Parents' Weekend Meet & Greet, The Park, Friday Afternoon
The day had dawned crisp and clear, but by the time afternoon had rolled around... it was really still kind of ridiculously warm for fall. People could probably get away with not wearing a sweater, even
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She was going to have to talk to people. Why did it always come down to talking to people, anyway?
She should have brought J.D. People liked dogs. But they were impossible to sneak onto planes.
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It just meant that he was going to wait until she got close enough to talk to her. "You lost, or trying to be lost?"
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Wait. That wasn't going to help things. Also he didn't exactly look like he was going to kidnap her and sell her to some sexual predators over the Internet. He looked kind of hot, even if he was old.
"I mean ..."
Reggie shrugged, awkwardly. "Maybe a little," she admitted.
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"So, who are you looking for? And are they going to freak out when they see you, just so I can have the camera ready."
Okay, maybe he wasn't quite as reformed as he likes to think.
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So she reached into her backpack, fumbling with the clasps, and fished around through ... all of the food she had just stolen from the picnic buffet.
Look, she was resourceful, okay?
"I got a letter," she said, holding it out to him. "It didn't have a name on it or anything. It just said it was to me."
That much was true.
"But I ... I think it's from George," she said. Carefully. Because when people found out she thought she was getting letters from her dead sister, that was when she ended up in therapy.
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Seifer took the letter and read it over, before his brain screeched to a halt at the name she said.
"George? Um, got a last name for George?" Not that there was another George on the island, but he was pretty sure there had been mention of rules and being dead and stuff.
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It was then that Reggie realized that everything was just ... hanging on this one moment, like her entire life or something. She had flown all this way and it was going to be for nothing and she was going to be grounded forever and have to sleep on the ground until she got home again and Mom was going to kill her.
"She's my sister," she blurted out.
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"She's my roommate." He paused and held out his hand. "I'm Seifer Almasy," he told her, his name soudning like cypher.
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Reggie had flown the whole way here, expecting to see George. She knew that. But she hadn't really believed it would happen. Because George was dead, and dead people didn't go to Maryland to have picnics and get hot roommates.
It hurt all funny, when she tried to breathe. She had to keep herself from hurling herself at this guy's legs and squeezing. It was bad enough that her eyes were all wet as she took his hand.
"Reggie," she said. "Can you -- can you take me to her?"
This was probably the part where he was going to drag her off and kidnap her, right? That was an entirely acceptable risk right now.
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"Sure. We'll look around for her, and if nothing else, I'll park you on her side of the room with a bag of cookies and a bottle of soda."
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Because that wasn't a family trait or anything.
"You have cookies?" she asked. It was best to get these things confirmed. Her therapist had lied about having cookies.
It was a really bad idea to leave with him, but not if there was even a chance he was serious about George.
"Wait," she said. "Prove it."
She tried to look very stern. "Prove you're her roommate or ... or whatever."
Or that he knew her, or anything at all.
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"There. And as for cookies, we'll grab a bag full from the picnic table."
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"Okay," she said, swallowing past another thick lump in her throat. "Y-yeah."
She hadn't said thank you or anything so she should do that. When she had words again. Probably.
For now she was going to put her letter back in her backpack and try not to freak out or something.
" Let's go."
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