Life Lines

11: Too Much Like Me

Chapter Eleven

I was scheduled for the night off but I couldn't sit in my house and not do anything. So I called Amanda and asked if she needed someone to work. She said no that everyone who was scheduled showed up. So just like every other night when I didn't have anything else to do and I couldn't get a hold of any of my friends, I went to the country club.

As far as I knew the Abernathy Ballroom was empty that evening, no scheduled events to take place. So I snuck in like so many times before and just laid on the dance floor after getting a nuke warm Sprite from the fridge behind the bar.

I stared up at the ceiling, nothing special about it really. It was done in dark wood beams that made large squares that ran across the expanse of the ceiling. Two chandeliers hung on either side of the room giving it just the right glow to cast shadows on the unlighted sides of the beams.

The rest of the room, I knew without looking, was done in the same classic style. The walls were white with dark wood paneling. Four sets of window panes allowed in natural light during the day. They were framed with heavy drapes for the winter and covered with gauzy sheers for the summer. Classic Greek and Roman sculptures done in marble sat in between each one. The room was a large rectangle, with the patio doors directly across from the inside entrance to the room. It was covered by the stage the other night, most likely to keep us all contained and not running amuck like teenagers had a tendency to do sometimes.

"Are you going to drink that?"

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at the inside entrance. Union stood on the top step, hands in his jacket pockets. From where I was sitting, his black hair was wet and in a need of a cut since a couple strands were hanging in his eyes.

The panic from that morning was gone. I was starting to think the whole thing was actually a full blown hallucination anyways.

"I don't know. Why?"

He came down the stairs with care, one at a time until he was standing over me. "Won't Mrs. Torchia get mad for the ring?"

"It's not cold." I laid back down. "It won't leave a ring."

He sat down next to me and then stretched out his great height until he was staring up at the ceiling with me.

"Whatcha looking at?"

"The ceiling. It's very captivating."

He chuckled. "I can see that. Their use of dark wood is just...enticing."

"I was bored at home. There was nothing else to do."

"So you decided to do this? Come here just to stare at the ceiling?"

I looked over at him. "People take ceilings for granted you know."

"Really?" He looked amused. "How so?"

"Didn't you see the ceiling at school today? Stained tile and crumbling...ickiness."

"Are we making up words now?"

"I take it you didn't look."

He shook his head. "Too busy paying attention to what the teachers were saying. I still can't believe they still use chalk boards. I'm pretty sure the rest of the world has moved on to dry erase."

I laughed. "They keep saying they're going to change them out but they never do. The whole place needs to be torn down but they'll never do it. Tomorrow, glance up at the ceiling. I'm sure you'll be amazed."

"You'd think with mostly rich kids as the students, they'd fix it up."

"I guess they think it will keep us grounded. They probably think we get everything we could possibly want or need at home so why change the building."