'Cause Nothing Lasts Forever ✔️

Chapter - 18 "Oh ! such an eccentric guest..."

Excursion day 2

Blaire's POV

“You saw whom Chris?"

“Two days back, you remember the night when I left  you and went out of the room?"

“Hm,” I nodded my head in approval.

“Actually I headed towards the gym. I needed time to sort out things and calm myself down and on the way, I caught a glimpse of James and Helena,” He inclined his head, trying to recall the actual events.

“They stood in a corner of a dimly lit corridor, discussing something which I couldn't make out but the last thing I heard was......”

A long pause was followed by,“ Get rid of that shit.”

My mind jumbled and I tried to make out each and every possibility that came out of those words.

“You know, Blaire,” I was brought into attention by the use of my real name.

“I think there was someone else who was out of my sight...,"

“You mean someone from outside the school?”

“Hmm,” Christian nodded his head and drowned into deep thoughts of what could it be. Minutes ticked by and finally, I broke the silence.

“Hey, don't overthink. You know right, that they were in charge of the auditorium for that week, maybe one of them made some mistake and thus they argued,” I tried to divert the topic and make sense.

“Maybe -,” He answered after quite long, still unconvinced by my theory.

“Come, get some sleep and stop overthinking scooby doo.”

The lights went off and he travelled through the deep tunnel of sleep while my mind wandered over the jumbled pieces of the same puzzle maybe. Maybe everything was connected. Maybe it was just us who couldn't figure it out. Maybe every other buddy knew.

I didn't feel when sleep took over me but when the sun poked with its beating temperature, I fluttered my eyes open to greet another morning and to find Jasmine by my side.

“Really?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

She giggled, but before she could answer, there was a knock at the door.

“Breakfast time, girls,” A staff member informed and immediately my eyes noticed the clock ticking 9:30 almost.

“Oh gosh!” I ran collecting my stuff and went for a usual bath.

That was why Jase was looking so fresh and my hairs were just a bird's nest. But why didn't she wake me up?

We found the hall packed with our peers and classmates. Then it seemed to me that what a great population Madison held. Our usual sextet reconciled and we sat around a table, chattering loudly like every other stud there. The clusters dispersed after the breakfast taking into knowledge that their reporting time in the main hall is at dot eleven.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

“Blaire, Lucy, Brandon, Sydney,
Jillian...” Thomas went on ranting names after names as he matched the attendance sheet but where the hell was Christian?

A line of worry formed in my forehead when someone squeezed my hand and a wave of relief washed over me.

“Well, I guess you all have your tour guides and know our destination today,” Ms Williams declared before the hall of almost a thousand of studs and then our ten mentors managed their own groups. 

Jasmine was busy over the phone with her cousin and Chris was with James so I decided to check up with Sophia. She was clearly maintaining an area of inflexion from all of us. The distance was clear and the walls of separation were negotiated.

Soon we reached Papago Park. Papago Park was huge, only a part of which was phoenix zoo. It was amazing with varieties of animals. We passed by cages after cages and several bounded areas. We were in front of a cage holding an orangutan with his partner or rather his girlfriend. 

“Aww that's cute,” A pink-haired girl squealed beside me.

I gulped down a burst of laughter and nudged Chris at the arm, pointing at the orangutan, “ Doesn't that look similar to you?”

Immediately his face turned to what- the - hell kind of a look and I burst into laughter.

“Yeah yeah, no doubt that's me if the other one is you,” I arched up an eyebrow at him while he grinned.

I moved ahead avoiding his snarky comments. The tour was nice though. There was a hell of categories which snatched a whole day visiting a zoo. From African animals to tropical ones, it was quite exhausting. My last drop of vigour also exhausted on the way back to the hotel. 

My knees were feeble and I slouched down on the bed, spreading my arms while he plopped down beside me. I closed my eyes as a sense of relaxation blew in but soon cracked as he suddenly turned on the flat screen tv.

“Yeah Barca, that's it....” he shouted.

“What are you yelling man?” I asked, cracking my one eye open.

“That's the magic...”

“Oh! really an LM10 fan?”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking pride.

“Could you please turn down the volume?”

“Naah,” he replied smiling back. He inclined back, the muscles in his arms flexed as he provided support and relaxed in a half-lying position.

“So...it's coming live?”

“Old recording, nerdy,” He stated almost after ten minutes of silence.

Then I went insane. I mean watching a pre-played match with so much attention.

Gosh! Save me!

“Are you crazy? Please turn it off. I'm dead tired,” I was damn furious and there he was avoiding my rants peacefully.

“Ohh!! Such an eccentric guest you are,” I muttered and went up and moving while being clutched my hand and hugged me by my back. He held me for sometime before I opened my mouth to speak.

“Yuck, you smell so stinky just like a skunk. Ewww...” my voice squeaked but didn't tremble.

“Oh, really?” He mimicked smelling himself.

“Naah. I know that I smell good you are just jealous 'cause you don't smell that good,” he grinned with his snarky comment, he came up to the war.

“No, you stinky skunk, go take a bath now,” I said as I pushed him towards the washroom, hiding a smile.

He stole a last glance at me before finally leaving his match and stepping inside, sliding the door a little open, he threw his t-shirt at me.

“You!” Unable to decide my reply, I inhaled the odour of his t-shirt.

“Honestly, you really smell that good, Christian, always...intoxicating, fresh, and lively,” I mumbled to myself.

What's wrong Blaire? Are you really falling for him?