Surfacing
Part 16
By Lauren
It was an odd sensation; Drew blinked her eyes once and found herself surveying the strangely familiar hospital room. If she blinked again, she saw Millennium before her. Fascinated, she began to blink her eyes rapidly, and the two images melded and formed into the club.
It was night, and the whole place was pulsing with music and people. Ben worked busily behind the bar, quickly churning out mixed drinks for the typical Springfield U fraternity crowd. Drew pressed her lips into a tight line as she watched him; she wasn’t completely convinced that he didn’t have something to do with the missing liquor.
Dahlia and David Grant approached the bar, holding hands and fawning over each other. They had the glow that Drew despised most in new couples, the feeling that was exuded when two people had found each other and couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.
“Good evening, Drew,” Dahlia said with a plastic smile.
Drew smirked back, wrinkling her nose at David. “You two look like you’re having a wonderful time.”
“With Dahlia?” David said. “Always.”
Drew could detect Dahlia’s blush even in the dim lighting.
A shrill beeping noise was heard over the thumping beat of the music, and Drew’s heart momentarily stopped. Oh, God, she thought, the absolute last thing I need right now is for the smoke detectors to go off.
“Listen, Dahl, it’s my pager. I’ve got to make a call, I’ll be right back in,” he promised, kissing her on the cheek quickly and walking outside. No coat, Drew noted, and it’s freezing outside.
She sneered as he closed the door. “Well, aren’t you two just disgustingly sweet?” she said sarcastically. “All my prayers for another Danny and Michelle velcro couple have come true.”
“Oh, can it, Jacobs,” Dahlia said crossly. “You’re spoiling my evening.”
“So, how exactly did this little fling come about anyway?” Drew pressed. “The last I heard, you were avoiding this guy because your skin has similar hues.”
Dahlia sighed dramatically. “I’ve been working with Chelsea a lot, and I changed my priorities.”
“Chelsea?” Drew asked. Remember, Drew, she coached herself. You’re not supposed to have overheard that telephone conversation.
“Chelsea Reardon, Michelle and Andy’s aunt. She’s an amazing singer; she runs the new little restaurant on Grand.”
“Oh,” Drew said, nodding her head slowly. “So she managed to convince you that the police officer was a good guy, even when your friends couldn’t?”
“Chelsea understands me,” Dahlia defended. “We have the whole singing connection and all.”
Drew nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. I just haven’t met a lot of Reardons, I guess I don’t understand what makes them tick.”
“Taking my name in vain, Drew?” Andy asked, striding lazily to the bar and sitting down on one of the swivel stools.
“Always,” she replied tartly, but with a smile. She liked Andy, though she wasn’t sure why. It seemed that there wasn’t a person in Springfield capable of disliking Andy Reardon. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in Boston with Marah?”
She wasn’t sure if it was at the mention of Marah or Boston, but Andy’s face paled a shade. “We came back early.”
“Couldn’t stand another minute of the feisty, brand-new lawyer?” Dahlia teased.
“She passed her bar?” Drew asked.
“Yeah,” Andy replied, his eyes focused on a spot on the counter. “Right before we left. She was excited.”
“So how did Boston go?” Drew asked.
The sickly look intensified. “Boston was Boston,” he said dismissively, drumming his fingers on the countertop. “It hasn’t changed since I left last year.”
“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Dahlia observed. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” he said rather forcefully. Then, a sarcastic whisper, “Just fine.”
Dahlia raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Less than fine,” she deduced. “What happened in Boston that’s got our lovable reporter so down in the dumps?”
“Nothing happened, okay?” he fairly shouted. “We talked to some people, we stayed over one night, then we came home. Businesslike, to the point, finis.”
A smile teased the corners of Dahlia’s lips. “Marah okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” he said, obviously surprised by the question. “Why?”
“Well, you look like you’re having an onslaught of some rare Chinese flu, so I wondered if she was laid up at home, too,” Dahlia clarified.
He swallowed forcefully. “Marah is fine. I’m fine. Can I just get a drink and get out of here?”
Drew grinned. “A drink. That we can do. Ben, can you get over here and help this poor guy out?”
Ben looked up, smiled, and walked over to Andy, Dahlia, and Drew. “Hey, man, what’s your pleasure?”
Andy closed his eyes. “Oh, God, I forgot that I have to be at the Journal in five minutes. Sorry. See you guys later.”
With that, he fairly jumped from the barstool and grabbed his coat, hurrying to the door. His hand reached for the door handle, then stopped when someone pushed the door open from the outside.
Marah stepped in the room, her eyes meeting and locking with Andy’s for a brief second; she looked away almost immediately, pulling her coat tightly around her and hurrying in from the cold.
“Hi,” she said shortly, sitting on Andy’s vacated barstool.
“Hi,” Dahlia greeted. “Glad to see you’re not sick.”
“Huh?” Marah asked, removing her coat and laying it on the counter. “Why would I be sick?”
