Chapter #44Doubling Darcy by: Seuzz   You're pacing the room, wheels spinning furiously in your head, when your eye falls on Darcy's mask. All the tumblers fall into place. "Joe, you're a fucking genius," you murmur to yourself. You snatch up the cell phone and call Darcy. "Hey, I'm really sorry," you say in a small, pleading tone after she's picked up. "Frank is sorry too."
"I don't know what you're sorry about," she says in a very clipped and cool tone.
"We were just being stupid yesterday," you continue. "I was hoping you wouldn't be mad, but today—" Yes, she had been very frosty toward you in Cussler's class.
"I'm not mad at you, Joe. Or at Frank," she says. "You guys are who you are."
"Well, can we try to prove that we're better than that? I don't like you being mad at us. Can you come over? Just for a little while? I promise, there won't be any fighting or anything. We want to show you we're actually civilized."
"I know that Frank is civilized—"
"Please, Darcy!" You drop to your knees, even though she obviously can't see you. "You don't know how much I hate it when people are mad at me. It's like the worst thing in the world for me! Just come over, for five minutes even, just to show that you really mean it when you say you're not mad at me."
She sighs very heavily, but finally relents. You thank her fervently.
Frank has been watching you from the dining room. "What are you up to?" he asks.
"We're hijacking her body," you reply as you get back to your feet. He turns a little white. "Patterson is sending over one of his buttboys to help infiltrate Eastman. We have to keep up appearances, at least for a little while, and that means finding him a place. Darcy is available on short notice."
"And how does that fit in with Ursula and her friends?"
"As far as they are to know, Darcy is going to be herself. She'll be the fourth on the team. Oh, and as far as Keith Tilley—that's our new friend—is concerned, you're a golem."
"I am a golem," he says in a very even tone.
"Then it shouldn't be hard for you to play the part."
* * * * *
You're a little nervous about the upcoming switch because you don't know who will show up first, and only relax when Keith appears. "Hey man," you exclaim as you open the door, letting Joe's natural enthusiasm cover for your own, cooler feelings. "Welcome to Escuela de Guillermo." You shake his hand and punch him in the shoulder.
He's a little pale, but warms at this welcome as he steps inside. "Thanks for saving my ass," he says. "I didn't think I was gonna make it out of Westside alive."
"Hey, I wouldn't let anything happen to my little buddy." You put your arm around his shoulder, then impulsively lean in and give him a big, wet kiss right on the cheek. He recoils. You grin, and nod at Frank. "Oh yeah. That's my boyfriend over there."
"Really," Keith gasps.
"Sure, they're a lot more gay-friendly at Eastman." You playfully tweak one of his nipples. "Are, uh, are you gay-friendly, Keith?"
He swallows hard. "Um—"
You push him away with a laugh.
"I'm just jerking your chain, man! This big goof I'm pretending to be is Joe. You'll get used to me acting like this. That over there is Frank. He's a golem." You introduce them to each other. "Golem, Keith. Keith, golem. Golem, Keith, Keith—"
"Charmed," Frank says.
"Hey," Keith says. He still looks a little uncertain after being so wrong-footed. "So is he for me?"
"No. You can't put his face on. Only I can put his face on. Same with Joe here. If I switch, I'll let you know."
"What about the rest of the family?"
"There is none. Yeah, it's complicated. Basically, there's no mom, and the dad is off earning money. So it's just Frank and Joe with the run of the place."
"That's convenient."
"Sure is." You draw up close to him again. "So, if I put you inside a hot cheerleader," you ask, and puff a hot breath onto his face, "would you come over and have a slumber party with the two of us?"
He leaps away. "Jesus, Will!"
"You're so fucking gullible!" You hook your arm around his neck again and yank him down the hall. "Anyway, we gotta new face on her way over, so you should hide in the bedroom until I come get you." You shove him through the doorway. "Try out the bed if you want." You wink at him and shut the door.
Frank looks dubious when you return. "He seems a little—"
"Yeah, and first impressions aren't misleading," you reply. "Patterson likes kids he can push around." You mime punching him in the stomach. He easily blocks you, and it quickly escalates into a brawl. But as with all such brawls between the brothers, it ends with you on the floor and Frank smiling down sourly at you. "Saved by the bell," he says as the doorbell rings.
