Oh my God, it's only been a month! 
Well, here's an update before school starts . . . Tuesday. *shudder* It's short and definitely is a tad bit more light-hearted than the last chapter. 
No angst factor in this one folks. *GASP*
I just needed a break from it. That last chapter took a lot out of me! I guess you could say this is a filler chapter. 
The next few chapters will very much be the answers to some of your recent questions, so, be ready for a bumpy ride. 
Anyway, I know you all are probably sick of my rambling by now, so, I present to you . . .
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Chapter Fifteen A</center>
The apartment sparkled as Isabel opened up the blinds in the small living room. She smiled at her work and was happy to finally rid of her messy apartment to be replaced with a spotlessly clean one.
She sighed tiredly and wiped the sweat above her brow and sat down in the cushy armchair next to the couch. It had been a few days since the ‘bathroom incident’ as she deemed it, and she was still no closer to figuring out how her subconscious version of Alex had saved her. It was an enigma to her and the more she attempted to decipher it, the more confused she became.
Isabel tried to call out to Alex, but he wasn’t responding. She assumed he was recuperating from the impact of the experience and would not come to call for another few days. She wouldn’t be surprised if her assumption was correct though. Since the morning she woke after it happened, a terrible migraine had been plaguing her day and night.
Though her migraines are awful, she’s been having a very smooth ride over the last few days. There was no longer any pain in her abdomen and all she felt now was the baby letting her know of his presence. Before, it was a very odd occasion when she would not have stress, but now the only stress she had was finding a job, eating healthy, and keeping her apartment clean. It may seem like a lot, but to her it was nothing. Earlier today she even received a call from the manager at
Dillard’s confirming an interview for later in the week.
Yep, everything was running smoothly and she was finally comfortable here in Maine. She felt like she belonged and just that alone made her heart swell with happiness. She had gone out yesterday and when she smiled at people, they had actually smiled back. She called Bennie about it last night and he had said after what happened at
The Kiwi Express, people sympathized with what had happened and felt horrible for the way they had treated her before.
The thing that mattered though, was that she didn’t feel like an outcast any longer in the community. There were still those few that would still give her dirty looks, but at least it wasn’t the whole population. She was happy, her baby was okay, and everything was finally falling into place.
Gavin yawned widely as he rolled over in bed, squinting at the small, black clock on his bedside table, the colors of the room blurring together. He picked the clock up and propped himself up on his elbows, the red glaring numbers mocking him—laughing at him, telling him it’s time to get up.
“11:27 A.M.?” He sat up, ran his hand down his face and scratched the back of his head. He sighed, “Great. I’ve wasted the entire morning.”
He put the clock back on his nightstand and wandered over to the bathroom to take a shower, almost running into the door because of his sleep-induced stupor. He randomly turned the faucets, took off his plaid boxers, and stepped into the hot streams of water.
As he lathered his lean-muscled body with a bar of Dial soap, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about his encounters at Subway from the night before. Yes, he had been flirting with another girl, but that was his nature! Besides, it’s not like he and Anna are together . . . technically.
What really got him though? Why did he suddenly feel guilty for pursuing another girl?
Thinking aloud, “Anna and I aren’t together, but I feel like I need to go to her and apologize for something that is in my nature.” His face screwed up in concentration, but fell and he sighed once again. “What has she done to me?” He inquired.
Continuing to lather his body and contemplate how a girl he barely knows affected him so much, another thought came to mind.
“I’ve never felt like I’ve had to apologize for something so trivial as flirting. I mean—come on! I’ve dated three girls at once without having any problems before and now here I am, not,
technically dating anyone, but feeling like a slime ball for just talking with another beautiful girl.”
He leaned against the shower doors, closed his eyes, and whispered, “Anna . . . She’s so beautiful, but so closed off. I only went on one date with her, but I want to feel her next to me again, run my hands through her hair . . . have her body close to mine.”
For a couple moments, all he did was think about her, everything from her hair to her scent. He missed her terribly and his heart ached for her to be near him. Then the realization hits him . . .
“I’m falling for her.”
