"See you soon," she replied curtly. Arlo gave him a cheerful wave, his other arm over Val's shoulder.
Val silenced the engine on her motorcycle, and slid off, slipping her brown messenger bag over her shoulder. It was 4:53 and her hair was back in its standard braid and she wore her black leather jacket, grey jeans, and brown boots. Her gaze was cold as she pulled off her helmet, and she leaned against her bike, waiting for Landon's arrival. * * * The snow crunched under Arlo's feet as he walked through the silent woods. The late afternoon light shone through the bare branches, and he squinted, pulling off his glasses to polish them.
Landon rushed to catch up, raising his hand to wave to Val, but slipped on ice. After a moment of arm flailing, he got himself steady and continued as if nothing happened, approaching with a forced grin. "Hello!" *** Callie wandered through the trees thoughtfully, her eyes kept on the branches above as she idly played with a lock of her hair.
Val cocked her head and raised one eyebrow. "Hello," she said quietly, something that may have been amusement in her voice. "You okay there?" * * * Arlo didn't see Callie, but he put his glasses back on and turned to look out to the water, his eyes thoughtful. The icy surface glittered in the sunlight and he bent down and picked up a flat rock. Taking a moment to orient himself, he threw it and watched it skip across the lake.
Landon laughed nervously. "Yep! Totally! I am just fine, thank you for asking." *** Callie continued to watch the sky, only pausing as she heard something skip across the water. She looked down, her gaze nonchalant until she saw someone.
She squinted at him before beginning to walk down towards the terminal. "What's wrong with you?" * * * Arlo sighed, his hands in his pockets before he started back up the slope. He looked up and made eye contact with Calli, and stopped short, evidently surprised.
He looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?" *** She squinted and waved slightly, unsure how to react to seeing him.
"You're acting like you're nervous," she commented. "Is it because you almost fell on your face?" * * * He inhaled and put on a warm grin. "Hey, Callie," he said easily. "How are you?"
He flushed. "Perhaps. I mean, that was kinda embarrassing." *** She inwardly groaned, but smiled back. "Heyy, I'm decent. It's cool to see you again, I think."
"It was, yes," she agreed. "However, the trouble with being embarrassed is that it rapidly creates a nasty cycle; one is flustered, and so they screw up, and then they become more flustered, so they screw up even more and on and on and on. Try and stop, if you can." * * * He laughed slightly. "Are you following me, or something?"
"You're welcome," she said with a totally straight face, and when she turned away she was barely able to hide her smile. They approached the terminal, and there was an older woman, maybe in her late 50s, staring out across the rusty tracks. She had brown hair that had grey streaks running through it, and her eyes were a deep blue. "Miss Levity?" Valerie asked when they got close enough. The woman turned to look at them and cocked her head. "Ah. You must be that reporter girl. Miss...?" "Cooper," Val said. "Valerie Cooper. And this is Landon Rhodes, my partner." "Good to meet you two." * * * Arlo shook his head. "Sorry. Bad joke. What are you doing here?"
"It's nice to meet you as well," he said kindly. "I'm just going to stand back and snap a few photos, if that's alright?" *** She hesitated. "I'm walking.. What are you doing?"
"That's fine," she said with a nod, waving a hand at him. "Take as many as you'd like." Val pulled a notepad out of her bag as well as her phone and began to record the conversation. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, by the way," she said, writing down the date. "We're quite interested in what you do here." "Hm. Well, it's about time somebody is." * * * "The same," he said with a shrug. "Trying to figure out where to go for the next field trip."
Landon stepped back, kneeling down as he brought the camera to his eye and began taking photos. *** Callie tilted her head. "Field trip? Are you a teacher?"
"Can you tell me what made you change your mind about the timers?" Val asked. The woman paused, looking over the tracks thoughtfully. "I was planning to meet my soulmate, once," she said, scratching her wrist idly. "We met on one of those matching sites, realized that we were going to be soulmates, and we spoke online every day. The timers only come off when you meet them in real life, you know, so we hadn't officially 'met' yet." She cleared her throat and looked down at the ground. "When the day finally came, we agreed to meet at the coffee shop down the street from my apartment. I remember feeling so excited... I dressed up and everything, even though we had spoken hundreds of times before. I waited at that coffee shop for hours." She sighed and revealed the timer on her wrist. It was frozen at 31 minutes and 16 seconds. "Apparently, there had been a train accident on the way to town," she said quietly. "She was on it. She was rushed to the hospital, but..." * * * He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I am. 6th grade."
Landon paused. He didn't say anything, only frowned slightly as he continued to take photos, more carefully now. *** She laughed slightly. "It seems like it could be a fun career. Do you come out into the woods often?" she asked curiously.
