I awake to James curled up beside me. He slept through the whole night tonight. Maybe he's getting over the nightmares. Next to him lies Alia. We all managed to fit under one blanket. Maybe its the fact that James was sandwiched in between two teenagers that kept his nightmares away.
The rest of the team is awake, Warner and Juliette no where to be found.
I sit up and Alia yawns.
"Hey" I say.
She groans, rolls her eyes, and hurries her head under the blanket.
"Not a morning person?" I laugh, pulling the blanket back.
"Adam" Alia groans and waves my hand away.
Breakfast hasn't been served yet and I have no idea what to do until Juliette and Warner arrive.
I look back at James, still sound asleep next to Alia.
Honestly, the only things I care about are right here in front of me. The only two people who haven't truly betrayed me yet. Who knows where I'm headed with Alia though, she could turn out to be just like Juliette.
For now, she's my friend.
She peeks out one of her stunning brown eyes and I can tell she's blushing when I smile down at her.
"You have a bed head" she giggles.
"Look who's talking" I wink.
Alia sits up and yawns again.
"I'm gonna take a shower" she says and gets up.
I watch her leave. She grabs some fresh clothes and a towel before entering the locker room.
It doesn't take long for Warner's coffee cart waiter, Delalieu, to show up and serve the usual toast and oatmeal for breakfast. James immediately wakes up to the smell of food and we eat together.
" ....what happened with you and Juliette?" he suddenly asks. " ....what did she do that hurt you so bad?".
I was actually waiting for him to ask something like this, I have no answer for him. There's an aspect he won't understand that i don't know how to explain. Juliette did about a million things that hurt me.
She gave up on us.
She fell for Warner in the middle of our relationship.
She broke our promises.
"James" I sigh. "I don't really wanna talk about this".
"You always say that" James frowns.
"Its complicated"
"I got really sad when she broke up with you at Omega Point" James continues.
" ....she claimed we were too different or some shit like that" I say.
"Warner likes her" James says. "At least i think...I asked him yesterday...they're always staring at each other".
He almost triggers me into throwing a furious fit. If this were a conversation with Kenji, I would've punched him in the face by now,
But this is a ten year old boy.
"Gross" I reply.
James laughs.
"Yeah" he smiles. "Don't be sad, Adam.....I saw you with Alia yesterday, maybe she could be your new girlfriend".
"It doesn't work like that, kid" I laugh.
"But you two were laughing, I thought you were gonna kiss" he says.
"She's just a friend" I tell him.
"I like Alia. I know she's quiet and shy, and I think its mean that Lily makes fun of her and pretends she doesn't exist. But she's really nice and she makes me laugh sometimes" James smiles.
"Really?" I say. "What does she say?".
"One time we pretended to be foreign travelers who didn't know anything about North America, she does a really funny Russian accent. And this other time, Alia was playing with this ladybug she found and it flew off her hand and she screamed like a baby. I couldn't stop laughing for days" James laughs. "Alia also taught me how to draw, but she's a lot better than me".
The elevator bell rings and Juliette appears, Delalieu serves her breakfast and she eats with Lily, Kenji, Winston, and Ian.
"Adam?" a soft voice says.
I look over my shoulder, noticing Alia standing over me.
Her braids are gone, her damp hair in its usual half up/half down hairstyle. She's wearing tight black leggings, proving she definitely weighs no more than 90 pounds, and a loose white tank top.
"Hey Ali, we were just talking about you" James laughs.
"Um...have you uh seen my sketchbook?" Alia questions.
"Um no" I say and turn to James.
"I didn't see it" he says.
"Did you lose it?" I ask.
"I-I thought I took it with me when I took a shower. I-I left it on the counter and it was gone " Alia stutters and begins to look around frantically.
"Its probably here somewhere" I say and get up.
"I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid. If anyone opens it...." Alia panicks.
"Its not like someone could've stolen it, right? Its just a sketchbook" I say.
"But I put everything in there, I need it!" Alia says, continuing to search the corner.
"Hey Alia!" a voice calls from across the room.
Lily smirks at Alia and holds up her sketchbook.
"Shit" Alia sighs and rushes over to Lily, Kenji, Juliette, Ian and Winston.
"Lily found it" I tell James.
"I wonder what's in her sketchbook" James wonders.
"Just drawings of the suits she's making for the team"
"Do I get one?" James smiles.
"Probably not" I laugh. "You can ask her though".
"Oh God, no, please no" Alia's voice gasps.
"Hey Adam! Come here!" Lily laughs.
"Don't, L" Kenji warns.
"Give it back to her" Juliette says.
"Not before Adam sees this. Adam, come here" Ian laughs.
James follows me as I rush over to them.
"Please, please please don't" Alia begs.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"You have a stalker" Lily smiles and reveals Alia's sketchbook.
Pictures of me fill the pages.
She's been drawing me.
"Lily! That's enough! We said give it back, why'd you have to do this?" Kenji says.
"Oh come on, this place needed a good laugh" Lily says and to see the sketchbook to me.
She's drawn me scowling in a corner with my knees to me chest, she's drawn me smiling, laughing, sleeping, and she's even drawn some of my tattoos.
In each picture, not one detail is left out of my face. They look like she's taken a picture of me and put a black and white filter over them. The shadings are beautiful, the details are insane, I had no idea she was this talented.
"That's got a be embarrassing" Winston laughs.
"Alia" James says. " ...do you like my brother?".
Alia's about to run but I firmly grab her by her elbow.
"What do you think, Adam?" Lily smirks.
" ....i think she's the most talented person in here" I said.
Alia looks at me in complete shock.
"Wait, you think this is cute?" Lily asks in surprise. "Its creepy"
"Its adorable" I say and hand Alia her book back. "Come on".
