The Zodiacs

54. Desirous Errors

^^ Chione & Suma

(surprise chapter! :) )

"Who's Akil?" Farouq's voice spoke from beside Layla as she scooped herself a small bowl of vegetables from the camp's lunch table. They had little variety, but she was hungry and she'd never been one to pick and choose --food was food.

She turned toward the boy, surprisingly not harboring any negative feelings toward him as she raised her eyebrows in question. Oh yes, the traders knew Akil as Ebo and herself as Lapis because Akil thought providing their real names would only get them into trouble. After all, their names could be released to the public, but their images couldn't reach such a widely traveling group.

Layla tilted her head at him. "Who's Akil?" She repeated the words as her own question, furrowing her eyebrows at the name as if she'd never heard it before. How did he even come to learn Akil's name?

Farouq glanced at her red hair, noticing the way she'd chosen to pick it up today rather than let it fall down her back like she usually did. "Two days ago," he cocked his head to the side, thinking back on the night he'd last seen the girl. "When you woke from your nightmare, I heard it from outside the tent and came to help you, but you kept calling out to someone named Akil. Who is he? Family?"

She snorted, her eyes trailing to the cup of beer lazily hanging from between his long fingers. "Fortunately not," she placed the wooden spoon back into the oversized pot. "He... was a boy I knew once," Layla shrugged with the easy lie.

Akil was laughing at Rashid's humor when his eyes settled on Layla from across the burnt out circle of fire. His gaze hardened before his expression fell at the sight of Farouq beside her. The air sign's jaw began to work unconsciously, not even noticing the older man leave his side to get another cup of alcohol. He was too fixated on the two whose conversation he couldn't hear from such a long distance.

Farouq raised an eyebrow at Layla's simple response, pressing his lips together at the plainness of her words. "Did you care for him? Have feelings for this boy that you knew once?" He asked.

Layla picked at her vegetables, putting one between her lips. It would be a lie to say that she never cared for Akil, because she did, and part of her still despised herself for continuing to feel something toward the selfish Zodiac. "No," she shook her head before looking down at the drink in Farouq's hand once again. "It was the complete opposite, actually. I couldn't stand him."

The boy standing across from her caught on the movement of her eyes, offering the nineteen year old the beverage in his hand. "You're lying to me," he watched her take the cup and throw her head back to take a large swig, failing to realize the strength of the drink. She winced. "Why would you be calling out someone's name like that if you couldn't stand him?" Farouq narrowed his eyes at her.

"This tastes terrible," her features morphed in disgust as the girl shook her head, forcing herself to swallow the cool liquid. "How do you drink this?" She asked, taking another gulp.

Farouq chuckled. "The same way you're drinking it right now," his eyes remained on her as the girl leaned back to drink, his gaze slipping from her lips to her neck. "You get used to it," he spoke slowly. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question?"

Layla pursed her lips, finally pulling the half-empty cup away from her mouth to meet the boy's gaze. "What question?"

But Farouq didn't have a chance to do anything more than open his mouth before a firm hand seized Layla's wrist. She glanced up at Akil just as he glared at Farouq, dragging her along with him to put space between themselves and the boy he had no appreciation for.