I made a quick call to the gym and rescheduled my court time for Wednesday afternoon instead. Phil might be pissed, but you could almost always pick u... a new partner if one flaked out.I got to bed again and didn’t sleep well because I didn’t have any exercise during the day, except for my right arm, which was sore because I was wielding an eight-inch brush heavy with flex glue all morning. And what did I care anyway because school was a shitbag and I’d never pass this semester anyway. I didn’t. " Ray answered back with a sneer."He's dead" It was all Luke could think to say. How short a life was it that he was dead at 26? Shot, or blown up or something equally terrible. He couldn't imagine his friend knowing that pain. Never knowing any life outside of the military."Yes, he's fucking dead" Ray sneered."Stupid mother fucker. He never knew when to just shut up and duck." Jim said with a bark of laughter.That was enough to get Luke and Ray smiling."Like when he was on first and yakking it. Now that she felt them, her conscious mind took over and tried to determine where they were exactly, and more importantly who they were and their intentions. As she as she tried to determine anything they faded away into their surroundings. She had at least one pinpointed and tried to feel for the presence that she knew was there, and still nothing. She stopped her forms immediately and slowly sank to her knees as she struggled to regain the feeling she had a moment ago. Slowly shaking her head. Spawned by a long line of European gentry, she indeed occasionally put on airs. That's why they called her "The Countess".He was a bit of a troublemaker. A big city boy who didn't give a crap about pedigrees and titles... a true republican, with a small "R". He despised the Central European landed aristocrats with a vengeance.Of course, they had to run into each other at a party. They danced, they drank, they yelled at each other over the music. And before they knew it, both were sitting in his.