His Little Ballerina- B. Barnes

Chapter 16: Veronica (2014)

So rockabye baby, don't you cry; somebody's got you

~Rockabye: Anne Marie, Sean Paul, and Clean Bandit

"So your friend... is he still around?" I asked, trying to keep up with James' steps.

He continued to stare out at the empty streets, taking everything in. "I'm not sure. We haven't spoken in a while."

"Well that's very specific..." I muttered.

James turned his head slightly, his blue eyes scanning the streets. He looked at everything as if he were seeing it for the first time. Amazement and sorrow were painted in his eyes, and the obviousness of it all made me wonder if people saw stuff like this in others at all.

Why can't I remember?

I heard those words so clearly in my head it was almost as if someone was speaking them...

Someone whose voice sounded like James'...

"What?" I asked him.

He stopped walked and gave me an expression of confusion. "Excuse me?"

I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks. "Sorry I uh... thought you said something."

"Oh."

Did I say something? Is she okay?

There it was again... his voice... but I could see his lips clearly weren't moving. Why was this happening now? Why all of a sudden?

Maybe Jessica put something in my drink or whatever... I'll figure it out later.

The two of us kept walking, not sure of where we were going. I kind of liked that aspect of it, it gave me something to think about other than the voice.

James continued to scan the area, taking everything in. "So how long have you lived here?" He asked.

I let out a small laugh. "Oh, I live in D.C. I was just visiting a friend... I worry about her sometimes."

Now it was James' turn to laugh. "You worry about your friend too?"

"Well yeah," I began, "her boyfriend's an asshole so I kind of have to watch out for her." I began to twiddle with my fingers... a bad habit of mine I've never been able to shake since... well I can't exactly remember.

"An asshole? He can't be that bad..."

"Oh you have no idea... if you know him like I do... you'll think otherwise." I muttered, looking down and studying the cracks in the concrete.

James sighed and watched his breath materialize in the air. It was then it dawned on me I had made an effort to befriend a complete stranger... but why?

James looked at me strangely. "You know, you remind me of someone."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I just don't remember their name..."

"You seem to not remember a lot of things." I commented under my breath, unaware of this was a taboo subject for him.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "I heard that you know."

Great. Just great. "Oh, sorry..."

James smiled and took out his phone, looking over the only two notifications on his screen. "It's fine. I get that a lot when I meet people... which is a rarity." He spoke as he tried several times to unlock his phone. It was kind of cute in a way, but sad that he didn't know how to work a damn phone.

"Need help?" I offered, taking out my phone in the process.

James nodded his head. "I can't seem to figure this shit out... I literally got it yesterday."

Yesterday? Damn.... did this guy live under a rock or something?

That didn't matter. And for some god forsaken reason, i took the phone from his hands and spent the next thirty minutes helping him navigate a blasted iPhone. He seemed to appreciate it a lot more than I expected, but I wasn't complaining. Sometimes, it felt nice to be appreciated for once.

Giselle never really did appreciate all I did for her, all the secrets I've kept to protect her about my connections to S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, that's why I even came to New York in the first place. To tell her everything.

I was going to spill all the details, which was why I couldn't have Scott around. HE was the main part of why I even had to keep the secret. He swore he would hunt me down and kill me if I ever told her.

So yeah, that's why I stormed out. Now I'll never be able to tell Giselle why I'm actually going to leave the states.

I need to get as far away from all this S.H.I.E.L.D. shit as possible and live the normal life I had before I decided to sniff around that warehouse... ugh, I hate that place.

But being here right now, with this guy who clearly didn't know anything about modern technology, I felt closer to normal than I ever had been before.

I really shouldn't have gotten ahead of myself because the next thing I knew, the familiar sound of a gunshot rang through my ears and collided with James's left shoulder.