20
Teena was all over him. Well, all over his arm. And since his sweater was covered in alien guts, dirt, and his own blood, he was thinking that maybe she really was starting to like him.
The cool thing was, he really liked her. And not just in a physical way. There was more to her than her petite, curvy frame, and the little freckle that fell right between her tan shoulder and the top of her collarbone. He actually liked her as a person. She was strong and smart and absolutely fearless, and when she laughed, like she had when she and Sarabeth had spun around the corner minutes ago, he wanted to grab the sound out of the air and carry it around with him like a good-luck charm. Being in lust with Teena the fantasy had been easy, even if he’d been scared shitless of that Teena. The real Teena was a challenge he actually looked forward to.
But now wasn’t the time for that. Leo had brought them here, an idea that proved brilliant, Evan thought. They’d gotten gear and blown off some steam. And the whole trip had reminded Evan that there was a lot worth fighting for. Teena most of all.
Evan knew he needed to be more take-charge if he was going to really land a girl like Teena, last four people on Earth or not. As hard as it was to do, the next time Teena’s kneading slowed down, Evan gave her what he hoped was a meaningful look that said “thank you” and stepped into the center of the group. He was still holding a bat in his right hand, and focusing on his hand around the white ash handle made him feel strong and grounded. “Look, I think we should try to take down the Purple Perimeter soon, while we’re all feeling good and before it gets dark.”
Teena was scowling, and a tiny part of Evan wondered if it was because he’d pulled away before she’d expected him to. He inched a little closer to her again, but she continued to frown. Ugh, girls. He wished he could look her in the eye and say, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” But he did give a damn. He gave a lot of damns.
Leo came up beside him, clasped him on the shoulder, and nodded. “This has been fun, but Brighton’s right,” he said. “We need to strike while the iron’s hot, or whatever. Evan, what do you think we should do?”
“Well, we have all this stuff,” he said, gesturing to the rainbow assortment of toys and games in the center of their circle. The girls had stuffed about a dozen shopping bags, and his and Leo’s cart was almost overflowing. “Maybe first we need to sort it into piles of useful versus not-so-useful. And take the useful stuff out of the packages.”
“That’s a good idea,” Teena said. She smiled at him, and all felt right with the world again. “I’ll start. One pile is fun, one pile is weapons.”
She set to work, putting things like LEGOs and Barbie dolls into the “fun” pile, while adding squirt guns and the sparring gear to a “weapons” pile. She was cute as she zipped between the carts, really in her element. It was like watching one of the HGTV shows his mom loved, but with a much hotter host.
Sarabeth tentatively stepped in to help Teena. Evan held his breath and shared a glance with Leo, who seemed to be doing the same. He didn’t get the way girls went from friendly to weird in seconds. It kept happening, like an invisible rubber band snapped and tension mounted between them again. But Teena stepped to the side and let Sarabeth help sort through the merchandise. A sigh of relief floating between them, he and Leo began going through stuff, too. They all worked for a while, a busy vibration in the air. It felt good to have a purpose.
After a few minutes, they were at the bottom of the guys’ cart and down to the last of the girls’ bags. Sarabeth pulled a Captain America shield from the guys’ cart. She examined it for a few seconds, turning it over in her hands.
“Fun pile,” Teena directed Sarabeth. “It’s too flimsy.”
“No way,” Evan said. “It’s badass.”
Sarabeth paused with the shield over the fun pile.
“Badass?” Teena asked, with a raised eyebrow. “I never thought I’d hear you swear. I mean, besides hell.”
“Come on, like you’ve ever thought about me at all,” Evan blurted, trying to memorize Teena’s face as she grinned at him.
“Fine, weapons pile,” Teena said, avoiding his comment. But was she blushing a little? Sarabeth smirked, put the shield in the pile, and went back to work.
“Thank you,” Evan said to Teena.
“You’re welcome,” she said, and it was like he had her all to himself, even more than when she’d been massaging his arm. Leo was going through an assortment of action figures, and Sarabeth had begun unwrapping squirt guns from their plastic-and-cardboard packages just feet from them. But Teena was flirting with him, wasn’t she? And was he successfully flirting back?
They were standing shoulder to shoulder as Evan opened the girls’ last bag, stuffed with some body glitter meant for girls probably too young for body glitter. He started to dump it into the fun pile.
“Nuh-uh.” Teena grabbed the bag from him. “That’s weaponized glitter.”
“Come on, what could that be for?” Evan teased her, trying to yank it away.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Teena said with a sly smile.
“It dries out your skin,” Sarabeth said as she tested the trigger on a junky pink water gun before tossing it into the trash. “Teena found it. It will be great for fighting the aliens.”
“Nice,” Leo said, looking up from a particularly aggressive set of twist ties holding a Super Soaker to its cardboard backing. “Death by sparkles.”
Evan surveyed the weapons pile, satisfied. Leo let out a low whistle. “We’re in good shape.” He clapped his hands together. “Okay, what next, Brighton?”
Buoyed by the support, Evan continued and picked up a package of water balloons. “Well, we probably need to make some weapons. It might be good to test the weight of these, for maximum explosion potential.”
As soon as he said it, everyone got the same idea. They ran to the family restroom at the front of the store and turned on four of the six taps. There was still water. They filled several dozen of the water balloons, making some extra-big, some small, and some right in the middle. When the bag of balloons was empty, the sinks were stuffed with candy-colored balloons.
Teena picked up the first balloon, a small one, and tossed it at Evan from about five feet away. It bounced off him and even stayed intact when it hit the floor.
“Underfilled,” he said. He grabbed a larger balloon that he knew would burst easily, but before he had a chance to toss it, Teena took it and tossed it into the center of the circle. It burst with a huge splash before it even hit the ground. She ducked into a stall, her laughter echoing through the bathroom.
“Holy crap!” Leo shouted, his hair dripping. “That’s the ticket.” He grabbed a balloon and hurled it at Sarabeth at the same time she threw one at him.
Evan launched a medium-sized balloon over the stall wall at Teena, careful not to throw too hard. It went over the wall, and she shrieked as it exploded. Dripping wet, she ran out, took a balloon from the sink, and hurled it at him. For four glorious minutes, they lobbed the water bombs at one another. And then the balloons that had taken almost twenty minutes to fill were gone, their rubbery guts lying in the puddles on the floor. Everyone was soaked and cold, but grinning happily. It was too bad they couldn’t stay at the Toys“R”Us forever, Evan thought.
“Okay,” Leo said. “So I think we learned that the best size is a handful, something I’ve always stated as fact.” He went to light a cigarette, but the pack was dripping.
“Perv,” Teena chided Leo. Evan felt a twinge of jealousy but reminded himself that was just how Leo talked. And he was right about the handful thing, Evan thought, looking at Teena’s not-too-big and not-too-small breasts, the outline of each one super apparent beneath the soaking-wet fabric of her hoodie.
“Is that the best size for you, Evan?” Leo asked. “You’re the one that’s going to be handling them.”
“Uh, yeah,” Evan said, half startled and realizing he was staring at Teena’s chest.
Sarabeth must have noticed, but instead of saying anything, she actually helped him. “Okay, let’s get the cologne from the van and get to work. This might take a while.”