Safe Haven - Time Zone

[...Posted by Ted H]

So I noticed on my end how the text looks different when posted from my new computer...go figure...

Got 1 more to run out the year, then it's on to new stuff!

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[Safe Haven - Time Zone]

            Tucker and Jordan were arguing over what time zone they were in, not that it mattered to Cooper, so long as they paid attention as they brought up the rear. Teto, Johnston and Martin were up front having a quiet conversation no one else were privy to. That left Jake and Cooper in the middle, which suited Cooper just fine since there was something she needed to ask.

            “Hey,” she said as she softly elbowed Jake “You alright?”

            “Yeah,” Jake responded. After a moment he asked “Why?”

            “Just wondering.”

            “You don’t ‘just wonder’ anything.”

            “I was concerned about you is all. On that last bridge I thought you’d have a problem.”

            “I didn’t get hurt or anything. No one got hurt.”

            “Why bring grenades if you’re gonna be so stingy with them?”

            “I’m not being stingy. There just are places you shouldn’t explode.”

            “Like a bridge?”

            “It’s not safe.”

            “Anytime I threw a grenade in a video game, it always fell off and I felt like an idiot for wasting them. But I never worried about bringing down the damn bridge.”

            “Yeah, well, shit gets old and easier to break down.”

            “If all it took to bring down that last bridge was a grenade, then it would’ve collapsed the second we started running across it.”

            “Whatever. What’s done is done.”

            “I mean, that roller coaster you idiots scale every day has better odds of finally falling over before any bridges.”

            “Dually noted.”

            “So is it a problem with grenades in general or did you have a bad experience on a bridge as a child?”

            Jake closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s just…” he started “Before I got to Safe Haven, a bunch of us had to cross a bridge. It was raised and we had to lower it for the cars. It had been bombed beforehand and when we lowered it, it ended up collapsing.” Jake stayed quiet for a moment before finishing “Not everyone made it.”

            “Well that sucks,” Cooper said, immediately scolding herself mentally for it. Usually she hates listening to peoples sob stories, but since she pretty much asked Jake for his, inadvertently or not, and since it was Jake and not some random looking for an ear, she felt compelled to endure.

            “Gotta say,” Cooper said “Not every day you open up about your trip over here.”

            “Well you kinda asked.”

            “Don’t remind me. Still though, you tend to ignore other people when they inquire.”

            Jake shrugged “Seemed relevant. Besides, it directly led to what I did at the end of my little race to Safe Haven…and I think only you would understand why I did what I did.”

            “What happened?” Realizing too late that she willingly set herself up for another sob story. Instead of answering her though, Jake turned around to regard Tucker and Jordan. “For fucks sake,” he screamed “We are in mountain time!” He was ignoring another prod into his past, which Cooper accepted.

            “I don’t see no mountains,” Tucker yelled back.

  
          “And I don’t see no Pacific Ocean either,” Jake yelled back before turning back around and walking with Cooper. They didn’t say anything as they walked, which for some odd reason bothered Cooper.