Dark as the Night

19

James walked out of his room and found Tai standing outside his door. He nodded his head at his friend as he turned to lock the door. "This is rare. Usually I have to wake your ass up."

The other boy shrugged and yawned as they turned to walk to breakfast together. "I got up early to finish something left over from last night. Hey, has Odessa seemed weird to you lately?"

"Not really, but then, I haven't really talked to her lately."

"That's just it," Tai mused, "I haven't seen her or been able to get a hold of her, and she never answers the phone or always seems to be out. I haven't spoken to her since Monday. It's like she's avoiding me or something."

"Come to think of it, she was a bit flighty yesterday when she came to replenish the first aid kits at the Training Center," James replied. "She glanced at me, but didn't say anything, just ran off before I could say, 'hi.' But she's probably just busy or stressed out with the placement testing. When I saw her Monday night, she was fine."

Tai thought about that. "Maybe, but that still doesn't sound much like her. Why did you see her Monday?"

James shrugged. "She brought some candy things to the Training Center for the kids. She was pretty normal. And how do you know what 'sounds like' her? It's not like we know her very well. Like I said, she's probably just stressed out."

"I'm just worried, that's all," Tai mumbled.

"Ok, well when we see her we'll ask if everything's ok."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, let's go to the bakery this morning. I want some coffee." They switched their topic to the trip to town the next day, and made their way to the bakery.

When they arrived, they were greeted by the smiling Jeanette, as usual. "Well good morning, boys!" she trilled. "What can I get you today?"

James scanned the menu and decided on an egg & bacon sandwich. Tai bent down to look at the bakery case, trying to decide between a muffin and a pastry. He liked to eat something sweet when he drank coffee, which he took black. His eyes rested on the croissants and he was reminded of the lunch he'd shared with Odessa a little over a week before, and how much she'd liked them. Jeanette noticed him lingering on it and intuited the reason. "You know, Odessa was in here this morning, a couple hours ago. I didn't know she got up so early."

Tai straightened. "She was? Did she seem ok?"

Jeanette raised her eyebrows. "Why, is it not normal for a girl to be a morning person? She seemed fine. Got a croissant and hot chocolate, and gave me some advice on fixing my chapped hands."

"Ah, no reason," Tai shrugged. "I've just been busy and haven't talked to her in a few days. I'll get a black coffee and a maple danish." The boys paid and left, stopping in the camp green to sit on a bench and eat their breakfast in sleepy, companionable silence. When they were finished, they walked to school together, as was their usual routine, talking about what classes they had that day and what had happened at work the day before.

A few hours later, lunch break arrived, and the boys went down to the food hall next door. While standing in line, James noticed Odessa nearby, cleaning up her tray as she prepared to leave. He nudged Tai then called out to her. She turned to them, waved, then turned and walked out the doors without saying a word. James looked at Tai, whose eyes were wide with disbelief.

"You're right," the redhead fumed. "She's acting weird."

**********
Author's note: Sorry to leave you with such a short chapter! But in fact this is the end of Chapter 6 of the manuscript.  The next part starts chapter 7  and its first scene is 2,657 words long.  I had to figure out how to break it up into more manageable Wattpad chunks and that left this part tiny. X-(

As I promised, I give you a photo of Diego Klattenhoff as Liam!  This is pretty much exactly how I picture Liam, only with the same green eyes as James.  In fact, he and James look remarkably similar...