Us Against the Apocalypse

14 - The Meeting

As soon as she was ready, Bluebell headed out to meet the others as arranged. Sunset was an hour or so away if that, and she found herself wondering whether Arlo and Harley would even still be together as she'd suggested beforehand.

Her entire body ached with anticipation.

She was looking forward to hearing Arlo's idea, but wasn't ready to embark on some life-changing mission after so much had happened already. Hopefully Leo would have enough empathy to hold back on organising any expeditions.

As she stood in the courtyard glancing warily around her, it didn't look as though anybody relevant was nearby, and her heart did a backflip. The meeting place hadn't been mentioned thanks to Leo being unspecific, and now she was worried that they were all somewhere inside.

They wouldn't start the meeting without her, would they?

Luckily, it wasn't long before Arlo made an appearance without Harley anywhere in sight. He seemed to be searching for the meeting place too or something along those lines. He noticed Bluebell and seemed to be instantly put at ease.

'Hey.'

'Hey.'

The two grouped together and glanced around in search of anybody else, but it looked like they were alone. Luckily, sunset wasn't upon them yet so they had a bit of time.

'Do you know where we're supposed to meet the others?' Arlo tilted his head, relieved at having found someone else but still slightly on edge.

'I've told you before, I have no idea.'

Arlo's brows twitched in annoyance but he didn't respond, only glanced away indignantly.

Bluebell resumed her search, but the courtyard was seemingly deserted. 'When did you and Harley split up?'

Arlo didn't seem willing to tell her and instead focused on finding them somewhere to wait it out. 'It's not like they'll start without you, and they're bound to come out here eventually, so try not to worry too much about it.'

'I know that, but what if they think we're just skipping it? They might jump to conclusions or something...' Bluebell paused momentarily, trying to work out what to do next. 'We could always have a look around inside.'

'No, that's a terrible idea. See, here Harley comes now; you had nothing to worry about.'

Arlo was right; Harley was walking idly towards them without a care in the world. The idea of being late didn't seem to faze him at all as he strutted across the courtyard and towards his friends which he didn't seem pleased to see at all.

'I thought you two would be hanging around,' he announced; his regal tone was causing a sufficient amount of confusion between his friends.

'Umm... yeah?'

Arlo didn't bother saying anything.

'I'm not sure when Leo will show up, but he'll figure something's up before too long. He never arranged a meeting place so whatever happens is on him.' If that was what was making Harley so cocky then Bluebell was honestly gobsmacked.

'He'll notice something's up when he can't find any of us, but he might be planning to meet us outside anyway.' Bluebell shrugged. 'There's not much we can do about it, so let's just wait and see.'

Unusually, none of the other teenagers that inhabited the pool were outside, and it felt eerie and somewhat criminal that the three of them were standing in a tight circle. As soon as Leo arrived things would settle, but until then it felt wrongful, though it could easily just be Bluebell being paranoid.