☫ Chapter 26 ☫
I might as well be an abomination to humankind.
"Concentrate!" Jude yelled and went for a straight punch.
I ducked and slid my foot in an attempt to trip him. And he trusted me. How could I just do that to him? Oh my goodness, I'm a horrible person. Horrible. Just horrible. Dr. Robertson is going to hate me.
"Jeremiah!" He snapped, clicking his tongue in aggravation and shaking his head. "Get your mind out of the bloody gutter and concentrate.
"I-I'm trying," I said breathlessly, short exhales escaping my lips, making my throat dry and sore. But I'm kind of a terrible person right now and it's hard.
Jude gave me a side eye stare filled with disbelief. I found myself sheepishly hiding a grin at that. The look on him was amusing. It was a rare sight.
I did a little jump into the T stance and nodded my head, gesturing for him to continue. He raised an eyebrow but obliged despite the apprehension he must have been feeling.
Okay, let's not think about the whole situation with Dr. Roberston and how I'm officially every bad word in the book.
Besides, this is good. I mean, I'm not a violent person but there's something therapeutic about boxing. There was a science behind it, that I was sure of that. If I recall correctly it was like a stress reliever-- endorphins were being stimulated. All this punching was relieving the muscle tension that had been accumulated through stress, thus the title, stress reliever. Maybe that's why I was beginning to like it.
"Apricot!"
My nose scrunched up at the word he said with such a serious tone. I did a double take, almost getting punched in the face during the process. I quickly dodged it, my eyes wide and heartbeat quickening.
Did I hear correctly? Did he just say apricot? He never told me anything about the word apricot. Is this more boxing terminology? I doubt he's talking about the actual fruit.
I pursed my lips. I thought we already reviewed all of that in the beginning. Ugh. I'm so confused right now. I genuinely believed that I was finally understanding this all.
"Uppercut, Jeremiah!" Jude instructed, not seeming to notice my sudden panic.
Oh, uppercut, yeah. That makes much more sense than apricot.
We were both in the boxing ring with our fighting positions planted firmly. I was absolutely breathless and a mess. I squinted my eyes, panting and pathetically trying to throw a punch. I stumbled a bit as Jude avoided the hit with ease. He was calm and nowhere near as exhausted as I was. I could see him going in for a right hook. He was aiming for my stomach. I could see it so clearly. This birds-eye vision wouldn't let me not see it. But I was too tired to even dodge it. I squeezed my eyes shut, mentally preparing myself for the pain.
The hit never came.
I opened my eyes slowly.
"Never," Jude began sternly, clenching his jaw with anger. "Never ever do that."
I stared at him, puzzled with the way he was reacting so strongly. "I--"
"Always fight back," he continued appearing almost disappointed. His forehead was creased and his eyebrows drawn together. I frowned and looked down, rubbing my arm. He let out a low sigh. "Hey, Jeremiah, it's fine, but come on. You're better than that, bruv."
I pursed my lips. "It's just--I'm really tired."
And I can't stop thinking about yesterday.
"Let's take a break," he suggested and he wasn't really smiling at me but he did offer something of that sort in an assuring manner.
"Y-yeah." I grinned. "That sounds good."
We sat down on the edge of the boxing ring, our arms settled on the wires comfortably and legs dangling off of the ring. We took a breath. I grabbed my water bottle and took a large gulp, almost choking on the water. I gasped and began coughing. Jude didn't make any note of it and instead brought something else up.
"So what's the update on the internship?" Jude asked as he fixed his wraps, redoing each finger.
I inwardly groaned as I recalled yesterdays turn of events.
When I went to the internship it really hit me on how strange the whole situation at home became. The way Jeff piped in and the way grandpa caved to his words. It made me feel like I was missing something really significant. Although, there was no way I could confront either one of them on that. So I let it be.
The second I reached the door of the lab I wondered if Dr. Robertson even wanted me back in the first place. The whole entire time I simply assumed he'd be okay with having me return. To be perfectly honest, it didn't occur to me until that very moment that I could be so wrong. That maybe he didn't want some dramatic kid to work with him. Fortunately, the doubt was for nothing.
Dr. Robertson and I patched things up pretty quickly which I found to be kind of awesome. Everything was back to the way things were before.
Then I stole the 'evolutionary' drug he showed me that one night and now I can't stop thinking about it.
