"You're welcome," I sang to Cheshire as he was alone in the kitchen, eating. He looked up at me.
"For what?" he asked with a mouth full of food.
"What did you say to Zaine last night?" I asked him before anything. Cheshire swallowed his food and shifted positions.
"I told him that he was treating you wrong for no reason and to man up already," he said. Huh. "But not in those exact words, of course."
"Of course not," I laughed. "Chance said that you were helping him this morning and—"
"Man, I hate that time traveler," he hissed beneath his breath. "Well, Union wanted to...I don't know, impress you or some sh!t, so I was going to help him since it was my idea, really, but I guess those plans are ruined, eh?"
"Are they?" I asked. Something glinted in his eyes that confused him and he set down the glass of water he was about to drink.
"So...why should I be thanking you?" he asked.
"Because I helped you unlock your other powers," I told him, sort of mocking the idea of "developing" as if we really need the burden of more powers.
"How so...?" he asked, doubtfully.
"Last night, when you were so persistent to make things right from Zaine's standpoint, I...saw a future with him and it seemed so real for the briefest time before you left to talk to him," I explained. He blinked at me, not saying anything. "I don't know if you had control over that before, but I just figured th—"
"No...no; I didn't," he assured, wondering what it meant that he could make people believe in a fantasy without really altering anything in the actual world. His hand found mine along with our eyes. "Thank you."
I grinned briefly, but then he stood up and removed his hand.
"So I was thinking everyone could go out tonight," he informed. I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I know. It's weird for me too, but whatever. I thought a group date night would be cool."
"That's not going to work," I said.
"Then why did everyone agree to it already?" he asked. I bit my lip and thought about it. "Andres and Skye. Cariba and Warren. Sumer and...Chance. You and me. And then Anthony will just be the awkward ninth wheel."
"You and me?" I asked, pathetically. He rolled his eyes.
"I think we both know it's further from a date for us," he chuckled lightly. "After all, we're obviously into different people...unless you want to go on a date—"
"No! No...I rather not," I laughed as he winked. Then I remembered. "What about my brother, Isaac, and Jane?"
"They're too young. They'll just stay here," he shrugged.
"Too young? They're either two or three years younger than us," I reminded.
"Exactly."
"Well you're forgetting about Indica," I said. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen her since I got back into the house.
"Everyone's forgetting about Indica. That's the point," he rolled his eyes. "She'll probably just stay here because she won't want to intrude on Skye and Andres."
"And what about...?" Zaine.
"He'll stay here too," he answered. "It's not like he's in the mood for all of this. He's focusing on Sunday."
I sighed. Even though I knew I shouldn't...I would stay here if he did.
"I better go talk to him—" Cheshire grabbed my arm and a questioned why.
"He left while you all were outside," he informed.
"Where did he go?" I asked as if he and Zaine bridged their differences and told each other everything as if they were the new 'Zaine and Warren'.
"I don't know, but ten bucks says he'll come back with a bouquet of roses for you," he smirked.
"You're on," I joked, either way in a win/win situation.
=XXX=
"We'll see you later," Skye smiled when it was late. Cheshire was right. They were all going out.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Cariba asked.
"I promise I won't make a move on you," Cheshire laughed. I joined him and shook my head.
"You all have fun," I wished.
"You too," Sumer laughed for some reason and then the eight of them left. I sighed as I sat back and turned on the television. All the while, my curiosity was getting the best of me with a nearly empty house. Wilbur was swimming laps in the pool and I had no clue where Isaac and Jane were. But I knew that Zaine's room was empty. However, as I struggled to keep my curiosity to myself, I heard a noise and then saw a Tablet, half the size of Jane's, on top of my backpack. Hmm. How did that get there?
I picked it up and slid my fingers across it and a screen appeared. There was a lot of software and were different files labeled things like "Profiles", "Combat", "Accounts", "Developing" even one that was locked by some code, and then finally... "For Aspen."
My index finger hovered over the icon with my name on it, but then I realized whose computer this was. I locked the screen immediately, to return it to his room without him finding out however it got downstairs. But when I went to put it in his room, spinning in a circle because I didn't know where he had kept it, there was a click to the balcony doors and I saw him entering.
"Where did you get that?" he asked. Sh!t. I bet he thought I took it. I bet he thought I took it and read about him. Crap. He probably hated me more than ever and just the thought of that broke me and I couldn't live with it. I think my body irrationally agreed because my breath was held as he neared me and stopped a foot in front of me. Or maybe because I didn't think he was back yet. I held out the piece of personal technology and he reluctantly took it from me and stored it in a slot in his backpack. Something was wrong.
