“Do they not realise what this means?” Jess asked in disbelief.
“I’m having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around it myself,” said Mitch. “Besides, they might figure something out. It might not be the end.”
“Fingers crossed,” Lucy and Jess said at the same time.
Lucy sat on the front steps to her block of flats. Jess had gone back to her place a few streets away. Mitch was packing.
She looked up and down the street. It was a hot day. Normally, on a day like this there would have been a steady stream of people, with beach towels slung over their shoulders, making their way to or from the nearby beach. Today she only saw a lone man walking his dog. He nodded grimly at Lucy but didn’t say anything. She nodded back. Even the normal constant noise of the traffic on Ormond Esplanade was muted.
Lucy heard Steve before she saw him. She watched the end of the street as a young man on a motorbike came around the corner. She stood as he pulled up in front of her and took his helmet and jacket off. He came over and she slipped easily into his arms. He hugged her tight.
“Hey,” he murmured into her hair.
“Hey,” she whispered back.
They stood like that for a few minutes, bodies pressed against each other, drawing comfort, until it got too hot. They leant back and looked at each other. Steve reached down and brushed a strand of hair out of Lucy’s eyes.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. I guess. How are you?”
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest.”
“No, I know. I feel like pinching myself. Repeatedly. Until I wake up. It’s not working though.”
“Pity. I wouldn’t mind waking up either. Did you see the story this morning?”
Lucy frowned. “Only the looting.”
“Yeah I saw that. Just more doom and gloom. The American government announced that they have some shelters and they’re having a lottery for places.”
“Wow. Pity we’re not American. How many places do they have?”
“Almost a million.”
“A million! They must have been planning that for a while.”
“Considering there are over 300 million Americans, it doesn’t seem like much.”
“I suppose so,” Lucy said. “D’you reckon the Aussie government have any top secret shelters or a lottery planned?”
Steve shrugged. “Probably not.”
“Thanks for coming over.” Lucy hugged him again.
“I wanted to,” Steve replied. He kissed her forehead. “Want to go for a walk?”
Lucy nodded. Steve took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. They headed down the street toward the beach.
“How’s your family?” Lucy asked while they stopped at the traffic lights, waiting for the green man even though there was hardly any traffic.
“They’re okay. Worried, of course. I don’t know. Mum’s never really been the type to share her feelings. My sisters talk to each other more than they talk to me. Dad’s stuck in Hong Kong. He managed to get through on Skype this morning.”
“Will he be able to get back?”
“I hope so. He’s trying to get on the next flight out of there.”
“My Mum wants me to go home to the farm.”
“Yeah, makes sense. What about your sister? She’s in Canada, right?”
Lucy nodded. “I don’t know what Claire’s going to do. I haven’t talked to her. I just got an email from her telling me to go to Mum and Dad’s in case things get bad.”
“Yeah… you’re lucky in a way. When do you think you’ll go?” Steve asked. They reached the beach. It was empty save for a lone swimmer a few hundred metres away.
“Tomorrow. Or tonight. Mum’s pretty keen for me to get out of here.”
“Oh.” Steve looked down at his feet.
“What?”
“Well… it’s just… if they don’t get rid of this thing… I might not see you again.”
Lucy rocked on her heels.
“Why am I so dense?” she muttered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that… wait, that came out wrong. I just… this is so surreal.”
Steve hugged her. “Yeah, I know. It’s okay.”
“No it’s not. None of this is. It’s screwed up. This isn’t meant to happen in real life. Just movies and books.”
“I know.”
“You could come with me.”
“To the farm?”
“Yeah,” Lucy replied, warming to the idea. Steve could come with her — they’d be together. Support each other through this, like a real couple.
“What about my family?”
“Um…” Lucy thought about Steve’s domineering mother and prissy sisters on the farm. “Er…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not sure they’d like it…” Steve said. “And I couldn’t leave them. Not now. They need me.”
“Of course. I understand,” Lucy said, even though she didn’t, not yet. “But… what will you do if everything goes haywire?”
Steve shrugged. “We’ll manage.”
They stood side by side on the beach, watching the waves crash in, undisturbed.
“It’s really not fair,” said Steve, bringing Lucy out of the trance that the waves had put her into.
“No kidding.”
“This’ll probably come out totally sappy, but I finally meet a great girl who I could possibly see myself with for the rest of my life… and it turns out the rest of my life might not be very long at all.”
“Really? Do you mean that?”
“Yes. I mean it. I… I think I love you, Lucy Black.”
Lucy smiled up at him, tears suddenly prickling her eyes. “I think I love you too, Steve Martinelli.” Of course, it took the possible annihilation of the planet for him to finally say ‘I love you’.
Saying goodbye to Steve was hard, but not as hard as she would have thought. Harder was Jess. After a stop-and-start goodbye with Steve that started in her bedroom and ended on the footpath, filled with kisses and promises to keep in contact, and a half-hearted suggestion for him to come up to the farm for a few days, she’d sent him on his way. She blinked back tears as she set off in the opposite direction towards Jess’ home.
Jess opened the door after Lucy had knocked four times. Her hair was still standing straight up.
“Come in, come in,” Jess ushered her into the lounge room. Jess’ belongings were scattered everywhere. Her cat, Mergatroid, was sniffing cautiously at a coat slung over the couch.
“I don’t know what to take!”
Lucy shrugged. “What do you think you’ll need?”
“I don’t know! That’s the problem. If the world ends in March, am I really going to need a coat?”
“Probably not.”
“But say we survive it, then it will get cold, and I’ll need a coat.”
“Then take the coat.”
“You’re really not much help.”
Lucy shrugged again. “I’m as clueless as you, Jess.”
“Mitch told me he liked me.”
“What? Finally! When?” Lucy exclaimed.
“When you went downstairs to call Steve.”
“What did you say?”
“That his timing was terrible.”
Lucy laughed. “I suppose it is.”
“I told him if we survived this thing, maybe we could go on a date.”
“Good, something to live for! Steve told me he loved me.”
“Why does it take the end of the world for guys to admit their feelings?”
Lucy spent the next half hour helping Jess pack. She decided to take the coat after all “You never know,” was her reasoning. They packed up her little Hyundai Excel until it was almost exploding.