“That is untrue,” Roger said. “Your grandfather would’ve been quite proud of you, I think. He would’ve been especially proud of how you fought to protect the innocent.” He paused. “Your mother, too.”
With that, Roger clicked, and he zoomed off.
Lulu walked up and leaned against me. She was still crying.
“Do you remember when it used to lightning-storm?” she asked. “He would sing for us sometimes.”
“I remember,” I said as Roger disappeared in the distance. His scheduled rendezvous with the communications tablet in the woods would be in two minutes.
Five minutes later, we both received a quick text-only message from Roger.
Supposition correct. RMI soldiers approaching with what appears to be a Faraday cage device. I will be going offline now. Have a good show.
Ten minutes later, a lance came down from the sky and obliterated the entire area around the rendezvous with such a loud explosion, it shook the ground.
“Bye, Roger,” I said.
Chapter 42
Isat behind my drum kit, testing the kick drum. I reached down and adjusted the pedal. To my right, Sam stood with his bass. He had his armored jacket on, and he’d stretched the Rhythm Mafia shirt over it. He grinned at me.
“You know, now is your last chance,” I said.
“My last chance for what?”
I pointed a drumstick at Ariceli, who stood at the other end of the stage. Rosita was affixing a camera to the top of the large woman’s Conquistador gun. “It’s your last chance to come clean about why you’re scared of ex-girlfriend number two.”
“I’m not scared of her,” Sam said.
“Okay,” I said. “Well, you’re something. What’s the deal?”
“It’s embarrassing, all right?”
I laughed. “You told me about you breaking the vase instead of me. What could be more embarrassing than that?”
He paused. “I lost my virginity to her. It’s a sex thing.”
“We all know you lost your virginity to her. What, did you blast in your pants before you could get it out or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I just said something really stupid, and I couldn’t look at her afterward because of it.”
I laughed. “What did you say?”
He sighed. “You know how she’s like way taller than me? Well, she was on top, and while we were doing it, all this stuff started gushing out of her, and I had no idea what the fuck was happening, so I like freaked out. And then I just sort of shouted, ‘Thar she blows!’ ”
I started laughing even harder, and I couldn’t stop. Everyone looked at us, and I waved them away. I laughed until I couldn’t breathe anymore.
“What did she say?” I finally managed to get out.
“She was, like, really into it, right? And I was so embarrassed at what I’d said that it was like I’d blown a flat. So I got up, and I ran away.”
“Wait, you ran away?”
“Butt naked. I ran for the hills. I forgot my clothes. I was so embarrassed that I sent her a message saying I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to take the Old Trail back to my house.”
I continued to laugh. “Dude, that was such a dick move. Have you ever apologized?”
“Yeah, sort of. But no, not really. I know I was an asshole, but I was just a dumb kid, and everything I did afterward just made it worse. And then she moved away. I’m just glad she never told anybody.”
