XPLR | Colby Brock

~4~

I woke up the next morning nervous. With all of last night's events, I completely forgot about my plan to meet Kai that night.

"Rose! Are you awake yet?"

"I'm awake!" I called as I sat up and rubbed my eye. I slept through my alarm. Fantastic.

I groaned and laid back, staring at the ceiling. I was stressed, nervous, tired. And all I could think about was last night.

I couldn't stop thinking about the pentagram and the chair and the ouija board, and especially the new "friends" we'd made. "Are you going to get out of bed?" Elena asked, ripping me from my thoughts. "Huh? Yeah, I'm on my way," I stood up and stretched.

"You're lucky it's Saturday. You slept in like... way late," she said, taking a bit of her hot pocket has she walked into our small living room. "Yeah. I didn't even set my alarm last night," I chuckled. "So? Are you excited?"

"About what?" I asked through a yawn.

"It's your big coffee date with Kai!" she said, punching me in the arm. "It's not a date," I said, sitting down on the sofa and flicking on our TV. "Well it's a step closer than when you usually talk to him. You know, in Orchestra." I chuckle, "I won't deny it. But I'd consider us friends, at least."

"So he doesn't know about the massive crush you have on him?"

"A lot of girls have massive crushes on him!" I laughed. "Well it looks like you might be at a higher point than most of them!" she sat next to me. "So, are you going above and beyond to get ready or not?" she asked, "because I'll gladly help you look amazing."

"I don't know. I don't want to seem like I care too much," I shrugged, "I don't want him to have any inclination that I'm interested in him. None."

"Okay, okay, but we still have to make you look cute. Maybe we can do a change in eye shadow... winged eyeliner..." she ran her hand through my messy hair. "We can straighten your hair. A nice outfit..."

"Okay, I got it. Thanks for helping me," I smile. "I need a favor," she said. "Oh god, what is it now?" I asked. She got really quiet all of a sudden.

"Go ahead, spit it out," I stood up and started to the kitchen. She followed me. "I need to shoot another video," she said.

"Urban exploration?"

"Of course."

I sigh. "Fine, where is it?"

"The silo."

"We're going back there? What if Hayden gets upset?" I asked, opening the fridge. "Hayden's not coming this time," she said, pulling herself up on the counter and taking a sip of her drink. "You're insane. He'll kill us when we come back. Plus... do you really want to go without him?"

"Yes, I do. I'm completely sure," she said. "I'm not. I don't want to go without him. Are you insane? He's the only person who could stop something coming at us."

"We're going during the day," she said.

"That doesn't change what we saw out there."

"What if we asked the TFIL guys?" she asked. "Are you crazy? No way. I say that if it's a big deal to get that video, we just take Hayden," I said, shrugging. She huffed. "Fine. I'm going to send Elton a text anyway. Maybe not even explore the silo. Just make them our occasional exploring partners."

"Maybe. Occasional."

"Do you really hate them?"

"I don't hate them... but aren't they just too... famous for us?"

"What does that mean?"

I strolled around the kitchenette, "I mean you have... twenty thousand subscribers. These guys have millions of subscribers combined. They seem cool. They seem really cool and really sweet. But they... make me nervous, alright?" I asked.

"You're too introverted," she said, walking out of the small kitchen and into the living room. "I've always been that way!" I followed her. "I'm just saying, that if we stay close to these guys we can end up having millions of subscribers as well," she said, smirking. "Well if that's the only reason you want to be friends with them, than I don't think we should be at all."

"Well... it's barely part of the reason. It's a perk at least. But I mean... hell! It's TFIL! It's a bunch of hot guys who featured us in their video. We didn't ask them, they asked us!"

"I'm excited about that too! Can we drop it? Can we forget it ever happened?" I was so excited to just forget about it. Those guys made me nervous. Maybe it was their fame that scared me. It's not like they're rude or mean.

I don't know, I can't explain it. Another thing I can't explain, is the feeling in my gut that my time with them will be far from occasional.