Harper had been watching Monty sit uncomfortably on the floor, impatiently waiting to see the girl who made him feel both amazing and like shit at the same time and she couldn't stand the fact that it felt like only she noticed. Jasper, Fox, and Atom had been playing cards in her room while Harper had been hanging around her kitchen, they had agreed to wait to start the same old movie until Leah came round. Atom surprised to here the Hydro girl had even agreed to come back around Agro, felt it important she feel included. Perhaps he just wanted to wrap his arm around her in the dark instead of Fox, but Harper didn't question the boys motives to much, he wasn't the cleverest of men. Monty had been sitting on the floor of her kitchen fiddling with his tablet, spinning it about in his hands, had his father or mother saw how he was treating the device like a simple toy they would have blown like one of the atom bombs that had ended the Earth.
"Harper?" His voice caught her attention, he hadn't looked up to her yet, his eyes were still glued to the metal floor. "Do you think that it was my fault?" She could tell it was paining him to even ask. "I just don't think I can continue feeling this guilty about something that I don't even know if I could have fixed." Monty said finally looking up to her, his eyes looked so glassy, like he was lost in his own mind.
Harper took a moment to push herself onto the counter, before answering her friend. "Masters and the lead mechanics in Hydro said it was the seal in the hose not forming a proper seal right? Even if you had checked it, a bad piece of plastic is a bad piece of plastic. They are known to wear down, just like everything else in this rust bucket." Her lips forming a smile, that wasn't unwelcome. She was trying to lessen his guilty, but she honestly wasn't sure the best way to go about it. "The only person who thinks it is your fault is Wick right?"
"Actually, he blames himself." Monty said offhandedly.
"Damn, I wish I knew her secret." Harper joked. "I mean, having two guys blaming themselves for putting her in pain, both of them putting themselves through mental anguish just because I got a boo boo." Harper was clearly exaggerating, but Monty actually found the humor in her comments. "I think you just need to stop being a pansy and ask the girl in a date honestly. Like a proper date not try to steal a kiss after you have both been drinking at a party."
"I wasn't drunk though, I knew..."
"Oh my god, honestly Monty, for being a genius you really are an idiot. Do you think she knows you weren't just drunk taking advantage of the moment? She is the ice queen, the girl who has never even really dated anyone, because the few she has been on hardly count if she doesn't realize it is a date. Hell, John Murphy is one of her closest friends and that is just because they live together." Harper was really spelling this out for him the best to her ability. Girls like Leah were not as well versed in matters of the heart and body compared to girls like Harper or Fox, not that it was a bad thing but compared to them Leah was as ignorant as they came. "I think you need to just move on from it, it was an accident, if she has moved on, so should you." She said putting an end to the topic of discussion.
Monty tried to find holes in Harper's logic, but failed with every attempt, Leah was an uncomplicated girl compared to most, yet he seemed to be completely unable to solve the puzzle of her. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I am right." Harper chuckled as she heard a knock at the door. She pushed herself off the counter and extended her hand to Monty, "perhaps you should open the door for your princess." Her smile was so caring, Monty couldn't believe how good of a friend Harper was too him. He grabbed hold of her hand and allowed her to help pull him off the ground as they both left the kitchen, Harper heading towards her room to tell the others game time was over and Monty to get the door for Leah.
Leah was almost a hundred percent sure that this had to be one of the worst movies she had ever seen. The fact that it had survived the destruction of the Earth almost made her sad, but the fact that Jasper seemed to laugh wholeheartedly at every joke as if it were the first time he heard it, made the movie almost tolerable. By the end Leah almost felt for the characters who had been used by others, but the fact it ended to family and friends sitting down to a meal was the best ending she could have imagined for the story. Fox had curled up in Atom's arms on Harper's bed, Harper was sitting in her chair trying to pretend she still found the jokes funny, Jasper was seated on the floor as close to the picture as he could be taking in every scene, it left Leah and Monty to sit next to each other at the end of Harper's bed on the floor. She had taken turns during the movie deciding who to steal glances of, however she found herself drawn to Monty intently starring at the screen most. She didn't believe he had even actually heard a word of the movie, he seemed to be off in his own mind, Leah found herself wondering what he was lost in, it intrigued her far more than it should.
"Alright, movies over so party is over. My dad is do back earlier than normal tonight." Harper said simply as she looked mostly at Fox and Atom, who looked far to comfortable in her bed. "Seriously." She stressed her eyes locked on Fox who rolled her eyes in response as she and Atom climbed off her bed.
