"So when are you going to build up the nerve to tell me to kiss you?" Warren asked Cariba as he lounged around in the living room while Wib and I returned from our day of "bonding" together and with the twins.
"When whatever Zaine is trying to pull actually works?" Cariba replied. "No chance in hell."
"Actually..." I started. "What he said actually worked. The twins spent the afternoon with us and before the end of the incredibly intense water fight, they sort of...progressed."
It was actually pretty fun. We had fake sword fights, and lame games, and water balloon& gun fights in teams. It was a lot of fun with little actual combat information and I don't know how, but...they developed from being around me and Wib, somehow.
"How so?"
"Well now they can duplicate as one and instead of acting as two separate people, they managed to mimic each other in unison," Wib explained. "I guess that's what was intended."
"Getting all my clothes soaked was not," I laughed. I was seriously drenched. It was unfair to have a war between a new girl and her deaf brother against two trained twins who were able to multiply. Suddenly, I felt my clothes dry and saw Cariba containing the wetness into a sphere of water, moving it across the room, near Warren. However, he leapt over and grabbed her waist as she sat down.
"If I'm getting drenched, you're going down with me," he played and then Cariba smirked as she dropped her hands. As the ball of water fell, Warren sent up an arm full of flames and all the water was evaporated, but then Cariba rolled off the couch, hissing in pain. She grabbed the top part of her arm, but her forearm was burned by flames. She rolled on the ground with a medium injury that even made me cringe and then Warren's face had complete terror in himself.
"I'm—I'm so sorry, Car. I didn't mean it, I just—"
"AGH!" she groaned in pain.
"We need a First Aid Kit," I said and then Wib and I took off into different directions to find one as Warren stayed at Cariba's side. I dashed up the stairs and then saw Sumer standing there, patiently with a first aid kit in her hands and Jane at her side. I hesitantly took it, wondering if she had the vision, why didn't she prevent it? I started to turn to go and aid Cariba, but Jane's voice slowed me.
"You can be doing this on your own, without anything but your powers," she said. I paused and turned around to her. What? I could only heal myself. Not others. "When you get Zaine to develop all of his powers, you will too."
I didn't want to waste time pondering what I knew I would, because my best friend was writhing in pain downstairs. When I returned to her, she was clenching Warren's hand and before I could even open the kit, he was stopping me. My eyes connected to his, emitting equal concern.
"Let me do it," he whispered and I just allowed him to. He opened the kit and I replaced Cariba's hold with my hand.
"Don't. Touch. Me." Cariba growled.
"Cariba, I didn't mean it!" he yelled and she finally closed her full lips. He pulled out a gauze and an Ace bandage. Then, he stopped and looked over at me. "Can you get me a towel with water on it—"
Instead of completing the request, Wib had entered the room with a towel over his shoulder and a glass of water in his hand. Warren took the glass and looked down to Cariba as her flesh was still causing severe pain that even I was starting to feel.
"Cariba, this might hurt, but it's really the only way—"
"Just do it, assh0le!" she yelled and then he lightly poured the water over her burn area. She winced for a second and then her body relaxed. I saw some of her singed skin heal, but not as much as needed. Warren poured a little more, but instead of the beads of water rolling off of her skin, she soaked it up. Cariba reached up and grabbed the back of Warren's hair. "Don't you dare do that again!"
"Fine, but I still have to put burn ointment and the pad and gauze and—"
"UGH!" Cariba yelled. Her blue sound waves bounced around the room and absorbed into Wib's body.
"Just...think about something distracting," I suggested and then Warren looked over to me with a sparkle in her eye. He reluctantly grabbed the ointment and applied it to her skin with a cotton ball, still making Cariba want to twist in pain. Then, he placed the pad on the majority of the area and braced for the wrapping. He did it slowly with as little pressure as possible, but still Cariba looked uncomfortable. Warren finished with the tape and then Cariba glared up at him, but there was nothing but concern and compassion in Warren's eyes. And then the unthinkable happened.
"Thank you," Cariba hissed up to him. We were all taken back at that.
"Anytime," he said easily, pulling her up by her waist.
By then, I decided not to think anything of what Jane said. If I would've cured Cariba here and now, she wouldn't have acted this way with Warren. We now stood and Cariba & Warren had their eyes locked on each other. For once, I couldn't read either expression as a whole.
"I really am sorry," he muttered. I sat down on my bed and watched the show.
"Okay. I believe you," Cariba said and then regained her usual sarcastic grin. "Now stop apologizing."
There was an awkward silence.
"So are you going to ask me now?" Warren asked.
"What?"
"To kiss you," he said, taking her by her waist. "After all, Zaine's pairing worked with the twins."
