More words to keep things going. This scene doesn’t connect to the previous scene at all. I found the story in midstream and am pushing forward to bring this to a conclusion before jumping back to pick up the threads I missed. Did I mention that this is an experiment in persistence? First drafts don’t have to follow the logic of final drafts. If you are reading along, thank you. Hang in there.

Where’s the rest of this? Right here.

***

“That’s incredible. You gave up everything to be with Lana.”

“Yes.” Sebastian was smiling. “I gave up everything to be with Lana.”

“Incredible,” Frieda said again. And then she smacked him in the face. “Dumb ass. Don’t you realize she’s going to die someday. Lana is going to die. What then?”

The smile fell off Sebatian’s face. Then, numb shock.

“Of course. Of course,” he said. “I thought of that.” But his voice was small and uncertain. “When she dies, I will die as well.”

“Bullshit,” she said. It was an accusation. “You haven’t really. Death is terrible. It is an awful thing to contemplate. You haven’t thought about this at all. You have no idea. Does Lana even know you are coming?”

“Of course she does. I told her I would come back for her. How could she not know this?”

Frieda snorted. “Do you have any kind of plan?”

“I will figure it out.”

“No plan. You don’t even know where she lives.”

“I will recognize the place when I see it.”

“There’s an easier way,” Frieda told him, pulling out her phone. “Its called Google.  What’s her last name?”

Sebastian started at Frieda blankly.

“Her family name, “ Frieda explained.

“Her family is called Riordan.”

“Great.” Frieda taped on the glass of her phone for a few seconds then turned it to show Sebastian. “Got it. Phone number and address.” She tapped a link.

“Is this her house?”

Since he had been here, his mind had felt so limited, so finite and confused. How strange that this small device could extend Frieda’s mind and give her perception of things Sebastian had only been able to see from above.

“That’s it,” he said, excited. “Please take me there.”

Frieda shook her head. “Slow it down, tiger. It’s two in the morning. You can’t just go up and knock on a girl’s door at two in the morning. This isn’t your run of the mill booty call.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m sure you don’t,” Frieda said. “You can’t just wake her up unexpected in the middle of the night and expect good things to happen. We need a plan.’’

“We?”

Frieda sighed. “I’m going to help you. I need to see this saintly creature for myself.”

Sebastian smiled, took her hand in his. “You are a good person, Frieda Andreason. You are my friend.”

Frieda shrugged. “I’m an idiot. But there’s no helping that. I start things, I got to finish them.”

“Can you take me there now? Not to see her. I just want to see the place where she is.”

Frieda agreed. “Okay. But we aren’t knocking on the door tonight. Just drop by for a look see. You will see her tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” Sebastian told her, but Frieda didn’t feel at all like it was a settled thing.