Journey

Elijah

I shouldn't have done it. She probably hates me now. It was a heat of the moment thing I decided. She doesn't feel that way about me. Best not to get my hopes up. I feel extremely reluctant to see her so I busy myself with everything I can think of to avoid her. I try to keep my mind off her but it never seems to work. I have so many questions floating around my head.

Does she like me? Was it a heat of the moment thing? Is she disgusted by my kissing skills? Does she think about me as much as I think of her? Does she think I look ugly?

As soon as I let my guard down my thoughts drift back to her. I silently scold myself as I work even harder.

"You know I have a special place in my heart for early birds," A girl says.

I look up and see Rebekkah. She hangs around me a lot. In the background I see Lorelei stop walking towards me and turns away.

"I'm sorry, What?" I ask.

She blushes and intense shade of red.

"Sol Earth phrase," She murmurs.

I look down at the trench i'm digging.

"You have been digging that trench for hours. Aren't you tired?" She asks.

"I am just trying to help these people in anyway I can," I say back to her.

What I don't say is how I am trying to avoid talking to people right now.

Alaina walks up to me.

"Can we talk?" She blurts out in a rush.

"I can't leave this right now," I say.

I shoot her a sympathetic look.

"We can talk here but, Can you please leave Rebekkah. What I need to talk about is really private," She pleads.

Rebekkah rolls her eyes but leaves. I let out a sigh of relief. Rebekkah is a nice girl but she can be a bit much. She definitely has a grudge against Lorelei and for all I can tell the feeling is mutual.

"Hey Alaina. I feel like I haven't seen you in a while," I say hugging her.

She returns the hug with a giant smile.

"Too long," She agrees.

We both bust out laughing. We haven't seen each other in a grand total of 13 hours but so much has happened that it feels like weeks.

"What did you need to talk to me about Alaina?" I ask her.

"I just want to make sure you aren't," She trails off.

"That I'm not what?" I ask.

"That you aren't getting involved with people you shouldn't be getting involved with yet," She explains.

I don't know what she means.

"What?"

"I saw you leaving Lorelei's tent at three in the morning. Elijah it got me worried. Are you sleeping with her? We just met her a few weeks ago," She exclaims.

Classic Alaina. She always assumes the worst possible outcome.

"Alaina. Do you think I would ever get intimate with someone without telling you?"

She shrugs

"Alaina listen to me. You are my best friend. You always have and always will be. Please don't assume me to be that low. Please?" I ask.

"I'm sorry Eli. You know it's just part of who I am."

I pull her into a hug.

"I love you too much to not tell you," I whisper to her.

She smiles up at me.

"Well I better let you get back to the trench," She says.

I dig further into the day until I am physically and mentally exhausted.

"I just want you to know that you are a savior to this colony," A voice says to me.

I glance towards the voice and see Lorelei.

"Why would you say that?" I ask.

"Half the things set up around here were set up by you," She explains.

"Just trying to keep my promise and help you guys out in anyway I can," I say hoping to sound optimistic.

Lorelei looks down.

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" She asks.

"Sure," I say.

"What was that kiss last night?" She asked.

It hurts me to say this but it's what she wants to hear.

"Heat of the moment passion," I say hoping my voice didn't quiver.

"Oh," She just said. Hurt flashed across her face so quickly that I almost didn't recognize it.

"Right, heat of the moment passion," She says hollowly.

Her voice was without emotion. Her face was stone. I had hurt her.

"Wait, Lorelei," I say reaching for her.

I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her lips to mine. She kisses me with soft lips. I can feel the sadness in her kiss. I haven't understood her before this moment. It hits me that her parents are dead. I had forgotten that. I must have hurt her so much when I said it was heat of the moment. I want to grab those words and shove them back in my mouth.

"The first kiss was heat of the moment but this one isn't," I whisper.

She breaks away and smiles a watery smile at me.

Beep.

She grabs a small device from her pocket and pushes a button in it and places it in her ear.

"What is it?" She asks into the device.

"Shut up," She says playfully.

"No America stop," She laughs.

"Ok bye."

She clicks a button and pulls the device out of her ear.

"What is that?" I ask in amazement.

"A com," She replies.

"Doesn't look like a com."

"Than what's a com supposed to look like?" She asks.

I pull out my com and show it to her. She picks it up and looks at it.

"Nah. This isn't a com. It's a brick. You must be blind," She says to me.

For a minute I think she's serious but she is hiding a grin. A sprinkle of water falls on us. Than it starts pouring.

"Ack!" She exclaims

"Lets run for it!" I yells.

We run towards my tent. When we are safely inside we laugh