Ellie ended up staying the night.
After Alex made enough chai for all three of them, they sat down in front rather than on the sofa again. Ellie sat in between the two boys and used Matthew's shoulder as a pillow once she was done with her drink. They didn't say much to each other. They didn't need to. They just blanketed themselves in that strange comfort that comes with quiet communal grieving.
Matthew was the first to nod off, in a position that looked like it was going to hurt in the morning. Alex got up to clean their dirty glasses and came back with a couple of blankets for them. Ellie threw one blanket over Matthew and even took off his glasses and placed them on the coffee table. His nose twitched slightly, but other than that he seemed fast asleep.
"I should probably get going soon," she said, fiddling with the second blanket's loose threads as it lay in a bundle on her lap. "Don't want to get in too much trouble if they do a room check in the morning."
Alex glanced out the window, at the darkness and fog that came with the late hour. His stomach twisted at the thought of Ellie being alone out there.
"I can walk you," Alex offered.
"What a gentleman," Ellie said with a small smile that didn't last long. "You... you think there's something dangerous out there, don't you?"
"I think... you shouldn't be out there alone right now."
"But if you walk me to McAvoy, you'll have to come back here on your own." Ellie glanced at Matthew. "Guess we could wake Mattie, but three of us would have a higher chance of getting caught. Unless the two of us changed and hid in your hoodie pocket or something. I once snuck my little brother into a concert like that."
Alex chuckled. "Very clever. I think I would be all alright, though. Coming back by myself."
"Do you know?" Ellie tilted her head as a playful smile crept onto her lips. "Is it because you're a big strong man and I'm just a delicate young maiden?"
"No, no," Alex said quickly. "It's because-" Alex cut himself off, not wanting to voice his growing suspicion about what was going on.
"Because?" Ellie pressed.
"... Never mind, I... I shouldn't just add to the rumours. I don't know what's going on any more than you do."
"But you... You saw him, yeah?"
"I did."
"Well... Was it an animal? That's what some kids at McAvoy were saying."
"That's not what it looked like, no."
"What did it look like?"
Alex closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. He tried to focus on the backs of his eyelids to keep his vision from flooding with red and blonde. He jumped slightly when he felt Eloise's hand grip his own. He opened his eyes to see her brow furrowed like she was in pain.
"God, I'm sorry," she said, her voice thick again. "I shouldn't make you... I'm being insensitively nosy, aren't I?"
"It's alright. You're worried. I... I am too. And scared. Because... I can't shake the feeling that whatever this was... it's not done yet."
Alex could tell Ellie wanted to press further, but she was too kind for that. Instead, she just squeezed Alex's hand.
"Can I ask you an unrelated yet still selfish question?" She said without letting go.
"Sure."
"Can we be friends again? I know you had a good reason for us to keep our distance, and that those reasons aren't magically gone now, but..." Ellie sighed. "I just... I don't want any regrets, you know? If... something happened to you- to me- I feel like I would regret not getting to spend time with you while I could."
Alex avoided looking directly at Ellie while his father's warning echoed in his head again. He'll die, and then she'll die too. Was there a chance that Ellie was 'she'? If that was the case, would she be safer at a distance or by his side? If someone did kill Baptiste, did they do it because they were upset about the changing status quo? Wouldn't they be friends put an even bigger target on Ellie's back? Who was he to think he could protect her?
"Are you sure?" Alex asked. "It might just... make things harder for you."
"You've done nothing but make my day easier since I got here."
"I just made tea."
"We both know it wasn't just tea."
"Well, in here, it's just us. Out there is..." A murderer? AJ suggested. "Well, everyone else."
"I don't want to let them control my life like that," Ellie said, clenching her hands into fists. "My life is too fragile and meaningful to let other people constantly handle it for me. And I know you have different things to worry about than me, but... Your life is too valuable for you to let it be warped in every minuscule way." Ellie paused like she was waiting for a response. Alex knew the one she wanted. He knew the one he wanted. But he wasn't sure if he was brave enough to say it. Ellie mistook his hesitation for a rejection and sighed. "Look, if you're just trying to think of a way to let me down easy, don't worry. It's fi-"
"Wait," Alex said without meaning to. Before he could sabotage himself with overthinking, he let his instincts take over. "I... I don't want my family to have that much control over me either. I at least want the freedom to let good people in my life if they're kind enough to want me in theirs. So, yes. I would very much like to be your friend, Ellie. I hope I don't cause you too much trouble because of it."
