"EXsCuse ME?" Rocky stared wide eyed at her ginger headed best friend unsure how to feel. "You slept with THREE boys at one time? Are you Stupid?" She glared waiting for an answer.
Cecee thought for a moment. Did she? The memory was there but if he had to be completely honest, "Once Cody and Max touched for the first time everything changed. It was almost like, despite being in the same bed, the two of them were very far away. I felt like I was alone with Zack. It was weird... The two of them had us in some sort of... trance." Her eyes were on the ocean, a stir in her chest as she remembered what it felt like to have Zack bite into her like she was the last apple in the orchard.
Something in his smirk made her feel... safe.
However, when she caught a glimpse of Cody, there was nothing but darkness in his eyes. She pitied Max in those few hours before the roles were turned and the whole event goes dark in her mind. The rest of the night was a blur.
"I'll never understand you." Rocky says as she turns the wine bottle up to her lips.
"You know they work here..." Cecee began but just then another sound erupted near them in the open lot of umbrella covered tables outside the breakfast lounge.
Max jumped into a seat and plopped down a series of papers and pens onto the table before diving in and scribbling away. Cecee took another bite of her bagel and looked away, wanting nothing to do with him or the twins because the very idea of them made her squeamish.
Rocky furrows her brow as she looks over at the kid with the pen. The way he held it, so delicate yet firm. The way he focused on his work, blowing that piece of hair out of his left eye every few minutes.
When half an hour went by his sister found him.
By then Rocky and Cecee had already left.
"Max?" She looked down at the paper confused. "Are these applications?"
He nodded, "Just fill it out." He said in a gruff. "I'll explain it all later."
So... she does.
Meanwhile, deep in the jungle.
As the sun burns high in the sky, he gets to rest. How he clings to the light of the sun for he knows when the star decides to vanish over the horizon they will come. When they come, he will suffer.
How he pities the new guy.
PJ Duncan missed one thing most of all, his younger brother Gabe. How detrimental it feels to remember that moment; watching the young boy die. Unable to help, unable to speak, unable to weep. To witness your own brother tortured to his last breath. Now, in comes another victim. One to add to the torment.
Separated by a small clearing the two men sat in cage facing each other.
"What are they going to do to me?" Justin asks the man opposite him lying on the flat ground behind his own bars.
It's a fair question, did PJ have the strength to respond. With as much as they've taken from him probably not. After a while, Justin simply mimicked his block mates movements and curled up on the ground to watch the sky. It would be hours before they came...
"Max, why are we here?" She asks as she looks over a few dresses near the front door. TJ Maxx, a retail company that sells more than you need. Right here on the island resort, open till nine PM every night and in full swing until the doors lock.
He turns to her with a smirk as they approach the front desk.
"Hi, welcome to TJ Maxx. Would you like to save some money today?" Raven Baxter popped her tongue as she smirked down at them from behind the counter.
"Uh.. we'd like to apply actually." A familiar face comes from behind the Q- line near the men's section as Max lays down both forms on the counter.
Cody Martin crosses through behind the registers and smiles as he picks up Max's form to look it over, "What brings you to the Maxx?" He smirks at her brother in a way that makes Alex Shudder.
She watches as the two boys interact. What is that? She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Max liked girls. Sure he got experimental, what Russo doesn't, but she saw something in this that wasn't... human.
She grabs her brother's shoulder, "Max... I don't like this idea. What do I need with a job? I have-"
"What?" He spoke after her hesitation to finish such a simple statement. "What do you have? A home? A life? Maybe the first one but I've seen you in those halls and I know your not happy. Trust me..." Wow, a few years without magic and her brother starts talking like this? Who is he? Alan Watts?
Cody comes out from behind the counter near the door and takes both applications with him as he beckons them to follow him with a, "Thank you Raven. I'll be back in a few minutes to help you ring."
She nods and reaches for the button on her headset connected to her walkie-talkie, CHHH 'Chelsea can you come up to the front to ring please?' CHHH
CHHH 'Sure Ray.' CHHH, A perky voice comes through on the channel.
In only a few moments a young red head appears with a smile on her face, "So... how you liking it so far?"
"It's great Chels..." She beams back. "I mean I'd have never thought I'd be selling Ravenous designs in a TJ Maxx let alone working for one of their hottest locations here on an island resort with my best friend." She nods as she scans another item and asks a customer to sign up for a credit card. They kindly refuse and take their receipt to walk on.
"I told you... and the kids are safe, having the time of their lives." Chelsea moves over to collect a few hangers to stack them on the rack at the far end of the counter.
"I know-" Her brow furrows as she sees Zack Martin shift through a tote of Calvin Klein shirts, "Hey Chelse... what do you know about the twins?" She asks, uncertain.
"Oh? Zack and Cody?" Her ginger locks disappear beneath the desk as she dives in to retrieve a series of bags for her register, "They helped me get the job actually. Really good guys. I think they're uh..." Her eyes pop up to meet Ravens as she searches for the words.
"What? Raven asks, then an idea hits her, "Gay? Both of them? Girl I doubt it..." She scoffs as she turns back to the customer.
"No.. I was going to say gifted... like you and Levi." They share a look and no more guests arrive until Cody arrives back at the registers.
He hung up a few hangers before his eye caught the figurine someone had brought back. An item he would have to recover an return to the floor. An Item that upset him, A fat Buddha sculpture. "I hate these things." He sighs as he picks it up. "Buddha wasn't fat, he rejected self. He never supported laziness. Only self prosperity." With another sigh he lifts it and walks away.
Max and Alex step out into the low setting sun. Four hours of videos on common sense regulations on rules of safety in a place where there was nothing scarier than your own reflection. For them at least.
She groaned as she rubbed her head looking up at the pineapple decor that hung from strings across the alley way in the outlet. "Why did I wear this outfit for an interview- why did I get a job? Why was that so easy?" She furrowed her brow at her brother. "How is it that we got through all of that; an application, an interview, and orientation, all in one day?"
He didn't have an answer for any of those questions except one; the first one, "It wasn't for the interview..." Reaching down to grab a hold of his badge connected to the lanyard that hung from his neck, "It's for what we have access to now." He winked.