Claires POV
I settled on the couch. We were home, finally all of us back where we belong. I took in a deep breath and breathed in the glass house, the familiar smell of dust, polished wood and a hint of chilli. I sensed the house respond too, content and reassured that we were all safe, for the time being.
Michael took his usual armchair, his blonde curls bouncing as he sat down. He pushed some hair away from his eyes, in a perfectly careless gesture and looked at the three of us sat on the couch. Normally he would squish in, next to Eve, but we gave her extra room, not wanting her to feel trapped between us. She was still recovering.
For a perfect moment, no-one said anything, we just took in the atmosphere, the mood of the house, and the rising sun that creeped closer and closer from the large glass window. Michael watched the sun advancing with caution, not scared but wary. Eve couldn't wait till later in the day to be admitted home, and as soon as the doctors cleared her she was ready to go home.
I still held a plastic bag of her clothes in my hand, which no doubt would be thrown out. They were ruined, torn and bloodstained.
"It's Wednesday right?" I asked, asking no-one in particular. It was hard to keep track in the past couple days, everyday seemed the same in the waiting room of the hospital.
"Thursday" Michael breathed. He seemed sure, and I wasn't about to question him. He always seemed to have a good idea of time. Must be a vampire perk or something.
"Oh. Well I should get ready for class then." I stretched my arms behind my head and yawned slightly. Between saving Morganville and watching over Eve, I lost a lot of days. While most of the town was either abandoned or broken during the draug rein, the week that followed Amelie worked quickly to restart Morganville. Families moved back, businesses started to fix themselves. This was no exception to TPU.
" You're not gonna take a day off to rest at least?" Michael asked. He raised his blue eyes at me, catching me mid yawn.
"Sooner I get started the better." I jumped up from the couch and bounded up the stairs. I placed the bag of clothes on Eves floor, leaving their fate with her. It was nice to be home, to be able to change clothes and clean up properly. I grabbed some clothes from my room, typical jeans and t-shirt and headed for the shower.
The hot water relaxed my muscles, but also woke me up. I didn't realise that my hair still smelled like gunpowder until I was done washing it. The smell was too familiar in the past days.
Heading back to my room, I ruffled a towel through my hair. I found my backpack leaning against my bed, half open and in heavy wear. Kneeling on the floor, I emptied the contents. Mostly weapons of various kinds, stakes, silver nitrate, a small cross bow and bullets. Stuff that wouldn't be much use in college. Instead, I loaded it with my usual textbooks. The contents may be replaced, but the weight felt the same.
I slung the backpack over my shoulder, and as a second thought grabbed some canisters of silver nitrate. Just in case.
In the time I was gone, someone had started on breakfast, I could smell the coffee before I reached the kitchen. It was Shane, expertly multitasking in the kitchen. He was putting together ingredients for scrambled eggs.
"No milk." I stood behind him, and watched as his movements stopped, as the muscles under the shirt stopped shifting and then went back into their movements.
"Damn right." He sounded a little strained, but normal. He carried on without further comment, so I left my backpack in the living room and went back to help with breakfast. The coffee was done brewing, so I took out the usual mugs and filled them. Cute vampire bats for Eve, of course. The smell of coffee was stronger and almost intoxicating. This was nothing compared to the magical caffeine in Common Grounds, but heaven compared to the coffee from the hospital machines.
We got the breakfast things togheter, coffee, scrambled eggs and actual toast, and laid it out on the table.
"Is that actual coffee I smell?" Eve yelled from the living room. She sounded livelier than she had in the car.
"Come and get it zombie queen." Shane teased. They were back at insults, and it was just so normal. So much like home.
We all gathered at the table, bickering and chatting, fighting over the last of the scrambled eggs and toast like usual. Michael laughed at Eves appetite, understandable after hospital food, and didn't fight too hard over the last scraps. Shane put up a bigger fight, but not too much as his wounded eyes followed as the toast was snatched out of his hand.
"Well, I gotta go. If I leave now I should make it." I glanced at my phone for the time, quickly getting up from my seat and gathering my plates for the kitchen. Shane did the same, clearing the table. I just dumped my plates and turned, and nearly collided with him. Standing so close to him I could feel the electricity between us, teasing me and urging me to step closer. Instead, I jumped out of his way, giving him space for the plates.
"Claire. Would you mind if I walked with you?" He said my name so carefully and hesitantly it made me focus all of my attention on him. He was being careful, being respectful. I still remembered the talk we had, how he had to understand that I wasnt a weakling needing round the clock care and protection. He was trying.
"Sure. But I'm leaving soon, don't want to be late." I grinned at him, sending some reassurance. I wanted to be close to him, to work past this, and it was going to take both of us.
"Cool." He smiled too, genuinely and directly at me, shining sunlight. God he is handsome. I gathered my thoughts, along with my bag and met him at the door.
This was a fairly regular chapter, I promise more plot in the next one :)
Thanks to clairebear97 for the review! reviews keep me going guys xD
See you soon!