"I think you're worth more trouble than you realize, Alex."
Alex swallowed the sudden dry lump in his throat. "Thank you," he muttered. "Maybe, um, you should spend the night. I can take the blame if you get caught."
"And say what? You kidnapped me from my dorm?"
"Sure. What'll they do? Kick me out?"
Ellie snorted loud enough for Matthew to stir. He mumbled something in Spanish that Alex couldn't quite understand and adjusted himself so that he was using Ellie's shoulder as a pillow.
"If they do," Ellie whispered, patting down some of Matthew's curls, "they'll have me to answer to."
"They'd better tread lightly then... So, you'll stay?"
Ellie patted Matthew's head again. "Not sure I've got a choice now," she said with nothing but fondness in her voice. "You can go ahead to your room. No need for you to damage your spine out here with us."
"I... think I'd like to stay here. If you don't mind."
Ellie answered by taking the blanket in her lap and spreading it over the both of them. "Don't know if I'll even be able to sleep," she said, picking at some lint of the blanket. "I still feel too wired. But I can stop chatting if you're tired."
Alex shook his head. "I took a nap not long ago," he said, though nap was a funny way to phrase the way he passed out from exhaustion. "So, I'm not that tired either."
"Sorry about barging in, by the way. I'm sure it probably seemed a bit rude. Plus it... seemed like the two of you were in the middle of something."
Ellie glanced down at Matthew, and Alex followed her gaze without meaning to. He looked a lot younger when he was sleeping. More at peace than Alex had ever seen him.
"We were just talking," Alex mumbled, trying not to warm up.
"You two good now?"
"We're... better."
"I would say better is good. I knew you two would get along once Matt decided to stop being an ass."
"He wasn't that bad."
"You don't need to be gentle. He'll respond better to you calling him out."
"Yeah, I think I've noticed that. He kept getting mad at me for being 'nice'."
"If somebody doesn't deserve nice, don't give it to them," Ellie said, poking Alex in the chest. "And if Matt slips up again, give him hell."
"I think... I think we'll be okay now."
Ellie smiled and patted Matthew's head again. Alex wondered for a second if he was pretending to be asleep. "Hey, I love this guy, but he gets on my nerves sometimes too. Like a shitty little brother."
"You said you've got one, right? A sibling."
"Yes. His name's Charlie." Eloise scrunched her nose. "I wish my parents hadn't done that. Named as Eloise and Charles. Worried about us fitting in, I guess. My mum moved here when she was twelve and got sick of everyone butchering her name. My dad wanted to name me Kalyani, which I think sounds a lot cooler."
"It's a pretty name."
"Your dad ever want to call you something different?"
"I... don't know. I've never... never thought to ask him. If he did, I doubt my mother would have entertained the idea even for a second. She wanted to show up my uncle by naming her firstborn in honour of my grandad, Alistair."
"Hm. Alex does suit you well, I guess. Jackie calls you Al, right?"
"He's the only one. Just like how you're the only one who calls him Jackie."
"Well, don't I feel special. Have you... talked to him today?"
Alex smiled at how Ellie trying to sound nonchalant ended up making her sound even more invested. "Yeah, in the morning," Alex said, glancing at the clock. It was a couple of minutes past one in the morning. "Though I guess that was technically yesterday."
"I do believe you now, by the way. About him being a good guy. At first, I thought maybe you had been brainwashed. Especially since you said he had punched you in the face. His mum is a sirenic wyvern, right?"
"She is, but Jack's not. Only his oldest brother is. The rest of the Farrows are electric like their dad. Jack has his moments that make you want to tear your hair out, but..." Alex thought back to the day before, to how fiercely Jack had hugged him at the nurse's office. To how worried he had looked when they parted ways at the elevator. "Well, I feel lucky to have him as a friend."
Ellie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. "You... you don't like him as more than a friend, do you?"
Alex blinked slowly, taking an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out what Ellie meant by that. Once he finally did, he almost choked on his spit at the thought.
"No," he said very slowly. "No, no. Never. No, he's- We're- He's like my- No ."
"Nothing to be ashamed of, Alex. Crushing on your best friend is-"
"He's not just my best friend, Ellie, he's..."
"He's what?"
Alex shifted his weight, slightly embarrassed by what he wanted to say. He had never really told anyone this, not even Jack. He had barely realized it himself.
