*The characters from the book/movie don't enter for a couple chapters so sit tight*
It was almost a year after the invasion when we met them. Two human boys; one cocky and annoyingly perfect, the other smart and quiet. The whole situation was a bit…drastic. The initial interaction came about when Ash rubbed her eyes and her contact lenses fell out.
"Gah! I need to work on making these things more comfortable!" Ash groans, rubbing her eyes as though she could forcefully make the scratchiness go away. I turn my back to her and chuckle. That's so Ash. I begin folding our laundry and putting a new load in. Ash gasps and spins me around by my shoulder. "Look at my eyes." She hisses. "What color are they?" Her eyes are blue. Just blue. "Your contact lenses…" I start. She spins and makes a very growl-like sound. "They fell out!" At that moment we see two figures clad in jeans, t-shirts and ball caps (one with a very 80s like jacket), duck through the door way. The one with the jacket turns and stares. I rest my hand on the butt of my gun; which is tucked in the waist of my jeans. "Ash." I say. She keeps her back to the strangers and slips behind me. I make eye contact with the dark haired, jacket clad one and…his eyes are brown. Just brown. I pull my gun; trying to make it clear I'm not a host. No host would pull a gun; even on a human. Ash peers over my shoulder; the lead man stares at her in disbelief. "You're human." He says, more to himself than to us. "They're human." He repeats to his partner, whose watching the hallway. "Well no duh." I say. At this point, I grab Ash's hand and run through the door; slowing down once we were a good distance from the washroom. "I'm Draco by the way." He says, trying to get us to slow down. "And this is my friend, David." Ash and I keep moving and finally round a corner.
"Hey, hey, shouldn't we humans talk a little bit!" Draco called cockily down the abandoned hallway. I rolled my eyes and spun on my heel; finding myself face to face with Draco. He must have chased after us. "Nice jacket, I could have sworn we were well into the 2000s, not the 1980s." I snarked. "Oh come on, you know you like it." He smirked and cocked one dark eyebrow. My eyebrows shot up, "Your right." I say; deciding on the 'mess with him' plan of action. I place my pointer finger on his chest and put on my most innocent face. He clearly wasn't expecting this. I smirk and turn around, "Just kidding," I smile over my shoulder, "See ya around."
Unbeknownst to Ash and I, David and Draco followed us back to our hotel room. I didn't know this until they popped out of a shadowy corner of our room. "It's me." Draco said, stepping into the soft lamp glow. "Oi." I groan; a small part of me bubbling with excitement at his arrival. "Nice to see you too," he smirks in his usual cocky way. Ash steps out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around her, "Hey L, we need more… Ahhh! Why are they here?" Ash exclaims; leaping back onto the wet tile floor. "Ash!" The three of us shout in unison. David is the first one to react; leaping forward and catching her before she hit the ground. Ash's mouth forms a small 'o' and she stares at David, her, still drenched, hair dripping on the floor and her hand clutching at the towel, struggling to keep it in place. "Ummm…. uh…. thanks." Ash stutters. "Ash, go get dressed." I sigh, swatting away Draco's arm from my waist. She jumps up and runs to the bedroom we share. "Be right back." She smiles and waves flirtatiously at David. I face palm at the same time Draco does; causing a rather obvious blush to color my cheeks. "Hey, can we stay here for the night? It's much nicer than the forest floor…" David asks; his eyes never leaving the doorway that Ash had disappeared into. "Uh, sure. You guys will have to crash on the couches, but you're welcome to stay." I say, bewildered. "I'm going to go change into my pajamas…be right back. You guys can make yourselves comfortable." I back into the bedroom. Ash is brushing her hair frantically. "Hey, have you seen my red headband? You know, the one that you say brings out the highlights in my hair?" She asks, flitting from the dresser to the master bathroom. "Ash, why are you freaking out?" I put my most sarcastic voice on, "Do you have a crush on David?" She keeps flitting around. "I don't know…maybe. Okay, a little." She concedes, "But before you say anything, what about you and Draco?" She inquires; finally coming to rest on the edge of the bed, having finally found the offending headband. She ties her ash blonde (I know; ironic) hair back into a bouncy ponytail and slides on the headband. "What about me and Draco?" I counter. I grab my green tank top and the worn black yoga pants that I always wear to bed. "I don't know, you guys just have that spark." Ash replies; she tugs on her purple crop top so that it brushes the hem of her grey sleep shorts. I sigh and sit down next to her, "Dude, he's immature. Plus, I don't have time for that. You know, with the end of the world as we know it and all." I pat her on the shoulder, "I'm going to get changed. Be right out." I slip into the bathroom and flip my t-shirt and jeans off, tugging the tank top and yoga pants on. I walk back out to the main living area right as I finish twisting my chocolate brown hair back in a long braid. Ash has popped in a movie (a romantic comedy of all things) and is now sitting next to David, holding his hand. I slap on a smile and try not to be annoyed that both the guys have changed into sweats, and aren't wearing shirts. Draco has a dragon tattoo curling around his bicep, which, I'll admit, was rather large; but how cliché. Ash smiles shyly at me and motions that I should sit next to Draco. Not that I have another option; it's the only open seat. I roll my eyes and decide to take one for the team. "Oh!" Ash jumps up and runs to the bedroom, returning seconds later with a small box. "I almost forgot! Put these in. This way if someone comes up here to check on us, we'll look like we're one of them!" Ash found a way to use contacts to give a human the eyes of a host so we could travel together. Not that I needed them; my eyes already have the reflective circle. Not because I'm a host, that's just the way I was born. "Wow! I've been trying to do this exact thing since the invasion started! How'd y you do it?" David asks. I wave off Ash, "That's classified." I say smugly. David blinks in surprise; did he really think I was going to just give him the secret to our survival to him? Draco shrugs and turns his attention back to the movie. David pops in the contact lenses and passes the box to Draco; who dutifully sighs and pops another set of them. Ash and David snuggle up on one of the couches; causing simultaneous eye rolls from Draco and I. Yet another cringe worthy moment for me. The couch that I am being forced to share with Draco is little more than a love seat; which is rather unfortunate. Draco chooses the moment I sit down to use the 'yawn and stretch' move. This is going to be a long night.
The movie continues with little interest from me; before long, I start to doze off. I am in that stage of sleep where you are aware of your surroundings but can't bring yourself to move when I feel my head flop onto Draco's shoulder. No, no, no. Come on. Sit up. I can feel him chuckle and the protective tightening of his arm around my shoulders. I feel myself curl closer to him; my subconscious movement towards heat. And for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to want to move. I wanted to be there; curled on the couch with Draco. In a couple minutes, I feel his head rest on mine and his breathing slows. He's asleep. My mind is bustling; preventing me from following him into the deeper stages of slumber.
Sometime later feel his breath tickle my hair as his jaw opens, "Laurel." My name is the only world that he says in that drowsy voice. I don't know what provoked me to respond, but I did. "Mmm?" I groan sleepily. I guess that even in his sleep he heard me respond, "I love you." His sleep filled voice whispers. Then, I somehow follow him into the blissful oblivion of sleep.