Wayward (Adrianna, Odion)

[Lani Hunter]

To say that Lani was losing sleep would be a vast understatement. It almost seemed like the only times he could sleep were in class or in random places he just happened to pass out, but as soon as he got into his bed it was all over and he would spend hours staring at the ceiling before weariness finally trumped his thoughts and he fell into sleep. So when he had asked Adrianna to meet him and maybe go to a movie he hadn’t anticipated wanting to push a movie purely for the fact that he just wanted to sit in comfy chairs in the dark. He felt bad about it but he felt like he was neglecting Adrianna. Sure they had their dance lesson but Lani had hardly had time to see her outside of that. They still hadn’t had a chance to have their race, though Lani wasn’t complaining. The more time he had to train the less likely he would have to wear a dress. One thing Adrianna wouldn’t count on was Lani’s tendency to cheat. He didn’t want to resort to that in such a friendly competition but he really didn’t want to wear a dress.

More than half of the reason for the loss of sleep was this mysterious Martin. Lani hadn’t seen him in the few nights after the heist. Lani had gone over the events a million times and still couldn’t quite figure it out. Though it seemed that Martin had kept his word for no one had come at him wielding handcuffs yet. Lani had taken another look through Martin’s file and had become convinced that the man had lied to him. After all, the only person named Martin or anything close was an Odion Martins. Lani wasn’t sure if he was avoiding the young man or if Martin was avoiding him but either way Lani wasn’t sure he was ready for another confrontation. Mostly because the more he thought about it the more it seemed like Martin had helped him out. But Lani didn’t like owing people, he didn’t like having more than one debt hanging over his head and he really couldn’t afford to be indebted to more than one person.

Standing in front of a mirror he checked himself over. He didn’t show lack of sleep very obviously and he looked normal otherwise. The burn wasn’t too noticeable anymore. He stretched his neck to get a better look and scowled. If he ever saw that bastard again he was going to have more than a few fists to throw. It was not a small streak of skin a little more pale than the skin around it hidden partially behind his ear. He shook his head and turned away ignoring his newest scar. He trotted down the steps of the dorm, heading for the courtyard where he had told Adrianna he would meet her. He swallowed his stress and thinking about getting away from the world with her felt like a dream. She somehow made him forget all of his problems. It was just too bad she couldn’t make them all go away. He hadn’t struck up the courage to tell her anything about his sneaking about; he didn’t quite trust her with that yet. It might be a while before that came about.

He moved out into the spring sunlight and smiled. It was warmer than usual as all winter had been and he was glad he could finally go out in a t-shirt and jacket. It was certainly more comfortable than the mounds of snow they had been trudging through a few weeks ago. He hummed a random tune and a small smile formed on his face as he watched the pleasant cumulus drift by on the upper level winds. He had always been jealous of birds and, ever since he came here, people who could fly. There were people dotted around the courtyard some just sleeping in the sun and others lying with books open pretending to study. He was little early and so he plopped down on a bench kicking his legs up on the other side and stretching himself like a cat across the entire length of the bench. Heavy eyelids got the better of him. They drooped and fell over his eyes. He popped them open and checked his phone for the time. He had a good ten minutes… that was enough time for a nap… right? And like his trend all week his eyes closed and sooner than was expected he was blissfully unaware of the world.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna had spent most of her time the past few days sitting in her room thinking. No, she wasn't turning into a hermit again, she just needed time to sort through her thoughts. And she needed time to miss Craven. She'd been so caught up in her own little world with Lani that she hadn't even really thought about her best friend. He'd left about a month ago and she still couldn't really believe it. He had always been around since she'd come here and now he wasn't and she couldn't figure out if it was good or bad. They'd had a falling out and were in the midst of some pretty intense stuff, but she never thought he'd really be gone. It wasn't that she needed him anymore, she liked to believe that she didn't, but he'd been her first friend at Hammel and she couldn't help but miss him.

The fact that she'd been staying in her room since the dance lessons made her feel a little guilty. She hadn't seen him in a while and because of that they hadn't gotten their race in yet. She wasn't really into training for it, after all in her eyes it was just a silly race. She didn't care if she won or not. Actually, she hoped that she didn't because she didn't want Lani to do something he didn't want to do. Her bet had been a small joke, if she did win, she most likely wouldn't make him do that. She'd find something else that would do just as good to satisfy her.