"Is that the best you can come up with?" you sigh as you squirm out from under him. "The bell jars. Le salut belle. La belle dame sans merci"—you open the door—"beaucoup zut alors marie antoinette croissant!" You lift Darcy's stiff hand to your lips. "Vous avez la simple pression d'un cobra sexe affame," you murmur in a very low voice, hoping she doesn't speak French or can't catch your words. "Entre nous, parlez vous, sacrebleu," you add in a louder voice as you draw her inside. "Avec!" You kick the door shut with your foot, and wrap your arms around her torso, pinning her from behind. "Rapidement! Le masque de la mort identite!" you call to Frank. "Tout suite, mon ami est en attente!"
Frank rapidly advances with Darcy's mask and puts it to her face. She sags into your arms, and you kiss her cheek and squeeze her torso. "You're not sexy, Darcy, but I wish Keith were more open to experimentation with these things."
You sweep her up and carry her down the hall to the bedroom, and kick at the door. Keith opens it, and you push past, dropping Darcy on the bed. "Well, what do you think?" you ask. "Will she do?"
"That's a cheerleader?" he asks, slightly aghast. Darcy has a rather pinched face, and no real boobs to speak of.
"No, she's actually kind of a brainiac. But I had a mask of her—"
"How come?"
"Shut up, that's how come. Anyway, I'm doing you a solid by getting her for you. She's a spoke in a lot of wheels, so it'll be easy for you to use her to make your quota. Patterson wants five from you, right?" He nods. "You could probably make your quota tonight, if you had five masks. We could have ham, too, if we had ham, and ham and eggs, if we had eggs."
"I brought over one blank," Keith says, and opens his backpack. "And Patterson put some of that stuff in a mask he made of me, and I brought it over too. He said—"
"Then let's get you changed and then we'll see what we can do," you say, and start to pull off Darcy's shoes. "Frank and me don't have a lot of money, and I hope Darcy's got credit cards, because we need supplies. Oh, and before I forget, I've got three associates over here already. For them, you're going to be Darcy. For real. You're not someone pretending to be Darcy, you're the real girl. And you're going to be part of our 'group'. Understand?"
"Sure."
You give him a careful look: he's so dopey. "I'll explain it again after you've changed," you tell him, and leave him to finish up.
Ten minutes later you march to the bedroom door and pound on it. "You decent yet?"
"Go away," Darcy's sharp voice comes back. "I'm so pissed at you."
"You told me on the phone I was all forgiven."
"I don't know what you told her, but it's me who's none too happy."
"How come?" You open the door, then quickly close it again as a shoe is flung at you. "What's going on in there?" You open the door again.
She's in her panties and is buttoning up her shirt, and turns to glare at you. On the bed, a half-naked Keith Tilley is sitting up as he pulls on some socks. He stares back at you with a slack-jawed expression.
"You and your fast talk," Darcy sneers. "You came right out and said it, and I didn't even notice!"
"Said what?"
"You want me to spend the night here, or something!"
You jerk your chin at Keith's replacement. "It'd be safer than spending the night with him. You can't even order him around, can you? It's Patterson who—"
"Point is, I can't go home, can I?" Darcy shrieks.
"How come not?"
She points to her temple. "Hello? How do I even know where I live? Let alone—"
"Darcy doesn't know where she lives?" you ask.
"I don't know where she lives! So I'm gonna have to spend the night here, right? 'Cos I can't go home, or to this girl's place. And you knew that when you fast talked me into—"
* * * * *
It's the start of an astonishing conversation: Keith hasn't got Darcy's memories, even though he's wearing her mask. It's the same for Caleb too, he tells you, and for Patterson: No one who puts on one of the masks starts getting the memories for several hours yet, and he's skeptical when you insist that you, at least, can get the memories instantly on putting on a mask.
It's a mystery, but it leaves you with a short-term problem. Either you need to send Keith home without Darcy's memories in play, or you're going to have to temporarily assume Darcy's identity.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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