Remade

Chapter 9

We make it back to the I, compose our report and send it in to Rosa and then Mason and I part ways with Stephan. "Good night, see you tomorrow," I say to him.

"Bridget wait," he pulls me over underneath a nearby streetlamp. "I couldn't help but notice your reaction around those people..."

I put my hand up quickly. "Before you ask, I am not going to tell you anything. It's none of your business."

He looks at me surprised. "That's actually not what I was going to say. I was going to say that you're really brave if you do this regardless of the way it affects you and I think it's great. I wish I was as selfless as you," he adds almost shyly.

"Oh." Oh. Wow. What a jerk. "Thanks Stephan."

"So, good night." He smiles at me and gives me a quick hug. I instinctively hug him back as if it were nothing when really every nerve in my body seems to be screaming, "FINALLY!" I revisit the smell of mint and cut wood and fully realize how tall and strong he is in the span of a few seconds.

We break apart and I manage to say, "See you tomorrow."

He walks away and I walk towards Mason, who is fumbling with his glasses. "Everything alright?" He keeps looking at Stephan's receding figure.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Just wondering if he is bothering you."

"Who, Stephan?" I laugh. "No, of course not, why would you think that?"

"I don't know." He keeps opening and closing the ear pieces of the glasses. "What should we tell James about his tech?"

The sudden change of subject surprises me a little but I go along with it. Mason is obviously uncomfortable. Is it because of my friendship with Stephan? I'm allowed to have other friends right? But then I think guiltily to how I felt when I first met him and how much I've been talking to him and getting to know him and telling him of myself and how I felt when he hugged me good bye. And the reading the glasses gave me earlier. Nah. I mentally shake off thoughts of Mason's insecure jealousy and answer, "I guess we'll have to come up with something. Coffee?"

"Please," Mason says.

"Good cuz I'm buying."

We walk to the little café on the grounds by the main quad and walk in and grab a table. I order a black coffee and a caramel cappuccino. I set the black coffee in front of Mason and take a seat in front of my sweet coffee. We sit there, sipping our drinks and relaxing after a long emotional ordeal, with both our minds in overdrive. I can practically hear the drumming of the veins of Mason's brain against his temple as his thoughts pivot all over the place. Soon though, James joins us.

"Hey guys!" He scrapes up a chair, sets it backwards and sits down so he's facing us and puts his forearms on the chair's backrest. "So how did the Puertos 500 work for you? I'm not supposed to ask until after they read your report but I just have to know!" He looks at us expectantly. Even though James is older than I am, Mason's age, he acts and seems so much younger with his shyness and child-like innocence. I've never seen him say a bad word about anything or curse in general.

"Yeah, listen buddy..." Mason puts his hand through his hair. "We didn't really use your tech."

James lowers his arms from the chair. "What?"

I jump in. "Um yeah, see when you talked to me on the intercom, it worked for a short while but then they shut off and when they turned back on, they didn't scan anything. I kept them on to see if they turned on again but they never did so we just kinda put them away."

"Hmmmm..." James says thoughtfully. "Maybe the radio waves from the ear piece interfered with the wiring. Or the distance. I'll have to tinker with that."