"So?" Jude prompted.
I blinked. "Oh, yeah. They let me go."
The drug was in my bag as we spoke. Settling there so innocently.
"Really? Bloody hell, that's great. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He smiled and ruffled my hair encouragingly.
My face turned red and I ducked my head down with embarrassment. "Thanks," I mumbled bashfully. "I was going to. I just had other things on my mind."
Like the dreadful and gut-wrenching guilt of stealing from Dr. Robertson and having him as my prime suspect as the creator and supplier of the super drugs. Oh gosh, I really am a horrible person. I'm awful. I completely abused our relationship and took advantage of my position.
"Wanna talk about it?" Jude finished fixing the wraps and turned his eyes towards mine.
I gulped and shook my head. "That's okay," I brushed it off and got up. "How about we get back to fighting?"
He didn't necessarily make a certain facial expression but I knew him well enough to know that he was holding back a frown. I guess we've been talking a lot so it's a bit peculiar to reject it now. I mean, I would like to tell him but for practical purposes, I can't exactly do that. Cause then we'd have an awkward conversation about how I am, in fact, Blue Gravity. I can't even begin to imagine the way Jude would react to that.
We got back to the flow of practice fighting. He taught me a few more things. A couple of new moves and the way to correctly react to each of them. I nodded and did as he did.
"You look knackered," Jude commented while he deflected a punch.
Knackered meant tired. I knew that. One time I decided that I should google search British slang since I figured it would be helpful when conversing with Jude. It's interesting though because he says some Australian slang too. I wonder what that's about. Either way, I'm really happy that I went through with that. I learned a lot of things that day.
"I am," I agreed with him, huffing self-consciously, my cheeks bright in fatigue.
"Fighting really comes down to will and stamina. It looks like you lack both."
I chuckled at the way he said that. "Yeah, I think I might start working out."
"What are you gonna work out?" He scoffed. "Math problems."
I hid a laugh and playfully acted angry. "You know what? Piss off, Jude." I threw a punch which he luckily sidestepped. I accidentally forgot to hold back on my powers. If that hit him then he would have ended up like the wall behind us. Dented.
I mentally cursed myself. I put way too much power and force in that punch. I need to be more cautious.
"Woah! Have you been holding back or something? Did I just get you seriously mad?" He laughed and started to turn his head in the direction of my punch. My eyes widened. He'd see the huge dent.
Shoot. Got to distract him somehow. And quickly.
"Oh, right!" I abruptly announced, clapping my hands together.
He turned his face back to me. I heaved in a sigh of relief.
"What?" Jude's eyes danced with amusement but there was curiosity there that forced me to come up with something.
Think. Think. Think. "I--I have...I have to babysit today!" I snapped my fingers. "Yeah, babysitting."
Yeah. That's good. Totally normal. Babysitting. Wait--babysitting! I actually do have to do that.
"Okay? That's nice. Good on you?" Jude raised an eyebrow at me, uncertain of what to reply to that. It would have almost been comical if I wasn't in such a hurry.
"What time is it?!"
"Probably like half past six?"
Six thirty?! Oh, no. How could I lose track of time? "I need to leave right now," I told him. "Can we continue this another time?" I asked as I packed my stuff in a rushed manner.
"Sure," he answered and started to put his things away as well. "I'll take you to this babysitting place or whatever. Since you're in such a hurry let's go on my bike."
"No, that's okay." I waved my hands, dismissing the idea and smiled appreciatively. "I'll walk." I'll fly.
"You're still scared of the bike? I thought we had a deal?" He smirked, challenging me with the statement and expression alone. "I even got a new helmet for you."
I bit down on my lip, gnawing on it nervously. "Okay."
☫ * ☫ * ☫ * ☫
Tobe looked similar to a strict parent and gazed at me as if I was the failure of a son he had to deal with. His arms folded against his chest and eyes narrow. I shouldn't have found it so amusing. Layla was bouncing next to him, her teeth in full show as she smiled and then ran to me.
"Jeremiah!" She greeted me with excitement. Her happiness was infectious. I knelt down and gave her a hug. "We missed you."
"Speak for yourself," Tobe piped in, rolling his eyes.
"Missed you too. Sorry, I'm late guys," I apologized and glanced over at Tobe, pouting my lips. Maybe that's why he was acting upset. I honestly could never tell what his moods meant when they were directed at me.
