"Sorry, Lahey, but I'm more of a cat person."
Vera Pérez is no stranger to the supernatural. Growing up alongside the Hale family has kept her fairly well-informed about the creatures that lurk in the darkness. However, she didn't become one of thos...
┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐ chapter fifteen! THE THINGS WE DON'T WANT TO FACE └─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘
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( motel california, pt. iii )
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
ISAAC AND BOYD wind up spending the night in Vera and Dominic's room in the motel. Both boys, though reluctant to admit it, had been shaken after being rescued from nearly committing suicide. They'd nearly sagged with relief when Vera had suggested it and had moved their belongings into the room minutes later.
It also turns out that both Boyd and Isaac are stubborn as mules, but Vera is even more stubborn, so an argument about who sleeps in the beds ends up going on for ten minutes before Dominic takes control and decides for them.
"Alright," he says, his voice calm and yet authoritative, slicing through the room like a knife. The three others stop talking at once. "We have two full-sized beds. It may be a tight fit, but we can probably fit two people on them if we try hard enough. Boyd and Isaac, you're too tall to fit on a mattress together, so we can have me and Isaac on one bed, then Vera and Boyd on the other."
"No," Boyd protests instantly.
Dominic sighs. "It's the only way it will work– the largest person with the smallest."
"I'm going to roll over and squash Vera like a bug."
"...Then don't roll over?"
In the midst of another brewing argument, Isaac grabs a pillow from Dominic's bed and tosses it on the floor. Vera watches as he kicks off his shoes and lies on the hideous orange carpet. He curls into himself, tucking his knees into his chest, and seemingly closes his eyes.
Boyd and Dominic haven't noticed. Their voices continue to swarm around the room until Vera puts a hand on either of their arms, immediately silencing them. She nods at Isaac's position on the floor. Both of them turn to look at the curly-haired boy.
"I guess that's that," Dominic says, raising his arms and letting them fall back to his sides with a soft plat.
"Isaac, you can take a bed," Vera tells him. "I'll sleep on the floor."
He doesn't respond. Instead, he merely continues to lie down facing away from them, nestling his head further into the pillow to get more comfortable. Vera twists her mouth to the side. She'd figured that he and Boyd should sleep on the beds after all they'd been through, but Isaac seems determined to stay there. If Vera had been a werewolf instead, she would have picked him up and thrown him onto the mattress. But since she'd probably break her arms if she'd tried, regardless of her training skills, she has to leave him.
