POV: Brittany
I looked over to the empty seat next to me and frowned. Jeanette still wasn't here and what time was it? I pulled my cell phone out and flashed the screen on. It was 9:37 A.M.. Eleanor and I have been waiting here, expecting her to come for the past fifteen minutes, yet we always find this unsettling disappointment when we see the wrong person walk through the doors.
Each time I looked away from the doors, Eleanor seems to look towards the doors. And we seem to switch off with each process. It's almost as if we're switching night shifts: one of us sleeps while the other keeps on the lookout, and eventually the jobs get exchanged. It's been a little unnerving catching the wrong person walk out into the open from those closed doors. Each time each person escapes through the doors, another new person will walk in; however, it's not the right person. Whenever a figure, with a familiar trait and appearance walks through the doors, both me and Eleanor fall into sync with our watching eyes. But as soon as the full picture comes into focus, the breaking ice seems to seal each crack with a stronger substance, along with building itself up even bigger.
We both haven't quite admitted it yet, but the air was building up. The empty air where our missing sister hasn't been, has been compressed against our tension, adding to the pressure we've already been feeling since we realized how long it actually had been since Jeanette should've arrived. Her arrival was all we've been anticipating. It's like we're waiting for a daydream to come true perfectly as it was imagined. The problem with that, though, was that daydreams were like broken promises. They seemed so true and prominent enough to be a promising reality, yet all they were were broken pieces of a future for a memory that never seems to fit together in the image you had always hoped and imagined for it to be. It was a scrambled, mixed up image that doesn't seem to match the picture you had in mind, and no matter how you rearrange the pieces, they never seem to fit that perfect image you had always imagined. There was always something wrong. It would take magic or some sort of sorcery for that perfect image to ever match that image that had always been imagined.
Heaving out a sigh, I tore my gaze away from staring at the closed doors. Almost as if on cue, Eleanor lifted her gaze casually from her food and blinked over to where my lingering gaze had been. I pursed my lips and brought my gaze down to my plate of breakfast food. I wasn't exactly hungry, so there still was quite a bit of leftover that filled my round plate like the vast seas and oceans that filled the world in its extra space.
Picking up my fork, I began poking and moving my food around. There wasn't much to say, and there wasn't much to do. I was done eating, and Alex seemed so preoccupied with doing whatever he was doing with his feet that it seemed no parent was needed to be around to watch him. I glanced over to the child seated next door to me, swinging his legs gleefully as he stared in amusement as his shoe-covered foot would appear and disappear beneath him like his leg had suddenly been amputated.
There were so many things about Alex that he didn't even know about himself. It wasn't something I ever bothered to take the time to think about. I didn't have the heart to think about it. I didn't have the strength. There wasn't much that I could do. The truth that would undeniably lift his heart would only bring mine down. It would only crush me knowing that I had kept such a bright light locked away in a dark closet. He still didn't know anything. He was still young.
But what exactly was I doing? If I knew this truth would break me, how come I had let the pressure keep concealing itself up waiting for the final knockout? Why was this something that I was allowing to hide from everyone? It's not like it was something that would harm anything, it wouldn't harm him…yet I still kept the truth from him. I wasn't exactly protecting him. I wasn't doing any favor to anyone except for myself.
You're doing this for yourself.
As I allowed those words to bite and sink deeply into my skin, its poison draining from the teeth and into my veins, it seemed as if the whole world stopped just to stare at what I was doing. Why was this affecting me so much? I didn't do anything wrong. I hadn't done anything wrong…
You're afraid.
Those words that echoed back in response took me by surprise. Afraid? As if. If anything, I was not afraid. What would I be afraid of? I've been following the rules, I've been keeping my distance from the jaw trap, I've been doing everything. I haven't once fallen out of line. I haven't lost my balance from the tightrope I've been walking across. I was so close to reaching the other side to safety. But I wasn't even sure how close anymore. Lately the distance seems to keep pulling further and further away from me each time I manage to take a step closer. I don't even know how long I'll last anymore. How much time do I have before the rope begins to rust and grow old? How much more time do I have before the rope snaps? How much longer can I keep my balance?
