Quarantined with Love and Evidence - (Book One) COMPLETED

Chapter Three

Nautica P.O.V. 

It is morning now and Arslan is waking everyone up so we can start our routine family breakfast. Arslan is setting the table and making fresh lemonade. Zuri is in control of the pancakes. Anchor takes over the frying area with turkey bacon and sausage. I oversee the scrambled cheese eggs and grits. We are cooking it up in the kitchen. While cooking the grits my mind starts to wander to the mystery guy. Before I know it, Anchor is yelling at me to move and I snap out of it. The pot is on fire. I have burned the grits and possibly my entire kitchen. Anchor uses the fire extinguisher. I open a window to let the smoke out. Someone is banging on our front door. Zuri goes to see who it is. Arslan is waving towels to get the smoke out and I can't be anymore embarrassed. I'm laughing at Arslan who is having a time with the towels. I turn around and Zuri is standing in the kitchen with mystery guy. I'm stopped in my tracks. "He saw the smoke and rushed over to make sure we were okay". Zuri says. I'm just staring at him like an idiot. Anchor finally comes over and shakes his hand and says while laughing "Thanks man. Nautica almost burned the house down". My face turns red. He reaches out for my hand and says, "That is a beautiful name like a sailor in the ocean.". I shake his hand back saying thank you. Anchor then asks mystery guy what his name is. Mystery guy says, "Oh my name is Xander". Everyone stands around cleaning the mess from the fire including Xander. Arslan invites Xander to stay for breakfast. All five of us sit at the dining table and dig into all the breakfast but the scorched grits. Xander begins to tell us about his move. He explains to us that he was forced to move from New York because of the epidemic. He explains that very few people are not infected in the big cities. The government decided that the people who test negative would be placed in empty houses in a neighborhood following quarantine protocol. Low and behold here he is in North Carolina. Zuri tells Xander that he can stay for the day and play games with us. Xander agrees. Now we have a five-person circle. 

The entire day I feel like Xander is staring at me and making smirks toward me. I start to feel like I'm crazy. Is this guy feeling me or not? He is a hardcore flirt too. During our movies he makes flirty remarks toward me. Later in the night I realize maybe I am not crazy because Anchor pulls me aside. "Are you okay Nautica?". I tell him "Yes. Why?". He tells me that he feels like Xander is making me uncomfortable. I tell Anchor that Xander isn't making me uncomfortable that I just feel like he is flirting with me. Anchor laughs. "He isn't flirting hon". Then I feel crazy all over again. We go back to the living room with Xander, Zuri, and Arslan. Everyone is laughing and having a good oh time. The cops outside are patrolling hard tonight. So Arslan tells Xander he can stay the night. Xander asks where he can sleep. Anchor says "Nautica has a futon in her room. I'll take that and you can have my room". Everyone is okay with this response and we all head to bed. I help Anchor make a pallet on the futon and makes sure he has enough pillows. Anchor begins to start a pillow fight with me. We are wresting and throwing pillows smacks. Laughing and creating a bunch of wreckage. We finally settle down both on the futon almost out of breath from laughing so hard. Anchor says, "Do you miss them?" and I knew he was talking about our moms. I knew that the kiss earlier would bring back memories of that time. I sighed and told him "Of course. She was my mom. And your mom was my Godmother. I miss them every day". Anchor leans toward me laying on my chest. He starts to cry. I just hold him and play with his hair. I shush him and rub his back while he lays on me softly sobbing. Eventually we fall asleep in that exact position. Didn't even have a chance to put on our pajamas. While asleep I have a wild dream. It involves Anchor and Xander. In my dream Anchor is screaming at Xander not to hurt me. I want to know what they are talking about, but I just can't. What was Anchor talking about? Why would Xander hurt me? Most importantly why do I find myself so obsessed with Xander?