He opened the door as Lachlan added, “Tell no one, remember? I’ll be in touch over the weekend.”
“No problem,” Jason replied nodding. He closed the door quietly behind him, feeling like he was in a library, as though any stray sound could destroy a fragile idea.
Out in the corridor, he typed a quick message to Helena on his phone.
From Jason: I’m on my way.
The outer door opened easily as he pushed on it, but he could hear it lock behind him as he stepped out into sunshine. Jason turned and started walking down the steps toward the bus stop a couple of hundred yards away across the open area. Birds flittered through the trees.
“Hey, you! Stop where you are!” a voice boomed from behind him, and Jason felt himself flinch even though he’d done nothing wrong. Instinctively, he raised his hands slightly as he turned, expecting to see one of the campus police officers standing there with his hand resting on his holster. Campus police were notoriously paranoid about after hours access.
“You are such an easy mark,” Mitchell said, jogging over to him.
“What the?” Jason replied. “Are you stalking me?”
“A pimps got to keep track of his bitches,” Mitchell replied, and Jason could see he was trying to make light of his comment. “So is Lachlan a happy camper?”
Jason started to speak, but caught himself, not wanting to betray the professor’s confidence.
“What?” Mitchell asked, his hands spread wide in a gesture of openness. For a moment, Jason thought Mitchell was going to hug him. “Did he read your paper?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe that grumpy bastard dragged you in here on our nation’s birthday. What a douchebag! What’s the rush? Why couldn’t he wait till Monday?”
Jason shrugged as they walked along the cracked footpath.
“Did he have his way with you?” Mitchell asked, half laughing.
“No,” Jason laughed. “What the hell makes you say something like that?”
“I don’t know,” Mitchell replied. “I just can’t figure out why he’d want to get you alone like that,”
Mitchell was fishing. Jason could see he wouldn’t be content until he told him something so he said, “He wanted to show me the desk where Einstein sat before some lecture here back in the fifties.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mitchell replied. “Between the lecture halls, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So he took you into the Holy of Holies.”
“I guess,” Jason replied as they spotted the bus stop through the oak trees lining the walkway.
“And gave you a good spanking.”
Jason chuckled.
“Was he wearing leathers?” Mitchell asked in a whisper. “Fluffy handcuffs?”
Jason slapped him on the shoulder. “You wish!”
It being a holiday, they waited for almost an hour before a bus turned up. Mitchell griped about how they could have walked home in that time. When the bus finally came, they took it to within a block of Jason’s apartment. As they approached the intersection in front of his building, Jason could see Helena sitting on the far corner with her back against a red brick wall. Lily was there, pacing back and forth. Jason waved and Mitchell called out, but neither of the girls noticed them until they crossed at the lights and headed over toward them. Lily was again looking the wrong way down the one-way street while Helena was engrossed with her smartphone, reading something on the screen.
“Hey,” Jason said, walking up to Lily.
Lily smiled, blushing slightly as her eyes darted away for a second before returning to look at him. That must have been some kind of cultural thing, he decided.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I am worried about my father.”
“I know,” he said, taking her hand. Touch seemed like the right response, saying something more than words could convey. “It’s going to be OK, we’ll find him. Either that, or he’ll find us. Try not to worry. Everything will work out. Just give him a little more time.”
Lily glanced at the color print out taped to the pole supporting the traffic lights. Her own smiling face looked back with Jason’s mobile number written on tiny stubs beneath. A couple of the stubs had been torn off, but that didn’t mean anything. The wording beneath her photo read, “Lee, please call me.”
“Well, you guys took your time,” Helena said, getting to her feet. It was only then Jason noticed what Lily was wearing. When he’d left her in the morning she was wearing a baggy New York Jets t-shirt. Now she had a snug fitting t-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. It was the wording on the t-shirt that took him off-guard. Lily noticed his attention focusing on the words and stepped back slightly, showing off the clothes she’d borrowed from Helena.
“You like?” Lily asked.
“Ah, yeah. I guess,” Jason replied, glancing at Helena. She had a grin a mile wide, while Mitchell was visibly trying not to laugh.
“It’s funny, no?” Lily asked. She pulled at the hem of the shirt, pulling it tight over her breasts so Lee could read the wording easily. Lee had no problem making out the large arrow pointing upwards and knew exactly what the wording beneath said: My eyes are up here.
“And my eyes are up here!” Lily added with innocence in her voice.
Helena lost it, laughing as she put her arm around Lily briefly, hugging her as she said, “They certainly are.”
“I don’t get it,” Lily replied. “This is funny?”
“Hilarious!” Mitchell added.
“I’ll explain it to you later,” Jason replied, glaring at Helena.
“I knew you’d like it,” Helena said, batting her eyelids at Jason. “We girls have had a fun day. Lily is pretty much the same size as my roommate so it was no problem getting her a t-shirt and some jeans.”
“Hey,” Mitchell said. “Are we going to head off to the fireworks tonight?”
“Ah, yeah,” Jason replied, glancing at the time on his phone, surprised to see it was already five o’clock.
“No. We must wait for my father,” Lily insisted.
Jason gestured at the quiet streets around them, saying, “Lily, I don’t know where your dad is, but I know he wouldn’t want you waiting for him on a street corner. Maybe he got the dates wrong. You could be waiting here a long time.
“Honestly, I think we need to get in touch with your family back in South Korea. They must be worried about you. There must be someone there that can help us find your father.”
“He’s right,” Helena said, resting her hand gently on Lily’s shoulder. “There’s nothing more we can do here than we’ve already done.”
Helena pointed at the poster as she continued, gesturing at several other posters Jason had stuck up on each of the corners. “If your dad turns up tonight, he’ll call.”
Lily’s lower lip quivered. Her eyes cast down at the chewing gum stains on the concrete sidewalk. A tear came to her eye.
“Hey, it’s OK,” Jason said. “We’ll find him, or he’ll find us. Either way, we’ll get the two of you back together. Everything will work out for the best, you’ll see.”
Lily nodded.
Mitchell signaled, tipping his head toward the 7-11 further down the road, giving Jason an excuse to leave Lily and give her a bit of space and some time to figure things out for herself. Helena nodded, picking up on Mitchell’s signal and indicating she’d stay with Lily.
“Anyone hungry?” Mitchell asked. “Come on, there’s got to be something edible around here.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jason said, and the two young men walked off, leaving the girls on the street corner.