Chapter 33 (1/2)
”You know, this explains a lot,” Abby mused.
Dan had just given her a brief summary of his world. The two were still on her couch, lounging comfortably. The air between them was casual and friendly.
”Yeah?” Dan asked with a questioning grin.
”Yeah. Like why you are so crap at history, for starters.”
”I read a history book!” Dan protested loudly, his hands crossed defensively on his chest. He faltered slightly at Abby's dubious look.
”I skimmed a history book,” he amended awkwardly. ”Just enough to not draw suspicion.”
Abby rolled her eyes, turning the motion into a sideways flop. From her prone position on the couch, she said, ”You draw plenty of suspicion Danny. I knew something about you was weird, I just didn't care.”
She rolled onto her back and peered up at him, arms crossed behind her head. ”Don't worry though, nobody will guess your story. The truth is stranger than fiction in this case. Only a crazy person would guess parallel dimension.”
Dan breathed a sigh of relief. He slumped into the couch as Abby slung her legs across his lap.
”Yeah,” Abby added mischievously, ”most people will just assume you're some sort of wandering vagrant. You've got the look down pat.”
”Oi!”
She wiggled deeper in to the couch and batted her eyebrows prettily. ”Don't worry Danny, I know the truth.”
She smiled then, a silly little smile, murmuring again, ”I know the truth.”
They fell asleep like that, together on the living room couch. Both exhausted emotionally, they napped the rest of the morning away.
Noon arrived, and with it, a reinvigorated Abby.
”Okay!” she announced, slamming a notebook down on her kitchen table. ”It's time to plan!”
Dan looked heavenward for assistance. With none forthcoming, he scanned the kitchen for a distraction. As with everything Abby owned, the kitchen was a mix of immensely practical and wildly extravagant. She had all the essentials one might expect, an oven, a fridge, a stove, but it was the little additions that really gave the room its charm.
Her coffee machine, for example, was basically a transformer. With a dozen different settings and an automated part-swap function, the device was a tiny mobile Starbucks. Abby loved her coffee. Maybe if he—
”Eyes front, mister!” Abby said sternly, jabbing a finger into Dan's chest. ”Mr. Coffee can't save you!
”You need some structure in your life and, as your personal trainer and closest friend, it's my job to provide you with proper goals to work towards.” Abby's voice radiated pride and her posture was filled with stubborn determination. She loomed over Dan, tall and haughty and perfect. Dan could tell that there would be no escape from this bossy lady.
Well then, that decided it. He needed a plan anyway, might as well have Abby help him along.
Sensing Dan's acceptance, or perhaps determining it as irrelevant, Abby continued. ”To start with: What is it that you want?”
Dan blinked at the question. ”That's a little more philosophical than I'm prepared for, Abbs.”
”It's important,” Abby insisted pompously. She tapped her finger on the empty notebook in front of her. ”If you don't know what you want, you can't know what you need!”
”Poetic.”
Abby pouted, her demeanour shifting in an instant. ”Dannnnn tell me!”
”I can't just... blab out all my hopes and dreams,” Dan laughed in protest. ”That's way too embarassing!”
”Gah! Don't tease me like this!” Abby wailed dramatically, leaning across the table to cling to Dan's collar.
Dan scoffed at her act. Who's teasing you, silly woman? Don't you know that some things are hard for a man to say out loud!?
Like that thought there, just now.
But Abby did not relent, making puppy eyes and bashful smiles and using every ounce of her womanly wiles to pry the truth out of him.
”Fine!” Dan shouted at long last, helpless beneath Abby's watery eyes.
Her cute look vanished immediately. She leaned back in her chair, sitting cross-legged with her pen hovering over her notepad in anticipation.
Dan's eye twitched, but he had already committed.
”Back on my Earth I was...” Dan began slowly, hesitantly, searching for the right words.
”Meek.”
Abby's eyebrows furrowed. Confusion was written on her face. She didn't speak, but Dan could practically hear her asking, ”That's it!?”
Dan shrugged helplessly.
”I was a floater in the stream of life,” he explained. ”I went with the current, never really making any decisions for myself.”
”Lots of people are like that,” Abby pointed out. Her voice, though, was thoughtful. Dan briefly recalled the source of her family's estrangement, her refusal to follow the path they had outlined for her.
He often found himself reflecting on how much he admired the young woman in front of him.