The Ride:
It felt like I was being torn from my body into this milky substance and instantly returned to the solid parts of my body whenever I transported with Xander. It was really odd, an out of body experience, that I could never get used to.
Xander looked around the dark alley that I had shown him in my mind to transport us to. I still held onto him like he was my life and followed his every move as he looked around. He coughed to himself making me realize I was holding onto him a little too tightly.
I slowly let go and stepped away from him.
He glanced at me weirdly,"Oh c'mon Nai, it's not that bad!"
My jaw dropped,"Are you kidding me! It's so...so weird."I shivered.
He scoffed,"Well where is this guy?"
I walked around the edge of the alley to the dimly lit smoothie shop. I saw Liam walk out of it quickly and he looked over at me. An instant smile popped onto his face. I drew down my block.
Happy to see me? I laughed.
He laughed as he came closer to me. Very. I thought you wouldn't come...
His voice trailed off as he looked behind me. Suddenly both of them blocked me. I turned around to see Xander standing behind me giving Liam a sinister look. I turned to look at Liam's face who also looked sinister.
Both their jaws were tight and squared off. Their eyes stared upon each other intensly.
Something was off. Something was really off.
"Do you guys know each other well?"I asked as my breath smoked out between the their tense stances.
Liam broke the stare and looked over at me,"I thought it would be just you?"
I bit my lip,"I know...well Xander, my friend, wanted to come...I hope you don't mind?"
"He won't."Xander stated and came closer to me.
Liam looked at our close proximity and his jaw tightened.
"So..."I started awkwardly.
"Do you mind if I talk to you,"Liam began,"alone?"
I awkwardly glanced back at Xander and then to Liam,"Um yeah,"I looked back to Xander,"It'll only be a second."
Liam brushed Xander's shoulder as he walked into the alley. I looked up at Xander giving him the trust-me face and I followed Liam deeper into the alley but not too far from Xander's sight.
"Block him,"Liam whispered to me as we were out of earshot from Xander.
"Why?"I whispered back to him,"Wait you know he's a Calidisi?"
"I brushed his shoulder for a reason, Nailah. I needed to check if he was one and I know you wouldn't just bring along anyone with you."
I blocked Xander from my mind as he was about to unblock me but oddly Liam still had me blocked.
"Okay, he's blocked,"I stated quickly.
"Nailah, they were just expecting you. I can't just bring him with us,"Liam looked past my shoulder over to Xander then back to my face,"I don't know if he's trustworthy. He's keeping something from you."
"Look, Liam. Xander is my best friend and I couldn't' just keep this from him. We never keep anything from each other, it would be too hard to anyways with how strongly connected we are to each other."I paused as I noticed Liam slightly flinch when I mentioned how strong of a connection I had with Xander,"If it's too much trouble then maybe we can do this some other time."
"No,"Liam said quickly,"I mean, I wanted you to meet them today. I told them they would meet you today and I guess since he's one of us, he could come."
I smiled,"Thank you for understanding Liam."
He nodded at me in a your welcome response.
"Liam, do you guys know each other?" I asked. Curosity nibbled at me as I kept thinking about how unusually they acted.
Liam stayed silent for a moment,"Well I saw him at Mevel and...."
"Nai?" Xander's deep voice called out to me and I could hear his footsteps coming torwards us.
"Yeah, we're coming,"I called back to him. I looked at Liam who seemed to be more at ease. I began to walk torwards Xander's shadowy figure.
"What's going on babe?" Xander asked me as he put an arm around my shoulder.
"Not here,"I shrugged his shoulder off and he scowled at me. I looked over to Liam who gazed intently on us,"So where to?"I asked Liam.
"Follow me," he said quickly as he walked torwards the parking lot. He quickly came in front of an old, beat up hover truck,"I know its not much but it runs,"he said opening the door for me.
I smiled at him,"No, I really like it." Liam's curly brown hair rustled in the wind and his dark blue eyes seemed to sparkle as I gave him my sweetest smile.
He put a hand on his neck and rubbed his neck,"Thanks."
"Eh, I've seen better,"Xander mocked.
I looked back at Xander and gave him a death glare. He ignored me.
Liam shrugged his shoulders,"It gets me around."
I slipped into the single cab, small truck and Xander slipped in after me. Liam closed the door and walked over to the driver's side.
"I don't like him,"Xander whispered.
