Tension's Like a Fire

As the apartment began to echo the sounds that were coming from Alex’s and Jazz’s room everybody decided that it may have been a good time to leave.

“What the hell is that?” Rian asked with bulging eyes as the sound first became audible for people out of the room.

Then they all began hearing it and all of their eyes were expanding.

“Oh hell no.” Sally said as she turned from the kitchen where they all still were. “I can’t stay here and listen to my brother have sex.” She stated as she got to the door.

Everyone else followed finding this highly awkward.

Zack though following them out the door realized he wasn’t really in a “going out” sort of mood. He closed their door behind him then he spotted Jenny’s door and decided he wasn’t going out after all.

“Hey guys I’m going to see what Jenny’s up to. Go on without me.” He said as he started toward her door.

They waved him off and continued on their way.

As Zack approached her door he felt the usual barrage of butterflies that attacked the pit of his stomach when he’s about to be faced with her.

As he raised his hand to knock he remembered back to the first time he met her. It was when they moved into the apartment, she was the welcome committee.

A knock rang through the apartment packed with cardboard boxes and the few pieces of furniture they actually had.

He was the one who answered the door to be greeted with the image of the warm girl
with dark brown -practically black- hair and a big smile holding a plate of cookies in her black leather gloved hands.

His face instantly lit up with a smile. “Hello there.”

She caught sight of his bare toned chest and instantly lit up in a blush. “H-Hi, umm... I’m Jenny I live next door and I brought you guys some cookies as a home warming thing I guess.” She had the perfect speech or introduction already planned but that got lost somewhere between her apartment and Zack’s chest.

His smile grew, he loved cookies. Just because he liked to eat healthy and keep in shape most of the time didn’t mean he couldn’t get his fair share of excessive empty calories.

He took the plate from her gloved hands eagerly, “Sweet!” He couldn’t deny he loved he feeling of leather under his fingers as his fingers brushed hers in the exchange.

Rian and Jack were standing behind Zack by this point. Alex could honestly give a shit less about who was at the door and was off brooding and unpacking his room.

Rian’s eyes were fixed on the gloves on her hands. It was summer who would logically choose to wear leather gloves in this weather?

Jack on the other hand behaved in true Jack Barakat form. He was like an excited puppy who loved new people. She was lucky he didn’t piddle on her foot or hump her leg. He bombarded her with questions about the apartment complex and the people in. Her head was spinning from all the questions.

As Jack did the Barakat inquisition Zack had moved over to the side to munch on the cookies.

Rian and Jack eventually turned their attention to Zack.

“Are you gonna save any of those for us?” Rian asked motioning toward the cookies.

“I saw her first!” I only took a quick moment and a few shocked expressions for him to realize what he’d said. “I meant them. I saw them first.” He added quickly trying to cover that Freudian slip.

Ever since then they’d see each other in the hall and exchange shy simple pleasantries and steal glances.

She came to the door only a few moments after he knocked looking slightly disheveled, the way you do when you’ve either been cleaning your house for hours or scouring it for something that was going to haunt your mind until you found it no matter how realistically significant it was.

By one small glance passed her into the apartment told him it wasn’t the former.

“Hi Zack.” She said shy but still warm as she reached up to push her mass of curly -though not as curly as his- dark hair from her face. “What’s up?”

“There a really awkward situation going on a my place and I was wondering if I could hang out here with you for a while?” He asked rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Oh totally.” She said stepping out of the way gesturing for him to come in. “Excuse the mess.”

He walked in and waved off her worry that he’d care about the mess. “I don’t care.”

Then as he looked around he noticed something.

The gloves she never took off were laying on the counter in the kitchen area.

He turned back looking at her bare hands hardly believing it.

“I’ve never seen you without those before.” He said softly as he gestured over to the gloves delicately laid out on the counter.

His presence caused the fact that her hands were bare to slip her mind but now that he brought it back to her attention she felt it was something she should quickly remedy. There was a strange exposed feeling she had with him there, like he walked in and she was in nothing but a towel.

“It happens on occasion.” As she walked by him to get to the gloves.

He caught her hand while she was still within arms length. “Wait keep ‘em off.”

She froze as her hand touched hers, eyes wide and slowly turned toward him.

He felt her tense up and figured Rian’s guess of her being a huge germaphobe was right but once he saw the look on her face he felt it was more.

Zack’s life was passing before her eyes faster than most minds could interpret but hers was built to run this function at this speed.

She saw him through his awkward and gawky teenage years and all but the thing she realized the first second was he was like her.

He released her hand realizing how she was reacting. “Sorry.” He spoke quick trying to right this wrong somehow.

Her eyes stayed fixed on him, her body relaxed, and she spoke softly. Breathlessly. “You’re like me.”

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in question.

“You have super strength. You crashed through that wall in that abandoned house you, Jack, Rian, and Alex, would hang out and drink at.” She spoke still in awe. She knew as much as the guys did when they first met Jazz. She was unaware of other’s like her. She figured there could be others but she’d never seen any proof of it.

“How’d you know that?” He asked suspiciously.

Again she realized her awkwardness in his constantly shirtless presence. “Umm... Like I was saying, I’m like you and the guys. I have powers too.” She ended simply as she turned back and grabbed her gloves to prevent anymore information from hitting her like a ton of bricks.

