AUGUST IS A FEVER

13

After Clay handed the black backpack he assigned to you, to you, he lingered a bit in the music store with you. He knew deep down he found not just you, but your presence attractive. He liked the way you were and the way you spoke. It didn't matter if the motive was platonic or romantic, he took a liking to you and quite fast. George didn't like that.

"Alright, I'm gonna go see if George needs help." Clay said as he pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning on.

"Mhmm." You hummed at him as your gaze on the selection of music continued its search for more options. "Just... don't die."

Clay chuckled at your bluntness. "Alright." He said standing straight, his yellow gloved hand reached up and patted your head. You turned to him with a half-joking glare which earned a laugh from the blonde before he left the small music store.

He began to walk towards the jammed escalators, this time walking down the steps normally instead of chasing after a girl who he had just met that morning.

Once he reached the end of the escalators and went into the direction of the bookstore that George was setting up camp in. The blonde looked into the store and didn't immediately see him.

"George?" Called Clay softly just in case. You never knew who was listening nowadays. To Clay's calls, there was no response. He decided on stepping in to search for his best friend further.

Clay began to walk into the bookstore. With every step he took, his footsteps were silenced due to the brown carpeting below his sneakers. The entirety of the room was silent as a result. In fact it was so quiet that if someone dropped a needle, you could probably hear it clear as day. You'd never guess in a million years that there was another boy in the unlit parts of the store.

That's why when Clay heard shuffling around between the shelves of books, he flinched. What if George was in danger?

Clay reached for his yellow glove and began to remove it. With one off, his hand immediately began to emit shocks of electricity between his fingers that glowed white. The electricity began to run all over his hand, from his wrist to his palm to the tips of his fingers. His heart was going at a million miles an hour, thumping loudly in his chest against his ribcage.

He paused and turned to look at a collection of light switches clustered on the wall beside him. Each of them turned on different rooms in the bookstore, no doubt. Clay brought his bare hand and smacked it against the switches. With the increased focus of his mind, his electricity shocked the lights of the flickering bookstore alive and awake.

"Holy shit! Clay don't do that!" George called from the back of the store which caused the blonde to flinch.

"Sorry!" Clay called back, removing his hand. At least he knew he was still alive and wasn't captive taken by PSFs that were hiding.

Now that the lights were on, Clay slipped his hand back into his rubber glove and began to head to the area he heard George exclaim from. He walked over and saw the boy and saw him using his telekinetic abilities to lift three twin mattresses in the center of the children's section of the bookstore where it was more spacious and could hold them. Each bed had their own respective blankets, all of them looking the same. George finally turned to Clay and walked over to him, finally placing the mattresses on the carpets.

"Where'd you get all this from?" Clay asked, slightly confused.

"There's a Bed, Bath, and Beyond on the second floor. Stole 'em." George explained as he jumped onto the mattress on the right, wordlessly claiming it as his own.

"Ah." Clay softly sighed. "Is the middle mine, then?"

"If you want it to be, I guess." George replied as he sprawled out, letting out a groan as if he hadn't had a moment to lay on a nice bed in years. The blonde supposed that was technically true.

Clay walked over and threw his backpack down on the floor next to the middle mattress before laying down. It felt amazing to finally let his spine  straighten out and let his head rest on something that wasn't his own backpack for once.

George suddenly sat up, propping himself by his elbows as he turned to his best friend. "Clay?" He asked.

"Hmm?" Clay responded in a hum as he turned on his side so he could look at George while he spoke.

"I don't -" George sputtered. "Don't get mad when I say this but I - I don't trust (Y/n)." Clay was silent, letting a sigh slip out from his nose in an exhale. "Clay?"

"I know you don't." Clay said. "But I want her to stick around, alright?" It was George's turn to go silent for a moment.

The two were frustrated with one another. George knew very well why Clay took a strong liking to her right away. Clay knew deep down too, no matter how much he internally denied it. It was not just because he truly and exclusively saw her as a potential person who could help with the search of Nick, but also because he liked her. George knew it even if Clay didn't yet. Clay's intentions weren't as simple as he believed them to be.

"What if - Clay, she's dangerous. She can't control her abilities as well as you think she can. I have reason to believe that everything she did was unintentional or a coincidence. She's dangerous." George told him. "What if she hurts us? You know how Reds can be." That last line was it for Clay.

"She's not going to hurt us. Nick didn't hurt us and he was a Red." Clay said. "What if that's just a harmful stereotype?"

"Clay, Nick was different. We actually knew him." George replied. "Nick wouldn't ever do that to us. You know that. (Y/n) on the other hand - it's too early to tell."

"Stop talking." Clay snapped as he sat up. "Are you the one who's in charge here? No. So don't order me around. I'm sorry George, but she's staying. She could help us."

"Clay, I -" George sputtered. "That's not the full reason, is it?"

"George -" Clay began.

"Did I interrupt something?"