I missed Eva and James. I facetimed them every few days, but that wasn’t the same as spending time with them. They’d both been back to town for a few days during their fall semester break in October and they weren’t coming back until the Christmas break. I couldn’t wait that long, so when I judged that I was finished my gynecology rotation, I decided to take a break and go visit them at UNC Chapel Hill before I started my next rotation. Besides, visiting them would give me an excuse to take care of a few loose ends in nearby Raleigh that I’d been putting off for too long.
The last time I’d done this drive, I’d been heading out to investigate the Pearl Dragon Corporation. I’d packed the truck with all sorts of gear that I thought I’d need. This time, I packed it full again, albeit with mostly different gear. My four medical backpacks went in first, followed by my VR rig and a spare rig, a duffel with my clothes, a bag of cash, all the boxes of books that Gerry had sent me and that I hadn’t gotten to yet, and a few bags of Howie’s computer gear. At the last second, I threw in my Roger outfit and exosuit, even though I had no plans on needing them. There didn’t seem to be any harm in stuffing them in and I figured that it was better to be safe than sorry.
In some ways, it was easier than it used to be to just take off for a week. I didn’t have to lie to dad about where I was going and I didn’t have to pretend to be sick so that school wouldn’t call looking for me. I also didn’t have to convince Eva to cover for me. To counterbalance this new freedom, I had to arrange my absence with Shauna and Jenny. Jenny didn’t mind because I was bringing my rig with me and could work on the simulated surgeries remotely. Shauna was ok with it too, as long as I stopped by and signed some purchase orders and a stack of checks that needed to go out.
Between letting mom and dad know where I was going, squishing Ben goodbye, and stopping by at Hannah’s Home to finish my paperwork for Shauna, I only managed to leave town at ten in the morning. By noon, I pulled up in front of Eva’s UNC dorm building and left the car in L2. Eva had facetimed me many times while she’s wandered around the dorms, so I knew my way around enough to manage to find her room. She wasn’t there and I decided to wait for in her room. Yes, the door was locked, but in R2 it didn’t exist.
I didn’t think it would be a long wait, as I clearly remembered her gloating about how she had no classes on Friday afternoon. Sure enough, she came in with James fifteen minutes later. They were too preoccupied with trying to swallow each other’s tongues to notice me on the couch and my perfectly normal reaction of, “Ewww. Get a room!”, sent Eva six inches into the air with a piercing screech.
Eva sat down on the floor, one hand to her racing heart. “Holy shit, Abby. You scared me half to death. I think I need to go change my panties.”
For his part, James hadn’t jumped nearly as high and he had barely screeched at all. He tried to sound like I hadn’t surprised him too much, but my field showed me that his heart was racing faster than Eva’s. “Hey Abby.” He tried really hard to be circumspect as he fixed his shirt and refastened the top button of his jeans. “It’s good to see you. How come you didn’t call to let us know you were coming by?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Because I wanted to surprise you. Also, I have a new Instagram channel and I needed some juicy video to post. That entrance was perfect.” I motioned to my phone which was propped up on the desk with a view towards the door. I’d placed the phone there mere seconds before I’d announced myself. I hadn’t set it to record, but they didn’t know that. I was hoping to use to the non-existent recording to blackmail them into going to the nearest Olive Garden for dinner tonight.
James face paled and Eva got up to snatch my phone. I was way faster.
“Don’t worry! I wasn’t live streaming to my adoring fans. I suppose if you let me take you guys out to the Olive Garden for dinner tonight, you could persuade me to erase my directorial debut video.”
“Or you could erase in now and I forget to ask you how you got into my locked room.” Eva was standing with her hands on her hips, superhero style, and glaring down at me.
“Sure. That works too.” I tossed her my phone.
“Hey! You didn’t record anything.” Eva said as she flipped through my pictures.
“Of course not. You know I don’t have Instagram or any other social media. Also, you should know me better by now. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Eva sat down on the couch next to me and gave me a hug hello. Then she started tickling me and I had to wrestle her into submission. A throat clearing sound got our attention and we both turned to see James standing on the side with his phone out and filming us, a huge smile on his face.
“I do have social media and this video is going to get me thousands of new subscribers to my channel.”
I turned to look at Eva and our eyes locked. Three seconds later we’d tackled James and he was getting the tickle torture treatment from the both of us. Unlike me, James is very ticklish and he offered his surrender within seconds. Eva and I ignored him for a bit before we gave in.
Eva and James took me out to lunch at the local equivalent to Big Julie’s Pizza and showed me around the campus. It almost felt like we were still in high school and going home after doing our research for the stock market competition at the Galt University library. So much had changed over the past two and half years and I wondered what changes the next few years would bring.
“Where are you staying while you’re here, Abby? It’s not much, but you know you’re welcome to my couch.”
“Thanks, Eva. I don’t want to be a bother to you. You’ve got to study and uhm…entertain…James. I found a great deal on an Air B&B fifteen minutes north of Raleigh. I’ll be fine there. Besides, you snore.”
Eva was indignant. “I do not! James, tell Abby I don’t snore.”
“I don’t snore.” James’ monotone recitation of her exact command did nothing to contradict my statement.
Eva crossed her arms and pouted. “With an attitude like that, you can bet that I won’t be ‘entertaining’ you anytime soon.”
A horror-stricken James quickly confirmed that Eva does not in fact snore, nor has she ever snored and that even if you were to hear what you might misinterpret as a snore, you were wrong and in need of a vigorous ear cleaning. He continued along this vein for some time before Eva finally shut him up with a kiss and forgave him.
“On that note, I’m going to head out to my rental to check it out and drop off my things. I’ll swing by and pick you guys up for dinner around seven tonight. You kids have fun.”