"Who's this punk?" Tobe sneered and gave me a pointed look.
"Punk?" I asked and turned around to see Jude exchanging a glare with Tobe. "Oh, that's Jude."
"What's he doing on our lawn?" He puffed out his chest like it was a threatening move. I noticed that Jude stood up straighter.
What's going on here?
"He was just doing me a favor so I wouldn't be too late for you guys," I answered, trying to show him that Jude wasn't the bad guy. "Wasn't that nice of him?"
"You mean he took you on that motorcycle which could have killed you and also made you late. Yeah, how nice."
I gawked at him. "Tobe," I scolded. "Don't say that. I was perfectly safe and it was my fault that I was late."
Oh, gosh. I wonder what's going on in Jude's mind.
"Hn."
"He has green and orange hair," Layla announced. "Can I have green hair too?"
"You could have whatever you want." I patted her shoulder. She beamed. "As long as you're parents are on board with it." I don't think I've ever seen a frown turn upside down so fast. I shook my head, a laugh leaving my lips.
Mrs. Carson is definitely going to haunt me down when Layla starts asking her to have green hair. I sighed. That will surely be a great moment.
I stood up. "Alright, let's get inside, okay? I don't want any of you getting sick."
"We'll be fine, Jeremiah," Tobe said, his glare becoming much more menacing. "Why don't you worry about your friend?"
I think this is the most intense reaction I've received from Tobe. He's usually so blase about everything. I'll have to ask him what's wrong and fix this.
"Jude can take of himself," I spoke.
"Let me talk to him." Tobe didn't waver and instead remained tough for whatever reason he deemed necessary.
I glanced over at Jude, attempting to speak to him with my eyes. Telling him to take an initiative of some kind and deal with the beef that was suddenly being created.
"Sure, kid." Jude walked towards him. "We can talk."
And they did. Tobe made me leave and ended up entering the house two minutes later, slamming the door shut for theatrical purposes most likely. Tobe was like that. I asked him about the conversation but he just huffed and said something about needing to do homework.
Guess I'll have to talk to Jude about this tomorrow.
☫ * ☫ * ☫ * ☫
Dark Wonder was testing my patience and I don't think I could handle it at this point. It's already super strange that he's Lucas Trevor but the fact that he's teasing me like this is just ridiculous. Like we're close or something. Which is fine except for the annoying aspect that's part of the package.
"Come on, sprinkle some of that fairy dust on me. I'm ready."
He's been insistent on calling me Tinkerbell ever since we caught up with each other. We weren't really doing anything incredibly heroic at the moment. More like a casual patrol. On the lookout for any sight of trouble or danger kind of thing. I ignored him and scanned the busy streets.
I suddenly saw gold sparkle sprinkle in front of me. My eyebrows knitted together.
"You really brought glitter?" I sneezed when they hit my face.
He gasped and gave me a disgusted scoff. "It's fairy dust excuse me!"
I rolled my eyes at his exclamation.
"Come on Tinkerbell!" He continued.
I shook my head. "Where did you even get Tinkerbell from?"
He smirked like he was waiting for me to ask. I watched as he stood up with pride and self-satisfaction. "You fly and you have blonde hair." He started as his reason. A weak reason, I observed. "You're a fairy. Face it, Blue. You're Tinkerbell."
Hmm. That was clearly well-thought out. Clearly.
"Not saying I don't love the nickname." I put my hands up in surrender position. "But I'm not really loving the nickname."
"Heh, you're really funny." He scrunched up his face, expressing that he thought the exact opposite. "What's wrong with it? You're even an attention seeker like her."
I gaped at him. Two can play at this game. "Okay, Batman wannabe. Mr. Copyright Infringement much. Mr--"
"Uh oh, nope that's a different universe." He sassed with his finger. "Can't go there. Then we'll really have copyright infringement happening. And gosh, Blue, you're killing me with that sass."
I ignored the little bits of his reply and mentioned an important fact. "They're both fictional anyway." I moved closer to the ledge, eyeing a certain scene that was occurring in a restaurant.
"Living life on the edge I see." Dark Wonder leaned at the ledge.
I was puzzled for a moment and then realized he was making a pun. "I think I have some information on the super drug case," I informed him.
"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow. "Because I got like nothing. That lava chick wasn't so helpful."
I frowned. That sucks. She was one of the closest contacts we had.
