“Do you want some sweatpants?” he asked and offered, “I’ll go back down and get you a pair.”
The short black volleyball shorts were an added bonus because she had great legs. He tried not to be a perv and stare.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. I just forgot them when you threw me the socks.”
“Sorry,” he said, feeling bad for not grabbing her the sweatpants that were hanging right beside the ones he had on. He wasn’t a creeper, but he also wasn’t a monk.
“No, this is fine. My pajamas don’t look a whole lot different from this.”
That got his mind racing. Now he wanted to know what she slept in. He’d have to content himself in knowing what Wren was going to be wearing this night.
“Eat up, kangaroo girl,” he said and joined her on the mat. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Elijah said, “I need to come up with a better nickname for you. I can’t have my new friend being called kangaroo girl.”
“Kangaroo girl? That’s the best you could come up with?” she finally asked.
Elijah smiled and felt a tiny tinge of victory that she wasn’t denying his friendship, at least. “I can come up with something. Just give me some time.”
She blushed and looked away, nibbling at a pretzel.
By the time they were done, Elijah had eaten the majority of the food. Wren had eaten half of a candy bar and a few pretzels. She did drink most of her slushie, though. He walked her to the bathroom down the hall, picking up on her desire to be escorted. He handed off the flashlight to her and let her go in without him. She was fast and was only in the bathroom for about two minutes. She certainly didn’t dilly-dally.
“Everything okay?” he asked when she rushed out and ran into him.
“Oh!” Wren exclaimed and braced herself with both hands against his chest. “Sorry.” She glanced over her shoulder.
“Wren, is…”
“It’s fine. Just got a little spooked.”
Elijah stepped back, looped an arm over her shoulder protectively and walked her back to their room for the night.
“Can you wait here and lock the door? I’m gonna check the building again and see if I can find some blankets for us.”
“I’m okay. I don’t need anything else.”
“I’ll be right back,” he said. “Just lock this. I’ll knock when I come back.”
She nodded but bit her lower lip. Elijah left and made a quick circuit of the building checking doors, even windows that were lower to the ground. Then he used the bathroom, washed up, and went searching for some blankets. The best he came up with was a few blankets in the lifeguard shack that they must’ve kept for emergency shock victims. They were the same gray wool ones that fire departments used when someone was rescued. At least they’d keep her warm.
When he went back upstairs, something caught Elijah’s eye. Motion moving across the front lawn of the big complex. It was three of them. The night crawlers. They were running at a fast pace, as fast as he could, and he trained all year long doing the sprints Wren had mentioned. He should’ve tried to make it home with her. Now they were stuck till morning even if something happened and they needed to evac the rec center. He shouldn’t have even brought her tonight at all.
When he tapped on the door, he heard her yip with fright on the other side.
“It’s just me,” he assured her, to which she immediately opened the door.
She flung herself against him, her arms encircling his neck, on her tiptoes to do it.
“Forget flowers. Guess I should bring you blankets more often,” he said, feeling her shake. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I saw some,” she said softly, pulling back. She had tears in her eyes. “Two of them. They were in the parking lot. When you left, I went to the window and looked out. I saw two of them. They…they…”
“What?”
He slipped inside the room and locked the door behind his back.
“They were…” she shuddered.
“Just say it,” he encouraged. He held onto the sides of her shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Tell me, Wren. What were they doing?”
“I think they were eating a dog,” she said and shivered under his hands.
“Jesus,” he swore and pulled her close, wrapping her in a comforting hug.
After a minute, she settled down, so Elijah led her to the mats and encouraged her to lie down and get some rest. He went to the windows and looked out. Whatever was out there before eating someone’s pet was gone now.
Elijah closed the blinds after checking to make sure the windows were locked. Even though they were on the top floor, it still made him antsy. Then he went back to her on the mat. He pulled one of the gray blankets up over her slim body, and she turned to face him.
“Lay with me? I-I don’t like this place. It’s making me jittery.”
