Alex slid a dark cup of liquid towards Sara, making the young woman blink slowly as if she were just realizing where she was. "I'm guessing that my dear daughter corralled you into one of her all night sleepovers." Alex said with a smirk. She could just tell that Sara hadn't slept all night, though she wasn't sure that her daughter of have let the young woman get some sleep in the first place. In retrospect, she realized that she should've had Sara sleep in a different room.
"I had not realized what joining this so called 'sleep over' with Noelle Bruno would entail." She sighed, wrapping her hand around the cup of coffee greedily. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly for a minute, before she quickly brought the cup to her lips and drowned the cup in practically one sip. "I thought that you didn't have coffee on your planet." Alex stated; one of her eyebrows arched. Sara looked back down at her cup, looking dejected. "You and many other humans think very fondly of this so called 'coffee', though I do not see why it is so popular."
"You know what; I think that Noelle said that first thing when she first tried it, too." Alex laughed, walking back into the kitchen. "Sara!" Noelle squealed, jumping down the stairs and running towards her new friend. Sara tried not to wince, but she wasn't in the mood for anymore truth or dare with the younger girl. Alex seemed to sense this, turning to the pouring a cup of orange juice and thrusting it into her daughter's hand. "Drink." She commanded gently, and though Noelle looked confused, she obeyed. Sara watched with wide eyes as Noelle gulped down the cup of juice, and was reminded of Jack Bruno's eating habits.
Sara realized that her friend wasn't present at the breakfast table, and her brow furrowed. If she knew anything about Jack Bruno, it was that he never missed a meal. "Where is Jack Bruno?" Sara asked Alex, and Noelle turned to her mother with wide eyes. She couldn't imagine where her father could have gone, especially because Jack Bruno wasn't known to be a morning person. "Yeah, where is he, Mom?" Noelle asked, curious. Alex bit her lip. "He's out buying…supplies." She resolved, before pausing.
"Noelle, maybe you should call Amanda and find out if the two of you can hang out today." She suggested, and Noelle looked dejected. "Why? The super cool alien people that you've been telling me about all of my life come back for a visit and you want me to hang out with Amanda?" Noelle asked incredulously. She looked between her mother and Sara, her chocolate brown eyes hardening. "There's something going on, something that you don't want to tell me about." She reasoned, and Alex frowned, rubbing her forehead with one of her hands.
"Amanda is your best friend, Noe." Alex tried again, though her excuses were becoming weaker by the second. "You haven't gotten together with her in a long time, and I figured that you would want to spend time with her." She turned to Sara, looking for help, but Sara could offer none. She knew that Noelle felt betrayed and lied to, but the girl's thoughts also told her that this wasn't the first time that this was happening.
"We went to the movies last weekend." Noelle huffed, folding her arms together. Alex's eyebrows rose at the change in attitude, and she was about to retort when Seth's large form entered the room. His sleepy blue eyes moved swiftly from all of the females in the room, pausing on each of them for only half of a second. "Seth," Alex breathed, clearly relieved that she had avoided an argument with her daughter. She turned back to the coffee pot and grabbed a cup from a counter while Seth just stood in the doorway. Sara hated the way that she couldn't read her brother's thoughts any longer. She missed the way that the pair was able to communicate on a higher level. Somehow, it brought the two of them even closer than they were. However, since Seth had returned from the war, he had been like an empty shell. Sara couldn't read anything from him, even though she knew that there had to be thoughts running through her brother's mind.
"Do you know what's going on around here?" Noelle turned to Seth, one hand on her hip. Most people were intimidated by Seth before he had gone to fight in the war, but more people were intimidated by him now. His clear blue eyes always seemed to be hard, holding a secret that he wouldn't tell anyone. He barely spoke, his facial expressions barely changing. He barely responded to anything that occurred around him. He was a fraction of the person that he used to be.
"Noelle," Alex hissed, before placing a cup of coffee that was identical to Sara's on the breakfast table. When Seth continued to stand in the doorway, seeming lost, Alex's dark eyes filled with worry and she glanced at Sara worriedly. "It has been like this ever since he came back," She sighed, looking down at her empty cup. She studied the dark ring left from the coffee closely, trying to avoid Alex's eyes. She didn't want to answer any more questions about her brother's state, and she knew that if she looked at Alex everything would spill out. Sara had been holding too much inside of herself for too long, and she was sure that she would burst at any time.
