Wrong Place, Right Time. Right Place, Wrong Time?
•••
Whatever possessed me to take Global Issues had long left my body. After two hours of failed studying and an additional twenty minutes trying to watch an old power point presentation, I was completely pooped and hadn't learned anything to show for it.
I rolled over in my bed and groaned, my fingers tugging at my hair. The whole thing was frustrating. I was bored, I wasn't learning, and I had no excuse not to get it done.
I ran through the list of students in my head who were taking the class. William, as always, wasn't one of them, and neither was Eve Wilkins. I hardly even had school friends in that class, and the ones I did were surely busy. It was a Saturday night.
Suddenly, a name popped into my head.
Mark Grayson.
He was in the class before me, but I recalled acutely that he often took extra time to pack up and would leave as I arrived. It was a huge stretch, but maybe he'd be available.
I picked up my phone, typing in the appropriate number, and stared at the blank messaging screen. As it turned out, I forgot how to ask someone if they wanted to study. The line in the message block blinked in and out as I tried to articulate the most effective way to go about this.
I should call him. There was no more appropriate way to word that, but it was true. At least if I called and it was awkward, I would have called. It would be awkward in spoken language.
Taking a deep breath (you got this), I dialed the number and a pit of fear immediately filled my stomach. As the phone began to ring, my mind started to wander to all of the 'what if?'s. Thankfully, I wasn't able to ruminate about that for too long before a voice rang out with a clear, "Hello?"
"Hey, Mark? I was just wondering if you were doing anything at the moment. I'm swamped in Global Issues work and would love a helping hand."
I crossed my fingers and sent out a silent prayer to whoever would listen during the silence that followed.
"I- Sure," Mark finally replied, a rustling sound occurring in the background. "I tried to get a little studying done earlier, too. Haven't had much luck."
"Hopefully we can fix that. You can come over in about an hour," I speculated, eyes flashing to my digital alarm. "I would offer you dinner, but my Dad's hosting leftover night so I reccommend you eat beforehand."
"Noted," Mark replied. I could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm assuming by come over, you mean to your house? Can I get your address? I'll come prepared."
"Oh, right. I'll text you. I hope by 'prepared' you mean well fed and carrying a backpack full of books," I joked. I fought the urge to get up and pace around the room with the phone.
"Something like that. I expect you to be waiting at your door for me, pencils in hand. Or pens, if you're more of a pen person," Mark replied, playing right back into my energy.
"That can be arranged," I spoke. "It would be a shame if I showed up unready for my own study session."
"I'm relying on you to be a good study buddy," Mark announced, his voice slightly deeper over the phone. "To be honest, I really haven't learned much in this class at all. I hope you know what you're doing."
"That's definitely wishful thinking," I admitted. "I'm sure we can put our heads together and figure it out. See you soon!"
"Totally. Later," Mark stated. And then to reiterate, "I will see you later."
He hung up the phone with a silent click, and I couldn't stop myself from doing a little fist pump. That went better than I thought it would.
When I had told Mark to come in an hour, I hadn't expected anything significant to happen throughout that hour. But boy did it rain and did it pour.
I had been meaning to spend the majority of the hour cleaning my room, but that idea was quickly shoved to the back burner when I realized there were more important matters afoot. My phone started to ring before I had the chance to finish putting my clothes away out of my laundry basket, and I immediately picked it up, wondering what on earth Eve might be calling me about at this hour.
I knew good and well she wasn't taking Global Issues.
As it turned out, the reason she was calling wasn't global, but it certainly was an issue, and it took every one of my personal responsibilities and tossed them aside.
"Come over right now," I said into the phone. There wasn't even a goodbye before she hung up. Moments later, she appeared at my window.
I had known Eve was 'Atom Eve' for the longest time. It only surprised me a little to find out, and it was really a lapse in my judgement that I ever even learned.
Way back, when I'd first began to make a name for myself as Affinity, I was a little too lax about keeping it a secret. One thing lead to another, and during a group project with Eve, I accidentally let it slip that 'I just saved the pentagon - I shouldn't have to be worried about Geology.' She was pretty quick to put two and two together to realize who I really was - through simple process of elimination - and in her excitement let it slip that she 'was so glad there was another hero at Vel Johnson'.