"He probably doesn't think of me the same way," Alex muttered, "because he's got siblings of his own, but... He's like my brother. I... I care about him a lot, but..."
"Ah, the highest Alexander honour. I see."
"Could you... not mention to him that I said that?"
"Sure. But only because I think he'd like to hear it from you."
"He might think it's weird."
"Or he might feel the same way. What is it with boys never wanting to tell each other they love them? I tell my friends I love them at least twice a day. Hey, Mattie!" Ellie suddenly shouted and shook Matthew's body. "Matt, wake up!"
"Ow," Matthew mumbled, swatting the air above his ear like there was a fly. "So loud. What?"
"I love you," Ellie said, her tone lighthearted but still earnest.
"Hm. That's nice."
"Jackass, you're supposed to say it back. This is what I mean, Alex. Why are you all so emotionally constipated?"
"If you say it too much it doesn't mean anything anymore, Ellie," Matthew said, pulling his blanket up to his chin.
"That is a lie and you know it. I mean it more every time I say it. I love you, Matthew. You're a little shit and I love you."
Matthew chuckled softly and readjusted himself so that he was using Ellie's lap as a pillow. Without opening his eyes he reached up to the couch and pulled down the decorative pillows. "You're a little shit too," he said as he tucked the pillow under his neck to give himself more cushion.
"And?"
"And I'm going back to sleep now."
"Fuck off, Mattie."
"Hm, good night," he said as if he didn't hear her. Within seconds he was back to silently snoring.
"I'd wager he was only 50 per cent lucid for that interaction," Ellie said, poking his forehead lightly. He didn't stir at all. "I swear this boy could sleep through the apocalypse."
"He certainly didn't seem bothered by his blasting music," Alex said.
"Last week he fell asleep in our maths class. I'm pretty sure Professor Dunn noticed but didn't say anything. She's gotten so sick of Matt showing her up that she probably appreciated getting a break from him... I'll say it to you once I do, by the way."
"Say what?"
"I love you. Matt's kind of right that you shouldn't say it if you don't mean it. And I don't know you very well, yet. But once I love you, I'll tell you."
Alex warmed up a little bit. "If," he muttered without meaning to. He had a feeling that was AJ slipping through again. Ellie flicked his shoulder.
"When. I'm a genius, so I know this for a fact."
"You guys like to pull that one out a lot, don't you?"
"I'm sorry, are we wrong? No? I didn't think so."
Ellie carefully adjusted herself so that she wouldn't disturb Matthew too much and laid her head on Alex's shoulder. They fell back into comfortable silence, and after about thirty minutes, he thought she had managed to fall asleep.
"I'll try to stop being a stupid boy," Alex said without thinking she could hear, "long enough to tell you when I mean it too."
When Ellie didn't respond, he thought he had gotten away with saying that to no one. But after a couple of seconds, Ellie grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. Alex felt embarrassed for a fraction of a second, almost pulling his hand away in case he heated up too much. But the feeling passed quickly, replaced by something else. The kind of warmth that comes with being comfortable enough to say that to someone and that someone is glad to hear it.
Alex squeezed her hand back and kept holding it until he managed to fall asleep.
Alex woke up a few hours later to a sore neck and a knock on the door. He opened his eyes slowly, for a second forgetting he had fallen asleep in the lounge with Ellie and Matthew. As he shook off the disorientation, the knocks at the door started up again, slightly louder. It was enough to wake Matthew, who at some point in the night had moved so that he and his throw pillow were on the floor instead of Ellie's lap.
"Ugh, what time is it?" He mumbled, cracking his neck as he rose to a sitting position. "Christ, sleeping on the floor was a bad idea. Hurt so much less when I was a kid."
"It might be Jack," Alex guessed. The only thing stopping him from getting up to answer the door was the fact that a still soundly asleep Ellie was on his shoulder. Matthew noticed and unfolded himself to a standing position.
"I got it," he said, rubbing his sore joints as he went. When he opened the door, he suddenly straightened his posture. "Oh, morning coach. What are- I mean, how can I help you?"
Alex peered around the sofa to see that instead of Jack, Coach Sanders was at the door. Matthew was trying to block his view into their flat with his body, but he wasn't quite tall enough to pull it off. Even if he could, Alex had a feeling Sanders already knew exactly what he was trying to hide.