Damn, he got her. I wanted her to just give in already. But then of course she pulled away.
"That has nothing to do with us," she said with a playful smirk on her lips, but Warren's hands stayed at her waist, making me wonder what they did the whole day for her not to karate chop his hands off of her. But to give them privacy, I wandered away to explore Sumer's grand house. When I got upstairs, I glanced inside a medium room and saw Skye and Andres sitting on the bed with Sumer and Zaine sitting on the floor together. I wasn't jealous or anything, but I steered away from there and across the hall I saw Anthony, standing at his window as if looking over the huge field messed up by our self proclaimed field day. He looked over at me and then nodded for me to enter. I noticed that Cheshire was busy laying down on his bed with his shirt off and the pillow over his face.
"Thanks a lot...for today, I mean," Anthony told me.
"No problem," I told him and then Cheshire slid the pillow off of his face.
"Was I supposed to interpret that in a suggestive manor?" he asked with a groggy voice.
"No," Anthony and I laughed.
"She helped me and Andres develop," Anthony informed.
"Right..." he said, unconvinced. He sat up in the bed with his abs crunched together and then he stood up.
"Speaking of developing, wanna go take a walk?" he asked me and I had no idea what that had to do with developing. "I mean, I kind of liked where we left off this morning."
"Sure you did," I playfully rolled my eyes and then started to exit the room, but then I felt arms around my waist and my heart beat sped up when I saw the bodies of Sumer and Zaine starting to stand up, across the hall in Skye and Andres' room.
"Maybe that's another development you have," Cheshire whispered in my ear. "Seduction."
Then, before I could even contemplate all the options Zaine would think about this, I relayed on some randomized instinct and spun around, grabbed his arm and threw him over my shoulder. I applied my knee to his chest and heard the wind knocked out of him.
"Whoa," he breathed, his hand coming up as if surrendering.
"Whoa is right," Zaine's voice agreed as he looked down to us and continued to walk in an opposite direction of Sumer.
"You sure he doesn't—"
"Shut up," I smacked Cheshire's chest and followed Zaine as he neared his master bedroom. He ignored my footsteps behind him and when he stepped through the doorway, he spun around.
"Do you legitimately want something, or are you going to stammer some excuse about you and Cheshire?" he asked me. He didn't even give me time to immediately reply because he just left the door opened and entered his room. The room was gold and huge and royal.
"I haven't used a 'legitimate reason' before, have I?" I asked. From across the room, his eyes met mine.
"Fine, come in," he allowed. I stepped inside regardless if he was going to let me or not and looked around at the master room. The drapes were pearl and gold and it matched everything right down to the tassels on the bed frame. "What is it?"
Since he was one of the honest persons I've known, aside from his secrets that he was entitled to have, I would be honest too. But I'd have to lead up to it.
"So I guess you were smart...putting me and Wilbur with the twins," I started, tracing my fingers on the bed post. "The twins learned from it."
"I tend to be smart sometimes," he said, awkwardly. But not smart enough to get that I like you beyond belief? Idiot. "Speaking of which, we're all going to ignore—"
"Indica, I got it—Anthony told us," I interrupted. "I have no objections."
"Mmh..." he hummed as he looked out of the two doors that led to a balcony.
"So why are you and Anthony planning everything?" I asked him. "What's wrong with Jane?"
"Nothing's wrong with her," he assured.
"Then why is my brother checking up on her every day since we got off the plane?"
"We've only been here for two days, so don't act like it's been an eternity," he said. "And maybe he's checking on her because he likes her."
I didn't need to be a genius to figure that out.
"Well then why isn't she doing anything but sitting on your balcony all day and then retiring to bed with that stupid Tablet?" I asked, taking my frustration out on Jane's absence when really I wanted to question Zaine's.
"Because maybe a fourteen year old girl shouldn't have to be in charge of all of this when she could get hurt more than any of us here," Zaine raised his voice. Now he was mad, for some unknown reason. Like he had bottled it up. "She's doing as Professor Maxwell and Sentara told her to."
"Each of you are survivors now. Though not developed, you each must discover why you've survived and the opposite reasoning to completely develop your abilities. You'll all need each other if you want to stop the extinction of our race and restore it."
Did that mean Jane was a multi-tasking, boss and needed to cut herself out of being in charge to actually develop? Then what did that say about the twins, or me, or Cheshire, or...Zaine?
"So what do we do the rest of the week?" I asked him. "The twins and Jane are developing, Indica's getting ignored, Andres is sure to stay inside with Skye now, Warren and Cariba are on their usual rollercoaster, and Cheshire—"
"Cheshire seems fine cozying up with you," he cut-in. I sighed and decided to take that to my advantage.
"You think so?" I asked.
