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"X!"
The young man with a penchant for the color blue turned around. Coming his way was Pallette and Cinnamon.
"Is something wrong?" X asked, looking at each girl with worry. Both of them made an equal face of disgust.
"Of course not." Cinnamon said.
"We need your help." Pallette added.
"With wha-" X started to asked but was interrupted by the girls taking his hands and pulling him to the dorms.
"We need some trustworthy guys to help us decide our swimsuits." Cinnamon told X as she and Pallette continued to drag him.
The confusion on X's face was more than apparent as he questioned, "Why?"
"Why not?" the girls replied in unison.
X likely would have challenged the notion more had the trio not entered Alia's room. Most of X's senses were overwhelmed in an instant. Alia's room smelled of strawberries and vanilla, and she even had a small sectional were someone X was least expecting was sitting- arms folded in contempt.
"Zero?"
"Don't ask," his peer huffed. "At least I know I'm not the only guy they suckered into this."
"Not suckered," Alia gently corrected as she came out of her in-suite bathroom, "Lightly seduced."
"Is THAT what you're calling it?"
"To help gaslight you into not bolting the moment the door opens again? Yes."
Zero shook his head in dismay. "Girls." he even huffed under his breath.
Alia smirked, but said nothing as she went over to Marino.
Carefully making his way over to Zero, X looked around the room. As he took mental note of all the girls crammed into one dorm room, X came to realize something.
"No one invited Aero?"
"We did- or rather, we tried." Iris told him.
"We all did." Layer nodded. "At different points, of course."
"Maybe it means that she's not coming to the party." Zero mused. He cocked a meanspirited smirk before adding, "It's not like anyone trusts her."
"Says you." Alia said, throwing a dress in his direction. It landed perfectly on top of his head. All the girls laughed as Zero then tried to get it off like a puppy stuck in a blanket. Even X let out a chuckle or two before Zero finally managed to get the dress off of him, and tossed in some other direction, far away from him.
The rest of the dressings commenced in a similar manner.
"Hey X," Marino called to him at one point, "You have some pretty nimble fingers- can you help fix Alia's straps? The rest of us can't get it tight enough."
X blinked. "Yeah. Sure." he agreed.
As he went over to Alia, Iris stepped out from the bathroom.
"I… I don't know about this swimsuit." Iris nervously told the others. "Is it too revealing?"
A resounding cacophony of voices told Iris how beautiful she looked. The cheeks of Iris's face flushed a light pink.
"Red looks good on you." Zero said, his voice oddly more clear than the others.
Iris's face now became a deep red. "T-thank you…"
Layer watched as the two exchanged eyes telling of a certain emotion. Fidgeting, she piped up in a near squeak, "What color do you think would look good on me, Zero?"
Zero looked over to Layer. His eyes narrowed as he inspected her from head to toe.
"Navy blue and white." he decided. "Perhaps a striped print that accentuates your figure. Boasting your femininity, as it were."
"Oh! We have something like that!" Cinnamon realized. "Come with me to the bathroom real quick, Layer!"
Layer took a look at Zero before finally giving her attention to Cinnamon.
"Alright," she agreed with a nod.
X couldn't help but stare- more at Zero than much else.
"He… he's good at this." X whispered to Alia.
"He is," she agreed, sounding just as surprised. "How did that happen?"
"A super analytical mind, or something? Is that possible?"
"Maybe."
The two looked at each other and shrugged. Once Alia's straps were safety fastened, X went back to sit and wait until one of the girls needed him again. Once, for only a brief moment, he wondered what colors would look good on Aero.
At the back of his mind, green felt like a good answer.
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their mind, too?
Some hours later at the pool party, X didn't know how he got into this situation. What he did know was that the longer it went on, the more uncomfortable he felt. The music playing was loud, but it wasn't the thing making him uneasy. It was a conversation Pallette had pulled him into with Spider and Dynamo. Not that X was the one doing the talking…
"He and Zero were such a great help!" Pallette happily trilled to Spider and Dynamo. "We couldn't have asked for better stylists!"
Dynamo snorted. He looked more to X than Pallette as he asked, "Did you help tailoring as well? I'm sure you had a hard time adjusting that top compared to the other girls."
"Oh no, no, no," Pallette disagreed- completely missing the jab, "That was Iris."
