Us Mutants Prefer the Term "Special"

x18x

"Aspen..."

Zaine...

"Aspen."

Zaine.

"Aspen!"

ZAINE.

"Look, I find it incredibly cute that you're mumbling my name in your sleep, but please wake up," he urged and then I realized that I wasn't dreaming and I had just embarrassed myself.

"What's going on?" I mumbled. By now, he had fled around my room, collecting things to put into my bag.

"I got a call from Jane. They're safe and away from the Lackland," he whispered. I sat up in the bed, still not fully processing things and yet still being saddened by the fact that we have to leave. When he helped me get dressed and prepared to leave, we were silent, but when we started to depart, he stopped abruptly in front of me.

"You're not going to say goodbye to your parents?" he asked.

"No..." I whispered.

"But Aspen, you don't know the next time you'll see them again," he reminded.

"And considering that, I won't exactly know how to let go of them if I see them now," I said, solemnly. He simply grabbed my hand with a squeeze and we continued sneaking out into the world.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Skye's family had a beach house in Galveston, so they're going and we're meeting them there," he explained.

"Why there?"

"With the hurricane from a few years ago, homes were destroyed and maybe if the SSAS thinks there's no place there, we can go unnoticed," he shrugged. Alright. That makes sense.

I felt myself yawning and then moments later, I felt his fingers playing at my knee. Suddenly, he pulled his hand over and patted his own thigh. I laughed at the thought of falling asleep in his lap, but I did lower my seat and lean against his arm as his hand stayed with the gear shift. I was perfectly content with my position and even yawned once more.

"Hey, Aspen...before you fall asleep..." he addressed. I hummed in response. "Thank you."

"For what?" I sighed.

"Helping me sleep," he answered and a smile returned to my face.

"My pleasure," I said, adjusting my head and getting even more comfortable.

"Now you can sleep," he said and in one motion, he kissed my head. That simple gesture was the only thing playing through my mind, distracting me from my slumber and making me hope I wouldn't dream of it embarrassingly happening if I got the chance to dream and fantasize.

Now you're the one making this hard for me.

"You're welcome," I heard him reply and then I fell asleep only because I didn't want to face the embarrassment from speaking aloud.

=XXX=

We got to Galveston right when the sun was starting to come up. Yeah, that's how fast Zaine drives. But what can he say? He has enhanced perception and neither of us worried about crashing into anything. We got to a huge beach house that might as well be called a mansion on the edge of a canal with other houses under renovation.

"I'm gonna drop these bags off, wait here?" he said, closing the trunk and managing to carry three backpacks, a suitcase and a cooler of food my parents somehow stored in his trunk sometime during our stay.