Dead Ends: The Awakening

Chapter |4|

The next morning was a slightly busy one. Everyone seemed to be acting suspicious of each other, and Elizabeth and James avoided each other like the plague. Noah and Rose weren't much better either, Rose having yelped and jumped out of bed when she noticed how close she was to Noah. Noah had kept sleeping, so she decided to keep the situation to herself, hoping he wouldn't remember as she snuck out of the room.

 James was already downstairs cooking breakfast when Rose came down. 

"Where's Elizabeth?" Rose had asked, walking into the kitchen.

 James immediately blushed a rosy pink, though it was hard to tell because his cheeks held a natural blush to them, as did Elizabeth's. "Probably upstairs, sleeping." He mumbled.

 "Ooooh so you slept together?" She pushed, picking up a can of food, blushing after thinking about how that had sounded. "I meant as in, slept in the same bed. Unless of course you did the other kind of sleeping." Rose rambled, her cheeks acquiring their own red tint as she hurried out of the kitchen with the can of food. 

James stayed quiet, going through supplies to keep himself busy.

 Elizabeth came downstairs next, rubbing her temples as she groaned. Her hair was a mess and she looked ready to fall over, which she nearly did, except Rose grabbed her arm before she could. 

"Jesus, I feel like I've been hit with a truck."

 "Yeah, well, with the noise you were making last night I'm not surp-" 

"You should come eat." James cut Rose off before she could finish her sentence, sending her a cold glare as she looked at him in confusion. 

"Wha?" Elizabeth walked over to the table, grabbing a can of food.

 Rose noticed how the iciness in James' gaze went away as soon as he was near Elizabeth, and she groaned. "I hardly got any sleep last night." She complained.

 "Is that right?" Noah asked, coming up beside her his arm brushing against hers as he walked by.

 Rose gulped, instantly tensing. Noah noticed this, and in a surprising quick decision changed what he had been about to say. "I'm not surprised, you slept on a floor." 

Rose sighed quietly, turning to eat her food, Elizabeth next to her.

 "We'll move soon." Elizabeth said, screwing her eyes shut as Noah opened the blinds.

 "God, it's like someone decided to install a wrecking ball in my head." She winced.

 "Ya you and-" Rose started, when James 'accidentally' dropped a empty can on the ground. 

Elizabeth winced, soothing her temples with her fingers again.

 "Ya, we should move soon." James directed another meaningful glare towards Rose.

 "James, do you wanna help me pack up?" Rose said, raising an eyebrow.

 He sighed, walking over to the kitchen while Elizabeth and Noah sat in the living room.

 Elizabeth glared at Noah as she ate, while he mocked her. She sighed in annoyance and ignored him. Eventually he settled for twisting a rubber band around his fingers.

 In the kitchen, Rose and James were huddled close together, whispering vehemently, angry glances being thrown between them. Rose glared at the guilty, abashed looking James, angrily pulling her long dark hair into a high ponytail, leaving a few strands loose, framing her face. She was confused, for sure, at why the generally quiet and level-headed boy was acting so....so.... She didn't even have a word for it! She had taken James to the corner of the kitchen, practically dragging him as she rushed.