Chapter 6-3
414 Words
“Hey, Tim?” Akbar lay wide awake on his bunk.
“Huh?” Two-Tall grunted from the upper bunk.
“You awake?”
“No!”
“Sorry. Go back to sleep.” Akbar considered kicking the mattress above him to wake Tim the rest of the way up.
“Oh man,” Tim groaned. “Now is when you gotta to talk? Not on the line? Not on the flight back? What is it, three in the morning?”
“More like eight-thirty,” though the blackout curtains kept the room dark. Nothing to see except the vague outlines of a standing dresser and a small bookcase they’d managed to wedge into the corner of the small space. They were both voracious and eclectic readers, which had been their bond from the first day.
“And you’ve been awake since… Shit.” There was no real heat behind the sleepy curse. “Well, I’m awake now. Hit me with it.”
Akbar didn’t know how to start. It was all a jumble in his head no matter how much he thought about it.
“You ever gotten serious, Tim? About a girl?”
“Sure,” Tim managed around a yawn. “You’ve seen Steve’s classic Firebird. That girl is so cherry. I could get really serious about driving her.”
“Crap, Tim! I’m talking about—”
“Laura, I know. Your sense of humor has gone to hell since you started with her, you know that don’t you?”
He didn’t.
“In answer to your stupid-a*s question, what does my level of serious have to do with anything to a man already standing in the middle of the flame?”
“What do you mean?”
The bunk shifted as Tim rolled over. He could see the vague outline of Tim’s head as he looked down at Akbar over the edge.
“You left serious behind a while ago, buddy.” It was the kindest tone he’d ever heard from Tim. “Sooner you admit to that s**t, the happier you’ll be.”
“I don’t—”
“Crap, Akbar! How did she fall for you rather than me? Can you tell me that one?”
“Must be my good looks and superior character!” His sense of humor damn well wasn’t dead and he could give back as good as he got.
“i***t! She fell for you, thickhead. Not because of any of that normal crap. Not because you’re a smokie. Not that you’re crew boss and not because you’re actually a funny guy when you’re not being quite so dumb. It’s you she wants. Now what you need to do is figure out how to be yourself around her and let the rest of us sleep in peace.” Tim flopped back onto his bunk. By the way the bed moved, he was digging back in to go back to sleep.
Himself? He was supposed to be himself?
He squinted up at the square-pattern of springs across the bottom of the mattress above him, but he couldn’t see it.
Be himself?
Who the hell was that?
- Writer
