The walk back was boring, we backtracked the way we came. Which is the same way Nayan and I went what feels like forever ago. I think it went unspoken that we wouldn't take the river route, even though it was a bit quicker. None of us needed to drudge up that memory.
Nayan and I mostly walked in silence while Lola and Marcus chatted away meaninglessly.
Flirting.
Now, I've never minded hearing other people talk about their relationships. I've heard it countless times at home, mostly from my own friends but Lola once or twice too.
We had a good relationship before coming here, but nothing like what it is now. We were family, I always saw her as 'sister'. Friends, sure but if we were from different social bubbles, so I don't think I would've been her friend if it wasn't for being family. Like most siblings.
So she typically talked about her boyfriends and crushes to her best friends. She's a chatterbox but it doesn't mean she told them everything, what she told me tended to be more secretive. And the couple crushes I had were always blabbed to my best friends too.
I miss them of course but they feel so distant now. We are quite literally living worlds apart and I don't think they could ever understand this once I see them again. I miss hearing their stories, and I hope they miss mine too.
Stories.
Not actually with them in their semi-romantic stories. For a damn good reason too.
I like to stay positive, but I'm starting to worry they'll never stop laughing at the other one laughing! I love seeing my sister happy. I don't think I've seen her this happy in forever, especially not like this. But they need to shut the hell up!
Ew.
We walk into the living room of where Lola and I live. Thinking of it now, I can assume what's going through Lola's head now that we're here.
Nayan followed us back too even though we passed the coffee shop. Marcus already told us his backstory, but he stayed becuase there still is a lot to explain. For starters, will Marcus go back to the Earth Dimension with us? Lots of explaining to do on Avex itself and how we know the portal is closing. And of course, what we'll do with Maurice's file. With our mission being to get back home, I think it's safe to conclude we'll be finding him.
Once we get inside Lola and Marcus seem to let their flirty spirit chill a bit. Thank god.
"Hey Cassie, can I talk to you for a sec?"
As assumed.
"Of course," I say, pretending to be oblivious to what she plans to ask me.
"I'll be back in a sec, Marcus," She wiggles her fingers in a wave, then motions for me to follow her upstairs.
I mouth a "Bye" to Nayan and Marcus before following Lola. Marcus has already begun going on and on about something with Nayan.
I trail close behind her on the curly stairs, "So, I can assume you and Marcus are together?"
She breathes a laugh, "No... it's been an hour."
"Are you telling me to ask again in another hour?"
"No."
"Oh sorry," I say sarcastically, "I'll give it two, wouldn't want to rush things."
"Aw, shut up."
We get to our room and now I can really see her pinkish cheeks and toothy smile that I don't think she could drop if she wanted to.
"So... Uh," She looks down at her intertwining fingers, "You know how Marcus is here now, and uh..."
"Room upstairs?"
She looks up from her wrestling fingertips and nods, "Yes. I mean if he's going to be in Avex and hang out with us, and we have the other room upstairs, why not?"
I'm not scared to admit that this is a bit much. Which is ironic considering both our stances on Marcus originally. We've known him for an hour and It's not that I don't like him or don't trust him, he's practically a stranger. That's my problem.
I guess, around here finding anyone is a miraculous event and maybe I'm just overlooking this. But I really don't think I am, In the real world in a situation where I was finding a roommate, I think that I'd want to know them well enough to be convinced I'm not putting myself in a position to be robbed.
"Don't you think it's a bit soon?"
"Sooner or later it will get dark, if we don't let him stay today he'll be stuck..." She stops abruptly as if the word she was going to use was wrong.
"We're you going to say outside? Cause I don't think finding a place to live will be tough in a world of empty homes."
She shakes her head, "You know what I mean, it's a scary world alone here."
"I get where you're coming from and all, but isn't this kinda weird?"
She grits her teeth and looks away, like she is blocking out what i'm saying. Like she doesn't want to see what's wrong in this picture.
"Didn't we invite Nayan to stay with us?" She counters.
"That's different."
"Oh really? How so?" She turns her head to the side and narrows her eyelids, daring me to respond.
There was plenty of differences. For one, we met differently. Rethinking that, talking about how he choked me and I stabbed him won't help my argument. There are reasons, I know it.
"We..." I rack my brain for Ideas and Lola only seems closer to her victorious 'I'm right', something I'll have to just give her, "You know what? Your right, if Marcus wants to he can stay upstairs."
Her grin grows brighter than it was minutes ago, something I didn't know was possible. She lunches forward and pulls me into a tight hug, her arms force some of the air from my lungs.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She hoots far too loudly for being as close as she is.
I'm honestly just happy she asked me first. I think if she didn't at least mention it to me beforehand there would've been some awkward looks from me. Looks that surely would've made Marcus want to crawl into his own skin.
Guess I'm becoming the overprotective sister.
"We both know that you can convince me of anything," I say, and even though I know it's true to an extent, I still say it in a warm manner.
She pulls away from me and snatches up my hand on her way out of the room.
"Your damn right I can."
