Linger

X-men: Evolution

*Written by Gale*

Disclaimer - those characters owned by marvel enterprises are merely being borrowed and artistically interpreted. Those characters that are mine are exactly that: mine. Please don't use them.

Chapter #3:

The saying still goes in story telling that one thing gave way to another, and several weeks passed. Newton Essex, who preferred to be called Nur, was no longer the only friend that I'd made, and since he liked to keep to himself most of the time, our windows into each other's lives began and ended with my half-hearted attempts at conversation. I won't lie: I'm terrible at meeting people. Taking initiative is a big "no" for me in most cases, so the other kids I now knew on a first name basis were start-to-finish just there until the class period ended. I still sat by myself during lunch, and all in all my social life just pretty much stank.

I dreaded the weekends. Father got his day off every Thursday, and he worked at any other time. It was really lonely, trying to occupy myself in the house with no one there. Being in a totally new place completely zapped any smidge of intuition I had left, so my tarot cards refused to speak to me. The house seemed to have no actual heart to speak of. No cold spots, no good vibes, not even any bad vibes. Just boring.

In less stellar areas, there was no cable. No Cable. As of yet, dad didn't see the point in getting it, seeing as how I'd only just gotten there, and he'd been doing without for so long, and a teenage girl can only live so long on DVDs and Playstation 2, especially when Dad never had time to take her shopping for new movies and games. The internet offered me a proper outlet for a while, since I could remain in touch with all my friends back in Kentucky. But what I really wanted was some company. Someone to talk to in person.

I don't know what possessed me to approach Nur one Friday. Perhaps it was the fact that he seemed to be the only intelligent teenager on earth. Maybe it was because I felt a certain something about him…

Or, let's face it, I'd asked all my other acquaintances -- girls, mind you -- and none of them much liked the idea of hanging out with me on the weekend. They had more important things to do. Like hang out with someone a little less pathetic and more fashionably coordinated. So much for making new friends.

And that left Nur. He wasn't a big talker. I mean, I would ask him questions and he would answer them sometimes, but I never got the impression that I was annoying him. If anything, he was surprised I wanted to know so much about him. The only time he got really guarded and dodgy about his answers was when I brought up his father. He never asked me many questions about myself, though. Most of the time I'd talk, and he'd just listen. His was of laughing at a joke was usually half a smile and a miniscule shake of his head. Sometimes he'd say something unbelievably witty and sardonic and not realize it, shown in his look of utter shock when I laughed at him. He didn't seem the type that wouldn't at least give me an honest answer if I requested a visit.

So there I was, ten minutes to go in Physics, Friday afternoon, and trying to finish my homework before initiating a conversation. Nur was a hard worker, but he always finished the assignment early, in such a way that I was beginning to envy him. It took a lot of stress away from talking to him, though, since I knew I wasn't distracting him.

"So, what do you do when you're not in school?"

The way he responded to me seemed as though he were timing me, because he'd always glance at the clock before saying anything. "Nothing terribly interesting," he murmured, "I study, I eat when I have to, I sleep."

"Sounds kind of boring," I said with a wince.

"From time to time it is, but I've gotten used to it."

For whatever reason, I'd taken to doodling things on the inside cover of my book. At least it gave me something to do with my hands. "Well, if it ever does -- do you want to hang out sometime?"

"Hang out?"

The way he said it -- practically mispronouncing the whole thing -- indicated he'd probably never engaged in such an act before. Poor kid.

"Yeah. Hang out. Y'know, you could come over to my dad's house maybe. We could just talk, or watch movies, go walking…" I trailed off awkwardly when I realized he was doing the half-smile thing again. As I've told you before, that's usually his equivalent of laughing, so I didn't know whether to take that badly or not.

Just as quickly as that smile appeared, it vanished again, and Nur set to gathering his books together. "That's a generous offer, but I really don't think I could."

"Oh." All the enthusiasm dropped out of my voice, and I nodded. "I understand. It's all right --"

"It's nothing against you. I think I would quite like to, but n-- my father probably would not appreciate my wandering off with someone he doesn't know."

"Oh, okay." I drew a hand to my chin in contemplation, grasping at straws and compromises. "Well, my dad works for him. So technically, you wouldn't be going anywhere he couldn't call and check up, right?"

Nur frowned and pushed his hair out of his face. "I don't know -- when?"

"Anytime. I mean, I'm free this afternoon or anytime this weekend if you are."

He muttered something I didn't quite catch and did not give me a chance to inquire about it. "Walk with me to my father's car after school and I will ask him there. If he agrees, I will walk home with you."

Which probably meant that my building suspicion could indeed be right: Nathaniel Essex sounded like a controlling bastard, but too much of a coward to make a scene in broad daylight and in front of someone else. I guessed Nur thought he had better chances at getting a 'yes' from him if I was there standing directly behind him.

"Cool," I said. "I can do that."

"You're sure it is all right."

"Sure I'm sure," I assured him, "and if after one afternoon my company is so unbearable, you're under no obligation to follow me home again."

Again, that smile. "Very well. Are you turning in your work today or taking it home?"

"Huh?"

He tapped a white finger on my physics book. "Did you finish the work?"

"Oh." I blushed. "Yeah."

"You might want to turn it in, then."

"Sure thing." I pulled the paper from its folded place in the pages and stood, then paused. "Do you want me to take yours, too?"

When I extended my hand, he jerked away so fast that I thought he was going to hit me. "No." He held his paper out of reach and rose slowly, seemingly not aware that he'd just scared me. "I can do it myself."

"I'm sorry," I relented.

He shook his head. "It's not your fault. I just don't like to be helped."

I think that bothered me more than anything he could have said. Surely, I wasn't going to hold it against him for desiring to be a little independent, but what that concept added to the equation was nothing positive. Nur was the quiet type, and he never seemed to wear anything that showed off more than his hands, then maybe his chin and up. His father, by admission, was an asshole. The kid reacted almost violently when I tried to do him a favor, and to top it all off, he says it's a habit. What, exactly, did he have to deal with at home?

All that and more swam through my head as I turned in my bookwork and sat again, and upon returning, my thoughts founds voice. "Nur, I want you to do me a favor," I said quietly.

Since he was packing things away in his book bag, he was too distracted to actually look me in the face. The only bit of recognition I got was the quirk of an eyebrow. "A favor?"

"Yeah." I kept my voice low. If the concern on my face was apparent, it seemed best I didn't invite anyone else to turn and see it. "Will you?"

"What is it you want?"

"I want you to promise me that, if you ever feel like you don't want to go home after school, you won't."

That got his full attention, and he gaped at me as though I were insane. Understanding swept across his features, and another shake of his head. "That would not do me very much good."

"Please."

"Where would I go if I did not go home?"

"Here." I dragged a sheet of scrap paper out of my purse and scribbled my father's address onto it, and my first notion was to place it directly in his hand, but I remembered what he did the last time I reached for him. Hesitantly, I placed it instead on top of his physics book.

Nur took it up and examined it carefully.

"Don't throw it away," I said.

He nodded and shoved it into his pocket.

"Do you still want to wait and ask your father?"

For a moment he seemed to hunch over, much like he had been that first day I saw him. But as quickly as he reverted, the self-consciousness dropped from his stance. Confidently, he sat up straight and hauled his book bag onto his desktop. "If you will allow me the use of your telephone when we reach your home, I think I can manage without."

TO BE CONTINUED…