~Met Behind the Masks~

Chapter 5

~Vanoss' POV~

I listen to the others have their small conversations when I notice Lauren has wandered off. 'I swear if I find her in the heist room, I'm going to kill her. I don't care if she's Del's sister.' I think as I step out of the kitchen. I start towards the heist room when I hear a "FUCK YOU" come from the game room. I smile, then peek in. I see her holding her head in her hands with the remote on the other side of the room.

"As funny as it is watching you rage, I don't think Moo would like you breaking his remote." I say, stepping in. Her head springs up with a slight jump, making me laugh a little. Her body relaxes when she sees it's just me. "Sorry. I just can't get past this asshole." she says, pointing at the group of assassins behind the 'Restart at Checkpoint' screen. I smile and shake my head, then walk towards the remote. 

"What you're supposed to do is take them out quietly one at a time. Sneakily assassinate them." I explain, moving the guy around and taking them out one at a time. She watches in awe as I do this without much effort. I hand her the remote again after killing them all off, but all she does is stare at me. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is hung open slightly. 

I chuckle, then put the remote in her lap. "Are you like, a gaming expert or something? Cause that was amazing." she says, finally taking her eyes off me. 'Why is it suddenly so warm in my mask?' I question myself. Before moving onto the next place, she asks "Will you play with me and give some pointers?", which sends me into a shocked state. Usually my friends are too scared to ask me to play games with them. Only cause I'm typically busy.

I hesitate, knowing I have a lot to do, but I'm sure a few hours won't hurt. I sit down in the bean bag next to her and grab my remote. I hook it up and get another character loaded up. (I don't know if there can be two players from the same console, but you can in this to make it easier on me. ^.^) Once we get into the same location, we continue on with where she left off at. Playing with a girl should be interesting.

~6 hour timeskip. They've eaten in the midst of this too :P~

I look at the clock and see it's 2 AM, so I pause the game and say "Lauren, I say we save here and call quits." I stretch out my arms with a yawn, waiting for a response. A response that never came. I look over at her and see her asleep already. I smile and stand up. Once I stretched again, I squat in front of her. I wave my hand in her face, seeing if the shadow will wake her up. She groans then peeks her eyes open. 

"Come on." I say. I stand up again and start to walk out, when I hear her say "Evan, can you carry me?" I freeze at the fact that she knows my name. 'Maybe she remembers from when we were little...?' I ask myself. I sigh and turn back around. I see her arms lazily flailed out for me, so I walk over to her and take her in my arms. She is light. No wonder everyone says that. I head out the room, turning off the light as I go. 

As I walk up the stairs, I ask myself where she can sleep. 'I'm sure Del wouldn't mind sharing, but I also don't wanna wake him up. Nobody wants a cranky Jonathon. I also don't wanna wake the others. I happen to have a couch in my room, so I guess she could take the bed...' I compromise with nobody. I go up the last few steps, then head down the white hallway and to my room. I step in, then close the door behind me. 

I lay her in my bed and cover her up with my blankets. I sit for a minute, to see if she wakes up. Once I'm sure she won't, I stand and remove my shirt and pants. I replace them with more comfortable clothing, and finally remove my mask. I nervously stare down at it, wondering if it's safe to sleep without it. In the midst of that, I hear a small groan come from her. "Evan.." she says. I turn to face her, only to see her eyes wide open.

I go wide eyed as well and look back down at my mask. When I look back up at her, I see her eyes shut. I breathe out, hoping it's just my imagination. I set the mask on my desk, then pull some extra pillows and blankets from my closet. I toss them on the couch, then shut the closet doors once more. I look at Lauren over my shoulder, to make sure she's still asleep. I fully turn around and head back towards my temporary bed, then slip into the covers.

I close my eyes with a sigh, knowing I'm going to regret staying up so late. But, in a way, it was kind of worth it. I got to play games, which I haven't done in awhile, and I also got to hang out with Lauren. She's a pretty cool chick. Other than the fact that she's super thin and dirty,  she's really sweet. I guess I'll have to eventually trust her, cause I don't think Del will let her leave again. 

I guess we could do training tomorrow. Just to figure out what her strengths and weaknesses are. It'd be a good idea to learn those before officially letting her join. Not to mention she already has her own mask and code name, so we won't have to worry about that. 

I eventually stop my brain from thinking and just rest, hearing the small noises coming from the apartment. I sigh once more, then let sleep fully consume me.

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Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!!

~WildLadd