several times. The last one was a bit of a dick and didn't get that we had been doing this for years and didn't need to be babied.
One day I would be free, and I could go back to my life. Though I wondered what that life was. A girl who loved to go shopping at the mall on Sundays, cared about the latest fashions and drooled over boy bands. That girl was a star on the junior track team and had thirty friends but wasn't close to any of them.
A girl that didn't know what it was like to have a bullet stuck in their shoulder.
A girl with a functional, smiling mother.
Who was that girl? Because I wasn't that girl anymore. At least I didn't think so.
The car drove over a rough spot, pulling me from my thoughts and back to where I was. Back to being Atalanta North in the car with a cute but mysterious guy.
I smiled. "I know you said it was a surprise but are you at least going to give me a hint as to where we are going?"
Jason pursed his lips and thought about it for a moment. "Elation."
I tilted my head. “Elation?"
“Yep,” He said, his mouth popping on the P.
"That's all I get? A single word? Not even really a word but a feeling?"
"Yeppers."
I pouted and sat back in the seat. "You're no fun."
He laughed but refused to give me any more hints as to where we were going.
About ten minutes later, we pulled up into the driveway of a house. It was a beautiful house, two stories, modern, painted beige with a red roof. There was a gigantic tree in the front yard, its gnarled branches stretching high up and across, passing by a few windows. It looked like the perfect tree to build a treehouse in, or perhaps to sneak out at night through the windows. I noted that there were no other cars out front in the circular driveway, indicating that it was unlikely anyone was home.
Jason turned off the car and looked excitedly at me. "Come on."
He didn't open my door this time, hopping out of his seat and rushing to the front door of the home.
"Are we at your house?" I called to him.
"That we are."
"What could cause elation at your place? A little presumptuous don't you think?"