Neither of our proudest moments, but we had been friends ever since. Not in the same way William and I were, which made me a little surprised as to why Eve would be coming to me with this problem, but I trusted her and she trusted me. With a secret like that, it's hard not to.
I opened the window and Eve floated through, her face red and puffy. There were streaks down her cheeks from fresh tears, and even her hair seemed messier. Seeing her in such a volatile state was hard for me to handle. Never had I seen her so falling apart.
"What can I do to help you?" I asked. That was such a stupid question, and not comforting at all, but I needed to know. I'd never been in her situation before - or even anything remotely similar - and I knew there was no way I'd be able to find the right words.
"I just need someone to listen right now," Eve sighed. She sat down on the edge of my bed and I followed her, watching with kind eyes.
"By all means," I said. "Run me through it."
To sum it up, Rex cheated on her. She caught him in the Teen Team hideout with Kate (multiple Kates), all completely naked. He hadn't even apologized, not that it would've changed anything. She left, fighting tears, and came straight here.
Why I was her first responder suddenly made sense. Usually, Eve would talk to Kate about any of her most urgent issues. Looks like I was second in line.
"God, Eve, he's so stupid. Like, astronomically stupid," I commented. My heart hurt as I listened to her story — she deserved so much more. "He blinded himself to the most incredible girl right in front of him."
Eve smiled softly, but it didn't meet her eyes.
"I think the worst part is that he told her he thought me and Invincible were a thing," she groaned, looking at the fan spin on the ceiling. "Ugh. As if me cheating would justify him. And if he really thought that, why wouldn't he have talked to me?"
"He's a teenaged boy with superpowers. He's super dumb as rocks," I reiterated. "That's an asshole move on his part."
I purposefully avoided commenting on Invincible. And the fact she didn't comment on whether or not she would be interested in Invincible.
"He used to be so sweet...," Eve trailed off. She got silent for a moment and I noticed how she licked her lips as she looked for the right words to say. "I almost feel like I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it. Like I'm trying to process that I saw what I saw.
"It's even worse knowing it was Kate. I wouldn't have felt any better had it been anyone else, but at least it wouldn't have been my friend."
"I understand completely," I said. And even though I'd never felt it, I did. "It's like... salt in the wound. Insult to injury."
"Yeah," Eve nodded. As she spoke, her features slowly began to steel themselves again. "I lost two of the most important people to me in one night. I'm angry, I guess, but above all I feel played."
"You have every right to be angry. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."
I placed my hand gingerly on hers, sat beside her on the bed, and smiled. She made no move to pull away, so I laced my fingers between hers and squeezed.
"Thanks," Eve said, and even though she still looked hurt, she already looked like she was healing. "That means a lot."
Eve leaned in, and I opened my arms. Wordlessly, we embraced. She was solid in my arms.
It had been a while since I'd done that. William wasn't a huge toucher, and as we've already addressed, I wasn't the most popular girl in school. It was nice.
There was a moment of silence before Eve pulled away and asked, "Can we talk about something else?"
"Sure," I replied, quickly churning the gears in my brain. "What was your morning like? Anything new since the Flaxons?"
"Cecil called in earlier about some seismic activity near Mount Rushmore. Apparently, it was being terrorized by a mad scientist."
"I'm sure Teen Team made light work of them," I said with a confident shrug.
"Actually, it was just me and Invincible. Our seismic scientist put up a good fight, but we fought pretty darn well," Eve explained, a satisfied smile finally crossing her face. "Let's just say all four presidents are with us today."
"You brought Lincoln back from the dead? I knew you were powerful but gosh," I said with a whistle.
Eve laughed. "Absolutely. I was wondering why you weren't there... but I guess transportation is an issue."
"It's a nuisance," I agreed, rolling my eyes. "I fear the day shit goes down in Japan and they have to wait 1-3 business days for help."
"At that rate, someone can just carry you," Eve commented. "Or Cecil could teleport you. I can't imagine it would be too much trouble."
