Acquired Tastes

Chapter Thirteen

Neil met up with Alexis the next evening to jog the trail that looped through the edge of the woods surrounding campus. Their conversation started light, but gradually became deeper as the darkened woods blurred past them and their heart rates increased.

"How's your brother's family?" Neil asked, glancing over at Alexis.

Alexis hesitated for a second, eyes on the path ahead of them. "Okay for now, I guess," he replied. "They're trying to sort stuff out so they can move. But it's a lot."

Neil nodded, pushing his hair out of his face. "Yeah."

"How are things with your partner?"

Neil didn't answer for several moments; he wasn't sure what to say. Things with Roman were definitely different than they'd been the last time he'd talked to Alexis about it, but he didn't really know how to express what had changed. Sure, things were better, but saying so felt like it left out an entire novel's worth of details, and he had no idea how to even begin to work through those. He swallowed hard. "I'm not sure I want to talk about it."

"That bad, huh?"

Neil wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, desperate to change the subject. "How's Jacey?"

When they completed the loop and reentered the quad, they slowed to a walk. "Hey," Alexis said. "Want to smoke?"

"I told you I'll just get anxious."

"Come on, when was the last time you tried it?"

"More recently than I'd like," Neil replied, giving his shoulder a playful shove.

"Okay, fine. You want to drink?"

"I don't know." Neil pulled at the sweaty collar of his shirt. "I have stuff to do."

"What do you have to do, Twelve?" Alexis asked through a grin, shaking Neil's shoulder. "What do you have to do?"

"So desperate, Lexi," Neil said, rolling his eyes at him. "Can I at least shower first?"

Jacey joined them soon after Neil got back to Alexis's, and the three of them drank together. Their conversation led to a topic they'd discussed a few times before– the real purpose of this program. This wasn't an uncommon point of discussion among the students; in fact, this deep disdain for the institution they'd all found themselves hating more and more with each passing day was one of the things they could unite over most. There were a few favorite theories about what the purpose was, but Neil found himself more entertained by the bizarre ones Jacey would think up and describe.

"So, wait, in this theory, they're putting the new brains in us?" he asked, the words feeling slightly heavy in his mouth.

Jacey grinned, looking over at him from where she was lying on her back on her bed. "Yeah, exactly."

Alexis shook his head at her. "The fact that you just came up with that whole theory makes me uncomfy about sharing a room with you."

Jacey laughed. "Rude but fair." Everything was quiet for several seconds, and then Jacey looked over at them again. "Do either of you think you'd actually want to know what they're doing? Like...even if it's really bad?"

Neil tried to collect his thoughts. "Maybe I'd have liked to have known at the beginning. I think it feels too late now."

Jacey nodded understandingly. "Yeah, fair enough."

Neil left Alexis and Jacey's room after a few drinks and made his way back to his own room. When he pushed the door open, Roman looked up from where he was sitting on the bed, earbuds in, sketchbook open on his thighs, a mostly-empty box of donuts sitting beside him.