Chapter 24

Reese, Clyde, and I decided to go to the pool for the day.  It was a rather warm, humid afternoon, so I thought it was a very good idea.  Reese had suggested it.  They went together back to their house-where ever that may be-to change into their trunks, and they teleported me to 'my' house to change into a suit.  I didn't own a swimsuit of course (I've never truly swam before), but Ian surprisingly had a swimsuit.  Normally it would be weird for a guy to have a girl suit, but he did change himself to a girl... It was a very strange suit, let me tell you.  It must be some style from the future or something.  But, I was glad that it wasn't a skimpy bikini.  I would jump in, and my top would fall off.  I could so see that happening.

When we got to the pool, Clyde and Reese jumped in instantly.  I hesitated, checking the temperature of the water.  It actually felt like bath water, so I plugged my nose and jumped in.

Once I got in the water, I rolled my eyes back slightly and sighed in happiness.  The warm water felt so good...

I looked at Clyde and Reese's swim trunks, and I noticed that they were exactly the same.

"Um...really, why do you guys have the same trunks on exactly?"

Reese spoke up for them both, "oh...well... You see, Clyde and I shop together for our clothes.  And, we both really liked these...and..."

Clyde picked up where he left off, "and we didn't want to pass them up, so we both decided to get the same pair...and, I guess you could say it's an inside joke for us to wear them at the same time."

I raised an eyebrow and nodded.  "Oh, you guys are so secure about your shopping where-abouts.  And...you two are such twins."  I so wanted to see their reactions.

They gave me blank stares and Reese spoke, "yeah...um, in our time guys shop just as much as girls.  We're not insecure about it like men of today..It's just clothes."

I kind of laughed a little...

Clyde gave me an annoyed expression, "and Jezabelle, we are so not twins.  I mean, look at us."  They both raised their eyebrows.  I giggled.

"Yup, you two look nothing alike."  I'm just glad that I no longer hate guys-oh my, that sounds weird-since Reese and Clyde are so funny.  What would I be doing right now with Ian gone if I hated guys?  Yes, I'd still be sulking in my room over Ian, and really, that's not fun.

"I can't believe all the fussing Ian is putting over you, Jez.  He's going to be gone for a long time, I presume.  He is comparing going to search for DNA like yours based on its codes, but he still will have to look at dozens of DNA."

I blushed.  I hadn't even thought about it-he really is fussing over me.

"Yeah-I can't believe he's doing that for me..."

Clyde answered, "yeah, he really wants you to have a nice life after having a....no life...You know..."  Clyde went under water for a minute, clearly embarrassed that he 'went there', but I wasn't letting myself get sad. 

To change the subject, Reese challenged me to a holding our breath contest.  I quickly agreed because I just loved going underwater-plus, I wanted the warm water to embrace my whole body...

In just about thirty seconds, I surfaced.  Since I've never really really held my breath underwater before, I was out of practice.

Reese stayed under the water while I looked around at the building.  Reese stayed under the water as I stared at the bricks.  Reese stayed under the water as I began to trace the imperfections in the bricks.  Finally, he surfaced.

I gave him wide eyes.  He had to have been under there for seven minutes...I was pretty sure that wasn't possible.

Reese gave me a sarcastic proud smile.  "Yes, I know, I'm the under-the-water-breath-holder-god."

I raised an eyebrow.  That hadn't come out quite right.  But then, Clyde stepped in.  Or shall I say swam in?

"No you're not, Reese.  You know I've done eleven minutes before."

I gave him a wide-eyed look.  Oh come on, seven minutes is improbable, but eleven minutes must mean death.  Well, apparently not...

"You guys...seriously..."

"Oh, sorry Jez.  It's part of our genetic modifications-it allows our blood to circulate better, so we can hold our breath longer and get less cramps when we exercise."

"Wow, that's cool.  I wish I could have some of these genetic modifications..."

"Yeah, if only we could take you back with us..."

"When are you guys going to go, anyway?"

I didn't want Reese or Clyde to go-and especially not Ian!  What would I do without them?

"Oh, there's no rush.  Ian will tell us when.  Since it's all time travel, it's not like anyone's 'missing' us right now..."

"Yeah, I suppose not."

Clyde looked at Reese and I talking, and rubbed his stomach.  "Let's have lunch!"

They touched my hand, I blinked, and we were at a different lot.

"Um...why did we teleport to another pool?"

"Because this one has outdoor grills."

"And we didn't swim here because..."

"Because this pool is small."

I looked at it, and it oddly looked like a dumb bell.  "But don't you think it would be fun to swim between the bigger portions?"

Clyde looked at the pool.  "Yeah, you'd think so, but it gets old after a while.  Trust us."

I laughed.  "What?"  I did so because they told me that they're not twins-but only twins say 'us' in that sense.  As if they're one in the same!  Oh, I've definitely never had that with anyone...

Reese magically took out some hot dogs.  Actually, he had just teleported and got some hot dogs from his fridge at his house, and put them on the grill right away.  But, that only took like two minutes, so it sort of seemed like magic.  But then he forgot the buns, so Clyde went back to get them.  It's just so funny-I'm never going to get used to this teleporting thing.  Or maybe-I wouldn't have to.  I guess it would just depend on when they'd leave-and what would I even do without them?  I don't want to think about it.

