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Chapter 8
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I gasped, my lungs begging for air as my eyes flew open to see the new lab out before me. I sucked in as much air as my lungs could hold, as much as they could take in before I stumbled out of my capsule and clasped my hands onto the edge of the cyber desk at the center of the lab. I needed something to steady myself with.
"Bree?" Adam questioned as he fell out of his capsule, the banging sound as he hit the floor forcing me to twirl around to face him. "Did we do it?" He winced as his hands shot out to rub his knees. I shook my head as I moved my head up to look into Chase's capsule.
It was empty.
But it was there this time.
He was still gone.
"I don't know for sure." I muttered as I reached up to rub my head, feeling small tears on the sides of my face. I frowned and wiped them off quickly, not wanting Adam to know I had been crying. At least when we were fighting with Chase I had been only facing Chase himself. Adam and Leo hadn't been able to see how vulnerable I had felt in the moment.
But I had told Chase that I liked him. Practically that I loved him, and he had shot me down. He had ignored my plea even though he knew he felt exactly the same. Claiming that both my brothers and I, were crazy. Which, was something I hated. I didn't want him to think of me that way. Especially not when I had just found out that I had feelings for the smartest man alive.
"Let's get upstairs." Adam huffed as he picked himself up off the ground and limped over to the elevator with me. I slammed my hand against the button, my hand stinging at the impact before the doors slid open to reveal Leo. Just like three days ago.
"You guys!" He cheered as he reached out and threw his arms around us, pushing Adam and I a little to close together for comfort with his bionic arm. "I thought I lost you." He breathed happily, still standing in between the two elevator doors.
"You're bionic again." I grunted, Adam nodding as Leo slowly pulled himself off of us. I frowned and glanced around him into the elevator, half hoping Chase was in there with him.
"Was Chase upstairs?" Adam asked, taking the words directly out of my mouth. I nodded eagerly, my body tingling with nerves at simply the thought of seeing him again. Leo's eyes went wide just before the elevator doors slammed into his sides, his eyes screwing shut in pain as they slid back into the open position. Adam pushed the two of us into the elevator, the doors closing around no one this time as we waited for Leo's revelation.
"No." He sighed as he leaned back against the elevator wall. "I didn't see him up there. My first thought was to come down here to find you two." I felt my heart drop as I fell back against the elevator wall next to Leo, Adam looking just as defeated as I felt in the moment.
"What if we lost him?" I got out, speaking what was on all of our minds. "What if we really did lose him for good this time?" Leo shook his head, his hand resting on my shoulder as he reassured me silently that everything would be okay.
"Even if we did," Leo started, him even sounding unsure of his words, "We'll still have each other." I nodded, my head hitting the elevator as I fully gave up. "I'm really sorry I made that wish guys. This is all my fault."
I shook my head, knowing just who's fault it really was. "No, Leo. It's all our fault. I know that's exactly what I was thinking when you said it. It wouldn't have happened if we all didn't want it to." I sent a small smile Leo's way before the elevator doors opened, revealing an empty kitchen and living room.
Every room in the house was missing Chase.
"Wait," Adam said, "If Chase is really gone, then why are there three capsules?" I felt my eyebrows furrow together before Leo's eyes brightened.
"I obviously have Chase's chip!" He cheered as he threw his fists in the air ecstatically. I rolled my eyes, huffing out an angered breath as life without Chase ran through my head. I wouldn't be able to make it without him.
"Well," Adam prodded, "Let's see you work this new chip!" He cheered as he hopped up and down. "Chase could barely work his so I'm sure you'll do fine." I pressed my lips together to hold back an insult, something I would regret under the circumstances. I could wind up losing all three of i played my cards wrong.
"You're right." Leo shrugged before placing his index finger to his forehead. "I should be pretty good at this whole smart-"
"Will both of you stop it!" I yelled. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't tell whether it was just their way of copping with the situation, or if they were being serious. But this had to come to an end. "Do you have any idea what we've done?"
"Yeah." Adam breathed as he turned to look down to me. "We lost Chase. But constantly reminding each other of him isn't going to help us, is it?" I shook my head, falling back into the counter, my hands slamming down onto the edge to catch myself. My head felt blurred as the thoughts rushed over me.
"I know you both love him, somewhere deep down inside you're twisted hearts, but I need to actually comprehend what's happened." I issued as I finally gained the strength to stand up on my own. "I love him, more than anything, and it sucks so bad that he's gone. So excuse me if I don't want you two to move on within just a few seconds. Having him gone is the worst life I could ever imagine, and now, I'm living it."
Leo took in deep breaths, his chest moving up and down slowly along with them. Adam, stood completely still, his eyes not glimmering as they usually did. The two had lost all playfulness. What overtook it, was the sadness I felt, which I knew they had been feeling deep down. Chase was gone, and I wasn't going to be able to make it through this alone.
"How do we tell Mr. Davenport?" Leo wondered quietly, the thought finally coming to light.
"I have... No idea." I got out, biting my lip in worry. He was going to kill us.
"He probably won't even believe us." Adam laughed a bit, bringing a small smile to my face.