The wind keeps pushing me one direction, yet another storm keeps pushing me into the other force. The chaos seems so balanced on each side, but what good has chaos ever done anyone any good? Why do I keep juggling two filled glasses of poison when the poisoned apple is right there in front of me, ready to ease the heavy burden on each side? What was my motive? The easy route, the shortcut, was right there in front of me. The temptress was waiting for me, and it was drawing me in, yet…I wouldn't set down the two glasses filled with all of the misery and pain in the world—all of the chaos and disaster—all of the darkness that I had bled out from my heart. What were in those two balanced out glasses that I just couldn't let go down the drain?
"Hey, Brittany—" Eleanor flashed a hand in front of my face "—Brittany, is everything okay? Are you okay?" I blinked and glanced over to my sister. Her brown gaze gave me a look of interest; she looked as if she had just received an impossible riddle. "What's wrong? Everything okay…?" She hesitantly placed a hand on my forearm, cocking her head a little.
I blinked some more and quickly stole a glance over to Alex, who now had curious eyes set on me. Finding my composure, I quickly stated, "Yeah! Yes! Everything's just, uh… Everything's just fine."
"Are you sure? I mean, I've been calling your name for quite a while now…"
"Yeah, no, everything's just fine! It's all just…fine…" I managed to say, but those words must've not been enough. Eleanor didn't seem too convinced, but I was grateful she had stopped there because I had no backup plan or any explanation to explain my behavior. I had nothing. Yet I seemed to have everything. Everything of pain. Everything of panic. I had it all. I had everything that hid in the darkest shadows, everything that terrorized innocent people's lives, everything that no one seemed to want except those who only found pleasure in drinking their own poison.
"Okay, if you really say so," Eleanor pursed her lips, dropping her gaze down to her food.
Gritting my teeth, my gaze glimpsed over to Alex, before quickly averting to the closed doors once more. Back to the switch. Looking to the doors now only seemed like a rule I couldn't break. But what else was I supposed to do? There were so many concerns tangling in my mind, and only one kept pushing its way to the front because I was allowing it to: Jeanette still wasn't here. That was the only safe problem I had wrapping a noose around my mind.
"Where do you think she could be?" Eleanor had suddenly lifted her head, looking to me as if I held the answer. But who could blame her? I held practically all of the answers, yet I never seemed to share them with anyone. Only the depths of my heart, would I ever let these dark secrets seep their way into. It was the only safe haven I could pour my darkness into. Eventually I'd squeeze all of the blackness I had stained my heart with, out into the glasses I balanced in each hand. There still seemed to be enough space in each glass to poor my darkness into. It didn't look like it'd start overflowing anytime soon.
Shaking my head, I turned to my sister. "You know what?—I'm texting her," I finally answered, slipping my cell phone out. "She's been M.I.A. for far too long, and I know she hasn't disappeared off the face of the earth. You'd almost think some creeper had kidnapped her, with the time she's been missing. And I don't believe she's been abducted by anyone." By the time I had finished speaking, I was done typing in the text I was currently sending to Jeanette. It didn't make sense for her to be taking this long.
"I…" Eleanor paused, allowing her face to contort itself within the passing seconds. "I don't…I feel—I feel like we should head back to our room…" She hooked her eyes with mine.
As I tried to read her eyes, I nodded my head. "Let's go." And we both stood up abruptly at the same time.
"Hey—wait, where we going?" Alex suddenly exclaimed, having stopped swinging his legs.
Turning on my heel, I picked him up and stated the words of: "Now, let's go."
Eleanor had nodded her head and began to lead the way.
"So, we're going to find Aunt Jeanette?" Alex abruptly blurted out, getting comfortable with his grip around my neck and torso. "Wait…but wasn't she going to come meet up with us? Oh! Did pirates come and kidnap her?" he grinned excitedly, glancing between Eleanor and me.
I could feel my eyebrows coming down together, and I had to pass on a glance to my youngest sister, who now walked evenly beside me. She merely shrugged her shoulders with a grin and mumbled for only my ears, "He's your child."
