Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs 1: The Never Hero (38 page)

“Before I go, I am curious. You do not intend to take one of these small sticks into combat with the Ferox?” He pointed to the staff in Jonathan’s hand.

Jonathan shook his head and walked back to the cabinet, pulling out the demolition bar. “It’s not ideal, as I can’t train with it in my current state. It’s too heavy, but once the device activates, it should be manageable.”

Heyer inspected the bar and looked unsure.

“It’s the highest quality steel I could find,” Jonathan said defensively. “I had to special order it.”

Heyer looked at the bar again and then back to Jonathan.

“Is that so?” he said, putting his fedora on and handing the bar back to Jonathan. “Perhaps then there is a way I can assist you without going beyond earthly means.”

Then he was gone, just as before in the park, leaving Jonathan alone in his garage, holding a heavy metal bar out to no one.

“Bye,” he said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

SATURDAY | AUGUST 13, 2005 | 9:15 PM

PAIGE
walked across the hall to Jonathan’s bedroom. She did this less and less now. Conversations between them tended to leave her feeling like she’d done something wrong. It hadn’t been easy on her. It wasn’t that they had ever been overly conversational, even before Jonathan had been attacked. Still, they had spent so much time together, most of it in quiet company as they studied. She missed his presence. She missed their routine. She didn’t like that they were becoming strangers.

She knew she was over-thinking things, but it was confusing to miss a friend who wasn’t really gone, who lived right down the hall.

I will not guilt him
, she promised herself.

She hadn’t planned to request Jonathan join them at all. Leah and Collin had convinced her that she should ask. They’d said that Jonathan would make an exception for her birthday. If he’d forgotten, Paige thought it was understandable, given how little they spoke anymore. She was going to ask him to come, but she wasn’t going to be hurt when he said no.

When she reached his door, it wasn’t shut like it normally was. It was open wide enough that she could see him standing in front of the mirror. He was clean shaven, he’d combed his hair, and he was buttoning a shirt. Her eyes drifted over to the edge of his bed, where a purple envelope sat.

He remembered
, she thought as she turned away from the door.

“You got her a card?” Collin asked Jonathan incredulously.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Jonathan said, pretending to be defensive.

“You made me ride the bus all the way home, after doing you a favor no less, so you could stop at a drug store and pick up a card?” Collin wasn’t really mad, but he wasn’t going to let it slide by unnoticed either.

Jonathan nodded.

“Jonathan. That card had better be amazing. I swear, if it doesn’t bring tears to her eyes with its thoughtfulness…” Collin trailed off as he hadn’t thought of a good punishment to follow that sentence with.

The men sat around the table Collin had reserved at Paige’s favorite pub. They each had a beer in front of them. All but Jonathan had an empty shot glass as well. In the middle of the table were a few, as yet, unopened birthday presents. There were two empty seats with half empty mojitos on the table. Paige and Leah danced together a ways off. The bar didn’t have a dance floor, yet no one was complaining.

“How is it that the two hottest girls in this bar are here with us?” Hayden said to Collin.

“Let’s not over-think it,” Collin replied without taking his eyes off the girls.

Hayden glanced at the girls. “Why do girls dance at bars when there isn’t a dance floor?”

“Let’s not over-think it,” Collin reiterated.

Grant was quiet. He seemed to be watching Paige, yet more than once Jonathan caught the man’s eyes leering over to Leah. He tried not to notice, but it seemed intentional, like Grant was trying to antagonize him without letting him be certain if it was on purpose. He feared he was being paranoid, but he felt a twinge of jealousy each time he saw it. It was disturbing to think Grant timed those looks, that he intended for Jonathan to catch them.

From what Jonathan had gathered, no one understood why Paige still bothered with Grant. She no longer spoke excitedly about him as she had originally. When she had come down the stairs that evening and seen everyone in the living room waiting to take her out for her birthday, she’d been ecstatic, yet it seemed like she was more excited about the going out than the ‘going out’ with Grant.

Collin had said, before Grant arrived, that he thought she was going to blow the guy off. Apparently, Grant had done, or said, something to change her mind. That, or Collin was just seeing what he wanted to see. It was curious though, what had Grant done to get on her bad side?

“You’re in a good mood this evening. Finally seen the wisdom in giving in to peer pressure?” Hayden asked.

“Perhaps you forgot what happened last time I went out with you guys,” Jonathan replied.

He tried not to imply it the same way he had with Paige. Still, it caused a moment of uneasiness until they saw he was earnestly joking and relaxed, happy that he’d made a remark so flippant about the incident.

“Fair enough,” Hayden replied, smiling. “Still, though, what gives?”

Jonathan thought about it for a moment.

“Let’s just say I had some wins today.”

“I wouldn’t call that motorcycle a win,” Collin said, “but if it makes you happy then—”

“You look like you’ve put on some weight,” Grant interjected.

He hadn’t been participating in the conversation, and now he seemed impatient with it.

The three looked up at him, and Jonathan nodded.

“Happy to be of assistance,” Grant said.

He can’t be serious.

Jonathan smiled and nodded anyway. When Grant looked back to ogle Paige and Leah again, Collin gave Jonathan a questioning look.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Jonathan said, shaking his head.