"It's coffee." Noelle stated, breaking the silence. There was still an edge to her voice, but she seemed to soften when she noticed the change of atmosphere in the room. "You drink it, even though it's totally disgusting." She remarked, a small smile gracing her lips. Seth only stared at the young girl, as if just realizing that she was in the room. Noelle blinked a few times, before turning to Sara. "Is he deaf?" She asked. Sara could tell that the young girl meant well, but her blunt ways were clearly not a hit with her mother.
As Alex reprimanded her daughter, Seth slowly inched towards the breakfast table. Sara tried not to pay too much attention to him, because she knew that if she observed him that way that she really wanted to, he would jump back and flee the room. It had happened many times already, and Sara was determined to do things right this time. By the time that Alex was through lecturing Noelle about the importance of minding her own business and thinking before she spoke, Seth had already dashed out of the room, the cup of coffee nowhere to be found.
"Sammy! Oh, look at you! You're like a rose bush after a week of rain, only not as wet, and twice as pretty!" Andrew Mason pulled his granddaughter in for a tight hug. "Grandpa," Sam breathed out through her teeth. "I can't breathe."
"Oh, you don't need breathing when you're with family!" Alexandra laughed as she walked up to the front door, greeting her daughter and granddaughter. "How was your flight?" She asked no one in particular as she helped Sam to carry in her luggage. It was about ten in the morning, and though Sam and her mother had reached the Mason house earlier, they hadn't properly greeted each other until this morning. The teenager rolled her eyes, swatting her grandmother away. "Grandma, I got this." She shook her head, carrying her luggage inside of the house. "I don't want you to hurt yourself." She called as an afterthought, and Alexandra shook her head. "That's a smart mouth that you've got there." She smiled, and Sam shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know. Global warming." She mumbled, and Alexandra bopped her across the head. "What does that have to do with anything?" She asked. "I don't know. Everyone blames everything on global warming these days." Sam shrugged.
When Alexandra and Sam entered the house again, Andrew and his daughter seemed to be deep in conversation. Samantha noticed that her mother seemed to be on the brink of tears, and Andrew had his arms folded seriously. Samantha took a double take. Her grandfather was never serious about anything. "Is everything alright?" She asked tentatively, and both of the adults' heads turned towards her. "Of course." Andrew recovered quickly, loosening up his body language. "Your mother and I were just saying how we think that you should go explore Vegas a bit."
Sam's eyebrows rose up towards the ceiling. "I'm sixteen, you know. There isn't a whole lot for me to do in Vegas." She reminded them, looking between the two adults as if they had lost her mind. Sam knew that there had been a period when her mother had an issue with alcohol, which was pretty much when Tia had stepped in, for the most part. She wondered if this sudden revelation had something to do with that. "Well, yes, we know that, but everyone needs to have a little fun now and then, right, Lay?" Her grandpa asked brightly, clapping her mother on her back.
Layla's lip was still trembling, but she seemed to be trying to keep a brave face on for her daughter. "Of course." She smiled a wobbly smile, though Sam wasn't fully convinced. "Are you sure?" She asked, turning to her grandmother, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with her grandfather through their eyes. "Positive." Alexander said, turning to Sam with a smile as fake as a Barbie doll.
"So…" Alex started, moving over towards Sara. "Has this," She shrugged a shoulder over towards Seth, "Been going on long?" She asked cautiously. She didn't want to upset either of the siblings, though she felt that she had a right to know what was going on. Sara glanced over at her brother, before nodding quickly. "He just…" She trailed off, not knowing how to summarize everything that had happened in a way that wouldn't worry Alex. She was like a mother figure to the siblings, and Sara knew that she would be worried if Sara told her the full story.
"Spaces out a lot?" Noelle answered for her, gazing at Seth warily. "Noelle, what did I tell you?" Alex sighed, and Noelle rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to help." She mumbled under the breath, before walking ahead of the group. Alex shook her head, before turning back to Sara. The young woman knew that Alex wasn't going to leave her alone based on her thoughts, but Sara wasn't sure if she could answer any more questions.
"He just hasn't been himself." Sara decided on, and though Alex still looked concerned, she decided to let the subject drop, even though Noelle seemed to have other plans. "Hey, where'd your brother go?"
"Get away from me!" Sam exclaimed for what had to be the millionth time, but the creeper didn't stop following her. "But you're so pretty…" He slurred, taking another step into her personal space, making Sam uncomfortable. "Relax; I'm not going to hurt you." He added, and Sam would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't in panic mode. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to give a hundred bucks to a sixteen year old and let her wander around Vegas aimlessly, especially if she didn't know the city.
