Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

3 - Sights, Hearings, and Awkward Meetings

"...oh yeah, right.  I forgot, sorry," Bdubs apologized, finally getting off of Impulse. The taller finally let out a chuckle after a sigh. "You took a while to wake up though, did you go to sleep late?"

"No, not at all..."  Impulse said, letting out a small yawn, "I had this really weird dream though-"

The beeping of a microwave timer sounded from downstairs, unintentionally interrupting Impulse. 

"Well, you can tell me all about it over breakfast.  It's a little chilly outside so I heated up a couple of those microwave dinners for us," Bdubs said.

"Are they the good ones with the huge part of mac n cheese?" Impulse asked.

"Oh those bad boys have so much mac n cheese in them," Bdubs said, smiling like a goofball.  "I'll be waitin' for ya downstairs,"

"Nice!  I'll be there in a second honey," Impulse said, watching his partner nod happily and descend down the steps.

—

Scott opened up the mailbox at the end of the short driveway, pulling out a wax-sealed envelope.  He opened it as he walked back inside the house.

"Ooo, whatcha got there?"  Pearl asked, sitting on the couch as she scarfed down her slices of bacon. 

"It's just the letter for the afternoon activity," Scott said, scanning through the note inside the envelope.  That was another thing they were told about yesterday; the afternoon activities.  Every night there would be a scheduled event, mostly for the group of 14 to bond and get to know each other a little better.  "Tonight it's a 2 hour cruise around the island,"

"Sounds sick," Pearl said, smirking, "would be a shame if someone were to totally crash it,"

"Don't you dare," Scott snarled, glaring at Pearl.  Pearl laughed.

"Nah, I'm just kiddin', I don't really feel like it," she said, continuing to eat her breakfast.  "I'm definitely still going though,"

"Don't you get seasick?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, but it's the first event we're having here, we should at least go and see what it's all about,"  Pearl explained. "Besides, getting sea sick is the fun part!"

Scott sighed, shaking his head.

"Whatever.  I'll be out taking a walk around with Cleo so I can get familiar with the place," he said, placing the open envelope and its written contents on the coffee table. 

"Aight, you do you bud," Pearl said, picking up her now empty plate and walking away to the kitchen.  Scott grabbed his teal coat from the coat rack next to the front door and put it on as he left to meet with his best friend.

Cleo was still fixing the flowers in her hair when they heard Scott knocking at the front door. She quickly finished up and made their way down the stairs to greet him.

"Hey Scott," Cleo said, smiling a bit. "Sorry if I look a little tired, Martyn and I slept in and I haven't had any coffee yet, or even breakfast for that matter,"

"Cleo, you always look tired," Scott said, quickly adding "I would say you look dead but..."

Scott didn't need to finish his sentence for Cleo to forcibly sigh.

"Wow, that's a low hanging fruit, I expected better from you," she said, though they were arguably holding in a bit of laughter herself.

Suddenly, they actually did hear someone laughing, but it wasn't from Scott. She looked behind themself in the house to see if it was Martyn, but last she checked he was fast asleep and nowhere around them. It didn't even sound like Martyn anyway, this sounded like a little kid after they got away with something devious, and Cleo of all people would know exactly what that sounded like.

"You ok?" Scott asked. Cleo shook her head for a moment.

"Nothing, just thought I heard someone," they said, "but I'm clearly running on a brew-free brain right now. You mind if we stop by the coffee place before we go anywhere else?"

"Yeah sure.  Do you have the map with you?  I'm just realizing that I left mine at home," Scott asked.  They were given maps to the island just the night before right after their questioning, but both Scott and Cleo had neglected to look at theirs beforehand.

"Yeah, give me a second," Cleo said, walking back into her house for a second to pick the piece of paper up off of the nightstand next to their couch.

About half an hour later, the doors to the coffee shop opened with a little jingle from the bells atop.  A woman stood at the counter across from the front, wiping down the counter with a wet cloth.  She had long black hair that made the bright white cat ears on her head stand out.  She had a light white plaid t-shirt on, over it a pair of short pastel blue overalls with a little chibi sheep sewn over the chest pocket.  Contradictory to the summer-like feel of her outfit, her shoes were a pair of high winter boots, light grey fuzz poking out of the top.  As soon as she heard the door open, one of her cat ears flicked and she looked up from what she was doing.

"Hi!  Welcome to Gem's Brewery!"  She greeted.  "My name's Katherine, what can I do for you today?"

Scott and Cleo took a seat next to each other at the counter. As soon as they made their orders and Kathrine left to the back to make their coffees, the bells on the front door rung again. Scott wasn't expecting anyone significant, so he turned to look before he recognized the voice talking to their soulbound.

"-I just think it's a little weird is all, Norman's always been fine staying at other-..."

Jimmy. Scott wanted to turn his head away so badly, but they were the only 2 pairs in the shop and his ex had already locked eyes with him.

"Uhhh... heyy..." was all Scott managed to come up with to break the ear-shattering silence.

"Hi..." Jimmy said, returning the same awkward energy before quickly turning to his soulbound beside him. "Y-you know what Tango, I'm not really feeling up to coffee, let's go find a place that serves breakfast and we can come back here later!"

"But you said you wanted to come here for the muffi-" Tango tried to say before being abruptly cut off by Jimmy taking his hand and dragging him out the door. A moment of silence passed between Scott and Cleo.

"...that was the most uncomfortable scenario I've ever been in and it didn't even involve me," Cleo said. Scott buried his face in his hands.

"I feel like I'm having a heart attack..." Scott said.

"Are you still gonna have your coffee or was that enough of a wake up call for you?" Cleo asked. Scott just groaned in response.

They were gonna be here for a long, long time.