Hidden Gifts

Nineteen

"What are we going to do?"

Carter had wanted to go into the outskirts of town but Talia had held him back because of what she had been through when she left town.

He sighs. "It's not safe for you in town anymore. Everyone has probably seen the news saying you're a killer and they'll definitely call the cops on you in fear for their own lives. I honestly don't know where I'm going. Maybe I should just take you to my apartment."

"You're apartment?"

"Yeah, I guess. I do have roommates but they won't rat you out." Carter shrugs.

"How do you know that?"

"They do illegal stuff sometimes and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to risk ratting themselves out by snitching on you. If it makes you any feel any better I can give you my hoodie so you can cover your face as you go in." He offers.

It's not like she has any better ideas.

"Great. Now we have to walk back into town." She huffs and shivers not realizing how cold it was. When she was still at the sanctuary Devon had given her a change of clothes which was just a tank top and a jeans and a pair of high tops but it was too cold at night to be dressed in such clothes.

Carter takes off his hoodie and as he does his shirt rides up exposing his abs and his V line before revealing the shirt he wore inside. He wore a pink top with hello Kitty.

"Nice choice of wardrobe." She says whilst putting on his hoodie. It smells amazing, much better than what she would have thought, but it also reminded her of Devon. She guessed men just used to same deodorant.

"Thank you." He gives her a fake smile and leads her to his apartment. She practically crawls up the stairs to his apartment on the second floor on a count of she had not eaten anything for what felt like an eternity.

She still trued to hide herself in Carter's hoodie that was three sizes to big. It engulfed her and she used it to her advantage. There were many other rooms but most of the people were out in the hallways talking amongst themselves. Some of them greeted Carter and he waved at them back while she just kept walking keeping her head down and pulling the hoodie over her nose. The less they saw of her the better.

"Hey who's the girl?" A tall guy with several tattoos and black hair says.

"She's.. my friend." Carter shrugs.

"Sure." The guy scoffs and Carter rolls his eyes playfully. The guy stared at Talia as Carter shook some other guys beside him. He looked at her intensely before she looked away and walked past Carter not knowing where his room even was.

"Hey what are you– ugh, I've got to go." Carter pats the tattooed guy on the shoulder and goes after her. "And where are you going?"

"Where's your room?"

"It's over here." He points to a door with the number 29 on it. He inserts his key and Talia is welcomed by a cool breeze and the smell of lavender and roses...

As if.

It didn't smell bad but she just couldn't place the scent. She was sure she smelt alcohol, only just a little, but as she got to his bedroom it smelt fresher.

"You can go sleep on my bed. Jon isn't around and he probably won't be till morning so I'll sleep in his. There are two big snicker bars under the bed and no it has not gone bad or anything I put it there in case of emergency when my sugars low and also because I hide them from Jon's girlfriend. I have a Coke in the fridge and some chicken nuggets I'll microwave it and give it to you, sound good?" He turns around and Talia isn't there.

"Talia?" He asks but there is no reply. He hears a loud chewing sound in his room only to see Talia devouring two whole snicker bars at once. "No need to save some for me." He says leans against the door and folds his arms.

"Good. I wasn't planning too." She falls on his bed, Snickers still in her mouth. "I'm sorry. I'm just really hungry. I heard you say something about coke and chicken nuggets? Where is it?" He shakes his head and throws her the bottle of coke and she fumbles with it before she finally catches it.

"Chicken is in the microwave." He sits down on the bed beside her and she rolls towards him because of the sudden dip in the bed because of his weight. "Clingy much?" He laughs and she rolls her eyes.

"Just bring the chicken as it is. I'll eat anything." She quickly gulps down the coke and regrets it instantly. The carbon dioxide makes her gassy and she can only expell so much of it. It feels like bubbles of tiny swords in her chest before she let's out a loud burp.

"Wow. You were that hungry?" He asks.

"Yeah. Now bring me the chicken or I'll eat you up." She doesn't learn her lesson and continues taking huge sips of her drink.

"You'll eat me up? Wow, kinky." He teases.

"Shut up." She shoves his hand when she finally gets the joke.

"Okay, now that we've had our laughs and you've eaten, tell me what happened. How the hell was that Asian guy controlling wind? What could have possessed all those police officers to shoot each other simultaneously?!" He says.

"I– I–"

"You don't know? Of course you don't, even I don't understand." He falls back on the bed looking exhausted.

"Do you think I killed Natalie?" She asks out of the blue.

He looks her directly in the eye. "There's always a motive for every action. If you're thirsty, you get up and drink water. If your angry, you get into heated arguments and sometimes fight. You said you disliked Natalie and I'm pretty sure others may have noticed that as well. The police is this town aren't that dumb, I'll give them that, so they may have probably interrogated some of your school mates. Nobody wants to lie and get themselves entangled in all this mess so they'll just tell the truth and how you guys hated each other. So the police would see a motive in that."

"What the fuck are you saying? That wasn't the question I asked. I said do you think I killed her? Are you saying that I did it?"

"I'm just saying that that's the reason the police keep investigating you and the more they investigate the more people start to think you're guilty but not people like me. Talia, you're a lot of things, dumb? Yes but not a murderer. You said you are innocent and I believe that you are innocent. I will always have your back and I just need to remember that alright? Even though everyone and everything seems like it's against you I'll always be by your side because my friend is not a killer." He takes her hand and the guilt Talia feels hurts her more that when she had drank too fast.

She did kill her but it wasn't on purpose but it still happened but it wasn't her fault, Natalie had pushed her hand but she still killed her!

"Carter, I... I lied." She blurts out.