Chapter #45Southern Comforts by: Seuzz   Original chapter by imaj
It takes a little invention, creativity and ultimately some outright lying to find an excuse to linger in the bakery a little while longer after Alyssa, Ian and Becky left to return to school. Becky got another kiss, of course, Alyssa and Ian had to make do with a dirty look.
Lawrence is still lurking outside when you leave. You suspected he might be. “Get lost on your way to the door Joe,” he snarks.
You give him an easy smile. “Nah, there was a sign above the door,” you reply innocently. “Just got to worry about getting back to class now,” you continue, wrinkling your brow in honest concern.
Lawrence narrows his eyes, trying to work out if you are genuinely that stupid or are gently winding him up. It’s the latter, of course, and an inevitable consequence of you giving Joe’s personality free reign. “You can’t miss it,” he says caustically, nodding in the direction of the school. “Just like I couldn’t miss you and Becky’s little performance today.”
You smile dozily. “We have so much in common,” you say. “Like you and Lisa,” you add with deliberate tactlessness. “I don’t understand why Alyssa isn’t happier for you two.”
Your deliberate misinterpretation of events has the effect of wiping the smirk from Lawrence’s face. “Alyssa thinks she knows what’s best for me,” he says stonily.
“Does that mean you and Lisa won’t be seeing each other again,” you ask guilelessly, giving Lawrence time to think over the real meaning of what you’ve asked. “Aw, that’s a shame.” You take a couple of steps along the sidewalk. “You would have made a nice couple. Plenty of other girls out there though. I like that about this school.”
You can practically feel Lawrence rolling his eyes behind you. “Yeah, well, Lisa was special,” he replies, his voice dripping with contemptuous sarcasm.
“I mean there’s Maddy,” you say, blithely ignoring him. You turn round and count the names off on your fingers. “Tina, she’s sweet. Mandy and Natalie of course. And Summer, she’s so innocent and adorable.”
“Those are all Alyssa’s friends,” interrupts Lawrence. His eyes narrow again.
“Are they,” you ask, letting the ghost of a smirk play across your mouth. “Isn’t that the kind of girl you’re looking for?” You turn away from Lawrence again. You barely get two steps away from him before he grabs you by your shoulder and spins you round.
“You’re not as dumb as you make out are you,” he asks looking you directly in the eye.
“I’m not,” you ask, perplexity etched all over your face. “That’s not what Frank says: Dumb old Joe.” You let the sentence hang the air for a second before adding: “Of course, if I wasn’t as dumb as everyone thinks I am I might know a way to get you a new source inside Alyssa’s circle.” You return his stare and you can almost him working out the angles.
“That would be quite the morsel of news,” drawls Lawrence. “A lot of people would be surprised to find that out.” It’s not the best blackmail attempt ever, but you have to at least credit him for thinking on his feet.
“Not true though, is it,” you reply with another dazzling smile. “Everyone knows me – nice but dim…” Lawrence scowls at you. “If I were able to help you get inside the head of one of Alyssa’s friends,” you say very quietly. “It would be on my terms.”
“Get inside their heads,” repeats Lawrence, more than a little puzzled at your phrasing.
“That is what you want,” you say a little louder, maintaining the smile. “Get inside and scoop out all the gossip there.” You spin back around and take a few steps towards the school before stopping and staring at an empty parking spot at the side of the road. “I knew I passed a yellow car on the way here,” you say half to yourself. “Dammit, where’s it gone. Now I’m lost…”
“What do I do,” shouts Lawrence after you.
You turn round one last time. “Come see me after school,” you mouth.
*****
“So this is your house,” asks Lawrence as you lead him inside. “Nice,” he adds in a tone of voice that clearly indicates he is lying. “Where’s your brother.”
“Out,” you snarl impatiently. You sent the Frank golem off to buy more mask making supplies. You were lucky you had a blank in your book bag, and luckier still that you ran into a suitable subject for it after lunch, but you’ll need more masks soon – especially if you want to meet Patterson’s target of three new juniors. “Grab a seat,” you add, indicating one of the chairs in the living room. “You want a drink or something?”