Your child. Those words got on my nerves. I still wasn't used to that term in general. It didn't seem right. It felt weird, it sounded weird, and it didn't even seem like an actuality. How could something so fake be so real? This reality that seemed to only be my problem wasn't complete. It was a broken veracity that I couldn't bring to court. I couldn't face it, I couldn't question it, and I couldn't do anything to change it. It was a passed law that I couldn't get by. How was I expected to live my life normally with this law blocking the way? Nothing was normal about my life. Everything I did wasn't me, it wasn't normal—everything I did was only a reaction. There was no time to be normal. There was no time for me to change. I'm too distracted with balancing out my two filled glasses; I don't have any time to balance out the emotions in my life. There isn't a table to set my glasses on, and there's nothing that I can do to bring back all of the emotions that have already fallen down into the dark. They're lost now, and I can't just click a flashlight on to retrieve what has been lost to the dark. I can't sing a sad song, or ring a bell in hopes that everything will come crawling back to me. It doesn't work that way.
"So what do you think would be holding Jeanette back?" Eleanor mumbled with a thoughtful look. "I mean, there wasn't much for her to do, and she for sure doesn't take as long as you do to get ready…"
"Who knows, maybe she's being O.C.D. with cleaning that cell phone of hers," I commented with a grim smirk. She always seemed to me that she'd be one who would obsess over sanitation and cleanliness, but it was always the exact opposite. She didn't seem to care about what people like her would normally care about. She was a mellower version of the stereotype people call her in the trend of. The labels people had naturally stuck on to her like sticky notes never seemed to really stick. But it was because they couldn't stick to her. She was her own person, and it was always something I admired about her. But she doesn't know because I never took the time to actually tell her.
"Brittany…" Eleanor shook her head with a roll of her eyes.
"You never know, Eleanor. Sometimes the truth is really there, and you're just stuck in denial to not even see it," I nonchalantly stated, readjusting Alex on my hip.
"'Denial'…?" she followed up slowly, her gaze leisurely dropping to the ground.
"What? Everyone's got it—even if it's a small drop of it—everyone's got it. You can't deny it," I shrugged my shoulders, smirking at the small play of words.
Eleanor murmured something, and when I looked over to her, it seemed as if she were having a personal conversation with herself; so I didn't push my way into her own world. It was the least I could do, for she's had many chances to push herself into my own world, yet she never takes it—which was strange because she normally always takes it… I had to glance back over to my little sister, but it was too late. She was already locked away in her own little world. She wasn't going to notice me staring at her. She wasn't going to come out until I shake her out of it.
Suddenly hearing distant voices that counted out more than one to my ears, I halted in my steps and gripped my hand on my dazed sister's shoulder. Immediately her head snapped up and she looked back to me. I was tempted to say "Welcome back" but I kept my mouth shut. It's probably best I didn't comment on her fazed condition.
"What…?"
I hushed her and simply said, "Listen…"
Her right eyebrow cocked up, but she listened. "I hear voices…so, what about them?"
"It never gets this noisy over here. People never come down this aisle just to 'talk it up' or whatever they do. Tell me, when in these past few days has this aisle where our room is, ever gotten so loud?" When she opened her mouth, but clamped it shut with a discerned look, my eyebrows lifted in response and my voice spoke, "Exactly."
"Mommy…"
"So, what do you think so many people are doing over here?" Eleanor frowned, pursing her lips.
"Mom…"
"I don't know—what would cause so many people to come over here?—what?" I snapped my head over to Alex, who had tugged on my shirt.
"The voices are getting closer—hey, do you think it could be ghosts? And that this ship is haunted?!" he grinned with a look of excitement.
"'Closer'…?" I gave him a look of horror. Glancing to Eleanor, I averted my gaze back down the curving aisle, expecting the worse to emerge out of the corner. It was almost like I was expecting zombies to emerge out of the corner with the way I could feel my face scrunch up. Instinctively I snatched Eleanor's arm and brought her over to an indented wall that was pushed in where the space of a red fire extinguisher was hanging against the wall.