"I swear, I didn't read anything on it," I spoke up, nervously. "I—I don't even know why it was downstairs, but it was just sitting there—"
Or why I was pleading my case to you when I should be staying away from you.
"It's fine, I believe you," he assured with his back still turned to me.
"Good..." I whispered and hesitated to leave. I exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Why...why didn't you go out with the others?" he asked and I turned around and saw him facing me with the mini-tablet in his hands once more as if it kept his biggest secrets and he had a frown on his face in disappointment, sadness, and confusion.
I could've answered him honestly by telling him I wanted to be wherever he was. Or I could've fished for jealousy and possessiveness by saying Cheshire invited me and I politely declined. But even though I never wanted him to feel those things—disappointment, sadness, confusion, or jealousy—I didn't feel as if I should answer his questions when he never answered mine.
"Why did you leave this morning...?" I asked him, but I didn't mean early in the morning when he left with Cheshire and Sumer to "impress me" apparently. "...after declaring war on the United States?"
"I didn't," he denied within a sigh. Uh, sure you didn't... "I declared war on the sick people whose fault this is."
"And we still don't know who it is, so—"
"I think I do," he interrupted over me. How did he know who was responsible for ruining the school and killing innocent kids and making a single cure for all our mutations? Did he find this out, or was he making assumptions? Either way, it was tearing him apart by knowing and I could see it on his face. However, I wasn't surprised in the slightest way because I remembered how he reacted to General Macintyre knowing him by name.
He sat down on his bed and I knew that right now, there was something other than suspects that was bothering him. He put down his tablet on the bedside table and I started walking towards the bed, already feeling myself comforting him as if compelled to do so.
"Does this have something to do with the General?" I asked him and then his face shot up to meet mine in shock with widened eyes.
"How—"
"He knew your name on the jet, remember?" I reminded, taking a seat on the opposite side of the bed as him.
"How could I forget?" he tried to force a laugh between it, but it didn't fool me, or even himself.
"Well is it him?" I asked. He scoffed at me as if I was being ridiculous.
"Yeah right," he laughed. He even stood up and paced slightly in his amusement. "Man, if I find out he's involved with this..."
"What?" I asked since he didn't finish. He paused and he looked over his shoulder at me.
"I wish I could tell you," he said and that's all I needed before I started to get up from his bed, but of course with his speed and strength, he beat me to it, grabbed me lightly, and spun me around to where we were inches apart. I wanted to just kiss him right then and there to prove why I was so frustrated with all of this by feelings, alone, but of course he left us pressed together, searching my eyes. "Don't go."
"Then don't play me," I told him, removing his grip easily from him. "Or better yet, if you want me here, say so instead of blowing me off and then rushing over and spinning me around, only making me want to kiss you that much more but I know it won't happen."
And he could've done it then and I would've completely forgotten all of this, but he didn't. He just removed his last hand from my forearm and I stepped away from him, feeling a Zaine-sized heartbreak for the last time before I was nothing. Before he was nothing to me.
I grabbed the knob to his door and then I saw a huge, tanned hand on the door, slamming it close right when I had cracked it open. I looked over my shoulder towards his extended arm and my breath was sped up due to the loud sound and the close proximity of our bodies. And there was a new auburn color in his eyes of power and strength that pierced into my soul as if to scare me, only to assure me that the strength or power was passion as they elevated from my eyes to my lips on repeat. And then I felt his right arm encircling my waist. And even though I wanted something else, he pulled me into his body and his muscular arms wrapped around my small body as if we were the perfect molds for each other.
"I want you here," he whispered. "I need you here...with me."
"I've thought that since we were at my house, but you proved otherwise," I tested.
"And so did I, but when we got to Skye's...I had to focus on protecting the entire group while constantly remembering Cheshire and his girlfriend...by the time you held hands with Cheshire and offered me up to Indica, I had enough, " he expressed, but there had to be something else. Up until the Ferris Wheel...that carried into whatever we were now.
"And was all that about you letting me make you happy was a lie, then?" I asked him. Because he seemed like nowhere near happy when he was around me. And then he shook his head and grabbed my hand. He towed me to the window seat, sat down, and then surprisingly pulled me into his lap.
"Every time I see you...just being around you, and especially right now, you make me happy, Aspen," he told me and failed at hiding an adorable smile. "But under the circumstances—"
"Any circumstance shouldn't matter—"
"But it does," he interrupted, his smile gone. "I can put behind me that I'm not good at...whatever this is, but I can't forget everything that's happened in my life."
