Page 47 of Rules for Rule Breaking
He sighed in defeat and nestled his head into the pillow, closing his eyes in preparation. He barely breathed as Winter hovered over him. He winced when the cold cotton touched his skin. Winter’s hands were even colder. “Do you have any iron in your blood at all?” Bobby asked, flinching under her touch.
“You’re making fun of somebody with anemia,” she said, putting her cold hands on his neck. “Are you proud of yourself? Remind me not to stand up too fast in front of you.”
With all his senses heightened, Winter’s hands were the only thing he could focus on. He sat up abruptly and came face-to-face with her. This put Winter in a better position to apply the mask. She concentrated hard, her lips slightly parted like some people did when they were putting mascara on in the mirror. For a split second, he thought he might kiss her. She was so close—it would only be practical.
“There, don’t we look pretty?” she asked lazily, giving his cheek a few sharp taps, which he felt in his entire body.
Throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, Bobby turned away from Winter. He tried to blink the intrusive thoughts away, but he had serum running into his eyes. He ripped the mask off and rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm. He then leaned his elbows on his knees and held his face in his hands, taking slow, deep breaths as he tried to calm the tingling feeling in his palms and soles.
He suddenly felt Winter’s hand on his back. She drummed lightly against him with her thumb. In perfect silence, he allowed her the minimal physical contact. He counted each tap to thirty, and then she removed her hand abruptly.
“How did you know to do that?” Bobby asked in a low, tired voice.
“We’ve known each other a long time, Robert. I’ve observed a few of your deactivation codes throughout the years.”
Bobby pouted. “I’m not the Winter Soldier.”
“Is that why you’re never ready to comply?”
“Why are you like this?” he asked, throwing a pillow at her head.
She threw it back at him, then lay down with her ankles politely crossed and her hands folded over her stomach. She was quiet, but Bobby could feel her wanting to speak. There were so many unsaid words in the air, and it seemed like she wanted to say them all. “We’re allowed to talk if we’re actively breaking a rule. You still high?” Winter asked.
“Very,” Bobby lied.
Winter Park
20. WE WILL NOT HANG OUT AT NIGHT
Ann Druyan once said, “The greatest thing that science teaches you is the law of unintended consequences.” Those unintended consequences were why Winter loved science so much. The history of the universe was basically a series of mistakes. A bacteria floated into a cell nearly two billion years ago and became the powerhouse of that cell. If not for that, humans wouldn’t have come into existence. If asteroids hadn’t wiped out nearly every living thing on Earth, humans wouldn’t have made it. They’d have been eaten by a Spinosaurus, and history books would have been very short. There were so many things that were the result of unintended consequences, without which amazing things couldn’t have happened. If not for someone picking a plant with pointed leaves and burning it a few thousand years ago, this moment wouldn’t have been possible.
The sinking feeling had left Winter. She felt relaxed. Her eyes were shutting on her without permission. The only thing that woke her was the rumbling of her empty stomach.
“Bobby, I’m dying,” she said, clutching her sides.
“It’ll pass.”
“No, Bobby. You need to feed me.”
“I can’t move.”
She did her best pout, which she usually saved for her dad. “Bobby, please. Can we get something to eat?”
“You’re incorrigible.”
Winter dragged Bobby out of bed and out of the hotel. Everything was hazy, and she was having trouble focusing on more than one thing at a time. She had tunnel vision on food, so everything she did was in service of that desire. The only bodily functions she needed for that were walking and breathing. Everything else was thrown to the wayside. Bobby was quiet too.
On the street, Winter felt small. The buildings were standing over her, looking down at her with judgmental faces and darkened windows. They knew. Everyone must have known how far up in the stars she was. She had to learn to walk and use her limbs and even how to breathe again. This was the first time she had ever been altered by any substance. It was something of which she had always been afraid. Winter had an uncle who suffered from alcoholism, and Halmeoni had once said that he wasn’t sick—he was only looking for God in the wrong places. She wondered if he’d ever found Him. He still drank, so maybe not.
The sidewalk was covered in dark spots of chewed gum, and it smelled of car exhaust and city filth. The air seemed to dirty her skin in a way only a city could. Philly was the City of Brotherly Love. It was blue-collar through and through. It felt heartier than Washington, DC, and less assuming. It was your job to find its charms; Philly didn’t want to just hand you all the magic it had to offer.
Bobby was ahead of her, doing his best not to step on the cracks in the sidewalk, like they used to do when they were kids. He won every time because Winter would get impatient and start stomping on them. But Bobby had always been more patient. He found his God in order and patience. His life was like the Container Store, while hers was like the sales rack at Forever 21. She was really starting to feel it now. She caught up to Bobby, and everything slowed downenough so she didn’t mind skipping over the cracks next to him.
“Hey, did you know you can’t be governor in Pennsylvania if you’ve participated in a duel?” she asked. She wasn’t sure if she was yelling or whispering.
Bobby’s lips curled into an amused smile. “Shall we have a duel, then? My honor has been besmirched, and I demand satisfaction.”
They drew finger guns and held them at their hips. Standing back-to-back, they walked ten paces. Winter stuck her arms out like she was balancing on a tightrope. Gravity was misbehaving, and she giggled every time she teetered. The two called out their tenth step before turning on each other and firing. Bobby’s nonexistent pistol jammed, and Winter had the aim of a Stormtrooper. They both lived to tell the tale.