As a few seconds of silence between Alex, Eleanor, and me had passed by, the loud voices began to finally pass us by, carrying a large, mass group of females to follow closely behind. All of them were chattering away almost in a complaint. I couldn't pick out any words because so many voices were speaking at the same time, and it didn't feel so much of a concern to me, so I didn't try very hard.
By the time the group of girls had left and their voices were long gone, Eleanor slowly began to walk forward. Halting, she turned on her heels to face me and stated, "That was weird. You're right—definitely there wouldn't be that many girls over here. You'd almost think someone famous had walked on these floors," she joked with a snicker. "Heard from Jeanette yet?"
Shaking my head, I slipped my cell phone out and flashed on the screen, showing it to Eleanor. "Does it look like she's responded yet?"
"Hm," she frowned, "well, our room isn't that far from here—after all, it is down this aisle. Let's go."
I nodded my head and quickly speed dialed our missing sister. "I'm just going to call just in case we somehow missed her, or if she's somewhere else other than in our room," I informed, bringing my cell phone up to my ears.
Eleanor nodded her head and led the way. As I listened to the ringing coming from the other end, I soon got sent to voicemail. Heaving out a sigh, I made another attempt at calling Jeanette. We weren't very far from our room, for we could see it, but I felt like one more call was needed.
Eventually when I was sure I had listened to the last ring, Jeanette seemed to have picked up the phone. "Jeanette?" I called out, slowing down my pace as Eleanor walked on.
"Brittany," Jeanette spoke urgently, yet in a hushed tone. "Wherever you guys are, don't come near our room!"
"What?" I came to a halt.
"Hey, Jasmine," a faint voice on the other end spoke, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but who exactly rooms with you?"
"Do you think they're gone?" Another voice that was fainter than the other, sounded through my phone.
"Who's that?" I slowly began walking again, fixing my gaze on Eleanor who was now picking through her pockets. "Who's with you, Jean?"
"Um, I'm sorry—could you repeat the question…Alvin?" I heard Jeanette's voice speak through, sounding distant like the voice before her.
"Alvin?" I questioned loudly, staring as Eleanor finally picked out a key from her pocket. Instantly my eyes widened and I could feel my heartbeat soar. "Oh shoot!" I bolted over to Eleanor. I have to admit, it was a bit of a struggle for me, considering I was holding two things in each hand. "Don't—stop!—Don't open the door!" I shouted, my voice echoing down the hall to where my sister looked at me with such a confused expression. Her hand was on the handle now.
"Why—" she began before I wrenched her away from the door, her hand flicking the doorknob to turn a little. "Hey!" she exclaimed as I shoved Alex into her arms, and turned around to pull the key that was still in the keyhole out. "Britt—!" I shoved her further down the hall, turning her to face the new direction we were now heading.
"Hello? Jeanette?" I held my cell phone to my ear. But all I heard was nothing. She had hung up. I turned to Eleanor with a concerned look. "I think Alvin and Theodore are in there," I spoke under my breath, recalling the two separate voices I had heard through the phone.
"What?!" she hissed, glancing behind us. "Is Simon in there too?"
I shook my head. "I'm not sure—but let's hope he's not." It'd be bad if Simon were in there. Simon would for sure recognize her. He'd catch on. He'd notice something…although, maybe I was wrong about him. His intellectual may be the one thing that holds him back from actually coming out and saying who her real identity was. He'd be too stuck in that world of facts. If he were in there, he'd probably be calculating the chances of her actually being who he thought she was. And his final results would most likely be less likely.
"By the way," I continued, suddenly remembering another thing I heard from the short conversation, "I think I heard Alvin call her 'Jasmine'?" I gave Eleanor a look.
"Oh…" she began to bite her bottom lip. "Right, you don't know about that…" She suddenly gave me a look of a scientist. It looked as if she were studying me, debating on something. Exhaling deeply, she looked away to the child she held in her arms. "Okay… Don't kill me, but…there's something you don't know…" I could feel my eyebrows coming down together. "I guess it's about time I tell you... But let's go somewhere more…open and free for Alex to run around."
