Highly Illogical Behavior(49)

He walked into the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter, watching his parents chop vegetables in silence until they acknowledged him.

“What’s up, kiddo?” his dad finally asked.

Then this came out:

“Mom, Dad, there’s this episode of The Next Generation called ‘The Drumhead,’ and in it, this medical technician named Tarses is accused of sabotaging the ship. The investigator, this super hard-ass, then tells everyone that Tarses lied on his Starfleet Academy entrance application by saying he was one-fourth Vulcan when, in fact, he was one-fourth Romulan.”

“Fascinating,” his dad joked.

“Okay . . . where was I?” he looked all around, like the words were scrolling past him in the air and he was trying to read them. “Right. See, the Romulans. Oh boy, where do I even begin with the Romulans? Things aren’t great with them all the time, okay? There’s a lot of bad blood. And don’t be confused with the original Star Trek, because, in that series, the Romulans are always bad guys. And in the movie reboots, too. Did you guys see the movie reboots?”

“Yes,” his mom said, a confused look on her face. “You’re losing us, Sol.”

“Anyway, to be a Vulcan is just . . . it’s better, right? Because Vulcans are peaceful, and they’re all about logic and reason over emotion. But see the Romulans are all emotion. Passionate and cunning. It’s what fuels them. They’re always getting pissed and causing a lot of trouble. And, see, the writers were really smart because they created the Romulans to be a counterpoint to the Vulcans, but they made them share the same ancestry. It’s so complex. I could go on for days about it, honestly.”

“But that would be highly illogical,” his dad said in a robotic voice.

“Good one,” he said. “But, can you see where lying about being one and really being the other could get you into some trouble with the Federation?”

“Sure,” his mom said. “But what the hell does this have to do with anything, Sol?”

“It has to do with the fact that Tarses lies about who he is and you can just see the guilt ripping him apart. You can see it on his face. And he says it’s a mistake that’ll be with him for the rest of his life.”

“Spill it,” his mom said.

“I don’t want to make that mistake, okay? I don’t want to lie about who I am, even if it doesn’t matter. It’s who I am. It’s part of me.”

“What is?” his dad asked.

“I think you already know.”

Not many people would consider Solomon Reed lucky. He had debilitating anxiety, a weak stomach, and he was in love with his straight best friend. But in the parent department, he had won the lottery. So, he’d always known that when he finally told them, they’d make him feel like it was no big deal, like it didn’t change a thing. They’d say they loved him just like he was, that there was no way they couldn’t.

And that’s exactly what they did.





TWENTY-FOUR


    LISA PRAYTOR


Lisa hadn’t been over to see Solomon in two days, and she knew he was probably a little thrown off by it. Or maybe he didn’t really need her anymore. Maybe nobody did. But she needed him—at least until she could get out of there for good. Lisa had to be rational about this and stop letting her paranoia about Clark and Solomon jeopardize the entire plan. Whether they were in love or not, she couldn’t let Solomon find out about that essay or he may never recover.

She needed to try, one more time, to convince Clark that keeping it a secret was the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be easy, though, especially if he was keeping a secret of his own. But, for the time being, she was banking on Clark still being hers and that good ole Lisa Praytor charm to make things right again.

Just before she left her house for Clark’s, Lisa decided to check her e-mail. Not surprisingly, it was already signed in to Clark’s account. This happened all the time. He didn’t have a laptop, and he was always borrowing hers when he came over. Half the time, ever since school had let out, she just let him take it home with him.

She was about to log out when curiosity got the better of her and she started to scroll through his in-box. Most of the messages were from Solomon. She wasn’t surprised because her in-box looked nearly the same. Solomon was sort of an insomniac, so sometimes he’d stay up really late and e-mail them links to funny videos or articles about dumb things like that coffee that comes from Asian tree cat feces.

Lisa read over a few of the e-mails before thinking to click on the Sent folder. When she did, the top message was one Clark had written to Solomon the previous night.


Sol-

I was thinking about yesterday and I just wanted to apologize again if I weirded you out. Let’s go swimming tomorrow. With trunks. Ha-ha.

Clark

Lisa thought about crying, for just a second, but her breakdown at Janis’s had destroyed her tear ducts. Instead, she walked downstairs, got in her car, and drove across town to Clark’s house. She stood outside the front door for a few minutes before knocking, trying to talk herself out of dealing with this when it still hurt so bad. She just needed him to confess. If he lied to her, it would break her heart. Eventually, instead of knocking, she opened the always unlocked door and walked back to his bedroom.