Hacker (Book 1)

Veronica Chapter 33

The gathering was amazing with people smiling and laughing. It made me forget about the problems of the world well most of them. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the feeling of suspicion weighed me down the whole night. The what if's of being wrong slowly evaporated as Shirley told her story. Now I know I was right to worry.

Once everyone finished eating some people started to play music. Not the current stuff with no words, but very old music like before the war. It was beautiful. The music floated through the air spreading warmth.

When the night finally came to an end Sebastian and I went back home hand in hand. As we started to climb the stairs he asked, "What are you thinking?"

"You know," I say turning to look at him.

"I was afraid that you'd say that," he replies.

"And what are you thinking?" I ask.

"The same as you," he answers grimly.

Of all the things he could have said I most definitely wasn't expecting this. I wasn't expecting him to be thinking what I am. I definitely wasn't expecting him to agree with me at all.

"You are?" I ask shocked.

"How could I not after that?" He says opening the door to our room and walking in.

I close the door behind us locking it then throw my stuff on the floor, "What should we do then?"

"I don't know," he says looking down.

I walk over to where he is leaning over the table. "We'll figure it out," I say place my hand on his, "together."

"Yeah, and how do you suppose we do that?" He asks sarcastically.

"We'll figure it out, but we can't do anything without sleep, okay?" I say, "So let's get some rest, and we can talk about it in the morning."

"You're right, I just I have no idea what to do," he says, shaking his head.

"And you think I do? I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, but we'll get through it," I say.

"How are you so sure?" He asks turning his face, to where our eyes meet.

"Because I have hope," I say.

We stand there for a long moment staring into each others eyes. Neither of us daring to move. He starts to lean forward. My heart rate starts to accelerate as his face gets closer to mine. It's like time stops and it's just the two of us standing there, but then he tilts his head down looking towards the ground, and time starts to resume. He then clears his throat. "We better get some rest."

"Um, yeah," I say looking away, "I'll take the couch."

"Absolutely not," he says. "I'll take the couch, you take the bed."

"It's really-," I start.

"NO!" He interrupts, "I will sleep on the couch."

"Fine," I say, "I'll take the bed."

"Thank you," he says, "Now let's get to bed."

"Okay," I say with a smile, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he replies.

I walk into the small bedroom, and climb under the covers. Warmth instantly devours me, surrounding me with comfort. It seems like the moment my head touches the pillow, the moment I close my eyes, I drift off into sleep. I don't dream any dreams I just sleep.

+++

The soft rays of sun squeeze through the cracks in the boarded up windows. It's not a lot of light, but it's just enough to wake me up, and for me to see. I sit up slowly drinking in the pale light that brushes against my skin. I look around slowly taking in the small little bedroom that surrounds me. The only other thing besides the bed is the nightstand beside the bed, and a dresser with a mirror on top.

My feet hit the cold wooden floor sending a shiver up my spine. I hear the faint sound of running water. Sebastian must be taking a shower. I walk into the rest of the area to see two plates piled with food sitting on the table.

"What?" I mutter.

I hear the door creak behind me and I whip around. Sebastian walks out of the bathroom in a white t shirt that shows off his muscles, and blue jeans. His hair is shimmering with water drops making him look like an angel. Maybe he's my angel.

"Oh hey," he smiles. "I made breakfast."

"You did?" I ask astonished.

"Well don't act so surprised," he chuckles.

"I just didn't peg you for a cook," I say.

"Oh Veronica, there is a lot of things you don't know about me," he says sitting down in front of his plate.

"Alright then," I say sitting in front of him, "So what's the game plan?"

"I was thinking last night about what Shirley said about Jared, and I thought of something," he says taking a bite of his eggs.

"So what is it?" I ask cutting up the pancakes.

"What if we told them that Jared wasn't here? What if we told him that he was long gone so we don't have any information," he suggests.

"That's genius," I say. "When are we going to tell them?"

"Okay don't be mad, but I kind of already told them," he answers looking down.

"Why would I be mad?" I ask taking another bite.

"Well, I assumed that you would be mad that I did it without talking to you first," he says confused.

"Why would I be upset? That was a logical choice," I reply.

He lets out a sigh of relief when I utter these words, "Well, that's a weight lifted off my shoulders. I honestly thought that you would be mad at me."

"Mad at you please," I say, "So what's next. Do we wait for them to contact us, and tell us what to do next?"

"Basically, unless you have anymore ideas," he says.

"Can't say I do," I reply

"Well then I guess we have the whole day to ourselves," he says. "What do you want to do?"

"I have absolutely no clue," I say laughing.

"Well we can always explore the town," he says.

"Fine by me."

So we spend the rest of the day exploring this little town. It was one of the best days I've had in a long while especially because I got to spend the whole day with Sebastian. We got coffee, went to a little bookstore, we even spent time at a park. We sat on the swings for an hour just talking. After a couple hours out in the town we decided to come back, and relax.

We sit on the couch watching an old movie that we rented from a video store. Sebastian found something called popcorn in the cabinets and decided to make it. It was buttery and delicious. We sat there laughing at one of the actors when Sebastian's phone went off.

He pulls it out of his pocket glancing down at it. His face turns ashen in a matter of seconds, "We need to go." He pulls me up and starts towards the door.

"Wait, why?" I ask stumbling after him.

"They are sending planes to bomb this town," he says grimly.