Wayward (Adrianna, Odion)

The beauty about controlling time was that you could pause it until you fell asleep. The only thing worse than having said powers, was being unable to use them. The loss of Rhett was slowly starting to pass, slowly being the key word. It wasn’t happening fast enough. He still spent all kinds of time thinking about that blonde. The first and last person he would ever trust or love. It was a moment of weakness that would never happen again. He had been wrong to come here, and the reason he came here was no longer valid. Odion had lost quite a bit of weight since the last time he ran into Lani, his clothes hanging lose about his torso. He had stopped eating, finding the task unpleasing. He was never very hungry anyways. He wasn’t completely unrecognizable though.

Odi tried to concentrate on other things, but hardly anything could keep his attention span. Something about Lani was intriguing though. Why had he stolen those gems? And what happened that night? Odion didn’t know why he bothered even thinking about it. He hadn’t had the favour returned and he didn’t expect one. He didn’t expect much of anything nowadays. Usually Odion wasn’t a man of his word, he would lie, cheat, and steal if it benefitted him. But telling the cops about Lani’s thieving ways wouldn’t benefit him in the slightest. And somewhere deep down inside, it was good to know that someone else stole things in a professional way, and didn’t get caught doing it. Odi didn’t want anything from the boy anyways, he just happened to be in a good mood that night; something that rarely happened anymore. The whole thing should be considered a ‘if anyone asks, nothing happened’ scenario, and pretty soon the excitement of the night went away and Odi went into his slump.

Outdoors, it was disgusting. Everything was shiny and bright and Odion sneered as he made his way through the courtyard only because he wanted to avoid all the smiling people on the inside. The end was near for many of them, and Odi wasn’t so sure it would be for him. He hadn’t perfected his powers, and especially now that they were finicky, he wouldn’t be graduating. His hands were in his jeans pockets, his head down. He was going through the motions in every sense of the word. His skin was paler than usual and freckles scattered across his face. He cringed as something hit the back of his head. “Sorry man!” Some boy said, picking up the frizz bee on the ground. Odion just kept walking, looking up in time to see Lani sleeping on a bench. That was curious. He thought Lani would be the last person to let their guard down. Sleeping should happen at the right time.

Since everyone was so preoccupied, Odion simply passed Lani by, or so it seemed. He walked to the other side of the courtyard and sat behind a tree, looking at the bottle full of pills in his hands. Lani won’t be needing these I think... He pocketed them with a grin which quickly relaxed into nothing. It hurt too much to smile. He leaned against the tree and sighed, his thoughts filling once more. What was Lani doing here anyways? It couldn’t be as simple as relaxing. Nothing about anyone’s actions were simple, even if they were too simple to know that.

And almost as if on cue, Adriana sat next to him. She looked too happy for their being in the same place at the same time to be just luck. She stroked his face lovingly and Odion snapped his head away. It wasn’t because he wasn’t curious, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to know more about Lani, no. She just reminded him of Rhett. Of how Rhett had helped to break this girl’s heart just like how he had broken his. It seemed that was the blonde’s specialty. And yet, something else was brewing inside of Odion and he had the urge to scream and cry and punch the tree behind him. He was breathing hard, and suddenly the cap on the pill bottle popped open, snapping him back to reality. He gulped and looked quickly back to Lani and Adrianna. This relationship wouldn’t last, not if Lani was doing what he was doing behind her back. What kind of excuse would he make for being so tired? Why was he interested in her anyways? Probably some bullshit on wanting to be good, or something idiotic like that. Adrianna had poor taste in men.

Adrianna wondered why Lani was sleeping in the middle of the afternoon. Especially after he’d wanted to meet up with her. Clearly he wasn’t getting much sleep at night, but she was curious as to why. Was he thinking too much? Was he just an insomniac? Or was it something she would never even think of? That was a good possibility. As the thought entered her mind, she tensed abruptly. Her mind began to mess with her and was coming up with many things that would keep him from sleeping. What if he was…she stopped and shook her head. No. She wasn’t going to go there again, Lani wasn’t Talen and she needed to get that through her head. He wasn’t Craven. He wasn’t Talen and he wasn’t Luke. He was different. But what if it was a guy thing? No, she wasn’t even going to let that get to her.

When he tensed she almost pulled away, until she realized that he was probably unsure of who it was. When he sat up and smiled she returned the smile and rubbed her arm nervously. He seemed out of it, much more so than she would have thought. With a small smile she shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. You should probably sleep a little more though, just a thought.” Adri said quietly as she looked down. For some reason she was feeling cautious about what she did. Part of her had a feeling it was because she was still feeling a little vulnerable after thinking about Craven so much, but something else was making her a bit more shy than usual. She just wished she could figure out why.

Her smile stayed in place and widened when he complimented her, “Hardly beautiful, but thank you.” She blushed and sat next to him keeping a little distance between them, for her own reasons. She had decided before that distance would be best, but in the past few times she’d been with him, it hadn’t happened. Now she couldn’t get close to him without feeling like something would go wrong if she got too close. He reached for her and she hugged him and returned the kiss lightly until they both pulled away. She saw him look over her shoulder and then look around as if he’d lost something. It was strange, but she didn’t say anything for a moment, “What are you looking for?”