POV: Theodore
"So, let me get this straight: You room with your brother's wife and child?" Alvin double-checked, confusion written all over his face. "So, what about your brother, where's he at?"
"My brother…?" Jasmine seemed a little taken aback. "Um, well…" She was always hesitant too. Maybe that was a part of her nature. After all, I have known some fairly close people to me that were like that naturally.
Suddenly catching some noises, I peered over to where the motionless door stood. It sounded like people were trying to turn the doorknob. There were some stray voices that I could barely even make out. Looking over to Jasmine's struggling expression, I glanced back over to the door and spoke, "Some crowd out there, huh?"
For the past half hour or so, Alvin's been at his billions and trillions of questions. I thought I'd try and give her a break—change the subject somehow. It wasn't really his place to be asking so many questions, but with how much he knew about Jasmine, and how much I barely had just discovered myself, it made all of these questions logical and perfectly fine to ask. But I just thought I'd try and give her a breather.
As soon as Alvin made a response to my comment, he continued on with Jasmine, once again asking his previous question. I had to sigh, but I didn't complain. There wasn't much I could do, or really was willing to do because I was tired, and I couldn't help but wanted to know more too.
When he first asked about who she roomed with, he became confused. There seemed to be three people that roomed in here, that part was obvious. But when she said that she roomed with her brother's wife, Eliza, was it? I only heard the name once, so that may have been wrong. Maybe it was Erika…I'm not too sure… But when she said she roomed with Eliza (I still wasn't sure how correct that was), and with her nephew, that part confused me. I did question the age of the child, and she had said four. Three beds, and three people total. That matched. But, when I was only looking around the room, trying to get a feel of the atmosphere, and it wasn't intentional for me to catch this…but I somehow managed to notice something that didn't quite match with these three people, and their separate beds. The suitcases didn't match with what their ages and gender seemed to be. This is what bothered me.
It'd make sense if this child was older than ten, but he wasn't. I had spotted three suitcases. Three for three for three. That all matched. However, the sizes of the suitcases and not to mention the color didn't really seem to match… The suitcase for Jasmine matched, the suitcase for Eliza matched, but the suitcase for the child didn't seem to match (I knew who's was who because Jasmine pointed to each bed as she said each name). It seemed much too big for someone his age, and it didn't seem to fit what a four-year old boy would pick out for a suitcase… But maybe I was overlooking things. I mean, maybe it was Eliza's suitcase and she had let him use it. But the suitcase was…was it Prada? I wasn't even sure… It was white and seemed like a girl would most likely use. But, what do I know? I barely even know these people. I can't go off making assumptions.
I couldn't judge and go straight to conclusions all because of the mood I was in today. And I'm not even sure if this was a mood I was in. It felt more like a change of perception… Something's different. Was it the food I ate this morning? No…I didn't even eat this morning. For some reason, the topic of simply "food" hasn't even crossed my mind. What was different? What changed this morning? No one can change that quickly… I'm sure there's even proof that scientists have discovered that say something about how the ordinary human-being can't change his or her own self. But who said I was ordinary? If anything, I was everything but ordinary. Maybe I was an exception.
"So, how old are you again, Jasmine?" Alvin's voice came trailing back to my ears, and I peered up at him from my spot on Eliza's bed.
Jasmine blinked, currently now readjusting her glasses. "My age…?" Alvin nodded his head. "Oh, well I'm twenty…"
"How about your brother?" Alvin pressed on, wandering a little around the room.
"Twenty-one…"
"Huh, a year older, eh? How about Eliza?" he continued on like a chain reaction, going over to the window and leaning against the window sill.
Jasmine opened her mouth, but paused and began to rub her left hand, her right fingers pressing against her skin separately, running through like piano keys, starting from the pinky and all the way over to her thumb, the process reversing. "She's, um, she's twenty…" Her lips brushed against her teeth, and she blew slowly. "Three… She's twenty-three," she pursed her lips.