When Lani invited her to go to a movie, she had been a little hesitant. She still wasn't entirely sure about the whole thing. She couldn't figure out if they were dating or if it was just a fling with some added feelings. It didn't bother her that she could have been only a part of a fling, it was still a distraction and she wouldn't have to bury her soul to him in that case. But she did like him a lot and she wanted to have a relationship that would last; one that would let her forget her last relationship failure. That being the case, she agreed and intended on looking pretty, but not as done-up as she usually was. A simple pair of jeans and a flirty tank top would have to do. The only time she'd really spent getting ready was on her hair, and that was only because straightening it took a pretty long time.

Once she was ready, she looked at the clock and realized she'd either be right on time if she ran or she'd be a tad bit late. And she didn't plan on running. She took her time going out to the courtyard where she'd said she'd meet him. The reason she was taking her time was to build up a resistance of how much she was allowed to hug him and kiss him. Ridiculous, yes, but needed. She was still working on the whole not getting attached thing, so it was necessary.

The courtyard wasn't crowded like it usually was in between classes, but there were a few people scattered around. Adrian looked around and spotted the boy on a bench, asleep. She smiled as she came closer and went to the side where his head was laying. Adri placed her hands on the side of his face gently and stroked his cheekbones lightly. With a wicked smile on her lips, she bent down beside his ear and whispered his name, her hands sliding from his face down his neck to his shoulders. The girl was good at being a temptress, even if she didn't like to admit it.

[Odion Martins]

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.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s dreams were dark and his awareness was hazy. He was in that strange moment stuck between sleep and wakefulness. He couldn’t be sure what was actually going on. His power was coiled like a snake resting against his mind making him both pleased and uneasy. It was like an extra awareness, he could always count on. The power stirred as someone passed and it alerted him that something was wrong. He twitched but he couldn’t feel any immediate danger so he ignored it. It ignored him and uncoiling. He hushed it, unsure if it had been his dreams that had made it stir. It wouldn’t be the first time. Despite his desire he peeked one eye open and found himself looking at the world through a blurry eye and finding no useful information he closed it and fell back into unawareness.

Then someone touched him. His whole body went rigid and he came to awareness without seeming to. The hands were gentle, familiar. A chill ran the length of his spine as the hands moved and his name was whispered. Adrianna, his mind identified. He peeked one eye open at her and blinked a few times banishing the remaining bleariness. He smiled up at her and slowly rolled to a sitting position. “Hey,” he said digging the heel of his palms into his eyes. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened.” He groaned inwardly but when he looked up at her he only hoped he didn’t have to explain why he wasn’t sleeping during the night. It was really rather embarrassing to have to lie about stealing and to have to cover up the fact that some guy was keeping his thoughts active. Perhaps he should just find Martin and talk to him and get it over with.

Adrianna looked beautiful, she always had that smile on her face. "Nice to see you, you look beautiful," he said with a charming smile. Adrianna's smile that made his problems vanish like vapor in the wind. But then again. That vapor, if it built up long enough, could create clouds and those clouds could create a downpour that could flood the streets. A storm that could bring everything around him crashing down. “Sorry it’s been a while,” he said with an apologetic smile. He reached out for her and gave her a kiss. The warmth of Adrianna spread through him. He caught sight of movement over her shoulder. That flash of red hair. His eyebrows pulled together with curiosity. Martin? What was he doing here? And what’s more why was he hiding? He absently patted his pocket, having the strange feeling that something was missing. The pills! Abruptly he looked around at the ground and then felt his pocket again.