He opened his eyes and his brow furrowed, looking down, his immediate thought is, ‘Cold water.’
Gavin walked briskly with Bennie down the aisle of the store alongside the CDs and DVDs, speaking with him about his meeting last night with Amilee and his thoughts in the shower about Anna.
“I’m so confused about everything lately that I feel like my head’s going to explode. I don’t know what to do with Anna, and I feel guilty about flirting with Amilee, what’s a guy supposed to do!” He exasperates, watching Bennie shakes his head at him with an odd smile crossing his face. “What?”
They stop in the middle of the aisle and move into the side portion with computers and laptops.
Bennie grabs Gavin by the shoulders and looks him squarely in the face. “One, you never tell a woman about your pursuing of another, especially if it was accidental, or in your case, just in your nature. Two, this is me you’re talking to! You know, Anna’s best friend?”
Gavin gives him a dirty look, “I know that!”
“Well?” Bennie asks.
It dawns on Gavin what he’s talking about. “Dah!” He hits himself in the head with the heel of his hand. “I can get advice about Anna from you.” He gives Bennie a mischievous grin, “So, what have ya got?”
Bennie put his arms down, crossed them over his chest and pursed his lips, “Well, I can’t divulge her secrets to you or anything, but I can give you hints as to what she has gone through. Also, before the whole fiasco with the baby, you made her very happy and I can tell she still secretly wants you. Who doesn’t see it?” He states rhetorically continuing to walk.
Gavin ran up to him and turned him around, “Well?” He saw the look in Bennie’s eyes, “What’s the catch?”
“The catch is, I can’t tell you anything.”
Gavin stopped and a confused gaze crossed his face, “Wait? I don’t understand!”
Bennie turned around and a stern look crossed his features, “Look, I would love to divulge hints to you, but I just realized I can’t.” He noted the look on Gavin’s face, “Why? Because if Anna even caught the slightest that I did, she will murder me. You have not had to face her wrath!”
He paused, “Besides, you’re too smart. Those hints would not be clues. You would eventually decipher them and discover the secrets she has told me and then I would lose a very good friend. I’m sorry.” Bennie walked and went through a door in the back leaving a baffled Gavin.
Gavin scratched the back of his head and walked opposite of where Bennie went and said, “Damn, he’s a loyal friend. Looks like I’m not the only one whipped by Anna’s charm.”
Isabel catches her breath from the light jog she took around the block and stops at the front of her apartment building where the mail is kept and checks her box.
“Hmm . . . what do we have for today?” She light-heartedly questions and takes out a stack of letters. “Let’s see: junk, junk, not interested,” she pauses and looks at the address of the next one, “Ah, last pay check. Thank God.” Placing it behind the rest of the letters, she notes that there is one left. From the look of the envelope though, she knows automatically it’s a letter from her parents.
Smiling, she continues on her way to her apartment.
Once inside, she slips off her sneakers and heads to her bedroom where she sits Indian-style on her comfy mattresses and uses her powers to carefully tear open the envelope. Scanning the letter carefully, she bites her lip and stares off for a moment, thinking about the questions her mother and, especially, her father want answer to.
She sighs, “There’s no way I can put this in writing, but I don’t want to leave them in the dark either. How am I going to do this?”
She knew the answer almost instantly but didn’t know if she should do it or not. ‘It could be safe, but then again . . . theirs could be tapped. Should I take the risk?’ She knew it would not only be a risk to herself but her parents also, but there was no other way. Except dreamwalking, but the last time she used it on one of her parents it gave them nightmares for a week. She didn’t want the same thing to happen. ‘But I didn’t have control of it then. I just knew it existed . . .’
She shook her head vigorously, “Dreamwalking’s out of the question. My parents just found out about us being aliens. They may have adjusted to us being aliens but still have yet to adjust to the fact that we have powers.” Isabel stopped her rant and noted that she still referred to everything that was alien-related as ‘we.’ “Some things will never change,” she stated mournfully and got up from where she sat.
Sitting down on the small, dilapidated couch, she grabbed the phone from its cradle and dialed, still staring intently at her parents’ letter. She was determined to give them the answers they wanted—needed to have.