My eyes jumped over to the front door as it opened, showing the one and only, Chase Davenport in the flesh, walking through it. He held a lost look in his eyes as he closed the door behind him. My heart thumped inside my chest as our eyes' met, the feeling of breathlessness hitting me hard as I raced over and almost tackled him to the ground. His back hit the door with a thud before Adam and Leo joined in.
"Chase!" Adam and Leo yelled as they pressed the four of us together tighter.
"You're back." I whispered, taking in his scent lovingly as I buried my head deeper into the crook of his neck.
"Yeah..." He left off warily as he tried to step out of the hug. "Mr. Davenport told me to take the trash out." He spelled simply out for us before we recoiled back from him.
"So you were just outside?" Leo asked, his tone dull as he motioned to the door with his index finger. Chase nodded, his left eyebrow raising as he looked between the three of us.
"Are you guys okay?" He questioned, pressing the back of his hand to my forehead quickly after. "I know that party really took a toll on you guys, but are you sick? Did you catch something while you were there?" He rambled as he swiftly moved his hands to let his fingers grip into my upper arms worriedly.
Leo shook his head, Adam crossing his arms over his chest as he watched us. "You don't remember any of it?" Adam asked, sounding almost lost in the conversation.
Wouldn't be the first time.
Chase shook his head. "Remember what?" He asked, glancing around me to Adam. "I remember the fight but then you three stayed up here for a couple hours. I went to bed way before you three did." I could feel my face scrunch in confusion as I pushed his hands off of my arms.
"You mean to tell me you don't remember us making a wish that you weren't our brother, and then that actually happening?" I reconfirmed, leaning in as I looked into his eyes for anything showing he was lying. I could usually see in his eyes when he was up to something. He shook his head, the signs all pointing to no. He was indeed telling the truth.
"Nope." He concluded, taking a step around us and walking over to the kitchen. "That must have been a dream-"
"No," Leo cut off, "No it wasn't." I frowned as I watched my younger brother stomp off towards Chase. "You knew exactly what was going on, didn't you?"
Chase let out a laugh, a knowing laugh that half told us he was better than we were without the formality of him actually saying it. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you, using the stupid override app on all of us, and creating some virtual reality in each of our heads where our wish actually came true. You wanted us to live a life without you for a couple of days." Leo snipped as he pointed to Chase, his finger hitting into his chest as it all pieces together in my head. How else could all of this have happened? There was no such thing as magic.
"Come on, Leo-"
"Chase." I hissed as I stalked over, pushing Leo out of the way as I figured it all out. "Why would you do that! You had me thinking you were in some kind of drug ring with no direction in life, all while you're playing with my emotions and messing with our chips!" Chase's eyes showed his anger far before his words left his mouth to verbally tell us.
He thought he wouldn't get caught.
"Well you three gave me no choice! You really wanted me gone!" He yelled back, motioning between the three of us. "What was I supposed to do?" I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest as Adam joined us near the refrigerator.
"You sly dog."
"You literally tricked us into thinking you were gone." Leo added as he turned and walked over the the elevator with Adam.
"What was it like, though?" Chase called, looking over to them before looking back to me. "What was it like to have me gone? Did you like it?" Leo and Adam shook their heads.
"No."
"And why not?"
"You're our brother, Chase." Leo sighed, the elevator ding interrupting us. "Whatever we wished for, was just in the heat of the moment."
Adam nodded along, finally finding the courage to step in. "We really do like having you here. Without you, everything's all messed up."
Chase sent them a small smile as they stepped into the elevator, waving as the doors came to a close.
How nice of them to leave us alone.
Chase turned back to me, examining me to see if I had forgiven him for his little prank, just like the other two had. "You thought of everything."
Chase frowned, his eyes narrowing as he picked and prodded at my sentence. "Huh?"
"You thought of everything." I repeated. "In your little simulation." I continued on, taking a step to the right and sitting down on the yellow stool. "You came up with what life would be like without you here at the house, at school, everywhere else."
Chase nodded. "Thanks."
"And you remembered what I said that I wanted." I paused, my eyesight falling to the ground. "What I wanted in a first date. How I wanted some guy to show me a special place to watch the sunset, and how I wanted to stay out all night with him and still be texting him till I fell asleep. How I wanted to wake up and immediately talk with him again." I swallowed hard, the words coming out more difficult than it had seemed in my head. "You remembered." Chase smiled, taking a single step towards me and reaching for my hand before rubbing it lightly.
"If I wasn't so in love with you, I would have treated it like a best friend would. Save it until the right guy came along and tell him. Make everything special for you." Chase sighed as I looked up to him. "But I couldn't do that because I knew, deep down that I was the right guy." I could feel a blush creep into my face as he pulled me up and out of the chair, standing me straight up on my feet. "Can I buy you breakfast? The world is waiting, you know." He asked as he poked my side. I nodded, the two of us walking off towards the lab to change.
"Anything other than pancakes." I teased as he hit the button.
Chase nodded as the doors closed quickly in front of us. "And no alcohol, you're still a little hazy from last night."
"I'm still a little hazy from losing you." I corrected. "But it's nice to know I never did."
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