"She did give me a number but that's about it."
"Wait like a phone number?"
"Yeah." He nodded. He then let out a gasp and his eyes went wide. "Wait, you think she might want to like you know, go out with me?"
I ran my hands down my face with such pain, incredulous with his words. "No, Dark Wonder no."
"Are you sure?" He asked. "Like can you be sure of that? You do see how awesome I am right?"
I stared at him, bewildered.
"Hey, Blue Gravity. You're staring for too long. Don't you know the rule? Two guys not staring at each other cause they're not gay."
Oh, wow. Oh, okay. I'm just going to just casually throw myself off this building and fly away. Unfortunately, I can't do that. "The number. Did she tell you who's number it is?"
"Yeah, it's the boyfriend. She swears they're just friends but let's be honest here."
"If it's her boyfriend why did you think she wanted to go out with you?"
"Oh, I didn't. I just couldn't pass up the chance to get you all flustered and annoyed. It's very entertaining." He smiled sweetly.
He truly is one of a kind. I licked my lips, calming myself down. Maybe I am too uptight. "Right. So did you call him?"
"You think she's trying to set me and him up?" He shrieked, gasping and covering his mouth with both hands. "I'm already dating someone. This is mad awkward."
"Can we be serious for like two seconds please?" I groaned.
"Okay, okay fine." He giggled and then shifted gears and gave me a solemn look. "He gave me an address and I figured we should both check it out once you got some information and apparently you did so let's hear it."
"I think I found the original drug but I'll have to compare it to the drugs we found. I might just turn the pills into a liquid form and then look at it through a microscope. That's what I'm leaning towards but I don't know what would be more legitimate to study if I'm being perfectly honest."
"Ah, the OG. I understand." He crossed his arms over his chest. OG? "So you do your whole nerdy thing and then get back to me on that?"
"Yeah, that was the plan." I smacked my lips together.
"How do you know all the science stuff anyway?" He questioned me with a tilt of his head.
"I like to read?" I shrugged.
"Pfft. Like textbooks?"
Why is everyone making these kinds of jokes? Jude and now him. I'm not mad or anything. But do I give that off? Do I really give off the vibe that I do math in my spare time and read textbooks as opposed to just normal books?
I decided to go along with it. "Sure."
"Nerd," he said easily.
"Batman wannabe," I quipped.
"Oh, it's on Tinkerbell. It's on!" He rolled his sleeved and moved closer, ready for a fight.
I laughed out loud, my stomach aching and my eyes teary. He almost made me forget all the emotions I've been feeling this week. Dark Wonder and his antics. I continued laughing.
"Okay, Batman wannabe."
________________________________________
A/N
Heyyyy humans! ┬┴┬┴┤ ͜ʖ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴
How you doin? Good, yeah? I sure hope so. This was a fun chapt right? Like we still got our over dramatic and needs to chill Jer bear but he's been too busy to really think so it's been a chill chapt. But don't expect that to continue with our beautiful boy. *wink wonk*
Lucas killed me in this chapt! Absolutely destroyed me. I couldn't breathe. And Jer getting so annoyed was the highlight of it all to me.
By the way, I genuinely don't have a proper excuse on why I haven't updated. Like, yeah I just started college but that doesn't actually mean shiz so I'm terribly sorry and let's not let this come between us okay? Smiley face, lipstick, kitty paw. (whaddup BMC reference)
Please tell me how you guys are doing. What's up with the weather. What you want to happen. What you think will happen. What you can't wait for to happen. You know what I'm saying? Anyway, I'm ready to have some fun in the comment section. This chapt was really fun to write and you humans are lit.
STORYTIME: I was studying like a good nerd for this test and I was sorta done but still holding strong and I pick up my pillow so I could put my laptop on top and guess what! I see this fortune cookie slip and decide to you know...pick it up. And it says I quote: "Determination is what you need right now." And I'm like yup, you're not wrong fortune cookie. Thank you, G-d. I see you're with me and I thought ya'll should know that because that was like a hallmark trope and I lived for it.
Please vote, comment, share, smile, live life!
P.S: if you have any tips, ideas, suggestions please pm me, that would be awesome. Any idea is good because I could just base a chapter off of it and update quicker ;-). So if there's a certain thing that you want to happen just comment it!
Love ya'll <3
Yours truly,
A N O N Y M O U S