As Lani put two and two together a small knowing smile crossed his face. He leaned back against the bench and smiled at the pickpocket both a little peeved and a little impressed. He hadn’t felt a thing. So his power hadn’t been reacting to his dreams. It had sensed someone and tried to act. Well this was certainly interesting. Lani couldn’t even boast that kind of skill, at least not anymore. He generally had to rely on running into someone to distract them. Well, joke was on him this time. He grinned unable to help himself. Despite the annoying fact that without those pills he was likely to have a pounding headache in a few hours it was pretty good. Lani’s expression turned serious as a sudden thought occurred to him. What if Martin was here to expose him? But then if he knew Martin, which he very well might not, he would have come up and made Lani sweat about it. Either way if she was going to find out about his secret it was going to be from him. He turned back to Adrianna. “Do you have any idea what you’d like to see? I really don’t know what’s out and I didn’t really think this far ahead.” He laughed a little bit and ran a hand through his hair nervously. He reached out his power for the pill bottle and was rather pleased that he was able to focus on Adrianna and use his power at the same time. He tugged at it lightly, letting the redhead know, if he didn’t already which Lani didn’t doubt, that he knew he had the pills. And Lani wanted them back.

He shook his head a little and reached out for Adrianna’s hand. “Hey I think I dropped something over there,” he gestured his head toward the tree where Martin was hiding. He stood beckoning for her to follow, well he wasn’t about to let Martin know that he was afraid. He felt Martin with his power and ever so gently gripped Martin's shirt with his power, not letting his slippery friend get away so easy. “So is this how we’re saying hello now?” He asked rhetorically as he approached the tree. He propped himself up against the tree and looked down at Martin a sly smile playing on his lips. He extended his hand speaking softly, “I believe you have something of mine.” The smile faded as he caught a real glimpse of the redhead. He was too skinny, at least more skinny than he had been when Lani had last seen him. He looked pale and a little displeased with the world in general. Like he hadn’t been outside in days and he was disappointed that the sun was still shinning. What was going on with him? He willed himself not to be affected by Martin’s current state. It didn't work. Worry caused his brow to crease and he found himself suddenly without anything sly or clever to say. His hand dropped to his side and he winced. "You look like hell," he informed the pickpocket.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

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.

[Odion Martins]

Odion looked away again as soon as Lani went to give her a kiss. His nose twitched up and he was snarling unintentionally. He needed to get a grip on things. He took a couple deep breaths, watching the horizon and trying just to focus on that. Thinking about or doing nothing was a lot harder than he thought it would be. He chanced a peek again, only to find Lani smiling at him. He looked away again and mentally started swearing profusely, the pill bottle wiggling by itself next to him. Odion grabbed the pill bottle and stood up, ready to make a run for it. Usually when it was a tossup between fight, flight, or freeze, flight usually won. He wouldn’t get that choice today.

He tried to move but found his shirt was stuck. Only one person could be doing that, and here he came, with Adrianna in tow. Odion tried not to grimace at their held hands, and stood facing the two of them as they approached. “Sorry mate, I didn’t want to bother you, I had a headache and I knew you’d have these on you,” he said. He could play the friend card, rather than run away now. The pocket watch Rhett had given him was outside of his shirt instead of in and although he noticed it, he didn’t want to draw attention to it and just left it there instead of putting it back. He extended the pills toward Lani’s hand, “Lucky for me you’re a heavy sleeper,” he offered a charming smile, and then nodded to Adrianna.

Odion watched Lani carefully, smirking instead of punching, kicking, biting, or throwing the blonde like he wanted to. “Careful Lani, I might start to think you give a damn about me,” he said light heartedly, but it was anything but. Lani wouldn’t look like he cared if he didn’t. He didn’t have anything to lose by not caring so why was he concerned over someone he didn’t know? This conversation was bound to be pleasant, of course. Tomorrow he was going to get so wasted, he wouldn’t remember his own name. Odion glanced down at himself anyways, thinking he hadn’t lost that much weight. But if he really thought that he wouldn’t have noticed at all, which he hadn’t until Lani mentioned it. Perhaps he wasn’t coming off as suave as he wanted to be right now. With Adrianna here, it was just strange. It was all kinds of wrong place and wrong time. Odion cast a glance at Lani, it was almost pleading. He just wanted to leave now, thank you very much.