“Sure,” he said agreeably, knowing she was upset about what she’d seen. Elijah stretched out beside her and rested his arm over her waist on top of the blanket. “It’s gone. Don’t worry.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“In the morning, I’ll check the place out again before we leave,” he told her.
She was still quiet. He wasn’t sure what was going through her head. She was hard to read most of the time anyway. Tonight was certainly no exception. Elijah reached over her and turned off the flashlight.
He asked against her hair, “Comfortable? Warm?”
He got a nod.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know why I’m so freaked out.”
“No, don’t be,” he said quickly. “You just surprised me is all. I figured you’d rather I stay somewhere over there in the corner with the spiders.”
She chuckled. They lay there a while in the dark and the quiet before she said something that would’ve made Elijah spit his drink if anything was in his mouth.
“Can we talk about sex for a minute?”
“What?” His voice cracked. Real cool.
“It’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You know, when I asked to talk to you about something.”
“Why’d you take so many days to bring it up again? I thought you wanted to tell me to go pound sand.” Her dark lashes rested against her cheeks, and she wouldn’t look at him. Whatever she had to say, it was embarrassing her. She just gave him a nod.
“I don’t get that saying- pound sand- but I think it means ‘get lost’.” She admitted, to which he nodded. “No, I didn’t want to tell you to pound on the sand.”
Elijah smiled but held back a laugh. He didn’t care if she was from another country and didn’t always understand what he was talking about. Wren could be from Mars, and he’d still like her.
“I know you think I’m some interesting and worldly person who’s been all over and experienced a lot,” she said. Then Wren shook her head. “But I haven’t. I’m never allowed to have friends. My friends are all gone. Once everything happened, I was forbidden from having any contact whatsoever with my old friends. The official story was that I was dead along with my family in a tragic house fire. Boyfriends weren’t even a consideration, not even for a second. Until I met you, I didn’t even have a friend for the last four years. Lila, I suppose. But my contact with her was also limited because of my inability to be able to talk to people openly or be myself. She only got to see me as who I projected, mostly just her neighbor who babysat for her sometimes. One slip-up and we were moving again. I got really good at not talking to people, mostly so I didn’t screw up and reveal something. Jamie was already sacrificing so much for me. I never wanted to put him in danger. Most weeks I’d go the whole time without talking to anyone but Jamie. You don’t know what that does to a person. It wasn’t just lonely. It ruined my ability to talk to people. If I made friends, I was just gonna be saying goodbye in a matter of weeks. I knew that. I was so used to moving. But when I met you, it was different.”
Elijah leaned up on one elbow slightly so he could see her better. He stroked his hand past her cheek and brushed back her hair. It had a wavy, sort of frizzy texture to it, but it was still really soft under his fingertips.
She added, “I actually wanted to know more about you. I liked talking to you, even though I knew it was breaking the first rule.”
“I like talking to you, too,” he admitted and traced her brow bone with his thumb.
“For the first time, I didn’t actually want to leave somewhere,” she said softly.
“And now?”
She shook her head. “Elijah,” she said and shifted her hips slightly.
“Yes?”
“The thing I wanted to talk to you about…” she started, stopped and bit her lip. Her breathing was shallow and coming out in nervous little pants.
“You can say anything to me, Wren,” he said. “I’ll never betray you.”
“I don’t want to die a virgin,” she stated and snapped her eyes shut and didn’t open them again.
He gulped. He didn’t mean to. It just happened. That was not what he expected her to say. He was hoping for maybe that she wanted to be his girlfriend or she was glad the flu virus brought them together or maybe she wanted him to kiss her. Hell, he would’ve just been happy if she called him her friend. Most of the time, she was just trying to get away from him, physically and emotionally. This was so much more. This new girl with the chip on her shoulder was burrowing her way into his soul.
“Um, okay,” he said stupidly. Then Elijah got his shit together and said, “Wren, that’s a big decision.”
“I know,” she interrupted. “It’s just that we could die, you know?”
