Strange meets weird - Chapter 13
They arrived at the hotel late at night so they went straight to check in and to their suite. Linny plopped on the bed exhausted. "Sleeping in an actual bed is underrated", she thought, as she quickly fell asleep wrapped in the bed sheets.
When she woke up, she found Amy already dressed-up and about to go out.
- I hate morning talk shows! I mean, I love watching them, but going for interviews? Not so much. I'm so sleepy!
Linny giggled under Amy's glare.
- Laugh all you want, but Jack knows I'm not a morning person. This is torture!
- C'mon Amy, you've done it before and you can do it again. Just put one foot in front of the other and go!
- You know, if I didn't know you any better, I'd think you didn't like me...
Linny laughed, hugged her friend and shooed her out of their suite. Amy liked to rant about waking up early, but she was very responsible and she never failed to meet her commitments.
Linny didn't have to star ther day quite so early, so she took a long shower and went downstairs to have breakfast. She smiled to some of the crew members but then went to sit by herself so she could organize her day.
As she was writing down her day's activities, Linus arrived. he had a big smile on his face and greeted her with a big hug.
- I don't know you guys for long, but when you girls left town, I felt sad. I missed you!
Just then the guys from the band arrived at the dining room. Linny had assumed that they had gone to the morning talk show with Amy, but apparently, her friend was making a solo appearance this time. Zach was still in a bad mood. Matthew watched them with interest, while Lenny, the bass player, went to sit with the crew. Matthew dragged Zach to Linny's table.
- Good morning Linny! Hi Linus! You were at a party with us a while ago right?
- Yes, I was Amy's date that time. Hello Zach.
They shook hands, although Zach didn't seem too friendly about it. At least Matthew was smiling and trying to make conversation.
- So Mandy said you were going to spend the day with Linny? Did you guys are a couple now?
That question took Linny by surprise. Huh? Why would he ask that? Why would he even care?
- No, Matthew. We are just friends. Linus came to help me with some research because Amy is overprotective and she didn't like me doing it by myself.
Zach intervened.
- We could have helped you. We don't have as many appointments as Amy.
- You still have the sound check, a photo shoot and a meet and greet with the fans, don't you? and let's not forget about the actual concert. You are way too busy.
- We still have the morning free, we could have gone with you.
- And make the paparazzi follow me around? C'mon Zach, why would you even want to go. It'll be boring. Nothing as exciting as what you guys are used to doing.
- And what is that?
Linny thought about it for a couple of seconds before replying.
- Don't you usually sleep until late and then play video games?
Matthew laughed, nodding his head. It was true enough. If they didn't have to wake up early, they didn't, and he wasn't afraid to admit that he was kind of addicted to video games. This conversations seemed to amused both him and Linus, who listened with interest.
- And that's exciting?
- It isn't? then why are you so fond of doing that?
Linny smiled when she saw Zach didn't have an answer. Finally, Linus thought it was time to stop the amusing discussion before they got too much attention from the hotel guests.
- Linny, we should get going. I can see you have a big list of activities and we only have one day.
Linny nodded and she said her goodbyes. She couldn't understand why Zach was acting like that. Why did he have to make such a big deal about Linus coming over? Sure, hunting for information about traveling between realities was important for her, but he didn't know why. As far as he knew, she was doing research for a book. That shouldn't have interested him too much.
When they were outside, Linus finally talked to her again.
- So I see Zach likes you.
Linny turned her head so fast she almost got whiplash.
- What are you talking about? We are just friends.. well, when he's not mad at me, we are friends. He's really acting weird right now.
- He's jealous, Linny.
- Jealous? of whom?
- You're cute when you're so naïve. He likes you and sees me as competition. It's actually kind of cool that a rock star is intimidated by me...
- You're just imagining things, and please don't be repeating that theory of yours to anyone. I bet it would spread like fire and you know the media loves gossip.
- I'm not going to start a rumor, Linny! C'mon, you know me better than that!
- Yeah, sorry. It's just that Amy said the same thing and it's completely ridiculous. It's impossible for Zach to like me.
- Why would it be impossible? You are beautiful and awesome. Any guy would be crazy not to notice you.
- Even you?
Linny was teasing him and laughed when he blushed.
- Yeah, even me. but I'm not a masochist. I know when I can't win a battle.
- Pfft. Yeah right. You're such a bad liar.
- I'm not lying, you are just too naÏve.
They dropped the topic after that, each of them knowing that they couldn't convince the other.
The first item on Linny's list was hitting the library. Most of the groups about witchcraft or other related topics, only had afternoon or evening meetings, so they couldn't do much about that.
To her relief, Linus didn't question Linny about the topic she had chosen for her book, and was happy enough to go through many books about alternate realities. Apparently he liked the idea of researching that. Linny was surprised to see the amount of books available, of course most were complete fiction or too ridiculous to even consider. Then again, Linny had never believed it was possible to go from reality to another, so it was difficult to choose, so she ended up relying on Linus for the selection. The man was really smart and had identified the best authors quickly. He also got books from famous physicists and their theories about the universe. Linny looked those in horror. Physics had never been one of her strong subjects at school, and the idea of reading about it again wasn't pleasant, but Linus was sure they had to be used. How could she say no? They took notes about most books and then went to a book store to buy the most important ones.
