VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[9]

Elysia watched as Steve and Bucky disappeared into the hallway, and shortly after they were out of sight, her phone began to buzz from the back pocket of her jeans. Pulling the phone out and glancing down at the device, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as the name Cara flashed across the screen, along with the request for a video call.

"Sorry, I have to take this," she mumbled, hurrying out of the room and rushing back to the living quarters before she missed the call.

Elysia rushed into her apartment, not even bothering to shut the door behind her before hitting the button to accept the call and diving onto the couch in the small living room. As she tried to catch her breath, the familiar head of blonde hair and blue eyes appeared of her best friend back in Arizona, giving Elysia a cheery smile.

"Lyss!" Cara exclaimed through the phone over the sound of music blaring from wherever she was making the call. "I haven't heard from you in forever, how are you?"

From the red plastic cup visible in Cara's free hand, Elysia could tell that her friend wasn't completely sober, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of her friend at a party so early on in the day, even if it was game day for the ASU baseball team. Behind Cara, she could see a handful of people mingling about, all dressed head to toe in gear to represent the school.

"I'm great," Elysia assured her. "How are things back home?"

"I miss you," Cara insisted. "When are you coming back?"

"My internship's supposed to go until the end of the summer." she explained. "Once the work's done, though, I'll be on the first flight back."

"Well, as soon as you're back, we're going out to celebrate." she proclaimed. "But I'm proud of you, and I hope the internship's going well!"

"Yeah, it's... different, that's for sure." Elysia said simply, chuckling to herself, and she watched as Cara's attention was pulled away by something else behind where she held her phone.

"I've gotta go, E," she said quickly. "Keg stand's open, but I'll catch you later? Love you!"

"Love you too," Elysia said, fighting to keep the smile on her face. "Bye,"

Elysia hung up the phone, setting it down next to her as she leaned back against the couch with a sigh. As her first friend she'd made upon transferring to the university, she and Cara had hardly gone more than a week without seeing each other, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't missed her best friend amidst her newfound feelings of homesickness.

Upon seeing the cheering of the students ready to support the team in the game, a location Elysia knew all too well that she would be at currently if she weren't back in New York, another stabbing feeling of homesickness spread through her, causing her to shut her eyes tightly in response. Although, a feeling of guilt also crossed Elysia, knowing that, until the call, she hadn't thought much about her friends back home at all since the first couple of days after her arrival at the compound.

"Trouble in paradise?" a voice asked, startling Elysia as she sat back up quickly to see Bucky leaning against the open door frame.

"I guess you could say that." she said.

"Sorry if I'm... intruding, or whatever." he apologized quickly. "Stark put me next door, so I thought I'd stop and say hi to the neighbors. I also wanted to thank you again for keeping me company the past few days."

"You're not intruding," she assured him, waving him inside to join her, and he stepped over the threshold to the room, taking a seat on the couch next to her. "And really, it's not a problem. No one deserves to be alone in an unfamiliar place."

"So what was all that about?" he asked, gesturing to where her phone still lay between them, long discarded from her phone call.

"Just a call from a friend back in Arizona." she explained. "Feeling a little homesick, I guess."

"Born and raised in Arizona?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"New York, actually." she admitted. "I moved away when I was twenty-one to go to school, just pretend I was normal for a little while. My friends gave me that normal life. I repressed my abilities so much that there was nothing to give away that I was different, and now I have no control over using them anymore. I had to leave them so suddenly to come here that I wasn't able to give them much of a warning. If they knew about any of this..." she gestured around them. "They'd never look at me the same way again."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Bucky asked.

"For them to realize I've been lying to them for the past few years?" she chuckled humorlessly. "Let's just say I've done better things. But now I'm here, without those friends and without control of the powers I left to get away from, and I'm just in some sort of weird in-between, I guess."

"I know I'm the last person who should be giving advice on this subject," Bucky admitted. "But maybe you're meant for much more than just the normal life. Don't sell yourself short, Sparks. You might just miss your true calling."

Elysia fell silent at his words, a retort ready at her tongue, but she soon felt it slip away. A small part within her couldn't help but wonder if he was right. If, after all this time, maybe she'd finally found herself back where she was meant to be.