“I’m not very sociable,” says Lawrence, perching catlike on one of the chairs. “At least not with people like you.” Asshole. “You said something about getting inside Alyssa’s friends heads.” He folds his arms primly. “Are you actually able to help me with that or are you just wasting my time.”
“I got one of their heads right here,” you say patting your book satchel. Lawrence makes his scepticism plain on his face. “Okay,” you say holding up your hands. “It’s actually a copy of her head.” And all the rest of her. “But it’s totally as good as the real deal.”
Lawrence makes to get up and leave but you cover the distance between the two of you blindingly, impossibly, fast and push him back down into the chair. “How did you…” he asks quietly.
A good question, you think to yourself. Just how did you manage to move that fast? “Here,” you say, managing to keep your surprise off your face as you open your book satchel and take out the mask. You hand it to him. “Take a look at this.”
He holds the mask fastidiously, turning it carefully over in his hands. “It’s a good likeness,” he says. “I’m not sure how you get the picture to stay like that. I’m also not sure what good a picture of Tina Branson does me.”
“It’s not just a picture,” you explain. You’d really hoped to get Maddy Carron, or at least a small sliver of Joe’s persona had really hoped to get Maddy Carron. When Tina interrupted your afternoon nap in the Library on some flimsy pretence to cover that she was snooping for Alyssa you decided to grab her instead. Tina and her accent is a poor consolation prize compared to Maddy and what Joe likes to think of as ‘the twins’ but you are beginning to suspect you wouldn’t like Maddy with Lawrence running the show in any case. “Look at the back again.”
“Oh, yes,” he says flatly. “Look, it says Tina Branson just in case I didn’t recognise her.”
“Look a little closer,” you explain. Lawrence rolls his eyes. You stare at him till he looks down at the mask. He lets out a little gasp of surprise. “I know, they are floating above the surface aren’t they. And before you ask,” you continue, slipping smoothly into Joe’s ‘lecture mode’ of speaking. “Magic, any technology sufficiently advanced, aliens – call it whatever you want to. The important thing is you have a copy of Tina’s head there. If you want to get inside Tina’s head, then you literally put your head inside: Put the mask to your face.”
Lawrence lifts the mask up then stops, holding it just short of his face. “Why Tina,” he asks.
“Isn’t it obvious,” you reply, letting Joe’s ability to lie and improvise on the spot loose. “No one would ever suspect Tina of sharing Alyssa’s secrets.”
Lawrence nods. “You’re right,” he admits. “I just hold this against my face?” You smile another bright smile and it is enough to persuade him to don the mask. Lawrence topples over and falls the floor face first, a mass of scarlet waves erupting around his head.
You sit opposite his slumbering body and wait.
After a few minutes Lawrence props himself up, rising unsteadily to his feet. “What the…” he stutters as he notices the lustrous red hair framing his face. It is Tina’s voice, but robbed of its characteristic accent it sounds strange. Lawrence does a double take as he looks down, noticing for the first time where Tina’s breasts have pushed out and stretched his shirt.
“I did say I could get you inside her head,” you laugh.
“And the rest of her too, it seem,” replies Lawrence, rolling his eyes again.
“Relax, it isn’t permanent,” you explain. “Try feeling for her memories. They’ll be like a…” you struggle to think how you can explain about the copy of Tina’s persona Lawrence is carrying around inside himself now.
“Ah would say it’s like a warm old coat sugah,” interrupts Lawrence in Tina’s southern twang. He smiles sweetly, just like Tina would and you laugh. You watch as he stares into space for a second, presumably picking through her memories for anything useful.
“What do you think,” you ask.
“Ah could get used to this,” says Lawrence, kneeling down in front of you. With one soft hand he unzips your fly and reaches inside your pants.
“What are you doing,” you ask, almost jumping out of your seat.
“Don’t you want a reward sweetie,” asks Lawrence, fluttering Tina’s eyelashes at you. “One good turn deserves another.”   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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