Home is not a Place

11• The Truthteller

AJAX

"Shit." I mutter as I stare at the food remnants that rest atop the skillet I am using to cook. I have just flipped a whole batch of pancakes over, just to realize that all of them have been burnt to crisps.

My brother's green eyes stare back at me from the other side of our kitchen. Humor glints in them, but I jump at the chance to speak before he can make fun of me. "Everyone, we should go stop by iHop for breakfast."

Tony exits the hallway and is in the middle of fixing his leather jacket's sleeve as he says, "I thought you were making pancakes..."

He glances up at the mess I have made, and in an instant, he is cringing and turning around. "I'll grab my boots."

I grin and unplug the skillet. I snatch up one of the pancakes and bang it against the counter. It makes a knocking noise as if it is made of metal, and I can do nothing but chuckle. "Yeah, these are definitely not edible."

I shrug as the crew gives me weird looks and slips on their shoes. Then, we head out, only after I shove my garbage of a breakfast into the trash can.

••

"You did what?" My brother gasps from where he sits beside me. His green eyes are trained on Drake, who sits across the table and picks at the actually decent pancakes that rest on his plate.

"I tripped her." Drake grunts as he repeats his previous statement about Vanessa's training session. "She rolled her eyes at me, and I lost it."

"It's okay. You apologized." I say in response as I chew on a piece of chicken tender. I'm being sarcastic, and everyone knows it because Drake is not a man of many words, and definitely not a man of apologies.

"I don't need to." Drake replies to me with stern look in his eyes. "That woman acts like she owns the place when she walks in. I don't like her."

"I don't think that's the case." My brother, Felix, states as he combs a hand through the blue streak in his blonde hair.

"Fill us in on that, would you?" I chime with my mouth full of waffles.

"I think she has an aura of false confidence around her when she walks into our gym because she doesn't want to feel small compared to us." Felix shrugs and sips at his orange juice.

I nod and lift my eyebrows in approval. My brother always has insights into people's lives that I just don't think of. "We're definitely intimidating. Me, most of all."

"You?" Antonio cackles as he grips his stomach. "You're like a stick compared to Drake."

"Brains are intimidating, too." I respond with a smirk.

Drake's eyebrows snap together as a frown covers his lips. "Hey, what're you trying to say?"

I laugh with Tony as both Felix and Ethan smile. Ethan is the next to talk, though, saying, "I think we should all try to be nice to her. That doesn't mean that we have to trust her or make friends with her, but just think of what she has been going through the past couple of days. Let's not add on to her stress."

"So no tripping her anymore?" I ask innocently, but all I receive are annoyed glares.

"I don't feel bad for her, E. You shouldn't either. It wasn't our fault she was kidnapped and tortured. We were just doing our job." Drake explains as he moves his empty plate away from himself. "She shouldn't be our responsibility, and we shouldn't have to play nice."

My chewing process slows as I ponder this. Drake is probably right, but I've got to admit that I've been feeling a little guilty the past couple of days. I mean, how is it not my fault that she was kidnapped? I should've checked all the video cameras before shutting them off. I only checked a couple, but I wasn't thorough enough. I didn't see her when I should have.