"Y-yeah," he stuttered, taking slow steps as I sat down on his bed.
"I don't think so," I expressed truthfully.
"I do," he said.
"And why's that?"
"Because you're the only person he talks to and you and him are...close...and he's always messing with you—"
"Which girl here hasn't he thrown a pass at, other than Jane?" I reasoned.
"You're different."
Like I haven't heard that one before.
"How so?"
"He messed with Skye so Andres would finally like her, he messes with Cariba and Indica because it annoys the crap out of them, he messes with Sumer because he's still suspicious of her and yet secretly grateful..." he listed. "So the only reason he's messing with you is...—"
"To get to you?" I asked. He looked down and away from me. "Well you're right, you know. And he has the right to flirt with whoever he wants, just like everyone else here and if you think that Cheshire is stupid for getting to me, then you're wrong because it seems to be the only way to get to you nowadays!"
"Are you really saying that to me, Aspen?" he asked in a raised voice, containing more offense than heartbreak. But one led to the other. "You don't think that you opening up to me gets to me? Or giving me a reason to be protective? Or making me feel like I'm not some stupid soldier? Or persisting on having fun in this bullsh!t situation we're in? Or...or especially helping me sleep for one night when I haven't been able to since then? How can you honestly believe you can use none of that to get to me!?"
"Because ever since we got to the Airport in Houston, you've been acting as if you hate and distrust me for no reason," I responded. He didn't reply because he didn't want to admit it, or give me a valid reason. Well now I needed one. "What could I have possibly done to make you go back to hating me? Because I'm pretty sure we were on opposite terms before then. Was it anything? Or are you just being an assh0le to me because it's all you know?"
Still, he had no answer. And I was sick and tired of that. So much that I picked up one of the throw pillows from the bed and threw it at him. It caught him off guard and he pursed his lips as his eyes traveled the pillow's descend to the floor.
I stood up from his bed, feeling more heartbroken than anything else in the world. I didn't want to cry. I really didn't; so instead of doing that as I approached the door, I turned back to him.
"Whatever I did, I'm sorry," I started. "But I know you're not an assh0le, so I must have really screwed up to make you treat me that way. I just...thought that maybe Cheshire was right about you treating me like he treated his girlfriend or that maybe you would be jealous about us training together. Because I'd hate to have such strong feelings go completely unnoticed."
And then my tears had dropped. I left his room, hopefully making him think about that and then when I went downstairs my blurry eyes revealed Cariba and Warren in the dining room with Cariba sitting on the table and Warren, sitting beside her in the chair. Wilbur was fast asleep and I was met face-to-face with Indica, who had a bottle of water in her hand.
"He finally got to you didn't he?" she smirked and I surely knew that she was mocking me. Now was a time when I didn't need Anthony or Zaine to tell me to ignore her. "I'm right, aren't I? He's doing the same damn thing he did to me early on when we first met. Only, I'm not as stupid as you to not make him man up to his true feelings—"
Then, Cheshire walked up, bumping shoulders with Indica. He closed his eyes briefly because I was sure he would retort something back at Indica for her taunting, but he didn't. His eyes opened and he searched my face, only deciding it was enough to take me into a hug of a Spearmint scent and warmth. He started walking away and led me into the den, where Isaac surprisingly wasn't. Or maybe he was hiding someplace. Cheshire pulled away from the hug and cupped my face.
"Trust me, it took all I had to ignore her," he started. He wiped away a recent tear and I saw his blue eyes lighten a shade. "I can't tell you that Union isn't worth your tears, but maybe it'll push him over the edge. He cares about you, Aspen. He just doesn't know how to show it. And I'm sorry for that, but you don't deserve that. He needs to accept what's going on and what already happened and just be with you already..."
"Maybe it's a sign," I mumbled. "After all, Indica said—"
"When Indica tried being with Zaine, it took him months before she finally pushed him into admitting what was between them—which was nothing. He told her that he wasn't interested in having a girlfriend and he certainly wasn't interested in her even if he wanted one. It's not the same with you. He does want you, Aspen. Everyone knows it and it's time for him to admit that too," he explained as if determined to prove something important. He looked between both of my eyes and the blue color completely erased from his irises and was replaced by lavender. Suddenly, I was seeing images of me and Zaine holding hands and kissing and smiling at each other as if it was real; I felt every warm embrace in my hand, every silky touch to my lips, and every ache to the muscles that I used to smile to abundance when being around Zaine.
I returned to reality and saw Cheshire blinking away the lavender color and lightly shaking his head before he acted like a small, assuring smile was enough to wipe away the confusion left in his blue pools. He removed his hands from me and then he walked away from me, allowing me to hear his footsteps as he jogged up the stairs.
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