“Well, Andy looks like hell, and you two have been up in Boston together, so…” Dahlia finished.
“So how’s David Grant, Dahl?” Marah asked, not so smoothly changing the subject. “It’s awfully cold out there, and he’s talking away on his phone.”
“Don’t try to change the subject,” Drew chided.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, haven’t you been grilling me enough lately?” Marah accused. “Lay off.”
“Why are you and Andy both so incredibly nervous about Boston?” Dahlia said with a raised eyebrow. “What happened up there?”
“Nothing happened,” she said firmly, grabbing her coat and sliding off the stool.
“No way, you’re not just going to leave us hanging here the way your good buddy Reardon did,” Dahlia said.
“Calm down, I’m just going to take this upstairs so that Ben doesn’t spill anything on it,” Marah informed, her tall shoes clicking on the floor as she walked toward the stairs to Drew’s apartment.
“Hey, I don’t spill stuff,” Ben called from down the bar.
“Do, too,” Marah said, but without her usual teasing tone.
“Hey, Dahlia, usually I don’t suggest an agreement between the two of us,” Drew began softly.
“Right you are,” Dahlia interjected.
Drew rolled her eyes. “But, in this case, I have a feeling that you’re dying to know what’s going on just as much as I am.”
Dahlia looked at her for a moment, then jumped from her stool. “Let’s go.”
“Right behind you,” Drew agreed.
“Hey, Ben, tell David I’ll be back in a bit,” Dahlia called as she and Drew fought their way through the crowd of dancing people.
“Gotcha,” he returned, pouring a drink for an obviously tipsy blonde co-ed.
Dahlia and Drew scurried up the stairs, dashing in through the open door of Drew’s apartment. The mischievous smiles on their faces faded when they saw Marah sitting on the bed, her coat beside her, head in her hands.
“Mar?” Dahlia asked with concern.
Marah lifted her head and took a deep breath. “I’m okay,” she said automatically.
“You’re not okay,” Drew observed. “What is going on with you?”
Marah stood and began to pace the room, her long, flowered skirt swishing around her ankles. “Everything that possibly could be going on with me is going on with me,” she said softly, wiping imaginary tears from her eyes.
“Did something happen in Boston?” Drew asked. “Did you have trouble with that Mafia family?”
“No, no, everything went fine with the family,” Marah assured her.
“Then what could possibly be making you so upset and Andy so on edge?” Dahlia asked gently. “Did you two have a fight or something? I know it’s always hard to be at odds with a good friend…”
“No, we didn’t have a fight,” Marah said. “And I’m not really upset. I’m confused, more than anything.”
“Marah, this is driving me crazy,” Drew admitted.
“It’s cold here, too,” Marah observed distantly. “It was freezing up north.”
“Yeah, it’s cold,” Drew began sarcastically, but a sharp look from Dahlia silenced her tongue.
“Marah, hon, Drew’s having a human moment, and I think she actually may want to help you as much as I do,” Dahlia said softly.
Marah smirked. “Drew? Human moment?”
“Take advantage of it while you have the chance,” Drew advised with a half-smile.
Taking a deep breath, Marah flopped down on the couch. “You’re probably going to think this is not at all important.”
“With the way you’re tiptoeing around this, I highly doubt it,” Dahlia assured her.
“Oh, Lord, how do I start this…” Marah said softly. “Well, you two know all the basics.”
“You and Andy went to Boston to see what you could find out about the family who threatened Danny and Michelle,” Dahlia supplied.
“Right,” Marah said. “When we got there, after the airport had screwed up and sent my luggage to Tampa; we went straight to talk to the family that Andy knows, and grilled them until about midnight. Then we left and went to our hotel. It was freezing outside, and starting to snow.”
Drew and Dahlia both nodded, watching as Marah wrung her hands nervously. The bruises on her cheeks, which hadn’t healed since Drew had seen her last, highlighted her uneasiness.
“We went into the hotel, and found out that we only had one room. Of course, that would happen, of course, because every time a male and a female go somewhere platonically, they end up in the same room. There was a convention or something, I don’t know, but anyway, we got stuck in the same room.
“God, it was freezing cold, and there was only one bed in the room, and the whole day had been so damned intense, and I don’t know how it happened, but it happened, and now things are all screwed up.”
Drew’s and Dahlia’s eyes widened simultaneously. “You and Andy…you…” Dahlia said softly.
Marah stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, we did. And now I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“About what?” Drew asked.
“About anything,” Marah replied, standing and beginning to pace the room again. Unshed tears shone in her eyes. “I can’t tell Ben; he’d kill Andy. Andy is Ben’s best friend, for goodness sake. And Andy…God, I don’t know what to do about Andy.”
“Do you have feelings for Andy?” Dahlia questioned.
Marah shook her head. “I don’t know. Oh, Lord, I don’t know anything anymore…”
Drew blinked her eyes again, and the room before her vanished to black.