Leah stood up as did Monty, she brushed herself gently, and smiled at Monty, tuning out the whines of Jasper who apparently really didn't want to get off the floor. "Did you want someone to walk back to Hyrdo with you?" Monty offered. He had been actually been rather friendly with her this evening which she didn't mind. He talked about engineering and made fun of Wick with her, before the start of the movie. The interaction reminded her of the talks they used to have when walking back from their internship together, it was pleasant.
"No, I'll be fine, it isn't that late." Leah said with a smile.
She noticed Atom and Fox had already left as she thanked Harper for hosting, though Harper played it off as if it were nothing. "You're welcome around whenever. I normally wouldn't bother to make people leave but I thought it would be nice for my old man to get a good nights sleep while he gets the chance." Harper told her as she pushed Jasper through the door of her housing compartment. Leah exited laughing after him followed by Monty who took a moment to walk to the side with Leah, leaving Jasper watching the pair intently.
"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to meet tomorrow and compare notes. You know, since you said you weren't getting on with Mrs. Lawson well and all. We didn't really get much of a chance to go over it before the movie." Monty said as he put his hand behind his head awkwardly.
It was Leah's smile that calmed his nerves and set him more at ease. "Sure, just be sure to email me the rest of the documents tonight so I can read over them."
The moment would have been almost charming had Jasper not announced loudly, "If you want to kiss her just go ahead already," in an attempt to embarrass his friend. Monty then quickly thereafter excused himself and walked away with Jasper but not before punching him squarely in the arm. Leah couldn't help but to laugh.
As she began her walk back home, she found herself walking towards the opposite end of the Ark towards Mecha where the majority of Engineering offices were. She wasn't sure what had drawn her to this part of the ship, especially at this late hour but she knew she didn't want to go home yet.
She stopped outside of Wick's office and knocked lightly on his door. The crash she heard inside let her know that Wick was actually in his office. It took a few minutes but finally he opened the door, Wick looked as though he hadn't slept in days which was something Monty hadn't mentioned when they were talking about him earlier. "You're not Griffin." He said in an annoyed tone. "What do you want?" He asked as he walked away and left the door open for her.
Leah followed him inside and noticed all the massive changes in chaos of Wick's typical mess. Their were more scribbles on his white boards, half of which were half wiped away. And replaced with new scribbling, that made no sense, papers and manuals covered his work bench. He sat back down in front of his mess, "I just thought I would tell you I started back to my internship today." Leah said looking around the room. She noticed his cot that he used to keep tucked in the corner was pulled out and had been used at least a couple times. "But I can see you're busy..."
Wick was sitting at his workbench with his hands in his hair. "You could say that..." She could hear the stress in his voice. "Listen, congratulations, seriously I didn't think you'd be back. I bet Jackson is pissed to lose you." Wick said trying his best to muster a smile for her.
"Yeah I'm sure." Her eyes reading over his calculations on his board. The more she read the board the more confused she got.
Wick had gotten out of his seat and walked over to stand in front of her blocking her view of his work. "Lawson should have you working on something, unless you just want extra homework." Wick sounded like he was joking like normal but the calculations he was running on his board, the numbers they didn't make sense for any practical situation.
"Lawson, is far from your biggest fan." Leah said looking up at Wick.
"She was my mentor and she tried to get me to quit everyday." Wick told her honestly. "She doesn't like creative thinkers, she prefers methods and logistics, which is why she calibrates airlocks and I have a new assignment every week."
"I thought you had a new assignment because Sinclair just liked giving you the lackey work." Leah poked at Wick as she walked over to his work bench.
"Lackey work, huh?" Wick said walking up next too her and looking over at his papers. "If you think that will get me to explain what I am working on you are sorely mistaken." He said smiling at her, "but if you ever need some help with your assignments feel free to stop by, okay?"
"Yeah, but if you need some help, like with cleaning or whatever, let me know." Leah said smiling at the older boy.
Wick laughed as if he it were the best joke he had ever heard, she was sure he had some witty response when his office door opened and a man about her dad's age was standing there. "Sorry Wick, is it a bad time?" He asked, the man looked more exhausted than Wick did.
"No, Leah was just leaving." Wick said seriously, and with that Leah just smiled and awkwardly said her goodbyes to the men. Whatever those two were working on had to be vital and rushed because both men looked exhausted.
Author's Note: So extra note because The 100 season 4 started back up. I just wanted to say, I have a feeling this storyline will be so much more interesting than the AI storyline. I can't wait to see where it goes this season.