After lunch, they took me to the library because I decided I wanted to read more of June the Android.  While I was munching on my sandwich, I started to think about that day at the library (when I was also embarrassing myself to an all new level).  When they took me there, they bid me farewell and said they had some things they had to do.  They assured me that Ian would be there soon to pick me up and I didn't doubt them-but mostly I didn't doubt Ian.  Whatever he says seems to end up being true.

Quite quickly I found the book right where I left it on the bookshelf...not that I remember where I left it, but I got lucky.

I sat down on one of the chairs, turned on the light beside me, and found the page where I left off.

I wasn't skimming for too long when I realized that I hadn't read a certain part yet.  Before I didn't have too much time to read.  Not only did I have little time, but I was obsessing over Reese sitting near me.  Oh, the shame...

Suddenly, I heard a noise in front of me.  I quickly finished my paragraph so I could see what the noise was.

I looked up from my page and saw Ian standing there.  I looked up to his face with wide eyes.  I didn't expect to see him so soon.

"Hey, it doesn't look like you're so happy to see me."

I cracked a smile.  "Of course I'm happy to see you...it's just-I just started to nestle down reading my book..."

"Do you want to continue reading it?  Should I go."

I shook my head.  "Of course not, silly!  You're better than some book."  I stood up.

"Thanks so much for doing this for me, Ian..I can't believe you'd do this for me!  I just can't fathom..."

"Oh, don't sweat it, Jezabelle.  I can't let you live without meeting your parents.  I wanted to give it my all so you can bring them back into your life after a few decades.   You deserve a wonderful life, Jezabelle."

"Well....um, tell me about your day..."

"It was extremely difficult to work through all the DNA comparing yours to a number of possibles, but I was lucky to find a close match to one of your parents here in Longview!  There's a chance that I did it wrong, but it's highly unlikely.  Your father's name is Alexander Evans."

I breathed deeply.  Somehow, I had assumed that he wouldn't find out anything through his futile little mission, but he had.  He even knew what my father's name could be.  Jezabelle Evans.  It did have a nice ring to it.

I stared at Ian for a while, not sure of what to say.

"We can take this as slow as you need to, Jez.  I can look up your father's phone number on the internet to learn where he lives.  Whenever you want to is okay."

I nodded, glad that this was an option open.  But seriously, I wasn't ready.  I was still adjusting to life.

Ian touched my hands, and we teleported somewhere.

We got there, I looked around, and I instantly knew where we were.

I gave Ian a nice, long hug.  "Thanks Ian...for everything.  Letting me stay in your house, looking up the DNA for my parents-knowing me...for taking me here.  Thanks so much-I don't think I've thanked you enough.  Thank you, thank you, thank you."

He didn't say anything in response at first but squeezed me tighter.

Then he whispered in my ear, "I would do anything for you."  Chills ran up and down my spine, but in an instant, our embrace slackened.

I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out at the beautiful view.  Ian followed me, and as we admired the view, I felt his hand brush against mine.  I felt myself cracking a smile, but Ian took his hand back, as if it had never been there.

"Um...Jezabelle, I want to teach you to play chess."

I gave him a sarcatic look.  "How do you know I can't play?"

He raised an eyebrow.  Oh right, you spied on my life...  Surprisingly that barely creeped me out.  For anyone else, it would be, but it just wasn't with him.  I guess if I want anyone to spy on me it would be him-yeah, that sounds creepy...But Leonora also spied on my life too...ugh...

"And you know I'll be able to play because...?"

"Because you're smarter than me and I can play well.  For you it will be a piece of cake, Misses, 'I got perfect grades in high school without trying'."

I had to admit, he did have a point.

We sat down and he showed me told me the basic instructions, gave examples, pointed out possible scenarios for how I could play out a certain board, and I quickly knew exactly what I should do.  Ian was right, I was a natural.  So maybe Leonora hadn't borked up my intelligence after all...

We played game after game, talking little.  I was actually okay with that.  I loved just being in his presence, and the peacefulness of simply hearind the birds and our pieces hit the board was just enough sound.

We must've played a dozen times, because it was quickly getting dark.  At first, Ian won most of the games, but then I was starting to cream him.  I learned quite fast.

When it started to get too dark to see the pieces, Ian suggested we look out the telescope together.  I agreed one hundred percent, since it had been ages since I've gazed at stars through the telescope.
I started to look through the lense to detect some stars and tried to locate certain star formations.  I know there are constellations, but when I was bored, I made up my own.  I was quite surprised how the stars seemed to be the same as I remembered them in my virtual reality.  That is work of future technology, that's for sure!

Ian was just standing beside me as I looked at the stars.  I was waiting for him to ask me to move so he could look, but he never did.  He didn't even go to another telescope to look out at the stars too.  He just stood by me, staring up at the stars.

I turned to him for a moment.  "You wanna look through, or something?"

He shook his head.  "Um...no, I'm good.  I just wanna stand here, looking at the stars...  You can continue."

I nodded and looked back in the telescope.  Ian was acting funny...