Apricity

If I had a nickel....

Julie's P.O.V.

Player 1

The cold, midnight wind brushed past me and I shiver. The house was quiet, which wasn't a surprise since it was past the time the brother were usually awake. I, on the other hand, didn't have much of an internal clock to fall back on, so I wandered around the house with no real direction.

I was thirsty when I woke up but I already drank my glass of water. This would be the time for me to return to my bed, and I will, but I'm feeling a bit lackluster, so all in due time. I sat on the couch cross-legged, not really doing anything. Random thoughts drift in my mind until one hits me like a brick.

School starts tomorrow. I'm going back to school. Yay?

Whatever. At least I'm not missing any days anymore, and I get to see Oliver, so that's a plus. But other than that, there really is nothing to do here, is there? Except my little side project dealing with a little snooping, of course.

I rub my eyes. It was already late. Perhaps I should go to sleep now. I get up lazily. My foot feels like rubber. Really squishy, rubber.

"What the actual hell..." I muttered before nearing the stairs. But as I did, the front door opened. An icy wind rushed through and the subtle sound of a door squeaking echoed throughout the room. I turn around to see a dark figure standing at the front door.

Blake was there. He was wearing an over-sized yellow T-shirt with jeans. His dark hair was rather messy. Where was he?

Usually, I would be tempted to ask, but I was already so tired and used to the weird sleep schedule of the brothers that I just waved my hand.

"Long night?"

Blake simply nodded. He raised an eyebrow, and I immediately knew what he was thinking. What are you doing up? I could ask the same for him if I cared. But ever-loving curiosity felt like it was being subdued by a tranquillizer made for elephants.

"Um, yeah," Blake spoke as he put his backpack down. I didn't even notice he was wearing it, "The meeting lasted longer than it should've. And my partner wanted to get lunch after, which was fine with me if it wasn't so overpriced. I mean, it's alright for me to pay a good amount of money, but sometimes you need to be smart, you know? I'm not being cheap, it's just basic sense. The food isn't even that good there! I don't know why they like it."

Oh. Okay. I didn't need to know all that, but it was fine to know. It never hurts knowing. Blake had always struck me as the quiet type, but I suppose that's because I never talked to him. He was always away. Blake walked into the kitchen, and I followed him. 

"That's interesting...."

"Hmm," Blake didn't speak for a long time after that as he looked into the fridge. Assuming that the conversation was already over, I almost headed for the stairs, but Blake started talking again, "I saw a racoon today. I took a picture of it, and Peyton told me it looked like me. Do I look a racoon?"

Blake took out two pieces of bread. I tilted my head and inspected my cousin. I nodded.

"You don't physically look one, but it's your vibe. You sort of have the vibe of a homeless racoon."

Especially since you're not actually home most of the time.

Blake shrugged as he smoothed a lot of peanut butter onto his bread. He suddenly stopped and looked up at me.

"I always thought I was like a sophisticated businessman." A moment passed before his eyes flashed. "Oh, right, I was supposed to ask you. How are you feeling? All fixed up?"

"Pretty much. I'm actually going to school tomorrow."

Blake chuckled. He was almost done with the sandwich. I once again wonder if it's okay for me to leave. But Blake didn't seem done with the conversation just yet.

"But here you are in the middle of the night? Shouldn't you get some rest for school tomorrow?"

I shrugged.

"I'll be fine."

Blake took a bite of the sandwich. He nodded again, and I give him a tight smile.

"So...Goodnight?"

Blake smiled at me. Well, it wasn't much of a smile. If I'm being honest, it was like a pretentious smirk. It looked rather 'mocking'. But not the mean kind of mocking, but more 'I'm poking fun at you' mocking. It reminded me of someone.

Anyway, I took that as my signs and began to leave. Blake called out to me after I was a good distance away.

"Yeah. Goodnight, Juliette."

Oh, why does he always take such a long time to continue what he's saying? I sighed. Instead of being surprised that he called me by his mother's name, I felt a strange relief. At least now I remember who his smile reminded me of.

******

Liam's P.O.V. (The next day)

Player ???

Ashur was a bit crankier than usual. Liam could always tell from the slight pinch between his brows, or the tone of his voice. It was a simple thing to do. But Ashur hated it when Liam told him so. It didn't matter if he was feeling cranky or happy or sad, the stupid kid would avoid any question having to do with his feelings.

Liam suspected it was because Ashur didn't like the idea of someone being able to read him like a book. Which was weird, in his opinion. To Liam, having someone who completely understands you is a gift. And Liam prided himself on being able to read Ashur completely.

But, either way, this fact left Liam struggling internally on how to bring up his bad mood.

They were sitting at a bench outside during lunch time. Just the two of them. Like it's always been.

"So, Julie's at school today. Do you want to see her?" Liam asked, trying to sound as if it was just a passing thought and not something that's been like a cloud following them all day. Ashur grimaced.

"No."

"Okay...So what do you want to do? Anything fun?"

Ashur looked around, a bit puzzled.

"With you?"

"Obviously with me!"

Any normal person would think that automatically, but not Ashur. Not Liam's Ashur.

"I want to go to your house. We can play with those model submarines. The ones you like so much," Ashur said quietly. Liam brightened. He always loved it when Ashur came to his house. He's never as tense when they're at the house. School was a different story. Liam watched as Ashur fiddled with the piece of construction paper.

They were sitting on opposite sides of the table, but Liam got up and walked to the other side, right next to Ashur. He moved closer until they were touching shoulders.

"What are you doing this time?" Liam asked, even though he already knew. But it was always better to ask these questions to Ashur instead of assuming whatever. It gave Ashur time to think up an answer. Ashur never played with paper with a set goal in mind, so Liam usually asked so Ashur can think up some obscure, random thing like-

"Probably a tree."

And when he did that, Ashur would always have a weird glint his eyes. Just like he was now. It was as if he finally realized what he was making, and now knew where exactly he was going. And then he would start over. And what do you know? The end result would be the same thing he told Liam, even though Ashur probably wasn't thinking of it at the time.

Ashur slightly leaned into Liam as he crunched up the original paper he was working with. And Liam knew exactly what Ashur would show him the next time he saw him.