Triple Point

Chapter 23: Midnight Getaways

Once she had a better idea of Camilla's intentions, and after their much-needed nap, Elsie wasted no time at all in dropping the pleasantries and revealing all the perks that came with being her friend. This included, but was not limited to, a lot of sarcastic comments, probably too much swearing, and random texts even when they were in the same room. And lucky for Camilla, she got to experience all of that for herself within the first few hours of their friendship becoming official.

Elsie wasn't trying to get rid of her, but she figured that it was better if Camilla knew for sure what she was getting into while it was still early. After all, the Elsie that she knew a few years ago wasn't the same as the Elsie now. Now, she was the new and improved version, or that's how she pitched it to Camilla, at least, earning her a well-deserved eye roll.

They relaxed until dinner time and everyone gathered for a meal of leftover hamburgers and lasagna from the day before. Elsie decided to experiment by making a lasagna burger: a slice of lasagna on top of a hamburger patty that was sandwiched in a bun with some lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. The result honestly looked a little unappetizing, but Elsie knew there was no way it could taste bad. Both the lasagna and the burger were made of ground beef, and an argument could be made that it was still a regular burger just with extra stuff since they shared essentially the same base ingredients.

"Why can't you just have one or the other?" Camilla asked, eyeing Elsie's concoction with disgust.

"Where's the fun in that?" Elsie answered. "Besides, I wanted both."

Camilla gave her a look that was the equivalent of saying "I'm so done with you"—Elsie had been given that look a lot in the past few hours—before sighing and going back to her boring plain lasagna.

After their dessert of apple pie and vanilla ice cream, they piled in the living room for a movie night. Although she was wide awake, Elsie would have much rather turned in for the night, more for Camilla's sake than her own. But she could tell her family was trying to spend every last second with her before she flew back the following day, and she didn't want to deny them that. Even Bev agreed to forgo her studying and join them, but only if she could pick the movie.

Camilla seemed to notice Elsie's dilemma and pulled her aside as the others were getting settled.

"You don't need to be worried about me," Camilla said quietly. "I'm fine. Besides, it's not like a movie can require that much energy."

Elsie bristled a little. "What makes you think I'm worried about you?"

Camilla gave Elsie her infamous look. "I don't even need meta-abilities to realize that you keep looking at me like I'm going to pass out all of a sudden. Now hurry up and find us seats."

Since Bev refused to pick a movie that Elsie liked or had a role in, she chose some cheesy rom-com that she had probably already seen hundreds of times. And since Elsie wanted to save her brain cells and see as little of the movie as possible, she volunteered to make popcorn during the first few scenes and Camilla wordlessly joined her.

By the time the movie finished, it was almost three in the morning, and after washing up, Elsie and Camilla ended up going to bed around four.

Unlike the previous night, Elsie was wide awake, and she wasn't about to unintentionally fall asleep again. So after she and Camilla said their good nights and turned out the lights, Elsie lay quietly on the couch, waiting. She wasn't sure if Camilla would have a nightmare again, but if she did, Elsie was ready to help where she could.

Since she was awake, it was much easier for Elsie to notice when Camilla's sleeping began to grow restless. It started off with a lot of tossing and turning, then some faint muttering. Elsie got off the couch when Camilla's breathing became ragged, and when her muttering started turning into whimpers, Elsie gently shook her by her shoulder.