That flight system was kicking in again as he looked at Adrianna. If anyone would be pleased to see Rhett disappear it would be her. “I didn’t know you two were dating,” he said. He wasn’t sure what Lani was playing at, bringing her over here. Odi hadn’t wanted to expose him, wasn’t that clear enough? He could break his girlfriend’s heart on his own time. Odion didn’t know the extent to which Rhett had helped Adrianna’s ex betray her. Talen wasn’t somebody he knew very well, and he hated him as much as she did. It hurt him that Talen had been Rhett’s first kiss. It hurt him that Rhett had so easily forgotten about him, once when he was stealing boyfriends, twice when he left his boyfriend. Odion rubbed his temples, trying not to think about all the particulars. Why couldn’t he be interested in people he didn’t have some odd sort of connection with?

Adrianna hid behind Lani like she had something to hide. It was that, or she had some trust issues. The girl had never once been described as shy, and Odion looked at her, waiting for her to say something. She looked up at Lani, as though waiting for permission. This struck him as odd. Lani wasn’t that type of control freak, was he? Odion scratched the back of his head, not giving himself away. “I’m sorry if I interrupted anything,” he said, offering a smile. He was anything but. Now he was even more curious about these two, but he wasn’t going to ask anything more. Not right now.

[Lani Hunter]

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.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna was oblivious to the direction that Lani’s thoughts were. Telepathy would have helped her a lot, but she didn’t know that. After all, why would he feel that she was mad at him? She was just upset about her best friend being gone, but she knew that was no reason to take it out on Lani. It wasn’t as if he deserved her distance. She hadn’t even meant to be distant with him; really it would be best for him to say something about it because she had no clue that she was coming off evasive. Her mind was elsewhere, but she tried to keep it on track. Starting with focusing on Lani and his smile. She returned the smile and laughed with a nod, “Yes it would probably be a great idea. You need your sleep; otherwise that power of yours will get out of hand. At least, that’s what I was told in class.” She scrunched her nose at the mentioning of class. Senioritis was starting to kick in early. She had been tempted to skip her classes lately.

The short amount of space between them made Adrian even more uncomfortable than being close to him did. So, she scooted closer and reached out for his hand, draping his arm around her shoulder with a smile when she rested her cheek against his shoulder. Much better. Well, okay, maybe not better for her case, but her uneasiness was better. She looked up at him when his smile faded and she frowned in return. “Lani, really it’s alright. I understand you don’t have to apologize.” She ran her fingers through his hair lightly and smiled slightly. When he answered her she looked up at him. If he hadn’t dropped them then where did they go? Mysteriously disappearing pills, interesting.

She smiled wider when he agreed to the scary movie and kissed his cheek, “I heard that Paranormal Activity has a new one out, if you can handle it.” She winked at him and smirked. Adrian wasn’t exactly a horror flick fan, but she liked getting scared out of her mind every once in a while. She followed him over to the other boy and she got the vague feeling of time control, but she couldn’t be sure. It was similar to the feeling she’d gotten around the last time controller she’d ran into so she had a pretty good idea. The boy in front of her looked upset about something and it was a familiar look that made her think it had something to do with emotions instead of just physical stuff. She tried to decipher why it was familiar, but was failing.

Adrianna stood beside him and smiled politely, “It’s nice to meet you. You can call me Adrian; my full name is way too long.” She looked up at Lani when Odion asked if they were dating. To be honest, she just wanted to see Lani’s reaction to the question. Her own was deep in thought. Were they dating? When he smiled she knew he wanted her to be the one to make the decision, but she didn’t want to say that they were if he wasn’t ready for it. She nudged Lani with a smirk and shrugged, “I guess you could say that. It’s kind of casual, but with some possible potential I think.” She could tell that Lani probably didn’t know any better than she did. It was quite complicated, but it didn’t have to be. But she’d leave that conversation for a more private venue. In front of a boy she’d just met was definitely not the right time.

The silence she’d had before was slipping away as she got more comfortable with the situation. No longer with her mind on her absent best friend, she was able to open up more and be herself again. Bubbly and happy in front of strangers. “You didn’t interrupt anything, we were just meeting up here, but as you may have noticed, Lani here fell asleep.” She playfully glared at Lani, but cracked into a smile after. She stayed close to Lani’s side, but her earlier tense posture had eased a bit and she was now somewhat able to handle everything. She stored the affects of Craven’s transfer to the back part of her mind and looked up at Lani as he exchanged a clear message with the other boy. It was almost threatening and she couldn’t help but look at him slightly confused. She’d thought that they were friends.

