Faraj cleared his throat.
“We haven’t seen Ben since we left him with you in Idyllwild.”
Alexei felt the breath in his lungs sink like a crater. “Of course. Sorry.”
Of course they hadn’t seen Ben. Ben could still be in Big Bear City, for all Alexei knew. What the hell had he been thinking?
“I thought you two would have still been hiking together,” Faraj ventured after another awkward silence.
“Right.” Alexei lowered his bandanna, swiped at the sweat on his forehead. Tried to think of an explanation for this very illogical encounter. “We got separated a couple days ago. I only thought if you had seen him—I just wanted to make sure he was still all right, was all.”
And as soon as he’d said this—oh no. Suddenly, all Alexei could picture was Ben tripping, twisting his ankle, breaking a bone, without Alexei’s emergency GPS locator, without reliable cell service. Oh God.
He had promised Ma. That he was making sure Ben was safe.
But surely Ben was safe. He’d probably found another group of hikers in Big Bear City—maybe the people from that parking lot, the ones with the guitar, if they were still around?—and surely one of them had an emergency GPS locator, too. Ben was fine. Ben was totally, probably, completely fine.
“You all right, man?”
Startling, Alexei realized he was still standing in front of the Idyllwild bros.
“Um. Yes. Sorry, sorry to bother you, I’ll just—” Alexei started backing up, but a guy he only vaguely recognized interrupted.
“Do you have his number?” Unknown Guy asked. “There’s a trailhead coming up, by Deep Creek Bridge. You might be able to get service there.”
“I don’t have a phone,” Alexei said. “It’s cool. No worries. Good to see you all again.” He backed up another step.
“Hey, man, wait.” Faraj stood. “We’re about to get going, too. You want to hike with us? I’m sure we’ll run into Ben eventually.”
“Oh, uh, no, that’s okay. I’m going to take my lunch here, actually, I think. Thanks for asking, though.”
“Sure.” Faraj dug in his pack until he brought out a battered cell phone. “Listen, I don’t have service right now, but I can keep checking and send Ben a message for you next time I get some bars, if you want.”
Alexei swallowed, jealousy hitting his gut that Faraj had Ben’s number, and Alexei didn’t. Faraj could talk to Ben whenever he wanted. A year from now, Faraj could dial Ben when he was bored, chat about their favorite TV shows.
Faraj was also being nice.
“Yeah,” Alexei said. “That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Cool.” Faraj typed something and then looked at him. “What should I say?”
Oh. Right.What the hell should Alexei say?
“Just tell him…Alexei wanted to make sure he was okay.”
Faraj typed it. “Will do.” He put the phone back in his pack. “I’m sure heisokay, you know.”
“Yeah.” Alexei nodded, exhaling a breath. He felt a small, curious desire to give Faraj a hug. “Thanks.”
The rest of the crew started adjusting packs and picking up poles.
It hit his brain from out of nowhere.
Leon!The fourth guy Alexei vaguely recognized must be Leon. The one who was behind that day, because he’d gotten high and chased coyotes.
Strangely, Alexei felt like laughing. It was possible skipping the zero day was making him delirious.
“Hey, man, if you do end up seeing Ben again before we do, tell that fucker we miss him, okay?” Leon asked.