X couldn't help but fidget in his place. His unease was easily caught by Spider and Dynamo, who laughed at his expense- much to Pallette's confusion.
"Huh? What are you guys laughing about?"
The two guys laughed even harder.
"Mind if I cut in?" Alia asked, as pleasant as could be, while making herself a wedge between Pallette and the boys anyway. She gave them all a polite smiling before turning to Pallette.
"Pallette, I think Layer was looking for you earlier. Something about pool loungers?"
"Oh! I totally forgot about that! Thank you, Alia!"
Then she looked to Spider and Dynamo. Her smile felt far less sincere now.
"And boys, I'm sorry, but I'll also have to steal X away as well."
"Need him to find coordinates for your prom dress?" Dynamo smirked.
"If only a single boy could be so lucky." Alia shot back. She then rather forcefully took X by the elbow and dragged him away from Spider and Dynamo for good. They ended up closer to the food table, more than enough from the previous duo's hearing.
"Thanks Al-" X started to say. Alia was quick to shut him down.
"Do you not have a backbone at all?" she demanded. X immediately recoiled. "I can't believe you just stood there and took that. Palette had no right to be saying that stuff, and those two…"
Alia made a gesture similar to strangling someone for a moment.
"Every second I'm grateful we trusted you and Zero with the fittings," Alia huffed. "Every other guy is just-!"
"Axl's not that bad."
Alia looked at him. In a flat voice she reminded X, "He's Axl ."
X opened his mouth to argue, but found that a reasonable one just wouldn't form.
"Exactly," Alia nodded, noticing his pause. "But enough about that, honestly. You've been hanging around the party like a lost puppy. Instead of letting you wander around and being embarrassed by a loudmouth, let's keep you occupied for awhile- dance with me."
X immediately recoiled- his face even flushed a bright red.
"O-oh. Alia, I don't know how to dance like…" (He pointed over to Zero and Iris, who were dancing rather close and intimately.) "That."
"You don't have to." Alia laughed. "I don't think I know how to either, honestly. But we can work with it. We just have to trust each other."
X looked at Alia.
Trust?
Still having a rather confused look, X took Alia by the hand and allowed her to lead him into a dance.
Oh my Lola, we really did it now
I'm a monster and you're my sacred cow
Oh, I can keep running
No, I can't keep on running; oh, oh, oh…
Well, if there was one thing about Alia, she certainly was a reserved dancer. And yet, she moved with purpose. If only X could reach that ease of confidence. The most he could muster were small shuffles to the side. Alia would incorporate body rolls and shoulder raises. She looked like she was enjoying the music.
Alia lost interest in dancing not long after the song ended- not that X had any plans on dancing more either. This, however, suddenly left him alone for the first time since the party started. Not sure of what else to do, X's eyes wandered around the area. The pool caught his attention first. Its water reflected the fluorescent lights across its surface, looking quite a bit like little stars on an otherwise clear mirror.
X's eyes tracked down the length of the pool. At the end he found Aero, sitting all by herself as she dipped her toes in and out of the water. X stood a bit straighter. Without consciously meaning to, he started to walk toward her.
Shut my eyes and count to ten
It goes in one ear out the other, oh
One ear out the other, oh
Burning bright right 'til the end
Now you'll be missing from the photographs
Missing from the photographs
Aero didn't notice X before he asked, "Mind if I sit?" to her, effectively making Aero jump. She blinked for a moment before becoming slightly embarrassed.
"Yeah." she agreed. "Sure. I don't bite."
"Thank you," X gratefully said before starting to sit down next to her. His feet carefully dipped into the pool- it was the first time he had been in it yet, and it was far warmer than he was expecting. His reaction must have betrayed his surprise, because Aero let out a soft laugh.
"Warm?" she teased.
"Very." he sheepishly nodded.
Aero let out another laugh. X could feel his cheeks burn with further embarrassment.
"If only it was my bed," X then floundered, "I'd probably go to sleep from all this partying."
"Not a party animal?"
"No more than you seem to be."
Aero snorted. "Okay, I walked into that one." she retorted. "But I have an excuse."
"Yeah?"
"It's called trauma."
X jumped. He immediately looked at Aero with horror.
