earbuds

ten

A slight budge and my eyes slowly opened. The night was here, which I didn't mind, but that would mean he was driving all day. Clay reached in the back and pulled out a black hoodie. "Put this on and put the hood up. Remember to look down." He instructed, putting on a black hoodie. I nodded and followed suit, sleepily. I turn my phone all the way off and slip it into my bag. I put the bag on and Clay hops out of the car. "This is gonna look sketchy, but trust me. George is-"

"In hiding, I know." I mumble, almost to a whisper.

"Ok, ready?" He asks, watching me get out of the car. We shut the door and he locks it, slinging a bag over his shoulder. We begin a walk. I don't know how long of a walk, but we walk a little bit of a ways. We only walk through alleyways too. Never stepping foot into the city area. Clay leads the both of us to a staircase and opens the door which leads to an abandoned area. We weave a little bit, walking around pillars and into rooms, with Clay finding another staircase. Be gins down it, and I follow.

The entire time we're completely silent, but at this point, I don't question it.

"George is British by the way. I don't know if I said that before, but he's British." Clay knocks on the door and a robotic voice answers.

"Please type in the code." A holographic image pops up, one like a keypad. Clay punches in a series of numbers, but it dings and the door opens. We both slip inside and the door shuts.

"It's a little bit further." He walks down the little staircase made up of maybe 30 stairs, revealing a room bigger than the upstairs room. "George?" Clay shouts out, not a loud shout, but enough for this George character to hear him.

"Clay?" The thick British accent Clay mentioned stood out. His head popped out from behind a bookshelf. "Is this she?"

He only nodded, placing a hand on my back and patting it, nudging me forward a little bit. George wasn't fat, like I thought he'd be. I thought most nerds like him would be someone overweight since they all supposedly sit at their computer all day, but he wasn't. He was average size, a little skinnier than Clay. He was taller than me, but shorter than Clay as well.

"Hello, my name is George. It's nice to meet you." He held his hand out, waiting for me to shake it.

Reluctantly, I put my hand out and shake his. "Hi, I'm (Y/n)."

"Ah! (Y/n). Welcome. This is my home away from home, for now. Please do get comfortable as this is where we'll be for a few days to a week maybe?" He clasps his hands together and shows me around. His little corner is a bookshelf full of documents on the government, as he's said. His computer with 4 monitors also sits there. Across the room is a kitchen and a couch sitting area. He leads me to his room and a guest room, instructing that we both sleep together or one of us sleeps on the couch.

Clay offered to sleep on the couch and I didn't have time to protest and claim the couch because George moved on. Soon enough, I got settled and watched some TV while Clay and George talked. Not sure what they talked about, didn't care enough to know. George and Clay came up behind me, mid-show, and handed me a flip phone.

"A burner phone." Clay said. I took it from him and opened it up. It was pretty high tech for being an old flip phone, something I've only seen in movies. "It'll get you through this trip, for now. Let me know when you get hungry. I can go out at get something since there's a few places nearby that I saw when I drove around the area."

"Ah- thanks." I whispered, letting the silence take over the 3 of us. George just kind of stood awkwardly with Clay. "Nice you meet you, George, by the way."

"Haha, yeah." Another wave of awkwardness hits us, unsure of how to continue the conversation. Then, George speaks up. "Clay talk about me?"

"A little."

George came over and sat down next to me, with Clay sitting over on another couch, listening in. "What did he say? Mean things I reckon."

"No, mostly called you smart." I mumbled, unsure of what to say.

He got me to talk a little bit more, loosening up my nervousness and anxiousness, which seemed to work. We started cracking jokes and Clay chimed in slowly. We watched some TV before I slowly drifted off, still being slightly awake.

"You should take her to the bed, it's more comfortable." I heard George say while also being lifted.

"Yeah I'll be back. She deserves a good sleep. All she's been doing is sleeping in the car. That's uncomfortable." I also hear Clay in the mix of the two boys say.

"How much of the plan does she know? How much of anything does she know?" George's British accent stands out the most, even over my sleepy phase.

"She only knows that we're using her to get to her parents. I didn't tell her anything else really because you're better at wording things like this."

"Understandable. Well. In the morning, after some food, we'll both tell her. She deserves to know that much. Especially, since we're basically using her to get closer."

"Yeah okay. Thanks man."

"Mhmm, of course."