"You've barely met him, he's really very nice,"I said quietly then shushed him as Liam opened the driver's door.
The cool air fogged up against the windows as Liam started his truck. Liam's air conditioner began to blow and I wrapped myself in my arms.
"Sorry, it was hot earlier,"Liam apologized and turned it off. He started the car and took off smoothly.
Xander put his arm over my shoulder and snuggled me up against him. I always felt so comfortable in his arms but I had to push the comfort and warmth away, it was awkward with Liam being right next to us. I untangled myself from Xander's arms and instead sqeezed his hand quickly, and then placed my hands in my lap.
I looked over at Liam. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and seemed frustrated. I studied him for a moment and couldn't help but feel this strange air between us. I remembered when I first connected with him, it wasn't the intense static that I had with Xander but a kind of mute static and it seemed so smooth. I felt like our minds meshed together quite nicely but its like that saying, "so close yet so far away." It seemed so easy yet he was a different entinty in mind that I really wasn't quite used to.
"Uhm,"I broke the silence,"Is it far away?"I asked Liam.
His grip on the steering wheel loosened a bit. "It's...well I guess you could say far away from your viewpoint."
"Oh..."I replied gazing at the dark street, lit only by the truck's lights.
"So Liam,"Xander began. I looked over at him warily hoping he wouldn't say something rude. "Why did you want to meet Nai so late at night?"
"It's the only time we, the rest of us Calidisi, get to meet,"Liam responded,"Most of us have things to do during the day and it's much more safer for us to correspond at night. Otherwise I would've asked her during the day, I didn't want her to be waiting out there in the dark."
"I didn't wait long,"I quickly said.
Liam smiled,"I'm glad you didn't."
I heard Xander scoff and I turned to him. I peeled down my block on him.
Stop being so rude!
Rude?! You're practically drooling over this guy! You hardly know him!
Xander, please! Try to be nice! I might not know him too well but from what I do know, he's a nice guy. And I am not drooling!
I can't do that Nai. Are you kidding? You're practically salivating at the sight of him!
No I'm not and why is that?
I-I just don't trust him.
Well I do and you trust me.
Xander was silent for a moment. I don't like this at all.
He pouted to himself and I turned away from him.
"So Liam, do you like Mevel?" I asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, it's different from what I'm used to."
"Does your sister transfer too?"
Liam turned onto an even darker road that was outlined by the woods,"No, she's doing her studies somewhere else."
"Oh."
"How long have you two known each other?" Liam asked warily.
Xander put his arm over my shoulder,"For a long time."
"Too long if you ask me," I replied.
"You say it like it's a bad thing," Xander remarked.
"Sometimes it is,"I said as I slowly inched his arm away from around my shoulders.
I finally set his arm to his own side. He chose to ignore my gesture and decided to replace his arm over my shoulders. I sighed to myself in annoyance.
"Cool,"Liam replied.
"How long have you known the other Calidisi?"I asked him.
"Since I was ten," he replied making another turn onto a dark dirt road in a densly forested area.
"Were both your parents Calidisi?"
"No, my father was but not my mother. She knew what he was though but she wouldn't dare tell anyone, she loved him too much. We'll be there in ten minutes."
"That's good," I replied. My thoughts trailed back to the memory of my father and mother in the forest, where he decided he would send her to the overseers.
Xander squeezed me closer to him in sympathy.
"What about your parents?"Liam asked.
I stayed silent for a moment.
"If you'd rather not say anything, I understand," Liam quietly said.
"No it's fine,"I cleared my throat,"My mother was a Calidisi and my father isn't,"I shortly replied to him.
"The woods here are thick," Xander remarked, changing the subject as well.
"Yeah,"Liam kept his eyes on the small dirt road,"It's better this way."
Silence enveloped us for the next five minutes. My nerves were now racking with nervousness, excitement, and curiosity and I couldn't help my shaking hands and shivering body. This was it. I would meet others like me.
I looked over to Xander and he looked extremely nervous and dreading. The look on his face was one of those looks that you get when you've been to a place which you never want to go back to and dread the coming back, but I knew he had never been here. He couldn't have. But why did he block me in these last few moments?
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A/N: Another end to another chapter! And I know, I know! This update is sooooo late!! I'm sorry for that but it's so hard for me to find time to write since school has started, I got a job, and extracurriculars! Sorry, but updates will come slowly until the summer rolls around(: But I hope you guys can bare with me!