“Well, have a good afternoon.”
“Thank you, sir. You, too.” He didn’t wait to wave him off, and stepped quickly toward an office he knew would be empty at this time in the afternoon. Commander Bright was out on the shooting range doing target practice, and Peter could sneak in to use his phone.
He dashed into the office, closing the door behind him, and picked up the handset and spun the numbers he’d memorized at the concert.
It rang twice; then a young boy’s voice answered.
“Hello, may I speak to Allison Macclesfield, please?” He’d never had a reason to call anyone before, so he wasn’t quite sure about his phone etiquette. His lack of knowledge was stupid. The powers in charge expected him and his cohort to go out into the world as super-secret soldiers, but how were they supposed to be effective if they were kept isolated and out of touch with the rest of humanity? If he were in charge, he’d let The Program residents off campus more freely. No one would ever suspect that there were genetically enhanced soldiers walking amongst them. He physically didn’t look any different. Well, maybe a little different. From what he’d observed at the concert, a lot of Americans were kind of out shape. Peter had muscles everywhere a male was supposed to.
“Hold on,” the boy said. Then Peter had to pull the handset away from his ear as the boy shrieked, “Aaalllissoooon. Phoooone.” Then silence. He waited a minute and debated hanging up. Maybe she hadn’t really wanted him to call. And then her slightly husky voice spoke, and he relaxed back into his seat.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s me. Peter.” A grin split his lips at the sound of her voice. “From the concert,” he added in case she had a few friends named Peter.
“Peter. Wow, you don’t play around.”
“What do you mean?” Had he done something wrong?
“We met yesterday. Usually when a guy says he’ll call, he means minimum three days from then, usually a full week.”
“Oh, sorry. Should I call back next week?”
“No.” Her answer came through the line immediately. “I love that you called.”
“Then I’m glad I called.” They stopped talking, and he sat with a goofy grin cradling the handset as if it were as precious as Allison. A quiet cough came over the line.
“Peter? You still there?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m not used to speaking on the phone. What do you normally talk about with your friends on the telephone?”
She giggled huskily. “I don’t know…stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“School, boys, music, movies, my day.”
He frowned. There was nothing on that list he could talk about except for the last thing, which he seized upon. “How was your day?”
“Not as good as yesterday.”
“What happened yesterday?”
“I met this great guy, and we”—her voice lowered—“had amazing sex.”
The grin was back on his face. Yesterday had been the best day of his life. He wanted more days like it. Unfortunately, due to his situation, they’d have to be stolen moments. “What about today?”
“We didn’t have sex today,” she said teasingly.
He gave a low laugh, and felt his heart fill with something he’d never felt before. Tenderness toward a non-family member. “What about at work?”
“I didn’t have sex at work either,” she said.
It took him a moment to realize she was kidding around. “I meant how was your work day?”
“I knew what you meant, but I love teasing you. It’s so easy.”
He had no idea whether he was an easy mark to tease or not. No one had ever tried to tease him before. Allison was the only person he’d met who didn’t know he was the very first genetically enhanced baby born to the US government’s secret Program. His life was full of medical tests and physical challenges along with IQ tests. Not teasing. Never jokes. Sometimes the older soldiers joked around, and he envied them their camaraderie. They’d hang out in the lounge, watching TV, and sometimes Peter would join them, but he never felt like one of the guys.