“137,” says the one on my left.
“80,” says the other one.
“I’m Atom,” I reply.
“We know,” they respond in unison.
I struggle for conversation. “What do you guys like to do for fun?”
80 looks at me as we walk. A smile graces his face for a brief second. “We like to play Breekbal.”
“We keep that to ourselves, 80,” 137 scolds.
My curiosity has definitely gotten the better of me. “What’s Breekbal?”
80 smiles again. “Calm down, 137. He doesn’t even know what it is.”
They obviously don’t intend on sharing, either. I try my best to imagine what that would be. It must be some sort of game. For a few more moments, my mind remains preoccupied with Breekbal, then we turn the corner, and I see my dad standing at the end of the hallway.
“Thank you, fellas.” He smiles through his big, white beard. “You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, Dr. Anfang,” the drones say in unison as they turn and walk away. I feel naked again, standing alone at the end of the hallway. Dad starts walking toward me. His round body fills the hallway slightly more than most of the other scientists here. He has definitely been looking forward to this day, and that makes me even more nervous.
He reaches out and places his hand on my shoulder. “You have no reason to be nervous, Atom.”
Without me realizing it, he’s guiding me toward the door. “What do I say?”
We stop just outside the door, and my hands get sweaty again. She is on the other side of that door. Dad squares me up to him. “You don’t have to worry about that. The conversation will come. Just be yourself.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?” I mumble into his shoulder.
“Well, then we failed as scientists.” He smiles. “She’s going to like you, Atom, and you are going to like her. Now get in there before I have to drag you in.”
He opens the door and walks in. I follow right behind. I poke my head around from behind him, and I see Ev leaning against the wall farthest from the door. She’s taller than I imagined. Her dark brown hair falls to either side of her face, ending just at her shoulders. Her pale skin makes her look porcelain and fragile. My heart races, and my instincts tell me to protect her at any cost.
Dad walks to the center of the room. I stay planted by the door. The ability to run away if I have to brings me comfort. Dad reaches out to her. “Ev?”
She looks up, and I see her eyes for the first time. They are green like mine, but hers seem to transcend all logic. They don’t look at me. They look in me. I want nothing more than to be with her, but my nerves cause me to look away. She looks away as well.
Dad walks back over to me. “Maybe I’ll just leave you two alone.”
He nudges me toward the center of the room as he walks out and shuts the door.
“What?” is all that comes out of my mouth before I stop myself in the middle of the room. I feel exposed without the comfort of a wall behind me.
I look everywhere but at her. I’m so nervous that I haven’t noticed anything else in the room. A couch and two chairs sit to one side. On the other side is a table with water and protein pouches. I can feel her watching me. It’s too quiet, and I suddenly don’t know what to do with my hands. I decide to break the silence. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
I walk toward the table and see movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn to look at her, and before I have time to react, she has me in her arms.
I don’t know what to do. I just stand there. Her hair feels soft against my skin, and it smells like a mix of sour apples and vanilla. I want to pull her closer in, but my arms won’t move. She must sense that I’m uncomfortable, because she pulls away.
She falls back onto the couch. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I reply as I sit in one of the chairs across from the couch. “You just surprised me.”
She manages to show a little smile. “I feel like such an idiot. It’s just that…[A1] I… well, I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. I knew you existed, but they never let me see you. I was just so excited and then nervous.”
Her confession puts me at ease. “You just described everything I’ve been thinking. That’s why I asked you about the protein pouch. I was so nervous, I didn’t know what else to talk about.”
“Apple.” She laughs as she leans back on the couch. It’s intoxicating; I can’t help but join in. The air around us doesn’t feel heavy anymore. “What’s yours?”
“Anything with vanilla,” I respond. So many questions rush into my head. Before I manage to ask any of them, my dad comes back in. As much as I didn’t want him to leave me alone in here with Ev, now I want him to be gone.
He smiles. “Looks like you two have hit it off.”
“Not yet, Rene! You haven’t really given us much of a chance,” Ev sasses back. She calls him Rene? That’s my dad’s first name, but I would never call him that. In fact, I would never speak to him the way she just did.
This actually reveals more about him than it does her; the side of him that I know would never let me talk back to him. He obviously treats us differently. It exposes a duality to my dad
