Gale #3
The drive back to Oklahoma was long, and although everyone else found something to occupy themselves, Ozrik seemed only to be interested in me.
I was a specimen under a microscope. A butterfly pinned to a board, unable to get away.
I sat perfectly still and endured, avoiding his gaze at all costs.
What if he saw lust in my eyes? What if he sensed in me those very things that made guys like him hostile toward me? What if he called me out?
I thought of the pictures I’d taken and wanted to vomit. Squirm. Close my eyes.
“Hey, Gale,” Vern said, shaking me from a borderline panic attack. “Does Olivia have a boyfriend?”
“Shut up, Vern,” Ozrik snapped.
“What? It was a question. I was doing my bro a favor.”
“Yeah, maybe don’t.” The snap in Ozrik’s tone made me tense. It was the first time I’d heard him sound truly angry.
“Dude, if you want dirt, who better to ask?” Vern waved a hand in my direction.
Ozrik shot his friend a venomous glare.
Vern raised his hands in supplication. “Fine. Never mind. I was only trying to help.”
Was Ozrik interested in Olivia? I was reminded of the way he’d checked her out at CineVision a few weeks ago. It would figure.
A stone of disappointment formed in my belly.
It was stupid for a million reasons, not the least being that I was too cowardly to admit who I was, even to myself.
Never mind that I’d once considered a life of celibacy.
Never mind that someone like Ozrik Devereaux wouldn’t even notice someone like me, and that was assuming he was interested in men at all, which Vern’s comment seemed to imply he wasn’t.
To my horror, the silence in the car broke, and I became the subject of conversation.
At first, their questions were focused on my education.
Where had I gone to school? What was my official degree? This led to the annoying and inevitable confusion over the difference between meteorology and atmospheric science. I stumbled through an explanation before getting bombarded with more questions.
“Do you work in the field?” Vern asked.
“No.”
“At a research facility?” Lex inquired.
“No.”
“You’re a real chatterbox,” Elliott said, laughing.
I looked out the window, wishing we were closer to home.
Ozrik’s inquiry came next. “What’s with the photography gig you mentioned?”
“It’s not a gig. I do freelance photography. Sell pictures to magazines. I’ve done one spread and have another coming in the summer for Weather.”
“Weather magazine?” Lex asked, glancing in the rearview mirror. “For real?”
“Yes.”
“Dude, impressive.” Vern nodded his approval.
The longer the focus remained on me, the sicker I felt. They asked me about the article. I gave a short summary. When interest in my photojournalistic career waned, I was exhausted from the stress of not cracking under the pressure of so much attention. I wasn’t used to talking this much.
Then, Ozrik dropped the ball. “I heard you got kicked out of the seminary? What’s up with that?”
My ears rang. Silence filled the car. All eyes were focused on me. It took two tries to make my voice work. “N-no. I left of my own volition.”
“How come?” Vern asked. It was the natural follow-up question, but not one I was willing or prepared to talk about.
My lips formed around many unspoken words as I tried to find a polite way to decline answering. When several minutes ticked by, Vern muttered, “Okay then. Never mind.”
The others chuckled, and I closed my eyes, wishing I could disappear.
We landed in Elk City shortly before eight. The sun had gone down an hour ago, and the streets shimmered with puddles from a recent rain. Lex dropped off Elliott and Noah before glancing into the rearview mirror. “I don’t know where you live, Windrow. Is it close?”
I told him, but it was out in the county, a good two miles from the edge of town.
“Shit. Okay.”
“I can walk from here.”
“You’re not walking,” Ozrik said.
“It’s fine.” The rain had ended, and it was a balmy night. I could do with some air.
“What about you, Oz?” Lex asked. “Are you camping in my garage, or do you have to check in with mother dearest?”
Something crossed Ozrik’s face and tightened the skin around his eyes. “Drop me at home. I need to get my car.”
“Are you crashing at mine again?”
“I’ll go to Noah’s. I want to check out what he recorded today.” He paused, flashed his gaze to me, then added, “I can take Gale home too. Save you the trip. It gives me an excuse to leave the house right away. I won’t get roped into staying.”
Lex laughed.
I wasn’t sure what that meant, and although I would have much preferred walking to spending time alone with Ozrik, I didn’t know how to open my mouth and object.
Speaking up for myself was not something I’d ever been good at.
It was how I’d gotten roped into this stupid show in the first place.
It was how I’d ended up spending the past three hours with Ozrik and his team.
I should have given Lex Olivia’s address, but I didn’t think of it until it was far too late. Besides, she had left me behind, and I wasn’t sure I felt like seeing her yet.
In no time, I was alone with Ozrik, standing in the yellow pool of a streetlight, outside a quaint bungalow-style house as Lex drove away.