Discoveries | TMR | Three

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Sending Matt a tight-lipped and barely there smile, Nick forces his way through the crowd and along the hall. The sound of their sudden hushed voices soon fade when he reaches the bedroom door; wrapping his palm over the handle and gently tilting it down. He sees Adeline immediately. Sitting a far end of the bedroom, perched upon one of the single beds and applying all of her concentration into checking her hand. With her eyes fixated on her palm and the tip of her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, he says nothing for a moment.

It has been months since he first met her in the Warehouse again, and yet, even during times like these, the novelty of seeing her face everyday has not been lost.

"Hey," he mumbles, stepping further into the room and closing the door behind him. "You okay?"

Adeline does not respond. Does not shift her position or even so much as flicker her eyes in his direction, leading him to believe that she has not yet noticed he is there.

"Twice in three days, huh?" he then pipes up again, trying to make light of the situation. "We gotta stop meeting like that, you know."

When he is met with nothing but silence once more, it becomes clear to him that she is in a foul mood. Nick takes a few steps further into the room, strolling lightly towards the bed. He notices that her small supply pack is on the bed next to her, and in the glistening hue of moonlight he realises that the scar on her palm has torn. The damage is not quite as brutal as it was when she fell hand-first on a stone in the Maze, but it is definitely enough to require stitches.

Stitches that she is trying, and failing, to weave through the skin of her palm herself.

Nick sits down next to her on the bed, his left leg curling under his backside so that he can face her head-on, and so the gaze from the moon can glimmer brightly on her face. "I'm, uh, sorry that you had to see that, by the way."

"See what?" She finally acknowledges him, though does not peel her vision from the gaping wound on her palm.

The boys eyebrows scrunch. "Me hitting him," he clarifies, but silently questions why he has to do so. "I'm not usually like that."

"Oh," Adeline mumbles. "I didn't really see anything. Walked out after you threw the first punch."

"Oh, right, okay." In the heat of the moment, he had not realised she had fleeted so prematurely. "Well, still, you shouldn't have really seen me hit anybody."

"I don't really care." The girl shrugs. "You can hit whoever you like."

Nick is taken aback by the sudden and surprising attitude of indifference. Did she not wish for him to step in and help her? Does she think that she could have handled that situation on her own? Is she frustrated over the fact that she did not get that option? It is unclear to him, though he cannot fathom any other reason as to why she would be in such a repellent mood.

Perhaps she is embarrassed over him taking charge of the situation, or maybe she is angered because there are parts of the story he is missing. Much like that day he did the same to Daniel in the Glade, did he prematurely react to the situation without taking the time to gather all the relevant evidence as to what was happening? It is quite possible, but how could he even begin to explain his warranted response to seeing her in danger? Without divulging that the fresh friendship they have now is based on a lie he told all those months ago at Marcus'.

"Anyway, I'm kinda busy." Adeline's words cut through his thoughts. "So if you could leave, that'd be great."

"Right," he states with a firm nod, but his expression quickly dissolves into one of confusion. "Uh... sorry, are you- are you pissed that I stepped in just there?"