Perception

Untitled Part 12

Sang POV:

The boys must have been told of our plans for the evening before I heard them, because they were all already in the living room either laying on the floor playing video games, or lounging on the furniture watching.  To this point I have been careful not to look at Nathan in the eyes for more than a second or two. It's pretty tricky to make avoiding someone you live with not obvious, but I managed it by carrying around my phone pretending to play Angry Birds and not wanting to look away from my progress. The last thing I want to do is talk about what he heard that day I was helping the kids get cleaned up.

"How are you holding up, Cupcake?" Luke asks from the floor. He and Silas are laying on their stomachs with their feet up on the couch.

"I'm okay," I say with sadness evident in my voice. I see Nathan scooting towards me from his seated position on the floor, so I attempt to make my way to the couch cushion between Silas' and Luke's feet.

"Sang," he says and reaches for me while I'm already in motion causing me to trip and fall forward. Luke, with his speedy reflexes, rolls slightly and slows my fall enough that I could brace myself with my hands before I would faceplant right into the well-defined backside of Silas.

"Nathan! You almost turned me into a butthead!" I shout in a girly whine. Everyone busts out laughing, and I laugh too once I realize how ridiculous that sounds.

"Aggele, if you want to see my butt, you have only to ask," Silas says almost simultaneous to a slap delivered to the back of his head from North. Wow, North moves quick. I feel my arms tremble so I tuck my elbow and roll up Silas' back so my head and shoulders rest on his back as I'm still giggling a little.

I only then notice that Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne witnessed the whole thing, and I feel my face starting to heat. How embarrassing. Gabriel finally stops rolling around laughing, and hops up holding his hand out to me. Good thing, too. I'm wedged between the guys with my knees bent over Luke's hips.

I grab Meanie's hand and he yanks me up so fast I crash into his chest and my head swirls. He's still laughing, but places his hands on my hips so he can step back.

"Hold on, Meanie. I need to feel north," I mumble with my eyes shut and my head buzzing. I'm pretty sure some of the guys choked on a laugh, or were coughing to cover one up, but I don't see anything funny about being dizzy, so I just concentrate on breathing slowly to ease the buzzing in my ears.

"Okay, good. I couldn't feel north there for a minute," I say with a small smile as I lift my head off of Gabriel's shoulder. His eyes are huge, and he looks positively intrigued. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn my head to see Mr. Blackbourne had approached and was seeking my gaze with his eyes swirling silver, and an eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean, you couldn't feel North, Miss Sorenson?" he asks in a slightly choked voice. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was holding in a laugh too!

"I always know where north is," I say slowly like I was talking to a child.