~ Part 6 ~ | The Act We Make

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**Never Enough (The Greatest Showman) **
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"All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough
Never be enough"

~Loren Allred (The Greatest Showman)

*****

"So..." Cole said awkwardly. "You're interested in the impending doom of the world?"

Zane raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the boy as he dunked the dish into the water. Cole mentally smacked himself in the head.

He's just immune to humour and sarcasm- not stupid!

The last time they had done this they just cleaned up in silence. Now Cole was trying to be social in attempt to satisfy Jay's pushy needs to have a positive relationship with absolutely everyone. And since it was a choice between Zane or Kai, Cole decided that he'd have a go at the serious blonde.

Look how that was working out.

"The weather's pretty nice this morning..." Cole  winced at his own line, placing the dishes to dry.

"It's the evening." Zane deadpanned.

They stared at each other for a moment.

Cole was the first to break eye contact. "I'll shut up now." Cole mumbled, plotting ways to kill Jay in his sleep for forcing him to go through this terrible interaction.

They were quiet for a moment. The only noise was the sound of splashing from Zane swiping the cutlery with a sponge.

"I noticed that you and Jay Walker are very close." Zane said softly. "Have you known each other long?"

Cole whipped his head to stare at him. "Uh... no not really. We met on the first day."

"I see."

Cole's brow furrowed, unsure what his peer was getting at.

"Uh...how is your roommate?"

"Kai?"

"Yes, Kai."

Zane shrugged. "He is a satisfactory companion."

"Really?" Cole tried not to sound surprised.

"He does get night terrors. I am unsure if that would lower his rating of a 'good roommate' though."

Cole fell quiet. "Night terrors?" He breathed.

Zane blinked. "I'm sorry, is that word not in your vocabulary? Perhaps nightmares will suffice."

"No! I know what night terrors are." Cole pressed his lips together as clomped the last dish into the rack.

"I see." Zane almost looked surprised, making Cole feel slightly offended.

Did he think he was stupid?

Well I suppose I can be pretty stupid at times. Cole admitted to himself as he ran the towel along the lovely dish. Beautiful blue ink drawings ran alone the edges of the porcelain. But he wasn't that stupid.

Right?

Right.

He wasn't like Jay. Jay had tripped over his own feet trying to put his sock on. But he wasn't stupid per se. Cole frowned in puzzlement. Cole did things like that too. Maybe he was a little stupid...?

"Cole."

"Huh?" Cole said dumbly, only emphasizing his internal argument as he glanced up to see Zane's cold gaze on him. "What?"

"Your mobile device is signalling for your attention." Zane nodded towards his pocket.

It took Cole a moment to really process what the boy said. "Wha-Oh!" Cole fumbled to grab the vibrating phone as he turned it on and checked the caller ID. His expression hardened as he read the name. Zane furrowed his brow in confusion when the raven haired boy pressed the cancel call button and slid the cellphone in his pocket. Before returning to the dishes, a little more aggressive than before.

"Aren't you going to answer your caller?" Zane spoke up.

Cole jumped as if he had forgotten he was there. "No!" It came out to sharp. Cole tried to flub through it. "Er- it wasn't...I don't need to answer it immediately. I just...I'm helping you with the dishes so I can talk to him later." He lied.

Zane narrowed his gaze. "I see." He said slowly. Zane placed down the dish. "Well, I think we are done now."

"Oh." Cole paused, shoulders sagging. He tried to appear upbeat "It was nice talking with you, Zane."

"Agreed. I found your company to be... enjoyable." Zane smiled a little as he said those words. Cole felt his own lips tilt up as well.

"See you later." Cole gave him a salute, to which Zane attempted to mimic in confusion. The poor boy ended up just making a weird gesture with his hand.

Cole shook his head in amusement before departing, shutting the door behind him with a click.

******

Cole has stayed back to help with the dishes again. Kai had stepped away with Wu to talk about something. So that left Jay and Nya.

Jay fiddled with his hands nervously as they walked down the hall. Nya seemed totally chill. Which made Jay feel significantly less chill because Nya was so cool that she could be chill and if he wasn't chill maybe she'd think he was weirdo and-

Oh dear, panic mode.

Nya tried to ignore the rapid inhale and exhale of the boy walking beside her but eventually when it got to full blown hyperventilating she had to step in.

"Jay, are you okay?" Nya asked.

"Whaaaahhhttt? I'm fine. You're fine. I mean- healthy. Oh crap. I mean-" Jay suddenly hoped that this would all be over and then he'd go and beg Cole to clobber him.

"Is something wrong?" It was Kai. One side of Jay wanted to kiss him for interfering and the other wanted to sink into a hole and die of embarrassment.

"Fine. Fine. I'm fine. You're-" Oh dear. He's just going in circles now.

The siblings stared at him. "Oh look, there's my dorm." Jay said weakly. The ginger haired boy quickly made his escape. Kai and Nya stared after him as he speed-walked through the door and shut it with a slam.

Kai blinked before turning to his sister and jabbing a thumb at where the blue clad boy had disappeared. "That was weird right?"

Nya shrugged before continuing on her way. Kai quickly followed. "What did Master Wu have to say?" She asked curiously.

The movement was so fast that if you hadn't known Kai you wouldn't have seen it. A small intake, small press of the lips, before it was drastically changed into a smug grin. "Nothing important." He said smoothly, the wicked smirk wide across his face. "Just the normal nonsense, more participation, a better positive outlook- blah blah blah."

To any other person this would be believable. But Nya wasn't any other person. Nya was his sister. And Kai was her only family since forever. The small intake and small press of the lips was enough. It was something he had done since before she could remember. He was lying. And something was wrong.

authors note****

This is shortish chapter so sorry about that, I've been trying to make longer chapters but I just didn't have the time this week with Christmas coming up. I'm trying to get my Christmas special out before it's too late. XD.

Thanks for reading!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