“No, that’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”
“You can’t stop it. I could get sick. You could. One of us could already be infected and just don’t know it yet. I could get killed. There also seems to be a lot of people out there who want to kill me, including our school principal. It could happen.”
He vehemently shook his head this time. “I’m not leaving your side. Nobody’s going to get to you again.”
“I could still get sick. You know that, Elijah.”
“No.”
She looked crestfallen, which made him feel terrible.
Wren finally said, “It’s okay. I get it. Just forget it, okay? I’m not…I know.”
“What do you know?” he asked.
She tried to pull away, but Elijah wouldn’t let her.
“We shouldn’t, Wren,” he said. She looked hurt again. “I want to. Trust me on that one. I more than want to. I’ve thought about it.”
“You have?” she asked with surprise, making him smile. “You’ve thought about…you know, us being…together?”
“Of course,” he admitted. “I’m a guy, but I wouldn’t want you this way. I don’t want it to be something that feels like you getting to experience something because you’re afraid you won’t get to. That wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I’m not that kind of guy.”
“But I don’t want to die without ever experiencing sex. Everyone else has already done it. But when you move around every few months and can’t have a boyfriend, it makes it kinda’ hard to get someone to have sex with you.”
“Wait,” he said with a grin. “How many other guys have you asked?” He was teasing, but he also hoped it wasn’t true. Pretty much any guy she ever would’ve asked would’ve jumped at the opportunity. Him included, until about ten seconds ago when he realized his own morality was going to cock block him.
“Nobody!” she asked as if he offended her. “Just you. I’ve never asked anyone else that. Ever. It was hard enough asking you. If I’d known you were just gonna reject me, I wouldn’t have asked you, either.”
He used his forefinger to tip her chin up so that she would be forced to look at him. “I’m honored. I am. Really.” She didn’t look convinced. “I just don’t want you to do that with me just so that you can check it off your bucket list. That’s not what it would be for me. I care about you too much to let you do that. You’re… my friend.” The words felt and sounded forced, but not because he didn’t mean them. Elijah did mean it. She was a friend. It was just that other parts of him that weren’t friend zone spots were starting to think differently about her, despite trying to suppress them.
“Elijah, I’m eighteen years old. I’m not twelve. I want to do this.”
She rolled to face him and slid her hand down the front of him. He caught it right before she grabbed hold of him. A few more inches and she would understand just how much he wanted her. That wasn’t something he knew how to fake, not even just to himself.
“This is no place to experience your first time.”
“But I want to,” she argued.
She was tempting him, tempting his moral code something strong. Instead of arguing, Elijah rolled her away from him.
“You should get some sleep,” he said, to which she glared at him. He grinned. He almost couldn’t believe this. Here the new girl, hot, sexy new girl was basically throwing herself at him, offering up her virginity, and he was telling her no. Damn morality. She had an urgency to experience sex so that she didn’t die with regrets. He had news for her. He wasn’t about to let her die at all. They had time, hopefully a lot more time together.
“Let me make you a deal,” he said, trying to come up with something off the cuff so that she didn’t proposition someone else. That thought made him sick.
“A deal? We don’t need to make a deal. I already said I’m willing to have sex with you. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal for you.”
He laughed. This time he couldn’t stop it.
“Only you would say that,” he pointed out. “But no, that’s not what I meant. I won’t take your virginity just so you can get rid of it. If something happens, though, if it seems like things are going to get worse and we might not actually make it out of all this alive, then I’ll grant you your wish. I’ll do it. I promise. If it seems like it’s going to be the end for us, I’ll do it.” Why the hell was he promising her this? Oh, right. She was a beautiful, beguiling girl offering up her virginity if the world was ending. “Deal?”
“Um, okay. Deal. But what about tonight?”
He grinned. “Tonight, we sleep.”
Her cute frown of disappointment made him hug her to him and bury his face in her neck. She smelled good. Like chlorine water mixed with whatever soaps or perfumes she used. Or maybe it was just her. He didn’t know enough about girl stuff like that. All he knew was that she smelled good like a mixture of coconut tanning lotion and chlorine.