Sam turned back around to continue to walk away, but the creep grabbed the collar of her shirt. "Hey, you're being so rude…" He smiled, and Sam realized that he didn't have all of his teeth. The older man began to pull at Sam's close, and the teenager snapped. "I said get off!" She roared, pushing the man back with both her hands. To her surprise, the man didn't just move back, but fell into a car parked along the street. Sam winced when she heard the crack of one of his bones, and her eyes widened when she saw the large dent that had been left in the car. It looked as if a rhino had come and decided to ram into the side of the truck, not like a teenage girl had pushed some guy into it.
Sam's mind began to reel, and she thought back to her tree that she had snapped. What was going on here?
"I'm so sorry…" Sam gasped, cupping her mouth with both of her hands. "I didn't mean-" She started, but was silenced by the man pushing her into the wall of one of the buildings that surrounded them. "You little bitch!" He hissed, and Sam's eyes narrowed. Here she was, apologizing for defending herself, and the guy thought that he was going to push her? That wasn't how things worked.
"What the-" Sam started, her eyes narrowing into slits. The man slapped her across the face, creating a stinging sensation on the side of Samantha's face. She reached up to feel the spot where he had slapped her, and was sure that he had left a mark. She was about to speak again when the guy kicked her in the stomach, and she doubled over in pain. Sure, she had gotten into fights before, but this was different. The worse part had to be that there seemed to be no one around to help her. "Bet you're sorry now, huh? You little freak!" He screamed, getting ready to kick the girl again.
Sam curled her chin into her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, but the blow never came. She heard the sound of grunting and the when she heard yelling she opened her eyes slowly, prepared to snap them shut if she decided that she didn't like what she was going to see.
Her blue eyes widened when she saw a blonde man, who had to be at least six foot, holding the guy that had attacked her upside down by his leg. Sam was sure that the blonde guy was saying something to the older guy, but she couldn't focus on anything. The man, this man had saved her… but he looked just like her. The same blond hair and blue eyes. Sam tried to remind herself that there were lots of people out in the world who had blonde hair and blue eyes but this guys seemed…different. She had a weird feeling in her stomach now that he was here, though she was sure that it could've been from shock, or from the kick that she had just received to the stomach.
Sam blinked a few times before the blonde man dropped her attacker and he struggled to get up on his feet once more. Sam was sure that he was about to run away, but he surprised her by grabbing her wallet that had fallen out of her pocket and running down the street. "HEY!" The blonde man yelled after him, but Sam shook her head, standing up on her shaky feet. "Forget about it. It wasn't anything important, anyway." She lied. She could just tell her family that she had spent the hundred bucks on…uh, a movie. Or something.
The man blinked at her and studied her face for a few moments. Sam held her breath when his eyes met hers, and she was sure that he was feeling something weird before his eyes snapped away and he looked down at her stomach, where she had been hit. "I'm, uh, fine." She stuttered, suddenly feeling bashful. She didn't want to be a damsel in distress, some little girl that a man would have to come and save. She could take care of herself.
The man narrowed his eyes, which zoned in on her stomach, and on the mark that she was sure that was growing on her face. Sam grabbed the side of her face bashfully. "I'm serious!" She protested, and then decided to change the subject. "Thank you." She said genuinely, and the man avoided her eyes. "I would, uh, give you something but…I mean," She stuttered, averting her eyes to the ground.
The man nodded, and when Sam looked up she realized that he was still staring at her. "You aren't exactly a man of many words, are you?" She joked, and she was surprised to see the man smirk a bit. "Look, I mean, if you ever need anything, I'm here." Sam decided on, clapping her hands together. The man's eyes zoned in on the ring on Sam's finger, and she blushed, looking down at it. "Oh, uh…it's my moms." She explained haphazardly. "My dad gave it to her, or something." She admired the ring herself.
"It doesn't look like a rock from here, which is why I stole it." She smirked. When she looked up at the man, his eyes were wide and filled with an unknown emotion. "You alright, dude?" She asked, an eyebrow raised towards the sky. The man nodded quickly, seeming to snap out of his trance. "I'm Samantha, but prefer to be called Sam." Sam introduced herself, holding out her hand. When the man just stared at her hand, she laughed.
"You shake it." She explained gently, and watched as the man grabbed her hand in his large one and shook it slowly as he cleared his throat. Sam raised an eyebrow. "Your name?" She asked expectantly.
"Seth."
Wow. I can't believe I wrote that. Now, off to homework time…joy.
Thanks to:
Firestar'sniece
Haz
BubbleBoo28