"So she's older than your brother, huh?" Alvin mumbled, his gaze dropping down to the white suitcase nearby. Slowly he looked over to the nearby bed curiously, before averting his gaze back over to our host. "Pregnant at nineteen?"
"Uh, yes…"
"By the way, what's your brother's name?" Alvin went on. How many questions did he have to ask?
"M-my brother's name? Oh, uh, it's…Jeff…" she slowly worded out, crossing her arms close to her body.
"Hm," he nodded his head. "So, are you married?" he abruptly turned around, studying her facial expression.
Jasmine quickly glanced to me before glancing back to my brother. Dropping her gaze, she solemnly shook her head. "Nope, I'm still single," she halfheartedly laughed, her right hand consciously touching her left hand's fingers.
"You know," Alvin casually started, looking to me as he continued, "our brother Simon is single too." I had to cock my head at hearing his words. What exactly was he trying to do?
Jasmine's face scrunched up a bit and she looked to me. "You're dating someone?"
I straightened my posture from leaning my elbows against my knees, and blinked at her. I wasn't expecting her to bring me into the conversation. But what more was I expecting? As far as today's gone, this shouldn't have been as surprising as it was.
Right when I think the sun will finally have set behind this vast ocean, the sky doesn't change and stays its bright shades of tinted colors that pool out from the bright light coming from the new moon. The roles of the sun can be taken over by the moon, but the role of the moon can't get taken over by the sun. The sun can take over the role of the stars, and the stars can take over the role of the sun. The dark night and the bright sky fight to reign over the world's light. I fall from the clouds like rain, and as soon as I make contact on the ground, I just lay there in the crowd of other fallen souls, watching as the dark night and the bright sky fight over control of the world, each having their sides with the moon and the sun.
"I…" I began, but I couldn't utter out another word. It felt as if my voice had gotten sucked right out of my mouth.
"Whoa, wait, are you interested in Theo, here?" Alvin stepped in, his face expressing confusion freely.
"Wait, what?" Jasmine questioned, blinking while glancing between Alvin and me with a mirrored expression.
"Well, I guess Theodore is free…but I just thought that Simon would be…" He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, eventually bringing his hand down to his neck. "Never mind. I just thought…" and he muttered a few more words that I couldn't hear after that.
"Oh, no, I think there was a misunderstanding—I-I just thought that since you mentioned Simon and not Theodore, I just thought that…" She shrugged her shoulders and dropped her gaze to the floor. "I just assumed and implied that Theodore was dating someone," she brought her gaze up, "although, I never did hear anything about him dating anyone, so I was just a little…confused. That's all." She managed a small grin after that.
I couldn't help but smile a little with her. "I haven't dated anyone for a while now, and I don't really have any plans for it either. To be honest, I haven't exactly quite thought about it," I spoke, suddenly finding my voice hiding in an unlocked box. Everything I had said was true. I never have thought about dating. It's never really crossed my mind at all. I guess it must not have been important—it still wasn't important… I don't know, maybe every girl that's said a simple "hello" to me, maybe that was supposed to be something more. I'm not even sure. I haven't even paid that much attention for that kind of relationship… All I really wanted was someone to talk to.
I've traded numbers with numerous of people, and each time I call them up, or they call me, I seem to have missed something. Each time I call them over, they come in with an enthusiastic expression. However each time they leave, they don't leave with their enthusiasm. Instead they leave with disappointment. I never understood why they seemed so down, but their enthusiasm that they left with me never seemed to stay for long anyway, so maybe they were down because they never could stay happy for an extended period of time…just like me.
Maybe they had some cracks in their lives that made it easy for their pleasures and joys to leak out fast. Maybe they were hoping I could fix those cracks—patch them up brand new. My face frowned. If those things were true, that means I couldn't help them. That means I failed them. I had to drop my sorry eyes down in shame. Of course. I've been too caught up with my own life, I never bothered to even pay attention to their needs. How could I have been so selfish?