[Odion Martins]

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.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani winced a little when he realized how right she was. “Oh yeah,” he rubbed his head a little and laughed it off, “I suppose that would be really bad, huh?” Stupid power. It kept him up at night but he needed sleep to keep it under control. Perhaps he should also go to his powers training, that would probably also be a really good idea. Oh well, Lani wasn’t really full of good ideas today. She closed the gap between them and Lani couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He pulled her close and smiled resting his head against hers and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. He ducked his head and shrugged his shoulders when she insisted he didn’t have to apologize. Her hands running through his hair caused a strange but soothing sense of a worry free world. It was almost like he could just as easily passed out right her again just from her touch. He had never had someone touch his head before but now he realized why most of his guy friends only needed a rub from their girlfriends to get them completely chilled out.

Paranormal Activity! Of all the… “Sure thing,” he said with a smile and winked at her, “I just hope you can handle it.” No really, he was about to be the most skittish telekinetic in the history of ever when he sat through that movie. He had seen the first one with his friends, who then spent the duration of the night making fun of him. Adrianna was about to learn what it was like to have the circulation in her arm cut off. It was so strange because he could usually handle things like haunted houses and such, enjoyed them even, after the initial scare was over he laughed about it but movies like this were so different that Lani would be lucky if he ever slept again! Oh dear, what had he gotten himself into? His worries about him embarrassing himself in a few hours was tossed to the back by Martin. The redhead seemed to recognize Adrianna and Adrianna him but then there was no exchange of friendship or rivals so Lani shrugged it off.

“How sweet,” Lani said his voice dripping with sarcasm. Didn’t want to wake him, yeah he had better excuses out of a cactus. He had to admit that he was jealous. Impressed and a little peeved but jealous. Part of him wanted to be taught how to do that, but he had his power for that so what need did he have? Lani raised a brow and his head dipped a little as he tried to understand what Martin was playing at. He flushed as Martin rubbed salt into the wound. Don’t rub it in, he wanted to say but settled for, “Yeah, I suppose I have to give you that one.” He sighed and gave Adrianna a long suffering look. But he couldn’t hold it and smiled. Well when all he have left is embarrassment he just had to laugh at himself and chuckle he did. He crossed his arms and leaned against the tree shaking his head grinning to himself. His thoughts were in a much brighter area than they had been recently and he had to admit that Martin’s little trick had pulled him out of his weariness.

“But you have a beautiful name,” Lani protested as she suggested her shortened name. His eyes shot to Martin and their words meshed together at the same time. He narrowed his eyes and wondered for a moment if he should see Martin as competition. He blushed furiously when she nudged him and shrugged his shoulders looking altogether impish leaning against this tree and giving them sideways looks. “A lot of potential, I’d like to think,” he said giving her a wink and a grin. He bobbed his head a little and looked back at Martin a little embarrassed to have said that in front of him. It was almost like Lani was rubbing salt into Martin’s wounds now, but then Lani had no idea what was going on with Martin so how could he have known. He rolled his eyes a little and shook his head again. “Lesson learned,” he said dryly not really liking how the pair of them was ganging up on him.

When Martin dropped his eyes Lani knew the message had been received. Lani didn’t like to be humiliated and after being chased down on the roof Lani was not in the mood to even let Martin think he was competition. He blinked and his eyes were bright again and more than a little concern sparked in his gray orbs. Lani smiled a little but Martin’s sudden departure. “Hey,” he called after the redhead, “Take care of yourself.” He wasn’t sure Martin would stop but something made Lani want him to leave to keep him from spilling Lani’s secret but the other half of him didn’t want to leave Martin alone in this state. He reached out for Adrianna’s hand and looked after Martin and looked at the pills in his hands. He pocketed them and glared after Martin wondering for the first time why when he gave Martin that look he hadn’t gotten a snide comment or flatly why Martin didn’t punch him in the face.