He followed her into the kitchen area. “You do?” Now he was intrigued.

As she pulled the second glove into place she turned back to him.

Of course she realized that she should have probably kept her back to him because that chest was hypnotizing. “Y-Yeah. My hands are like windows to the past.”

He grabbed her now gloved hand -understanding the purpose of the gloves completely now- and brought her back to her couch. “Tell me about it.” And he gave her his full undivided attention. Like they ever didn’t have each other’s attention.

***

Feather light kisses trailing over Jazz’s bare shoulder blade up to the side of her neck kept her awake that evening.

They had separated to catch their breath but it seemed like Alex was ready for round two... or at least a good cuddle.

He slung his arms around her waist and a kiss finally landed on her cheek as he cuddled closer.

“So Jasmine,” He purred out feeling the afterglow. “You’ve heard my story, what’s yours?” He felt that they had this higher intimacy and he knew nothing about her to warrant it.

She turned over to her other side to look him in the face. “Why do you want to know this now?” She asked flabbergasted that this was the time to discuss the past.

He smirked and laced his hand with hers leaving the both of them to rest on her hip. “I want to know you in more than the biblical sense.”

She smiled thinking he was adorable. “Fine. Where should I start?”

He gave her hand a quick squeeze and kissed her neck quickly. “Anywhere you want.”

“When I was about eleven I had the “perfect family” I guess. My mom and dad were married and still very much in love and I was an only child. Granted most of my extended family was dead, so it was just the three of us. My grandparents were dead and both of my parent’s didn’t have siblings either. I mean I had nothing to ever complain about. Then we went on a vacation that changed that.” She paused and let out a huge labored sigh. She’d never really told anyone this. There were people who knew but never by her telling. “I hardly remember it really. It was another airport just like any other and a day that seemed just like any other. We boarded and I was sat between my parents and I felt like this could be the best trip ever. I fell asleep right as we took of just so the flight would be over when I opened my eyes. The flight was over long before I opened my eyes. The plane crashed.” She stopped again.

Tears were beginning to collect in her eyes.

Alex’s face visibly softened, and he released her hand and began soothingly rubbing her arm. “You don’t have to tell me.” He whispered.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “No I have to say it all sometime I guess. I’ve never spoken about it with anyone who didn’t already know.” She refocused on the story. “Well the plane crashed and I somehow slept through the whole thing. I’m so unobservant that I didn’t even observe a plane crash I was in.” She jokes lightly hardly meaning it though. “I woke up in a hospital an orphan. Not just that, I was the only survivor. The doctors called me a “very lucky little girl” and I wanted to spit in their faces and tell them to go to hell. I was so angry. All that I had in the world was gone and I was going to be shipped off to some foster home because I was way to old to even think about adoption. Everything I ever knew was turned upside-down. I was that angry kid all through middle school.” She let out humorless chuckle.

“It was my little foster brother Kevin that taught me how horrible I’d been. I, as one of the older kids, helped take care of the younger kids a little so I was tucking him in pulling up his ninja turtle bed sheets -he never got tired of the ninja turtles every time he got new sheets until I left when he was 13 they were ninja turtles-,” She noticed she’d strayed from the subject and got back quickly. “And noticed his nightlight. I asked why a big boy like him would need a nightlight. He looked up at me and said more honestly than I’d ever heard anyone speak and without hesitation that he was afraid of the dark and that was ok because most kids who were molested were and one woman in a therapy group told him that at 28 she still had to have a nightlight but other than that she’d recovered from her emotional scars.” She was crying now. “He was taken from his home because his father was abusing him. He was 9 and dealing with this huge horrible monster in his past just like me only his monster was uglier and he dealt with it better.” Her sobs stopped her from speaking for a moment. She buried her face in Alex’s shoulder until she found enough composure to finish. “That’s when I moved on to my short patch of self-loathing for a few weeks. Then on to where I am today. I don’t worry about me. I’ll survive. The old trite saying comes out and I’m forced to say, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Kevin’s 15 now, the strongest kid I know. I still keep in touch with him. He’s my brother and I won’t ever be told different.”

Alex smiled a sad smile at her and ran his hand over the side of her face pushing the hair away. He kissed her softly and pulled away. “You amaze me.”

“Why?” She totally didn’t get it.

“You just do. The way you‘ve dealt so well with tragedy.” He said simply the adoring smile not leaving his face.

“Everybody’s got tragedy.” She said dismissively. “It might not all hit young like ours but everyone gets their fair share.” She said as she pulled away and got out of the bed and began collecting discarded articles of clothing from the floor.

He watched her pull them on intently.

He kept watching her even after she got the clothes on and started toward the door. Once she got there and turned the knob she hesitated and turned back to him looking stressed or uncertain.

“Alex can you do me a favor?” She asked softly.

“Anything.” He said seriously and sat up.

“Call your parents?” She asked softly.

This took him off-guard but the answer came from his mouth without him willing it to. “Of course.”

She smiled at him and walked out

As soon as Alex realized what he’d said he was horrified. He hadn’t called them in years how do you break the ice after that?