"What-" he started to say, but quickly shook his head. "No. No, that's not my business to know."
"What if I wanted you to know?" Aero carefully probed. "What then?"
X refused to look at her now- even fidgeting a bit as he refused to think of what could have happened. How could she be so earnest about something that seemed to prevent her from being too close to everyone else? Why was he the one she wanted to confide with? Most implications made him feel… conflicted.
"Tell me something about yourself."
"Huh?" came the first befuddled response as X finally looked to Aero again. She simply gave him a shrug.
"Don't really have time for one on one talks when you avoid too many people all the time," she reasoned. "And if you don't want to hear my dark and brooding past…"
Finally, X understood.
"Right," he agreed. He then let out a long sigh as he set back a little- Aero absently mirrored him, her face expressing one of interest to what he had to say.
"I don't think my life is all that interesting, honestly," X admitted to her. "My father was pretty old when he had me, and I have three older siblings- two brothers and a sister. We're not a close family either, honestly. My oldest brother left home the first opportunity he had. He and my father just never saw eye to eye."
"You and your sister must have been somewhat close- she helped you make scrambled eggs once."
"Housekeeping was her vice. It kept her happy, and her thoughts off of other things."
"So she was really just-?"
"Yeah. None of us were ever good at confrontation."
Aero nodded in understanding.
"It sounds messed up, but at least you still have them in some way." Aero said.
"Yeah… I guess so."
Aero tilted her head a bit. She scooched a bit closer to X before telling him, "My parents were in an accident when I was pretty young. My grandmother raised me because she was the only family member who could. Sometimes, I'd see a distant cousin of mine -he was an archaeologist- when he'd find something interesting. One time he found something so interesting, he helped start a new generation. Not just for me, but the world at whole."
"What did he find?"
Aero only smiled. She leaned closer, as if she were going to whisper it to him. X absently mirrored her. As they closed the distance between them, the air seemed to change. It became more charged. More… anticipated.
The moment was broken when Axl suddenly shouted, "Hey Breezy, check this out!"
The rambunctious boy then ran toward the pool. He took a leap once he reached its edge, curling his body into a ball to cause a large splash to occur on impact. It was close enough to X and Aero that they ended up with the brunt of the water spray.
"Hey!" both Aero and X proclaimed- Aero sounding more amused while X was more than a little annoyed. Aero also recovered far quicker. She let out a teasing, "You'll pay for that!" before pushing herself into the water. Axl was practically beaming as she came over. It soon turned to surprise as she dunked him under, placing her hands on his shoulders and using all her strength to keep him under water. Axl managed to come back up again with relative ease.
"Race you to the diving board and back." Axl challenged her.
"Bring it." she agreed. Not long after, not bothering to wait for a countdown, Aero took off. Axl admired her for a moment, then laughed before going on as well.
X's thoughts drifted as he watched Axl and Aero race. She sure got along well with Axl. Would she had offered to share her past traumas with Axl had he been sitting next to her instead of X? Did she already tell him? The more X thought about it, the more his heart raced and his teeth clenched. He refused to believe it was jealousy.
You might have to excuse me
I've lost control of all my senses
And you might have to excuse me
I've lost control of all my words
X snapped out of his thoughts when a large splash of water hit his face. He wiped most of the water away with a hand as he tried to figure out how had gotten him. Smiling up at him -just out of kicking distance- was Axl.
"Come on in, X. You're the only one who hasn't taken a dip yet!"
X blinked. His attention left Axl for a moment as Aero also swam over. She remained a bit aways from the orangey-redhead (possibly so she could give him another surprise dunk under water), but it was more than close enough for X to see her smile at him. It was warm and welcoming- even more so than simply ushering X into the water like Axl was.
So get drunk, call me a fool
Put me in my place, put me in my place
Pick me up, up off the floor
Put me in my place, put me in my place
X smiled. "Screw it." he decided as he started to get up. He took a few steps backward before leaping into the water- keeping his body straight as he dove in. The splash wasn't very impressive, but it was rather close to Axl. The younger man flinched out of anticipation even though nothing came from it.
The three then spent the next hour playing in the pool. Several races were held, and even an oddly competitive game of Marco Polo happened. For a moment, just for a moment, the idea of becoming Maverick was the last thing on their minds.