I shake my hand away from hers but still quickly follow her down the stairs. Nayan and Marcus seem to be getting along well. Both well immersed in a conversation that comes to a halt when we get back. I wonder if anticipation was growing to whatever we were talking about.
Lola hurries in but once she gets to the chair she's sitting in she seems to chill out. Making sure to not come off as eager and creepy.
"So Marcus," She doesn't even pause as if she's been scripting this, "There's an extra room on the third floor, want to stay with us?"
Nayan shoots me a look, one matching my own opinion on the matter. I slowly nod while holding back a burst of laughter, trying to say "I know, it's really weird".
Marcus looks dumbfoundedly at Lola who doesn't shy away or shrug at all. Though this isn't to say that Marcus looks like he won't accept, he looks surprised, but happily so.
"Way to be blunt," I mutter, more or less to Nayan but I'm sure Lola can hear it too.
Lola glares at me, I shrug.
"Yes," Marcus says blatantly, "Thank you."
"Of course," Lola says.
He looks over to me, "Thank you as well, Cassie."
I nod with m y head held high.
"Are you guys sure this is ok? I mean... It would be awesome and all, but aren't you worried I'll like murder you or something?"
Nayan and I roar loudly into laughter together.
"Good that someone brought that up," Nayan says through a bout of snickers, "No offense Marcus, your cool and all, but you've got a point!"
Lola rolls her eyes at I and Nayan, "Ok, Marcus, are you gonna kill us or not?"
I lean forwards on the couch, bursting into another laughing fit.
"No," He smiles at his feet in a way that makes us feel like a crowd of old friends, "I'm not going to kill any of you. Dear god I hope I've made this clear enough!"
Lola's death stare morphs its way into the same smile the rest of us have.
"See you guys? Marcus is just like the rest of us," She stares friendly daggers at I and Nayan, "He's good, just like the rest of us."
"Pardon me for wanting to check," Nayan says.
Lola dieters her attention back over to Marcus, "So is that a yes, or are you scared you'll accidentally kill someone?"
"It's a yes and a thank you."
Lola swallows her excitement and leans back on the couch with her legs crossed at the ankles, "Awesome, we've got another roommate."
We spend the next while telling Marcus everything. We all explain our own version of how we got here, Lola and I go over why we assume she's with us. Nayan tells him his story and grows quieter when telling Marcus how long he's been here.
I tell him how we met Nayan, when I do my gaze moves over to the thin scar just above the inner side of his elbow. Marcus crinkles his nose in a snicker when I tell him how it went from me being choked and Nayan being stabbed to a friendly conversation.
We breezed past the next few months with a summary of just scavenging and hanging out. Then I and Nayan went into how we found him in the first place. Which gave him a lot more clarity on the joke of him killing us.
"Why we went back to the base," Lola starts, "They're going to close the portal. Soon, we only have months."
"We're you guys looking for the portal?" He arches a brow.
I shake my head, "I don't think any of us were under the impression we'd be that lucky, but we were hoping to get somewhere."
"And you guys want to go snooping around under the roof of the people who technically killed you. And again, after almost getting shot?"
Nayan deadpans, "Isn't that what you did?"
"That was different, I was alone and desperate. I didn't have people to be with."
For someone who as peppy as he is, I'd expect an argument like this to be laced with either sadness or some kind of desperation. But he narrows his eyes in a way that is barely noticeable, something hidden with practice. Like he has to try to show the correct emotions.
"We'd rather not spend our whole lives stuck here, even if we're not technically alone." I prepare myself to give the same pep talk I've already given, "What about when one of us gets seriously hurt or we want more than two options for food?"
"They hurt me, they could hurt or even kill you guys too. It's four against an army."
"Yes, but-" I start to bring out more reasoning, but Lola cuts me off.
"You can stay and fight with us or be alone somewhere else," She stares at him dead in the eyes, her lips perfectly in a line. Something I don't know if I've ever seen from my sister, and defidently couldn't imagine from her in front of a crush.
Nayan and I share the same gape.
Marcus looks at her with his lips parted, dumbstruck that the girl who obviously is crushing on him would say something like this. He says nothing for a few solid seconds, just a small surprised croak forming from his throat, but no words with it.
Damn.
He brings himself back together with wide eyes set on my sister, "Woah, that... Yes."
Lola smirks.
"Jeez, I'm sorry. I see your guys' point now, I don't want to live here forever either-not alone."
"Awesome," Lola says as if this was a casual conversation and didn't just stun us all.
"Um..." He scratches the back of his head, "So do you guys have a plan of action to get out of here, or..."
"Yes!" I butt in, ignoring the aftermath of Lola's comment and pulling the file from my bag, "Take a look, we're probably going to go find this guy."
When he gets hold of the file his eyes light up like a small child getting ahold of candy, or someone like me who hasn't eaten candy(the kind that doesn't leave you vomiting) in half a year and found some.
He flips through the file, analyzing each page as quickly as he can. He finishes looking through the file in less than thirty seconds.
"So when do we go?"