"I, um, I think the crowd's…" Alvin did a motion with his hand "…I think the crowd's gone…"
"Oh, right, yes, I believe you're right," Jasmine stumbled over to the door, slightly running into it as her hands made an attempt at unlocking it. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled out slowly and peeked outside of the door as she barely opened it. It felt as if she was expecting something dangerous to be waiting outside of her door. She was so cautious, and she wouldn't stop fidgeting with her hands.
"Are we clear?" Alvin began heading over to her side to take a look himself. I slowly brought myself to a stand, too trying to take a look myself.
"Yup," Jasmine swung the door open, managing to whack Alvin in the head with her swift motion. "Oh my, gosh!" she swiftly turned, covering her mouth with her hands. Her eyes widened to the size of the moon and her face drained from its color. "I am so sorry! Are you okay? I'm sorry! Is it bad? Does it hurt?" her words began pouring out effortlessly. She hesitantly reached her hand out to touch the reddening spot on Alvin's head.
Alvin, with his right eye squeezed shut, peering out of his left eye for sight, waved her hand back with his free hand as his other hand massaged the wound. "No, no, I'm good," he halfheartedly chuckled. "Man, it's a good thing you aren't someone I know very well or else I'd probably have at it with you."
Jasmine smiled, her cheeks filling with a soft shade of red, "Ha, yeah, uh, yeah… I'm pretty…lucky, huh?"
Alvin nodded his head and gave her a soft half-smile. After a few lingering moments, he blinked and looked over to me and dropped his hand, bringing his hand back up to rub the back of his neck. "Well, ah, I guess it's time Theodore and I get heading on our, um, way." Looking back to her, he smiled and she nodded her head.
"Yeah, uh, good luck getting back to your…room…"
I sighed and took a stand, walking over to stand beside my brother. Smiling at Jasmine, I said, "Thanks for taking us in."
"Oh, yeah, it was no problem," she began rubbing the side of her arm, her gaze now to the floor.
I placed at hand on her shoulder as I walked out into the open. Glancing to my right then left, I heaved out a sigh and turned around to catch my brother genuinely smile at Jasmine. "I know I probably can't say this in the most believable way, but really, thank you. You saved our butts out there…" he dropped his gaze down to the ground. "But hey," he lifted his gaze, "now you get to brag to everyone around you and say that you're friends with Alvin Seville, national rock-star."
Jasmine's lips began to lift slightly and she looked up at him. "See you around?" he flashed her his infamous smile while heading out the door.
"Hopefully," Jasmine softly spoke, trailing her gaze over to me.
"Well, we'll see you around then," Alvin waved, motioning for me to follow.
I quickly waved to Jasmine before running up to meet up with Alvin. After a few moments of silence, I finally asked, "So, how did you meet her?"
Alvin blinked and looked to me a bit confused.
"Jasmine…how'd you meet her?" I added.
Blowing out a sigh, Alvin halfheartedly snickered, "I actually met her while doing my personal appearance—you know, the whole 'autographs-paparazzi-fantasy-dream-night' day."
"She was a fan?" I looked to him curiously.
"Well, it was her stepsister's son, actually…"
"Oh," I looked down to my shoes. "So, do you like her?"
Almost instantly after I had asked that question I could feel Alvin's eyes flash to me. I merely kept my gaze locked down to the floor. That question only seemed natural, and since this was Alvin I was talking to, I felt it was okay to ask.
"Hm," he chuckled softly, "I don't know, Theo—she seemed more of the perfect match for Simon."
"But, you like her, then?"
Alvin patted my back and steered me into a different direction. "Well, yeah," he answered. "But, not in the way you think. But just to be on the safe side, don't tell Sydney a thing about Jasmine, alright?" He gave me another pat, and I nodded my head.
"Yeah, I got your back." And it was true. I did have his back. He could trust me. I just hoped he knew that.
Awww...am I being too mean suddenly having these burst encounters, yet nothing seems to really happen? I don't even know where this is all coming from. I'm just writing what comes.
Thanks for reading! And I promise, the big bang, it's coming... Less or equal to five chapters. That's all I'll say. ;D