He leaned back against the bench and smiled which only confused her further. He turned towards her and she looked up at him. “I-I don’t care really, anything scary would work for me.” Adrianna was in no state to handle a romantic movie especially with Lani. She still had no clue what they were to each other. Sure, they kissed and hung out with each other, but for all she knew it could be a fling with a few strings attached. It wasn’t like any fling she’d ever had, but she really didn’t know what it was. She didn’t want to label it because she knew that once she did, she’d get too attached and only moments later, she’d get shattered again. There was simply no way in hell she was going to do that again.

Once he took hold of her hand, Adri raised an eyebrow at him, but soon caught on once she spotted the other boy hiding a few feet away. She followed him over to the tree quietly and stood behind him as he spoke. She wondered if she’d ever met the redhead, but something told her she had not. Surely, she would have recognized him. Though something at the back of her mind did recognize him, maybe not by his presence, but by something she’d heard about him. It hadn’t clicked yet, and it probably wouldn’t until later on, but it was nagging her as she watched the two boys. The one she didn’t know looked…sick, maybe not really sick, but it appeared that he too was lacking sleep and having a rather difficult time. Lani’s words were straightforward and very true. The redhead did look like hell both in the physical state and what she assumed was the emotional state as well. She only wondered what was wrong with him, her own conscience making her sympathetic towards him already, but she knew better than to let anyone know that right off the bat. She knew that if someone she didn’t know looked at her with a pitiful expression she’d get pretty annoyed. Adrian looked up at Lani, waiting for a chance to say something…anything.

Lani looked sideways at Adrianna. Wow, he had really screwed up now. He hadn’t been able to see her in such a long time it seemed, though it was probably only a few days, but he felt guilt start to drift up his spine as he looked at her. She looked distraught and his mind jumped to the first conclusion. He hadn’t been giving enough of his time to her and she was starting to wonder if he was really as into her as he was. She reminded him so much of Caroline and so much of Cassie. But Cassie had vanished, her parents pulling her out of the school for some reason he wasn’t told. But that didn’t mean he didn’t miss the child. He smiled trying to quell Adrianna’s fears that she refused to voice. He wanted to be close to her but she was being very evasive with her eyes and Lani’s heart sank. She must be mad at him. He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, that’d probably be a good idea.”

He raised a brow and shook his head at her and his heart throbbed when she put distance between them. What had happened? He had screwed up, that’s what. “You’re always beautiful,” he protested with a smile then it faded and his brows came together. “I’m really sorry I haven’t been around lately. Things have been crazy,” he said. That was the best he could do. He really couldn’t come up with a better lie, he could have said family issues but she would have asked about that. Lani wasn’t really sure how to act at the moment, he had one mask when he was with Adrianna and she was slowly cracking through that one, but when Martin was around he had a completely different mask. A mask not of joking or happiness but a mask that was annoyed and angered by everything the other did. “I had a bottle of pills,” he answered absently, “For my headaches, I don’t think I dropped them…”

When he looked over at Martin a knowing smile on his face and he nearly laughed out loud when the redhead ducked back behind the tree. He turned his attention back to Adrianna and smiled. “Alright, scary it is then,” he was smiling on the outside but on the inside he was screaming at himself. He didn’t do well with scary movies, not at all. If it was something like a murder mystery or something he was fine, he had been desensitized to that. Supernatural things however, those just gave him the creeps. Lani stood and guided her over to Martin feeling a tug on his power as his power resisted the motion that Martin was trying to make. Once he saw the redhead though he almost immediately regretted bringing Adrianna along. He had wanted to show her that there wasn’t anything he wanted to hide from her, but Martin didn’t look good at all. Worry grew in him and he tried to remind himself that he hated Martin. But then that couldn’t possibly be true because Lani was worrying about him. He silently cursed himself for letting the emotion come up at all.

Lani looked Martin over and his eyes paused momentarily on the pocket watch but he really didn’t care. He raised a brow, why was Martin being friendly, what was he playing at? He took the pills back and pocketed them. “You know you could always have asked,” he retorted playing along. He smiled back but it was a fake smile. Lani couldn’t help snorting out a laugh at his halfhearted joke. “Don’t go jumping to assumptions now,” he said crossing his arms with a little shake of his head. He rolled his eyes in Adrianna’s direction giving her an apologetic smile. Lani’s eyes narrowed for a moment in bemusement and he released his hold on Martin’s shirt. What was with that look? Pleading, but for what? To leave? Lani wasn’t holding him back anymore; honestly he just wanted his pills back so he could leave with Adrianna now and pretend to not be as scared as he was at the movies. Adrianna was certainly in for a treat if she had never had a guy hiding behind her shoulder instead of the other way around.