"I'll make Omni-Man do it. I'm sure I'd be easy weight to him," I remarked. I'd seen that man lift entire buildings - I wouldn't even weigh as much as a feather.
As I spoke, my eyes glanced over to my clock. 5:56.
Roughly an hour had passed.
Roughly an hour.
An hour.
"Oh shoot," I exclaimed, jolting up and running over to my window. Eve watched with inquisitive eyes as I erratically jumped across the room.
A small white sedan cruised up this direction. In the dark, I could see the headlights slowly closing the distance between the car and my house. I heard Eve's footsteps approaching behind me, coming to check out all the hullabaloo.
"Do you know Mark Grayson?" I asked, knowing darn well she apparently did. "He's coming over to study. I totally lost track of time."
"Of course I know Mark. We've worked together, he's In-"
"He's in my freaking drive way," I said as I looked out the window at the car that just pulled in.
Eve sighed, watching as Mark stepped out of the car and the headlights turned off. "I should probably go. I didn't realize how long I was here for."
"You can stay if you want," I offered truthfully. "We're just studying."
"No, thank you. I still have to sort through things on my own," Eve said confidently, although I noticed the way her eyes lingered out the window. "You've been a great listener."
"Always," I replied with a nod. Part of me wished I hadn't given Mark such an early time - I wasn't so sure Eve would've left if he hadn't showed up.
The doorbell rang and I turned around, moving to go get it. The moment I did, there was a woosh of air and a slight chill.
"Eve?" I called back, halting to twist around. My window was open, curtains blowing.
Eve was gone.
Mark knocked on the half-open door to my room, peering in through the crack. My attention shot over and I smiled, pretending like I hadn't just thrown the majority of my room into my closet.
"Hey," he called in, pushing through the door. "Your dad let me up."
"Oh, sweet. Welcome to my humble abode," I announced, gesturing into the room.
Mark stepped in, taking a moment to scavenge the place. I shifted from foot to foot as he walked around, looking at my trinkets and items lining my desk and walls. I couldn't think of anything embarrassing he might find, but I knew there had to be-
"You like Seance Dog?" He asked, holding up a loose comic I had neglected to hide away.
I groaned. "Oh, God, I thought I put those away-"
"I love Seance Dog," Mark continued, excitedly talking through me. "It's one of my favorites."
I grinned, mood skyrocketing. "Not very many appreciators of the fine arts around here. Which issue is your favorite?"
"Funny you'd ask. I'm a big fan of the one I've got right here," Mark answered, pointing at the number on the corner. "#43 was huge."
"Right?" I exclaimed, probably a little too excitedly. I turned around, settling into the bed beside my school work. "I wasn't ready at all for the twist. I made William listen to me going on and on about it for days."
"I did the same thing," Mark stated, setting the comic back on my dresser. "He must love us."
"He's lucky we never united until now. This team up has been a long time coming," I agreed.
"Right?" Mark exclaimed, sitting down next to me. "So what're we going to start with?"
A little bit of everything would be the most correct answer to that. Neither of us had the levels of focus necessary to be greatly efficient, and nothing seemed like the 'easiest' thing to focus on. We jumped from topic to topic, strategy to strategy, and effectively avoided learning anything.
Global Issues was easily the least interesting class I was enrolled in. At least Physics was fun.
We shifted positions throughout the bed, at one point reading off flash cards to each other while I laid on my stomach and Mark hung off the side of the bed. Still, as antsy as we were, our most popular positions to sit were directly next to and across from each other.
For the most part, we stayed on task. That is, until I opened Pandora's box.
"I've heard William mention in passing you keep up with superheroes," I commented, my eyes gazing over as I tried unsuccessfully to retain information about agriculture.
"Absolutely. Who's your favorite?" Mark asked, setting aside his studying materials.
"Normally I would've said Red Rush, but I'm kind of liking this Invincible guy."
"Really?" Mark exclaimed, his voice choking up. Probably hormonal - I didn't comment. "I mean... yeah, he's pretty cool. Super strong."
Mark took the moment to flex his own bicep a little, throwing out a goofy smile. I was impressed. He was no Hercules, but for 17 year old boy?