"Good morning, Matthew," he said, his tone gentle. "I'm here to get Ms. Mishra back to her dorm safely."
"How- Um, you mean Ellie? She's not here. We're on a lockdown, guess you didn't hear."
Sanders shook his head as a very tepid smile crept onto his lips for a second. "We've got a pretty good theatre program here, Montoya. You might want to take some classes to improve your acting skills while you're here."
"Sir, she shouldn't get in trouble," Alex said from where he was on the floor. Sanders peered his head around the doorframe to see him for the first time. "We were the ones who-"
Sanders cut him off by raising his hand. "Don't worry, Mr. Conrad. She's not in trouble. If I didn't think she needed to be here I would have stopped her from coming. But Professor Baxter will be taking over my monitoring shift soon, so she needs to get back before he conducts a student check."
"Thanks, coach," Matthew said as Alex nudged Eloise awake. "Do you know how much longer this is going to last?"
"At least through Sunday. There's a bit of chaos behind the scenes about cancelling classes on Monday as well."
"Don't suppose you can tell us if they... if they've found anything yet?"
Sanders sighed and hesitated for a moment. "They're keeping us fairly in the dark as well," he said, though the expression on his face made it clear he knew something. "A lot of teachers don't even know which student died. I only do because... the police needed to search his room."
"Did they find-"
"The investigation is ongoing, so they didn't tell me anything."
"They didn't tell you, but you know," Alex guessed as Eloise slowly returned to the waking world. "Don't you?"
Sanders glanced between the two boys, looking for a moment like he was going to cave. But then he just shook his head with a pained expression. "Just... stay safe, boys. Take care of each other."
"We will," Matthew said. He looked slightly annoyed at Sanders keeping his information to himself, but he also seemed like he understood why.
"What's going on?" Eloise muttered as she rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Time to get you back to your dorm, Ms. Mishra," Sanders said. As soon as she heard his voice, Eloise shot to her feet.
"Mr. Sanders!" she shouted, for some reason doing a forehead salute. "I didn't- I'm not- How did I get here? I... Darn, my sleepwalking."
"Relax, Ellie, he's not ratting you out," Matthew said. "He knew you were here all night."
"Really? How?"
"I've been around the block a few times, Ms. Mishra. And you're not as quiet of a flier as you think you are. Come on, let's get you back before you get caught by someone less forgiving than me."
"Aw, you're a real one, Mr. Sanders. Thanks." Ellie ruffled Alex's hair as she walked past him. She squeezed Matthew's hand when she reached the door. "Call me later, okay?"
"Yeah."
"Promise?"
"Promise... I love you, Ellie."
Ellie beamed, looking for a second like she might start crying. Alex noticed Sanders' eyes shine as he glanced away from them. "Love you too, Matt. See you later Alex!"
"Bye, Ellie," Alex called as she left with Coach Sanders. Once Matthew closed the door he looked at Alex with a frown.
"The cops were looking for a note, weren't they?" he said. "In his room."
"Yeah," Alex answered. "Among other things, I imagine."
"Which do you think Sanders didn't want to tell us? That they did or didn't find one?"
"Neither is very comforting, is it?"
"Different kinds of upsetting, I guess... I'm going to make some coffee, you want some?"
"I'm fine, thank you. I'll probably make some tea later."
"That stuff you made last night was really good, by the way."
"Thanks... My dad taught me the recipe. He learned it from his old housekeeper."
"I got a pretty good Mexican hot chocolate recipe from my abuelita. Have you ever had Mexican hot chocolate before?"
"What makes it Mexican? That it's made by you?"
Matthew's mouth twitched upwards as a surprised snort came out of him. "You're a real comedian, aren't you?" Matthew said as he walked over to his coffee percolator. "Excuse me while I make some Mexican coffee and then take a Mexican shower afterwards."
"Hm. That's the kind where you use all the hot water, so your flatmate has to take cold ones."
"Seems like you could use one, given how often you go up like a solar flare." Alex heated up in embarrassment at the reminder of how often he heats up, and Matthew cackled from across the room. "Christ, Allie, at least get over here so you can heat my water."
"Dr. Bayer told me that might be a good way to help me control my powers."
" Vámonos , then, solecito ."
Alex unfolded himself from the ground and walked over, watching as Matthew prepped the espresso maker. Without realizing he paid attention to all the steps, even after he was done standing in for the stovetop. In case he ever needed to make Matthew a cup of coffee in the future.