LANA
I woke up early the next morning to the harsh sunlight streaming through my windows. What happened last night? I had drank more than I had in months, drowning my worry and stress in the ignorant ease that comes with drunkenness.
I turned to my right, looking to Sanjit to laugh with him about what happened. Quinn was lying beside me, the sheets wrapped sloppily around his half-naked body. My heart began racing, I shut my eyes tight and opened them again, but he was still there. Quinn, with his strong arms, resting peacefully on my boyfriend's half of the bed.
"Shit shit shit shit." I clambered out of my bed, our bed, searching for Sanjit. Has he seen me? Has he seen us?
Sanjit was sitting at the kitchen table. He was waiting for me.
"What. The. Fuck." Sanjit stared at me, his face revealing no emotions. His eyes, however, were bright red and puffy, like he'd just been crying. How could this be happening? We had been going strong for years now, no problems. I loved him. He loved me. How could this be happening to us? "You ran up to me at like 3:00 am and told me you wanted to break things off. You said you'd found someone else. I thought you were just spouting nonsense, drunken, stupid words. I go back to our room to sleep and you're in there with Quinn, the fucking fisherman." He was shaking his head; I couldn't stand to be in there, to see him so broken. He was the strong one, always held together. What did I do?
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing-"
"STOP," Sanjit raised his voice. I jumped. He closed his eyes, and began again. "Just stop. I can't- It's over. Please, just stop."
I was shaking now too. How could it be over? "No please let me fix this please, give me another chance…" I sounded desperate, but I didn't care. My stomach was in knots and I could hardly breath. I tried to grab his hand but he pulled it back at my touch, like I was poisonous.
That's when I realized my stomach was in knots for reasons other than the breakup. I sprinted to the upstairs bathroom next to my bedroom, where Quinn continued to sleep.
I was sick, alone in the bathroom for hours, sprawled out beside the toilet crying between the waves of nausea. When I finally came out, Everyone had left, and I could hear a vacuum running in the living room.
I hoped Sanjit was still downstairs, so I could apologize again, beg him to take me back, but when I reached the kitchen, Sanjit was gone and Quinn had taken his seat at the table.
I looked for somewhere else to go, maybe chat with Dekka or Diana, when Quinn called me over.
"Lana, I think we need to talk." He kept his head down, embarrassed. I sat beside him. "Are we okay?" My eyes welled with tears. Since when did I cry? Quinn was visibly uncomfortable. "Are you okay?"
I told him about my conversation with Sanjit. He was shaking his dead. "I'm real sorry. I'll tell him it wasn't your fault."
"No, I think he's seriously done with me." Once Sanjit set his mind on something, there was no going back.
"What does that make us?"
"I don't know, let me think." I got up, grabbing an apple from the bowl in the middle of the table. I took out a knife from the cabinet and a cutting board, casually chopping up the apple. "Want some?"
I looked up at Quinn, waiting for a response, but kept slicing the apple. "SHIT!" My palm was bleeding, I had cut it deep, and a searing pain spread through my hand. "Fuck, get me some paper towels. Quick!" I was holding my bleeding hand, yelling, and everyone ran into the kitchen. My hand was dripping, the blood falling onto the apple slices. Sanjit wasn't in here with everyone else.
"Want me to take you to the hospital?"
"Oh shit you're going to need stitches."
In the midst of the drama, Quinn handed me a towel, but I no longer needed it. The bleeding had stopped. The pain slowly faded away as I held my palm with my other hand. "Oh God, my powers are back."
Sam looked down at his hands. His face was white, scared. He pointed them at the flowerpot in the living room. A flash of green light shot out of his hands, and the flowers disintegrated into a pile of ashes.
Diana patted Sam on the back. "I never liked those flowers anyway. And you're still a 4 bar."
Astrid looked the most concerned, her brows furrowed, her face contorted in thought.
"I think we broke Astrid." Rodger said, but she was too distracted to notice.
"We need to get to the library." Her blue eyes were focused. Astrid the Genius had returned.