Lust by Francine Pascal

rung of the ladder.
    He got it.
    And he hung on for dear life.
    â€œOkay, Montone.” He was going to have to be his own cheering section. He tried to do it coolly, under his breath, but he heard it come out in a squeak.
    â€œJake!” Gaia hissed from above. There was no more time to be nervous. Jake clutched the ladder and swung his body completely onto it, letting go of the safety of his tiny foot- and handholds and making a huge leap of faith. He scrambled up the ladder as quickly as he could.
    His apartment was silent. He hadn’t lived here that long with his dad, but it was still home, still filled withstuff that had followed him wherever he’d lived. The rich wool Oriental rug that had been a wedding gift to his parents, the dark wood furniture and the photos of his family. But even in these familiar surroundings, Jake felt like he was trespassing. Why was that?
    Well, because he was. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He’d come to say good-bye.
    â€œCome on,” Gaia said quietly, like she could tell he was having a moment of strangeness. “Get whatever you need, and let’s go.”
    Jake gathered some warm clothes, the bare minimum he’d need, and his toothbrush. His dad. It was time to make the call.
    He sat down at the dining-room table and picked up the phone. His dad had given him a lot of freedom, so that he wouldn’t have to lie. Now he was going to. He dialed the number at his dad’s office and had the receptionist put him through.
    â€œDad, I got a call,” he said. “Remember that tae kwan do competition in Montreal I went to last year? They had a last-minute emergency and they need me to be a judge.”
    Jake felt weird lying to his father in front of Gaia. He was revealing a side of himself that wasn’t necessarily the most attractive.
    â€œHow’d that go?” Gaia asked when he hung up the phone.
    Jake looked down for a long moment. He feltexposed. “Fine,” he finally said. “Let’s get out of here. Back out the window, barefoot, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    Back out the window, barefoot. That sounded like a recipe for disaster if there ever was one.
    It also sounded like Gaia’s life in a nutshell.
    Ping-Pong
    ED FARGO SPOTTED AN ENEMY AGENT stepping out from behind a column on the subway platform. He raised his gun and shot as fast as he could—but the bullets wouldn’t come out fast enough.
    â€œWhere’s my Glock?” he shrieked. “Oh my God, I can’t get to my Glock! What’s going on?”
    Somehow he fumbled. His fingers wouldn’t go where he wanted them to, and he watched helplessly as the enemy agent fired again and again and again. His vision went red, and then he was dead.
    â€œDude,” Kai said. “You are the worst Xbox player ever.”
    â€œWell, excuse me,” he shot back. “I spent my childhood skateboarding, not getting fat on Nintendo.”
    Kai nodded in that way she had, where she kind of ducked her head twice and gave a slow blink. Edsnapped off the video game and Kai’s living room flickered into darkness. The only light came from the neon restaurant sign outside the window. It buzzed a little. Somehow that made the silence a little more oppressive.
    â€œSo,” he said. “You play that game a lot?”
    â€œI guess, yeah.”
    â€œIt’s pretty good.”
    â€œYeah, I like it.”
    â€œThey uh . . . they got a lot of the New York details right. There’s nothing weird, like all of a sudden the Brooklyn Bridge goes to Jersey.”
    â€œYeah, right.” Kai gave a laugh. But she didn’t add to the thought. Ed didn’t know what he wanted her to say. But something would have been nice.
    â€œSo.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œWhat do you want to do?”
    Kai shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
    The dreaded ping-pong question of two bored people. Ed