Lani glanced back at Adrianna and drew her forward next to him. “Martin, this is Adrianna, Adrianna, this is Martin.” He did a quick introduction before things could get too awkward. He was not doing very well with the bright ideas at the moment. When Martin asked if they were dating he flushed and looked at Adrianna. “Um… I…” He really wasn’t sure what to say. He smiled at Adrianna hoping she would see that as her opportunity to jump in and make that kind of decision. Yeah they had been hanging out but he was pretty sure Adrianna was pissed at him at the moment so saying anything could get him in trouble. If he said ‘no’ she would be terribly offended and probably kick his ass right here and now. If he said ‘kinda’ he’d have to explain that and that would be weird. If he said ‘yes’ Adrianna might think he was joking and then why wasn’t he making time to see her. Geez! This was complicated.

He really wanted Adrianna to make the decision here because he really wasn’t sure and he could only imagine the bad results of the answer. Lani gave her a confused look when she was shy and silent. He had never been with her when they both weren’t laughing and joking around. It was strange that Martin was being so friendly too. It was like the two had switched places. Lani chewed on the inside of his cheek and shook his head at Martin. “Eh, whatever.” He said with a shrug, “But seriously, just ask next time.” He gave Martin a sharp look thief to thief and the message couldn’t have been clearer. Next time I will end you. If only Martin had known how close his power had come to flattening him he probably wouldn’t find the whole situation so humorous.

Odion could feel heat rising to his face as Lani laughed. Was he just trying to make Adrianna feel better about something? He couldn’t tell, because he couldn’t hear what was going on between the two of them. Or was he laughing because of something Odion did? He wasn’t sure. He would hate to think that Lani was beginning to enjoy his antics. That would defeat the whole purpose of stealing to annoy him.

Had he known Lani was going to approach him, he would have stopped time. He had been meaning to ask Lani if anything could intercept his powers, or in other words, would Odion still be able to stop time if Lani had him under telekinesis? Like now? Had Adrianna not been with Lani, Odi would’ve tried to stop time despite the hold on his shirt. But he didn’t want to freak the girl out, because honestly Adrianna would only question Lani more then, and Odion didn’t want to be a topic of conversation. He really did wish that Lani hadn’t held him in place though, it wasn’t fair. Lani perhaps thought the meeting would be lighthearted – until he saw the state Odi was in. Odion’s eyebrows furrowed. Why wasn’t Lani picking fun at how terrible he looked? Or something along those lines. He couldn’t possibly care for the ginger, could he?

Lani shouldn’t care about the pocket watch. If he did, then he knew too much about Odion. Then he would know about the inner turmoil brewing within the redhead. “I know,” he said with a shrug, still wearing a weary smile, “just didn’t want to wake you.” Be as inarticulate as possible. That’s what Odion kept telling himself. Just keep wearing this smile and hope he goes off with his little girlfriend somewhere else to make out. He was already regretting his little practical joke. He just knew that Lani would have the pills on him. If he recounted them later, he would notice none were missing. But Odion was pretty sure Lani assumed he hadn’t taken any pills, only the bottle itself to piss him off. “Well I didn’t wake you, did I?” He asked, grinning for real this time as he challenged Lani’s better judgement. He couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself for pulling that off. He would forever hold it over Lani’s head, just because he could. Odion was glad he could escape at any point, now that Lani had released his hold on him. And yet, he lingered.

Odion nodded politely as he was introduced to Adrianna. It was strange, to meet the girl he had heard so much about from Rhett. She seemed lovely, to be honest. Not Odi’s cup of tea, but she seemed like a trusting person. Maybe that’s why she always ended up attracting the wrong guy. She was the type of person Odion steered away from. “Nice to meet you,” he said, being as genuine as he could given the circumstances, “Adrianna is far too pretty a name not to use.” He doubted she would return the sentiment. He just didn’t want to butcher her name by calling her Adrian. At least being introduced as Martin wouldn’t ring any bells in the girl’s mind. He didn’t have an association to Rhett. It did make Odion wonder though, once she did find out his real first name, would she think it was because he had lied to Lani? Or because Lani had lied to her? Odion cocked an eyebrow at Lani as he stuttered over whether he and Adrianna were going steady or not. He smirked a little, amused by how curious Lani was.

Odion looked to Adrianna, wondering what she would say. He nodded a couple times as she gave him the specifics about their dating relationship – they were both clueless dolts. He glanced at Lani, who was giving him a look he’d never seen before. “Yeah, not the best place to sleep I think.”

He held Lani’s look, and it was the first time he felt distinctly afraid of the blonde. Odion looked away quickly. So this was why Lani had come over to begin with, to put him in his place. Don’t play jokes on me anymore, that’s the message that was being given. Odion gulped, feeling shittier and shitter by the second. Why was he even playing nice for Lani’s benefit? “Well it was nice meeting you Adrianna,” he said, before turning on his heel to leave. Nothing would stop him this time, because apparently they weren't friends. This would be the last time Odion covered Lani’s ass.