This ain't no Island Vacation (Roomies)

[Charlie Mander]

Charlie groaned as she entered her dorm room with a splitting headache. She was a bit susceptible to headaches because of her power and she could feel one coming on so she decided to head back to her dorm, take a few Advil and get her mind off of it. She’d picked up her mail before coming back to the dorm and took a seat in one of the stuffed oversized chairs as she flipped open a copy of the latest National Geographic magazine and searched the table of contents for the article by her dad that she had heard about from a postcard he had sent her recently.

Charlie missed traveling with her dad to all those beautiful and exotic places. She missed not knowing where she was going to go or what she was going to be doing each day. It was rather boring with the routine she had here at school and had taken some getting used to when she first got here. It had been three years now though and although Charlie had gotten used to it with every postcard that her father sent her she missed the adventures. Her room was decorated with postcards from all over the world sent by her father and gifts that he would occasionally sent or bring with him when he visited which wasn’t too often.

She found the page number and flipped to it finding a picture of a waterfall in Hawaii. “Wish I had been there with you when you were dad..” she muttered to herself.

[Celena Grace]

Celena was in the bathroom, brushing her hair. She had just taken a shower, coming home from her parent’s farm. Helping out at the farm, was tiring and dirty. But she never minded the dirt it wasn’t a big deal to her, but she never liked the feeling. So taking a shower was necessary when she got into the dorm. Now she was clean and just ready to relax. She was wearing comfortable clothing, her hair wet and down; nothing to make her feel uncomfortable when doing whatever it was she was going to do.

Celena hadn’t thought much about what she would do when she got out of the shower. She never really thought about the future, she just took it by the minute. She stepped out of the bathroom and looked around at the common room. She grinned when she saw her roommate Charlie in one of the comfiest chairs in the dorm. She skipped over to the plush sofa, resting her hand on the back and hopping herself over to sit on the cushion. “Hey! Whatcha reading? Or looking at?” She tilted her head a little, curious at what the girl had in her hands.

[Charlie Mander]

Charlie looked over and smiled at her roommate Celena. Celena was pretty cool in Charlie’s book as far as roommates went especially since they connected with the sense that their powers were empathic related. Sure Celena was an empath and Charlie had empathic mimicry which wasn’t the same but it was something they could connect over. The only thing about it was that Celena was one of the few people at Hammel that could tell when Charlie was really upset when she was trying to hide it. There was no hiding emotions from an empath.

“Oh just the latest issue of National Geographic.” Charlie said. “See this picture of a waterfall. My dad took that picture. He’s a photographer and photojournalist for National Geographic. They send him everywhere. He told me about the article he was working on in the last postcard he sent me and I just got this issue in the mail so I wanted to check it out. I used to travel around the world with him before I found out I had powers and was recruited here.” Charlie said. “Doesn’t this picture make you want to go there?” Charlie asked letting Celena see the pages she was looking at.

[Celena Grace]

Charlie was a pretty cool person in Celena’s books too. She liked not having really girly roommates, actually Charlie was far from girly. Celen grew up with only a bigger brother around so it was a no brainer that she herself wasn’t as girly as she could have turned out. There powers weren’t the same but they were similar in the fact that they both revolved around emotions. Feeling others emotions or reading peoples mind wasn’t all the it was cracked up to be.

Celena nodded a couple times as she listened to show she was following. “That must suck.. Being able to travel around the world with your father and then having to stay here… It’s like caging a wild animal.. I’m sorry, I can see why your upset. Though if you ever get tired of the scenery my parents on a rescue farm we can go this weekend and go horseback riding on the trails. It would be a change of pace for you?” She liked helping people feel better and make them happy so it was no big deal for her to bring Charlie around the farm besides she was a friend. She knew it was an instant solution, or it would replace the traveling but it was a change of scenery and it was sort of like an adventure, especially if you got lost. Celena took the pages a looked at them “These are great, and yeah they do. Where is this taken?”

[Charlie Mander]

Charlie shrugged. “Yeah it does kind of suck. But after a few years I’m somewhat used to it. You know. I would love to go horseback riding with you this weekend. Getting out of town is probably just what I need.” Charlie said. There was no reason to deny that she was upset to Celena. Celena was an empath. She could tell that Charlie was upset and was one of the few people who honestly could so Charlie didn’t make a big deal out of trying to hide it from her.

