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A second later, I heard something crash and fall within the room, then a curse. Slippers shuffling across the carpet.
The door opened.
“What thefuck—” Felix stood there, staring back at me. “Oh.”
“Where’s Elliot?”
Felix reached up to rub his eyes, muttering another curse under his breath just as Leo came shuffling over to the door to peer over his shoulder. Recognizing me, he smiled. I didn’t.
“Look,” Felix said, and sucked in a long breath. “He’s not here.”
I raised an eyebrow. Didn’t believe a word he just said.
“Oh, yeah?” I said, already trying to pry my way past him. “Let me see.”
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Leo said, jumping back as I pushed past the two of them. “Why’s she here?”
“Shekindahas a right to be here,” I heard Felix murmur just as I finished scanning the bunk beds to find that he was right. No Elliot.
I turned back to face him.
“What do you mean?” I said, lowering my voice to match his. Through the shadows, Felix’s dark eyes still pierced mine. “And where’s Elliot?”
Felix turned to Leo and shared a look. Their eyes seemed to have a whole conversation in that span of two seconds, a technique perfected from years of hanging out, no doubt, before he turned back to me.
“Come with me,” Felix said, moving back into the room to grab his phone. With a shrug, Leo headed back to his bed, flopping down onto the mattress.
Felix went back into the hall, and I followed him, his words churning in my head as he shut the door quietly behind us.
I had a right to be here.
Did he know about me and Elliot? Ourparents?
“Let’s go in the lounge,” Felix said, already a yard ahead of me, swaying down the hall like he’d been drugged. Sleep counts for something, I guess.
He pushed open the glass door, and the motion-sensing lights automatically flickered on. The place was nice. A full kitchen, a couple sofas, a bean bag, and a flat screen TV. Felix plopped himself down into the bean bag, and I sat on the sofa, crossing my legs tensely.
“So?” I said, keeping my expression neutral. I became very aware of the sweat that had tracked itself across my forehead on my way here, and I eyed the sink. “Wait a sec.”
I got back to my feet and went over to the sink, turning on the faucet to splash some water on my face. I didn’t care what Felix thought as I went rifling through a couple of the cabinets to find a stack of plastic cups, taking one to fill. I gulped the whole twelve ounces of ice-cold water in less than ten seconds.
“Fuck,” I sighed. “That’s better.”
“We do have a water fountain, you know,” Felix replied. “Like, down the hall.”
“Right, thanks,” I said, setting the cup down onto the counter. “Because I’d rather stick my face into some metal petri dish.”
Felix snorted at the comment.
“God,” he said, slumping back in the bean bag, dragging his hands down his face. “It’s too late for this shit.”
“Then let’s get this over with,” I said, returning to the couch. “Where is he? Where’s Elliot?”
“How about we start from, let’s see, thebeginning,” Felix said, motioning with his hands up, then down. “Because, like, we’ll get to the good stuff, but first, I was just wondering—”
“Shut up,” I said. “You know more than you act like you do.”
He smirked at that remark. I’d use it as leverage. Felix was right, after all. If he was giving me the time of day, I might as well start from the beginning. It’s not like Elliot was here, anyway.