"But why are you taking it out on me?" I asked him, standing up in front of him.
"Because I don't—" he abruptly stopped. "It's hard for me to live my life one way and then change into the dynamic of the Academy and then turn around again and try not to convince myself that...that..."
"That what?"
"That you're my life, now," he answered and my heart stopped. "I know this is sounding completely ridiculous, but I can't help it. I've never cared about anyone like you like this and it's a slap in the face just being in this situation, let alone when my old life comes back and haunts me."
Then, he stood up and looked between my eyes.
"What was the first promise I made you?" he asked, knowing that I had a damn good memory. It wasn't as perfect as Jane's but it was pretty close.
"That when you got us out safely, you'd prove you liked me," I sort of guessed. I had remembered a lot, but not necessarily everything. Eh. He placed his hands on my waist.
"I think we're safe enough now; I want you to know that from now on, I'll start proving that the best I can that I like you," he said.
"You think this is safe?" I asked him, even though I was smiling on the inside and out. "We're about to go to war with government agents in less than four days."
"Exactly," he said, confusing me. But then he smiled in a very sexy manner after running his tongue across his bottom lip. "So then just be my girlfriend now before either one of us gets in any more danger and I have to save us both."
Be his girlfriend.
"I think I lied earlier," I said, avoiding a joyous moment. He frowned and raised an eyebrow. "The first promise you made to me was when you said since nothing can hurt you, you're going to make sure nothing hurts me either."
Funny, how he was, at this point, the only thing that could hurt me. And yet now, he was pulling me roughly into him and still smiling to make me melt.
"My offer and promises still stand," he assured. And then his playful smile dropped into another adorable-yet-sure grin. "They always will."
"Then I'll always take you up on them," I flirted with smile that we shared. It wasn't the "movie moment" when we kissed and proclaim our love on the first moment of our relationship, but it was perfectly fine when he easily picked me up by my waist and spun me around. He kissed my cheek and he had a smile on his face like nothing in the world was wrong. "But you can't just keep shutting me out."
That's when the thrill was extinguished and he let go of my waist and walked around me.
"Zaine, I'm serious," I told him. "I don't want to be that stupid, nagging girlfriend—especially since we've been together for, what, thirty seconds—but you can't keep shutting me out."
"One, your nagging is justified. Two, I've considered us together longer than thirty seconds, but fine. And three—"
"Stop avoiding it."
"I can't."
"UGH!" I yelled. "What is it, Zaine? What can't you tell me? Is it about the SSAS, or General Macintyre, or the cure, or your ex-girlfriend—"
"I don't have an ex-girlfriend."
"—or your family—"
"That either."
"—or whatever stupid sh!t Warren told me about the stupid Ferris Wheel in Galveston?!" I finished. "What is it, Zaine?"
I crossed my arms and glared at him across the room as he now sat on his bed with his shoes off in a calm manner, with no hint on his face that he asked for me to be his girlfriend.
"Come here," he mumbled and I obliged with an eye roll. He was doing it again.
He grabbed my waist and pulled me onto the bed. We laid down just like we tried to in Wib's room, but now it was more natural. I laid my head on his chest and heard his raised heart beat that matched mine somehow.
"I promise, I will tell you everything..." he swore. "Eventually."
I sat up, pushing off of his chest and scoffed down at him.
"What? You know I'm serious when it comes to that," he said, defensively. "And I'm trying, I really am. I just don't know how to tell you."
I paused and noted slight hypocrisy. And I think he caught on to it.
"When I first got into your unit, you were so dead set on Jane and everyone finding out my story to figure me out while you so willingly offered up theirs, and you said that everyone knew why you were there...so why is it so hard for you to tell me when I struggled so hard and managed to tell you about Tyler and all of it when I had never done it before?" I asked in a broken, disheartened voice. His fingers traced my leg as he looked away from me.
"Everyone thinks they know my story, but I never said I told it to anyone," he said, searching the sheets with his eyes. "I haven't told anyone the full story because it took me forever to accept it and...when Warren found us, I was glad because he was the only good thing from my old life, but he still didn't know what happened...Of all people that deserve to know, he does."
His eyes finally met mine.
"I know that you didn't want to tell me about you and Tyler for personal reasons, but mine is different than that. Mine has nothing to do with losing feeling for someone else and putting them into you..." he said and I was shocked that he actually recognized that. "Mine can change how you and especially Warren sees me...how everyone does."
K];?|Q!