Whew. And through a sweater, too.
"Super strong and super heroic," I mused, my mind playing images of his last two fights. "He sort of came out of nowhere and just started saving people. And the way he can take a punch and just get up and deal with it?"
"I'm not so sure that's the most dignified skill for a hero to have. He looks like he gets knocked down quite a bit," Mark argued sheepishly.
"Don't tell me you don't think there's anything admirable about taking on something obviously much bigger, stronger, than you, getting beat down, and still having the fight left in you to get up? That's heroic," I said. "That's Invincible."
He silenced for a moment, gears churning. He tapped his foot up and down to the rhythm of his thoughts.
"I've always been a fan of Affinity," he declared after a long pause.
The information wasn't new, but it felt eye-opening like I'd never heard it before. I never had the hugest ego, but from Mark, it was music to my ears.
"I think she cemented that for me after sort of... saving me the other day."
I physically fought not to scrunch my face up and recoil. It took a good year off my life. I definitely thought I would've remembered something like that.
Not that I remembered every soul I had ever helped, but Mark?
I put on my most excited fangirl face and asked, "Affinity saved you?
"Not really 'saved', I guess, so much as helped. But you get a new perspective on them when you really see them in action."
"I definitely agree. You know they're super, but they really become heroes when you see them up close," I agreed. The closer, the better, even.
"Do you remember the night you came by to give me that pack of gum? It was that day. Affinity really came to my rescue."
That was believable. I was in such a haze that day, with all the swarms, I wasn't surprised I would've forgotten that. The only thing I really did remember was helping Invincible.
The flip flops my stomach was doing were something else. On the one hand, he was talking about me. I knew already he admired Affinity, but this was another level. But on the other hand, he didn't know he was talking about me. In his brain, he was totally talking about some other girl.
Not that it mattered. It wasn't like I liked him.
"How's your dad?" I asked, despite already knowing.
"Funny you ask. He came home a few minutes after you left. A couple scrapes, but otherwise fine," Mark explained. "Thanks for asking."
"I'm glad," I replied. After a second, I sighed, looking at our discarded work. "So much for Global Issues
"You're a lot more interesting than Global Issues," Mark said absentmindedly.
"I think it would be a Global Issue if I wasn't," I replied, followed with a cringe. "That was wittier in my head."
"It wasn't that bad."
"It totally was. I need to work on my one-liners."
My eyes drifted to the clock as I spoke, mindlessly checking the time. I thought my eyes were going to bulge out of my head, realizing it was getting close to 9pm.
We had been here for three hours and done next to nothing. Time flies.
"I hate to say it but we should actually start studying." This took all my strength to force out but I asked, "What if we left the talking for tomorrow? We could go to burger mart and grab dinner."
I wasn't wholly sure the moral implications of asking this. I was aware there were other incredibly cool girls who may or may not be into Mark, and I wasn't trying to step on anyone's toes. I wondered, too, if now that Eve and Rex broke up, would they start dating at school? Was I stepping on her toes?
Eve hadn't mentioned anything about Mark to me, so I figured I was clear on that front, but she also had just gotten her heart broken so I figured she might not be shooting right into the pool yet either. Whether Mark was into her or not was another story...
Even though I knew what I was asking was nothing more than a casual hangout, nothing crazier than something I'd do with William, my heart still raced. It probably would've raced had I asked anyone I was just getting close to to hang out, but this was something else.
"Maybe not Burger Mart yet," Mark said sheepishly. "I just quit."
"You quit?" I asked in surprise. "Why?"
"That's not much of a Global Issue. More of a story for tomorrow."
"Touché."
"How about my house?" Mark offered. "I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind, and I can show you my comic collection. I mean, if you want."
"Deal," I said. I looked down at my textbook and sighed. "God, I can't wait to learn about Petroleum Tax."
Mark laughed and we sat next to each other on the bed, studying. Wordlessly, I slid my hand closer to his. I wasn't sure if he noticed or if it was purely coincidence, but he readjusted so his fingers were on top of mine.
And he didn't move away. His hand was warm and strong against mine.
My heartbeat flew. I had never sat in silence that was so deafeningly loud.