“A change of pace would be great right about now actually. Maybe we can even try to blaze our own trail. That could be fun.” she said. Charlie smiled as Celena looked at the pictures and complimented them. She took pride in the fact that her dad had taken them so when someone complimented them it was like they were complimenting her. “Hawaii. On the island of Kawaii. I believe.” Charlie said. “I’m not sure if I have ever been there myself. The places I went to when I was young kind of mush together all you know. Have you ever been outside of Vermont?” Charlie asked.

[Celena Grace]

Celena smiled “Well it’s good you have gotten used to it. Awesome! I will text or call my brother to play chauffeur. I’m sure you will have a blast there.” It had been hard for her to get used to the country, since she had been born in the city and stayed there most of her life; it had been a big change. She had found she was able to get used to it more by spending time on the trails or just with the horses in general. She knew the home sick feeling Charlie was having; Celena’s forever home being in the city and Charlie’s being with her dad. “Being home sick does really suck.. But once you find that one thing that makes you happy it makes it all generally better.” She wasn’t sure if she had made any since at all.

Celena nodded “Yeah, It’s always amazing to go to the farm and it seems like every other week my parents have a new animal I can play with so it’s always fun and exciting. Have you every rode a horse before?” She just had to ask, she didn’t mind giving the girl lessons but she figured if the girl had traveled around with her father they probably went trail ridding or something. “Oh pretty. I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, I think that’s where I want to go for my honeymoon… But I feel like that’s so cliché.” She laughed at herself, it seemed a little silly to think of something that wasn’t going to happen for another couple years, but that’s what most girls did. “Yeah, I barely remember my childhood, it does just get all meshed together.” Celena nodded “Yeah, I was born in L.A, and it wasn’t till I was eight when we moved here; but other than different places in California that’s it.”

[Charlie Mander]

Charlie didn’t really have very many female friends but with Celena it just felt right. It felt like they were two of a pair and the connection with her was pretty instant. “Yeah. I guess. I mean I really love sports and found my niche that way. But that doesn’t make me miss traveling around with my dad any less.” Charlie said.

Charlie smiled as Celena asked if she had ever ridden a horse before. “Of course and my dad and I rode donkeys in the Grand Canyon once.” Charlie said. Charlie couldn’t help but laugh a little with Celena as she said she wanted to have her honeymoon in Hawaii even if it was a little cliché. “If you get a chance to go to Hawaii though I definitely recommend it.” Charlie said. “Huh…” Charlie said. Talking to Celena seemed to be helping Charlie out though and she wasn’t feeling sad and missing her dad quite as much. “Yeah ever since my mom died, I haven’t had a permanent place to call home and moved around so much that although I met a lot of people I didn’t stay in one spot too long to make friends with any of them really.” Charlie said.

[Celena Grace]

Celena had all kinds of friends; she got along with a lot of different people. She liked it that way, different people made it more fun for her. There was always someone to go to when you were in a certain mood. Like with Charlie she could always go to Charlie if she was in a sports mood. “Yeah, but in the moment it makes things easier and when you find more positive stuff, you don’t feel quite so home sick? “ She wasn’t sure if she had explained it right. But that was kind of how she felt, there were more positive things here in Pilot Ridge than back in L.A for her.

Celen nodded “Alright then, I won’t have to give you a lesson on the beginnings of horseback riding.” She grinned, less work for her but she would never mind giving someone lessons. But it would mean they could spend more time on the trails if she didn’t have to. “Really? I wouldn’t mind going there on vacation or something. It seems like an awesome place.” Celena nodded, she didn’t know what it felt like to lose a loved one like her mother but she could defiantly feel the girl’s sadness and in a way it was breaking Celena’s heart. “A home doesn’t have to be a permanent place. It’s where you feel most comfortable. Like the saying ‘home is where the heart is’ your heart is wherever your dad is.” She smiled “But meeting a bunch of people must be nice?”

[Carter Chevalier]

"It's not all pina coladas, beach bonfires and leis." Carter interjected himself into the conversation after listening from inside his room. He'd swung the door open before he spoke, lifting the shirt in his hands up over his head so he was actually wearing it. "At least, it wasn't the last handful of times I went there." He explained. And he would know, traveled man that he was.

Cart walked out of the doorway of his room and into the kitchen area, swinging the fridge open and finding himself something to drink. "Being at Hammel doesn't mean travel is dead either. I still go to France every summer."