It's been about a year since those events and since then, everything has held up...
We see Vera levering a weight set over her shoulders, flipping her wrists, with a neon orange sports bra and red gloves on. She's let her hair grow out a little bit, enough so that if she lets it, it'll hang over her eyes and she's also went back to the way it was in Albany, dyed as that fire brick red. She sets the weight down then walks out onto a balcony to see the sun blazing atop a beach. She smacks her surgically applied rubber lips, putting a white tank top on.
She's gotten into soccer even going as far as visiting Auburn and Arizona Beach to coach, she's built quite a reputation for herself. Other than that, her social life has been smooth and easy, nobody too close just yet, she has a pet chameleon for that.
She even faced her fears, faced her parents, and Louie...
Louie hears a knock at his door as he goes to answer it. Behind the door is Vera with her hands held behind her back. "Hey." She says, bouncing on her tip-toes. "Hi." He replies with a pleasant smile on his face. "So, um-" She tucks her hair behind her ear, stopping her sentence before smiling awkwardly. "I've been through a lot the past few months."
"Yeah, so I've heard." He opens the door wider. "I-" She rubs the back of her neck, refusing to properly look at him then feels a sudden sense of adrenaline and confidence. "I'm not scared. I liked you and before I knew it, you were gone, taken. I blamed you for that when I really should've blamed myself, I was the one who wasn't trustworthy or loyal and held on longer than I needed to." She thinks back to all the times she's harassed him. He might not have even been into it. "Now I'm here, ready to face it, I'm sorry."
"You want to go get coffee or something?"
"No, no thanks-" She has to hold herself back. "I'm sorry because what I didn't realize is that I was the one who went off the deep end. I can't invite myself back into your life nor do I wish to-" She looks off to the side obviously flustered and still trying to figure out what to say. "I-I don't want to be a bother." She turns around to leave, questioning her reasoning, she could've just left it at that.
"Wait." He says, grabbing her arm. "You've changed for the better, haven't you?" He says with an impressed tone. She giggles then starts full on laughing. "Somewhat. Better by hurting." She stretches her arms, suddenly regaining her confidence. "Well, I'll catch you around." She waves, heading off down the stairs and into her junky car. She rolls down the window, seeing Louie is still standing there. "And proud of it." She refers to her car, driving off.
As for Steve, he came back, grabbed his things, said his goodbyes and went back to San Francisco. He finally opened the door. Every now and then he'll get a call chat with everybody.
"So, how's everything at the hideout?" He asks. "Oh yeah, we don't call it the hideout anymore because we don't have anything to hide from." Maze says with confidence. "Yeah, we decided to call it the NEBULA facility." Zip butts in. "Or NEBULA base, that sounds cooler." He continues. "Zip wanted to name it the Syster System." He can hear Maze say in the background. "Ha! I see. So, is Nebula an acronym or-?" Steve asks. "Nexite Energy Based Unified Light Association, so we take in people turned away or on the run from other places, while making a renewable source of energy in the process. Soon enough we could get doctors in and help heal like they did with Maze and find out how to safely remove it and-" Zip's proud to explain and could talk about it for hours. "He's getting ambitious but yeah, that's our goal." Maze takes the phone, interrupting. "Me and Bert created some pretty cool stuff since last time we saw you, you should check it out." Zip brags, taking the phone back.
Steve just laughs at the two bickering. "When I come back maybe I'll have a thing or two to show you too." Maze stayed behind, she's missed too many years with her family, she wants to learn everything they have to offer.
YOU ARE READING
Hidden: In the Dark
Teen FictionTogether at last. After finally settling in with the family, what's next for our company? Well a few questions still remain; What of the other Nexite users? What of Vera? What else is hiding in the dark? Will we meet some new members of the family? ...