Free Twins by Francine Pascal Page B

totally unexpected little bout with tears.
    But maybe milk shakes weren’t so bad. He’d tried every other way to cope, after all. He’d tried the business-as-usual approach by going to school. That had only left him with an embarrassing public display of idiocy in front of Heather. He’d tried sitting still in every chair in his house and lying in every bed. He’d tried listening to music, sleeping the rest of the day away, watching a movie, doubling his physical therapy regimen … but absolutely nothing worked. Gaia’s face was still chiseled so deeply in his brain that it seemed to appear on any surface in his field of vision. Along with her neck. And her stupendous shoulders and her powerful legs and her gold-dusted hair …
Jesus, Fargo.
    Sanity status on a scale of one to ten? He figured about a negative three.
    His only real goal at this point was to stop asking himself the same incessant questions again and again.
Where did she go, why did she go, is she injured, wounded, dead, why won’t she call?
Maybe that’s why he’d opted for the blender. At least the shrill sound of mechanical grinding could drown out all the questions in his head. Not just the questions, but the silence. The horrible sound of Gaia’s
not
being there—
    He turned off the blender. There was another sound, too. The most welcome sound in the world. The sound of the phone ringing.
    A smile spread across his face. He’d known she would make contact somehow. He’d known she would find a way, no matter what the hell was happening to her. Ed smacked the blender out of the way, splattering its thick gray contents all over the kitchen table as he tipped his entire body toward the phone that was hanging from the wall. His crutches toppled to the floor with a clatter, but he hardly noticed. He nabbed the phone, leaving only one ice-cream-covered hand on the table to support his entire torso.
    â€œGaia!” he yelled. “I’m here, I’m here—”
    â€œOh my God,” came a familiar voice, followed by an ugly, high-pitched giggle. “Could you sound any more desperate and hopeless? That’s really not what women go for, Ed. Keep that up and you’re going to send that girl running.”
    Ed’s smile evaporated. It wasn’t Gaia. It was hisasinine, moronic freak of a big sister, Victoria. He clamped his eyes shut and tried not to let this horrid unwanted surprise finish him off. At the very least his parents, his sister, and her horrible husband were all still off on their little upstate getaway. And that was pretty much the only thing Ed had going for him right now.
    â€œWhat do you want?” he murmured through clenched teeth, looking down at the hand that was now soaked in half-blended ice cream.
    â€œJeez, what is
your
problem?” Victoria groaned. “We’re just checking in to see if you’re okay. Mom and Dad want to make sure you’re not throwing any wild parties over there.”
    Oh, yes. That was certainly what he was doing. It was one big, wild, drug-crazed, promiscuous party after another at the Fargo residence. “I’m fine,” he grunted.
    â€œWell, you don’t sound fine,” she said. His sister’s genius never failed to amaze him. “Is this about Gaia?”
    Ed didn’t utter a word. Of course it was about Gaia—she just
heard
him shout Gaia’s name, hadn’t she? All he could do was balance himself silently on the table and pray that she didn’t pursue this line of questioning.
    â€œIt is, isn’t it?” she pushed. “I don’t get you two, Ed. Your whole ‘best friends’ thing. I mean, you broke up with Heather, right?”
    Please stop talking. Please stop talking—
    â€œIt just doesn’t make sense,” she went on, stomping all over Ed’s prayers. “You so obviously like her, Ed. I mean, does Gaia like you that way or not? Does