Love Fiction

Chapter 8

            Because so many things had happened that morning, it must have been close to the afternoon already. The summer heat was on full blast, and Hiro could feel the sun beat down on his exposed skin. Then he realized he was only in a plain white T-shirt, sweatpants that were way too big for him, and slippers three sizes too big. All of the clothing were borrowed from Clara’s older brother who was taking a trip around the world as a part of his job or something.

            He furrowed his brow with worry and looked at his digital watch. 10:07 A.M. flashed in black and faded into nothingness, only to flash back at him again. The group had to keep on moving; they were already getting strange looks from the neighbors. Or rather, it was Arion and especially Christopher who were getting eyed at a lot. Hiro couldn’t blame them, what with Christopher’s gold jewelry, markings and loincloth and Prince Arion being in pajamas at this place and time.

            Hiro cursed in his native tongue and said in English, “Dammit, Clara, why’d you have to push this onto me? What if someone comes and questions us?”

            “Hey,” Christopher said, catching up to Hiro. He was hugging himself, probably trying to cover of himself what he could since he had no shirt. It must have been embarrassing enough already that he had to walk around in that getup. “Where are we going? Do we have a plan?”

            Jim joined them, his hands in the pockets of his scrubs. “Yeah, I’m not sure if roaming around aimlessly is the best solution at this point. If this place is anything like the world where I’m from, the authorities are going to pull us over and question our appearance.” And then he looked at Christopher and Prince Arion. “Especially with these two being here. No offense.”

            Prince Arion chuckled, “None taken.”

            Christopher just grumbled.

            Jim cleared his throat. “In any case, we need to find a place to hide until we come up with a proper plan unless…we already have one?” He looked intently at Hiro.

            Hiro held his breath. Clara had brought it up already before she had… He blushed. Oh, crap. Did these guys notice that he blushed? He hoped that they didn’t. He hoped that the summer heat was already making him perspire, thus making him red enough on his own. Yeah. Right. That idea was why Clara had, um, hugged him anyway.

            Oh.

            Just the mere memory of it, how her body pressed against his and how her warmth filled him up and caused him to feel tingles and sensations he had never had before, made him writhe in ecstasy.

            Snap out of it! he told himself. Hiro looked at Jim, who was still looking at him. Ha, the poor guy was probably thinking that Hiro was thinking of a plan. Nope. Jim definitely thought wrong.

            “Um, right,” Hiro said, clearing his throat. “A plan. Yeah, I already have one…” Even though he was very reluctant to carry it out, Hiro had a plan.

            It was Quinn’s turn to pop up. “And that is…?”

            He sighed. “Plan Number ‘One and Only’: go to my place.’”

-

            Quinn and Jim gaped at the sight while Christopher, a little surprised, stared. Fascinated, Prince Arion stood wide-eyed.

            “Dude,” the boy in the soccer gear began. “This is where you live?”

            “This is like a masterpiece or something. Kind of like one of those contemporary homes designed by museum artists, you know?” Jim said in awe.