The Searching Game

Chapter 7

Just before Leo had us park in front of his apartment, Zoey seemed to pass out from her exhaustion of the day before. I helped gently push her into Griffins arms to carry her inside. As we entered, Leo scanned to make sure his sister wasn't present. He led us to his room to lay her in the bed.

"Who wants to watch over her for now?" Leo whispered as all three of us watched her rest.

"I'll take first watch," I offered. "At like six in the morning one of you can switch out." The boys nodded and left the room then. Leo returned quietly with a chair for me to sit in before retreating back to the living room for sleep. I decided to take this moment of calm to study Zoey. She made quite a few changes since I last saw her. Her entire right arm, from her knuckles to her collarbone, had intricate and colorful ink. I recognized several video game characters, iconic items, and logos from the games she would play. I slowly stepped closer to her to look over her better in the dark room. She still had her two hooped nostril piercings on the left side of her nose and the several others in her ears. She did have gauges now, though they weren't super big. I shuffled to the side of the bed and noted her hair was up in a bun and much shorter, as well as she has an undercut now. Zoey was a bit leaner too, though still toned. I finally went and sat down and took her in fully. It felt wrong of me thinking it at this moment, but she had somehow gotten more attractive to me. I shook the thoughts from my head and remembered something terrible had happened yesterday. Zoey would have never called otherwise. I felt such a dull aching inside from the fear of what she would tell us later.

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  I opened my eyes to a dark room and was somewhat confused at everything that happened last night. I sat up and felt an immediate throbbing in my left knee. My eyes adjusted and I noted some specks of red on my jeans from my stitches. I guess I upset my wound in the night. Upon further examination of my surroundings I realized I was in Leo's bed. His alarm clock showed it was nine in the morning. I decided to ease my way out of the bed and limped to the door. I opened it and found Leo sat at our small dining table eating with Quinn and Griffin. I rubbed my eyes before looking again and realizing last night wasn't a dream.

  "W-" I cleared my throat as it was hoarse before trying again. "What's going on? How are you guys here?" They all looked to me and jumped from their seats.

  "Hey, Z. There is a bit to explain, but maybe you should get a change of clothes and cleaned up a bit," Leo spoke softly. "I knew about your hand but you have blood on your knee too." I nodded and kind of stood still. I was still confused about how they found me. Quinn decided to come forward then and gently take my right hand.

  "Where is the bathroom?" she turned to ask Leo.

  "It's the door between the bedrooms, the middle," he answered. Quinn led me to it and told me to go sit on the toilet and wait for her. I did as she asked as I just wasn't sure how to function at this point. She left then returned a few moments later with a T-shirt and pair of sweat pants.

"So..." Quinn trailed off, "would you be okay pulling your jeans down so I can check your leg?" I had an uncomfortable feeling at uncovering myself, but it was Quinn. I eased myself to standing and slowly unbuttoned my jeans. As I slid my zipper down I took a deep breath to reassure myself. It was almost comical how I didn't want to strip considering I used to take any opportunity to show off my body. Quinn noted my hesitation and moved her hands toward my waistband. I didn't know who it scared more when I jumped back, slamming myself into the corner of the sink.

"Fuck," I hissed as I moved my hand to rub the new throbbing pain in my spine.

"Shit, I'm sorry, are you okay?" I met Quinn's pretty bright blue eyes and knew how worried she was. I couldn't help letting out a light chuckle at the predicament.