When it was time for lunch, they went back to the hotel to drop off the books and then went to a small restaurant nearby to eat. They talked about other topics, including Linus' job, which was IT support. After listening to him for a while, it was clear that he was also a pretty good hacker. Then they talked about hobbies and Linus was shocked to hear that Linny didn't have any. In theory, she liked reading, in reality, she hadn't read anything non work-related in months. Linus on the other hand had many hobbies. He liked tennis, reading, traveling, Sudoku problems, video games and of course, music. He had been a big fan of Mandy Ferris for a while so actually meeting her had been kind of surreal.
After their lunch, they went to the next item on the list. Linny wanted to hit some flea markets, so they did. However, she never found anything remotly close to her grandma's mirror so she gave up pretty quickly and they moved on to the item that had worried Amy: wiccans and other supernatural related organizations. Linny had writen the address to the most important ones in town, and they decided to go to the largest one first.
The organization had it headquarters in a small building that could have seemed like a regular store from the outside. Inside, however, it was different. You could almost sense the eeriness of the place. They went to the receptionist, a woman of about 25 years old, dressed as a goth girl. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but Linny was too nervous to notice. She just asked for the president of the club and went straight towards him, leaving Linus at the reception area. The man was strange beyond anything she could have imagined, but she needed the information, so she sucked her fear in and talked to him. Thirty minutes later, she turned around furious and dragged Linus out of the place.
- What happened?
Linny was furious, she was fuming, and that was a sight that Linus hadn't seen.
- That man, who believes in vampires, psychics, big foot and so on, laughed at the idea of parallel universes! he actually laughed at me! Him!
When he heard this, Linus starting laughing too.
- Stop it! It's not funny!
- Yes, it is, actually, it's pretty funny. And you look cute when you're angry.
- This is serious Linus, I need information and we just hit another dead end!
- Correction, you hit a dead end, I on the other hand, managed to get the telephone number of the leader of our town's paranormal circle.
- What? how?
- The receptionist happens to be very friendly and she is just here helping her aunt for a while. She actually lives in our town so she gave me the information. That and her own cellphone number.
- OMG you have a date! how cute! you two will be adorable together!
- Linny, don't ruin this for me. We'll be HOT not adorable.
- Fine, hot. Whatever, as long as she has connections, I'm all for it.
- Oh, this is a side of you I had never seen.
- What can I say? I'm desperate. Besides, it was really kind of her to give you information. Not like "Gladiel" over there.
- Gladiel?
- That was his name. Or the name oh his past life or whatever.
After that, they went to three more groups, all which ended being just an excuse for single people to find dates or just so ridiculous, they had to stop themselves from laughing out loud.
They were returning to the hotel, tired and looking forward to some hours of rest before Linus' flight when Amy called. Linny put her on speaker phone.
- Linny! you have to come to my concert like right now!
- Huh, Amy, whatever happened in the morning, I wasn't serious, I do actually like you. Having said that, I thought we agreed I didn't have to go to all your concerts, specially when I have walked around doing research for the entire day.
- Oooh! I like you too Linny! but this isn't about you. It's about Linus! I sent tickets and backstage passes to the hotel, they should be there now. Anyway, you have to come here because his favorite tennis player is going to be attending the concert with his wife. I mean, you'd think Jack could have told me sooner, but noooo, I had to hear it from the boys. I mean, really!
The rest of her rant was drowned by an overly excited Linus, rushing to the hotel to grab the tickets and then running like a maniac to the cab almost forgetting Linny in the process.
- Linus! Calm down! He's just a human being like you and me!
Linus rolled his eyes.
- He's not just a human being. He's the GOAT of tennis and his wife is the GOAT of WAGs!
Linny looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe reading so much about paranormal activities had affected his brain..
- You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?
Linny shook her head no.
- GOAT as in "Greatest Of All Times" and WAG as in "Wife And Girlfriends".
- You could have said that in actual words!
- I'm too happy right now, don't ruin my mood.
He winked at her and she laughed. He was behaving like a little boy on a toy store. As soon as they arrived to the VIP area, Linus started looking around.
- He's not here yet.
- Of course he's not here. I bet his wife didn't drag him out of their hotel running like a crazy person.
- That's true. She's too awesome to look anything but wonderful.
Linny laughed again wondering if he had a bigger crushed on the guy or the girl. She was pondering that thought when the tennis power couple arrived. Linus wasn't the only one who looked at them in adoration, but he certainly was the most obvious one. They watched them walking and Linus almost fainted when they stopped right next to him. Apparently he was fine meeting rock stars, but as soon as a sports icon appeared, he lost his ability to speak, so Linny took over.
- Hmm, sorry sir. Good evening. My friend here is a huge fan of yours and I was wondering if I could take a picture of you two? It'd mean the world to him.
Linus looked at her with his eyes wide open, still not believing what she had just done. Of course, after a few "no problem", "it's always nice to meet fans" and other kind words, Linus finally breathed in relief and posed for the picture with his widest smile. He even got an autograph.
The concert in itself was great. She wasn't sorry of having attended it after all. Sure, she was dead tired, but Amy's voice and her band were amazing. When they finished, they went backstage to congratulate them on a fine performance and Linus' idol followed too. Matthew, Lenny and Zach were almost as funny to watch as Linus. They all had pictures prepared to ask for an autograph. Amy was a lot more subtle but still very exciting about meeting a sports legend.
Linny looked at them wondering if there was something missing. Oh yeah, everybody in the room were passionate people except here. Passionate about music, sports, about life even. Linny on the other hand? Not so much. She'd have to work on that. If switching universes was an adventure, she'd make sure she take'd as much from it as possible. In that moment she decided she wanted to do more than just research for a way back, she wanted to find what made her feel like a kid again. She wanted to find passion.
......
Author's Note: please don't forget to vote and comment =)