PROLOGUE §
"Omnitrix, omnitrix," I chant in a whisper, eyes raking the toy store's shelves. I’m breathless, my hair askew and cheeks buzzing. Irritated. I’m bloody late already, which I am painfully conscious of, because my flight from Ireland to Wolverhampton wasn’t exactly as smooth as the weatherman had foretold. It was delayed for two hours. Two freaking hours!
But I can’t come to Greg’s without a gift for little Theo. The gift. The kid has been babbling on and on and on over the phone about how much he’s always wanted to have the Benten Omnitrix Touch V2, and his birthday is the perfect event for me to buy him one especially after not seeing him for eight months straight.
I’ve been wracking Mullingar's every corner for one, just one piece, but I couldn’t find any. Not even on an on-line shop where they can deliver it straight to my home. So I decided maybe I should just buy one here in Wolverhampton where hopefully they have one stacked somewhere.
So right after I had landed I hailed the nearest taxi and ended up here.
I don’t know how long I’ve been weaving through this store, dragging my suitcase behind me and trying to eliminate the anxiety bubbling in my lungs, although every ticking second wracks my guts and curls my toes inside the sneakers I’m wearing which is a little damp with rain.
Another second.
And I just lose it.
I cuss thickly, though in a whisper, cursing at the rain. At the damn puddle of wetness that has seeped through my socks. At my ridulously rusty suitcase that I first brought to my brother's wedding here in Wolverhampton some 3 years ago. At the stupid weatherman—
Oh.
I stop in my tracks and stare at the Omnitrix sitting alone in between the gap of Benten Omnitrix (Version 1) and Benten Aliens action figures at the very end of the shelf. I grin, my insides unknotting as I walk up to it. Just as my fingers curl around the toy, another hand tightens around it so our skin are ghosting near each other’s, and I quickly clutch the watch to my side. The hand stops me though.
“Hey,” we say in unison, and I continue. “I had this first, get your own!”
“No,” the voice, deep and masculine, says from the other side of the shelf. I don’t see him because of all the Benten toys separating us, but I feel the need to whack him in the head. “I need this.”
“Well, I need it too!” I’m growling. I didn’t stress myself and dirtied my newly both sneakers for nothing. I fasten my grip so my nails are digging into the plastic-front confinement. “Come on, I’m freaking late! Let up already!” Letting go of my luggage, I use my other hand for greater leverage, gritting my teeth.
He’s undeniably stronger than me though, his fingers much longer, so he easily peels off my fingers and the watch disappears into the other side.
Frustration implodes in my chest.
I yell a line of cusses, some Gaelic and French while the rest stark English, so loud the girl behind the counter looks at me, eyes wide. The boy—I’m guessing he’s older than 15—on the other side freezes as well.
When I’m finished, heaving and cheeks puffed, he says, “Come to think of it, that was magnificently eloquent.” There’s a smirk in his voice.
I curse at him and grab my luggage, not even bothering to aplogize to the clerk as I storm outside. Lungs ablaze, I stand under the awning of a tea shop just beside the toy store, slivers of rain spattering the bottom of my jeans as they pelt into the pavement. I’m just going to have to think of a new toy to give Theo. Not today though, because I don’t want to enter that store again. Not after I’ve set off a tantrum there.
I just can’t believe I’ve wasted all that effort for nothing! A freaking waste of everything! I huff, and then inhale deeply. The cold, damp air that stings my nostril relaxes me. When my thoughts gather again and my heart is at a normal pace, everything clears.
I rarely explode like that. In fact, I never do. When frustration builds up in my chest I just stroll around Dublin and try to ease my mind off my thoughts.
I think it’s the weeks of irritation ticking in my mind like a time bomb. First off, my finals. I’ve spent my nights, even while I’m working at the store where I hold a job as a clerk, reading damned text books until my eyes burn. I also have to stay up until midnight for my essays and other assignments that’s due the very next day.
And then there’s Mom and Dad. They’ve been fighting, again, and it’s really been stressing me out. The fight never escalates into glass-shattering and furniture-breaking, just those husband-wife bickering. Shouting, sometimes. But I've been losing much-needed sleep because of them. One of them would always bring me into an hour-long story about thow they'd met each other, how sweet their first date was. And the he/she would blame the his/her partner for how sour and awry it had turned out. I mean, I love my parents, I really do. But I’ve been trying to get them to fix their relationship—I even set a romantic date between them once; with candles and wine and all—but it just won’t work! And it’s getting extremely stressful! So I just thought maybe I should give them time alone and let them handle this.
And then there’s this stupid man who stole the toy.
I huff. I just need a time away from these. From everything. Which is why I immediately agreed to staying with my brother for the summer break and at the mean time taking care of little Theo while he and his wife, Cara, go on a couple-only vacation at the Bahamas. I know how much they’ve wanted this. They’ve practically made a shelf full of brochures about the place and plan what they’d be doing when they get there. So it’s a win-win situation. I get to spend time with little Theo, away from everything that stresses me out, and they get to spend a two-week vacation together.
But it seems nothing’s looking up to the way I planned.
A taxi makes its way across the street, rain bouncing off its black roof and blurring its windshield. I step forward so my right arm is exposed to the drops of cold water and hail the taxi, hoping that for once in weeks it would go my way, but instead it just hurtles past me, its wheels sputtering dark water on my jacket and jeans. I gasp. And then curse loudly at it as it disappears into the thick haze of rain.
“You’re quite the cusser, aren’t you?” I pivot my head towards a young man standing beside me. He’s taller than I am, about two inches so, although it seems like he’s just around my age. His eyes are a familiar brown but I can't make out why. His brown hair, with what looks like natural highlights at some parts, is styled into a quiff. He wears a black leather jacket that hides his frame.
I think I’ve seen him before, somewhere, but I can’t be sure.
He’s currently holding the Benten Omnitrix V2 in his hands.
I glare at him. “What do you want?” I growl, my fingers tightening on the luggage’s plastic handle.
“Hey, hey, I don’t want anything!” He holds up his hands in defense, which just irritates me more because is he showing me that he has the toy?
“Fu—“
“Yeah, before you continue that,” he interrupts, “I would just like to apologize for earlier’s events. I sort of need this—“ he points to the toy—“ for a birthday party and I’m really late, which is why I took it from you by force. I mean, you hadn’t bought it yet, so technically it wasn’t yours…”
I glare.
“Okay, okay, just kidding. Anyway, I was wondering if maybe I can make it up to you. Maybe we can have coffee sometime…?”
What?
He freaking ruins my already ruined mood, delays my time for freaking nothing, and then hits on me? Unbelievable! Un-freaking-believable! “No!” I say.
He nods. “Huh. Wrong move, wasn’t it?”
You think?
“Not even for a couple minutes?”
My answer is sturdy, accompanied by a glare. “No.”
He stands awkwardly for a second, as if he hadn’t expected I would actually turn him down, and then recomposes himself. “I’m already late, so it really wouldn’t matter if I burn a couple more minutes… say, would you allow me to drive you to wherever you’re going?” There’s hopefulness in his voice. I just want to crush it.
“No,” I say with as much indignation as before. “Now go away.”
“You sure?” he presses. How thick can he be? “It’s raining pretty hard.”
“I said no!”
He doesn’t move for a second. Just stares at me, like he’s expecting me to bend to his will or something. Like hell I would. “Okay…” He says it condescendingly, the jerk. I roll my eyes and turn away as he jogs to his car, which is parked in front of the toy store, and drives away.
[I changed this. They're both 18/19 years old here now.]