“Promise me you’ll have sex with me if things get worse?”
“Look, new girl, I’m definitely having sex with you at some future date if the world’s gonna end. Just not tonight. Not like this. Better?”
“Tell me about your family,” she requested and pushed back into him more firmly.
If she kept squirming against him like that, he was going to renege on his own deal. Morality be damned. He was thankful he’d remained on the outside of the blanket.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me something about your mom,” she asked.
Elijah took a deep breath. It was hard talking about them. He adjusted the bean bag pillow under his head and stroked his fingers through her hair. He started slowly, talked about her taking him to all his practices every summer and hosting lots of cook-outs for his friends on the team. She never complained. That was something he remembered about her very distinctly.
“She always gave and gave and gave and never asked for anything in return from any of us. The only time I ever saw her cry was when Alex left for the Army. She was really sad about that. Then when we found out she had cancer, I saw Alex cry. He was sorry he left and couldn’t come home for more than a weekend leave. That tore him up. Then when Dad and Stevie died in the car crash, it was just the two of us. They discharged him so that he could come home. If he hadn’t, I would’ve been stuck in foster care. He took on the roles Mom had always taken care of. He made sure I stuck to a strict schedule, took me to practices until I got my car, cooked and cleaned, and took care of the bills and all the adult stuff. He was only twenty when he had to come home. It’s my dad’s car, actually- the one I drive. I just got it running with the help of Jeremy’s dad. He’s good at that kind of stuff.”
“Now he’s dead, too.”
He nodded against her dark head. Jeremy’s dad was cool, one of those hands-on, involved parents. He was going to miss him. “Tomorrow, before we go home, I’m gonna zip over there and check on Jeremy. I don’t feel right not being there for my friend.”
Outside the window, the noises started up again, and Elijah knew they were no longer alone. She pushed back against him closer, and his arm instinctively tightened around her. A while later when she finally fell asleep, he rose and went to the windows again. Periodically, he’d see one running by. His gaze always flew to Wren’s sleeping form. He had to keep her safe.
His goal for the past six years of his life was to become the starting quarterback on his team, lead them to as many victories as possible, improve his stats every year, get noticed by a college scout, and finally obtain the right scholarship that could change his life. Over the last month, he felt himself feeling something different from ambition. Although he was definitely distracted by the annoying, irritating, gorgeous new girl, Elijah also felt his priorities shifting.
When everything started going south, he realized that being with Wren and keeping her safe was something he felt strongly about. Tonight, she had wanted him to take her virginity. There was no way he was doing that. For some reason he couldn’t quite figure out, Elijah didn’t want her to hand it over just so that she could experience sex with someone in case she died. He wanted something else. With other girls, he hadn’t cared. She was different, and she was changing him. He felt the shift slowly taking place within him. If someday they consummated their relationship, Elijah wanted more than just her body. He wanted to own her body and soul. Until she felt the same about him, he would wait. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about her, and he didn’t want her to give herself to him unless she had feelings for him. Until then, he just had to keep her alive and safe.
As the noises outside became louder and louder, those things making the sounds they did that were so terrifying, Elijah paced in front of the windows. Then he left her to check the whole building again. As he passed by the pool windows, he saw the same one that had chased him and Wren down.
He slipped behind a concrete pillar and stood in the shadows watching it track back and forth as if trying to figure out how to get inside. It was still out there, had possibly circled back remembering they were in this building. Every now and then it would poke its nose in the air as if trying to catch a scent. Then it would make screeching sounds. Even through the thick glass, Elijah could hear them. They weren’t noises a human vocal range would seem to be capable of creating. He’d watched all the classic Jurassic Park movies with Alex when he was younger. The noises this thing trying to find them was emitting reminded him of those screeches of the dinosaurs from those movies but mixed with a human-creature hybrid. The doctor on t.v. was right. These former people weren’t capable of much other than killing now, but they might be better hunters than any mere human ever was.