When Paige and Leah returned, Hayden and Collin teasingly booed that they hadn’t continued dancing. Paige blushed; Leah seemed more incline to give a bow.

“So when are we going to open these?” Collin asked Paige, nodding at the gifts on the table.

She smiled and reached for one of the boxes with brightly colored wrapping paper. Grant’s pocket started vibrating as she opened it. He pulled out his phone and checked who was calling.

“Sorry,” he said to everyone, excusing himself. “I need to take this. Don’t wait for me.”

He leaned down and kissed Paige on the forehead as he left. Jonathan thought Paige looked perturbed that he’d chosen the phone over her. His eyes followed the man as he left to take the call outside. He looked back at the table and realized he didn’t see anything from Grant in the pile.

He didn’t get her a gift.

As the thought occurred to him, he found himself looking out the bar’s street window at Grant, infuriated with the meathead, but when Jonathan’s eyes found him, he was surprised by what he saw. Whatever call Grant was getting, he was upset about what he was hearing, he appeared to be on the brink of yelling at the caller. He thought he saw spit flying from the man’s lips as he growled into the phone.

“He already gave her a present,” Leah whispered to Jonathan.

She’d leaned in close to him, so only he could hear. He turned to her, realizing the disdain he felt for Grant must have been showing on his face; either that or Leah had read his mind.

“Oh,” Jonathan said, letting his face relax.

She leaned in a little closer, and whispered again. He felt the special brand of nervous excitement she gave him as she drew nearer; he could feel her breath on his skin.

“Her ears,” she said, flicking her eyes toward Paige.

Jonathan looked over at Paige and understood. She was wearing what looked like expensive earrings. He hadn’t thought Grant would be spending that kind of money; especially since Paige mentioned Grant wasn’t currently working.

“Between you and me,” Leah whispered conspiratorially, “those bought him a guilt week.”

“Not sure what you mean,” Jonathan said.

“I mean, she was going to break it off. But then he gave her those,” Leah said.

“She tell you that?” he asked.

“Nope,” Leah said, “but she wasn’t bringing him tonight originally.”

So, Collin had been right after all
, Jonathan thought.

“Don’t worry,” Leah said, “she won’t keep them. She just lost her nerve when he sprung them on her.”

Jonathan nodded.

“Any idea how he got on her bad side,” Jonathan asked.

Leah shrugged slightly.

“Doesn’t trust him, it’s things like this, where he has to leave the room to answer his phone,” she said. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“Hey,” Collin said toward the two of them. “You aren’t whispering loud enough for the rest of us to hear.”

They both returned a sarcastic smile to his calling them out.

“This one is from Jonathan,” Paige said, picking up the purple envelope.

Jonathan smiled as he waited for her to open the card. When she finished reading, she looked like she might smile herself into tears.

“Thank you, Jonathan,” she said, putting the card in to her purse before anyone asked if they could see it.

Grant returned from his phone call. He didn’t appear angry, at least not as angry as he had when Jonathan had spied him through the window. He looked like he’d gotten news so bad he couldn’t process it. The whole table still picked up on his change in mood. When he sat, he immediately took a long drink from his beer, finishing it.

Paige reached over, putting a hand on his knee. Grant snapped out of his thoughts at her touch.

“Sorry, I just,” Grant paused. “I just got turned down for a job I’d interviewed for. No big deal, just thought it was a good fit.”

“Sorry man,” Hayden said, genuinely sympathetic. The rest of the table nodded in agreement.

Grant, wanting attention off of him, tried to smile.

“Hey, it’s your birthday.” He reached for a present on the table and handed it to her. “Let’s forget about it.”

Paige took the present from Grant’s hands. It was the last one on the table.

“This one is from Collin,” Paige said, starting to peel off the wrapping. Collin shrugged as though it were nothing special. Jonathan could tell he was really brimming with eagerness as Paige removed the paper.

Once she’d opened, he couldn’t see what she was holding. For a moment, she looked down into the wrapping paper and appeared uncertain. Then a spark came to her eyes, and the fingers of her free hand came to her mouth.

“Collin! Is this what I think it is?” she said.

“Pretty sure it is,” he said.

She finally pulled the item from the box so everyone could see. It was a hardback book, but he could see by the way she held it that she prized it.

“It’s a first edition,” Paige said.

Jonathan recognized the title. It was a copy of
Ishmael
. He hadn’t read it himself, but he’d seen Paige reading it a number of times and knew it had a reputation amongst environmental studies majors.

“Open the cover,” Collin said.

She reached down with her spare hand and carefully lifted the lid of the book and gasped again.

“No way! It’s signed!” she said. “How did you even know?”

“I’m not blind,” he said. “I’ve seen three copies of that book in the house since you moved in, not to mention you reading it a dozen times.”

Jonathan snuck a look at Grant’s face as he took in Paige’s reaction to the gift. It was only for a moment; Grant looked at no one. His eyes appeared to be looking through the table, his mouth pinched, his nostrils flared. When he looked up and caught Jonathan watching him, he quickly let the expression go slack and replaced it with an emotionless façade.

Apparently, Paige hadn’t been this excited about the earrings.