"Is this a joke?" Talise frowned down at her state. "I look stupid. These humongous jeans have to be at least fifty years old."

"That's the best we could find to accommodate the leg brace," Camila tried to explain without flinching from Tali's pissed off behavior. "We have to cover as much as we can."

"You could've at least found something that didn't make my lower body parts look like a shapeless blob! Do you know how many hearts I've broken with my ass?"

   That was a question I never thought I'd hear anyone ask on the day of their...mission? No one was sure what to call it.

   Either way, Visitation Day had finally arrived. Today was the day Talise was going to effectuate our first real attempt at infiltrating Zavlon Academia. After two days spent going over the plan countless times, I wouldn't say we were totally ready. Although...judging by how I could still hear Camila and Rav's voices in my head, narrating what was going to happen over and over, it's maybe safe to say we were.

   Or maybe they'd just driven me insane.

   Dorian and Rav had gone out to pick up the van rented earlier for today while the rest of us left behind in the motel helped Tali into her leg brace and get ready in other areas.

"Why is the brace so heavy?" Talise asked, struggling to raise her metal clad right leg for emphasis.

"That's actually on purpose," I replied. "The heaviness would cause you to drag your feet more, which will make your 'leg problem' seem more legitimate."

"Huh," She simply said, staring at the material without an expression of frustration this time.

"Good thinking," Camila told me.

"It was actually Dorian's idea," I confessed. "He suggested it right before we started making the leg brace."

   And yet as a fellow partner in doing so, he wasn't even here. Not to sound paranoid or anything, but he seemed really eager to go pick up the van with Rav. Probably an excuse to not have any form of interaction with me.

   Like he'd been doing for the past two days.

   Wonder why.

   I woke up in his room the following morning two days ago to find an empty bed and the sounds of a running shower from the bathroom. It seemed that as long as I was around, he basically lived there now. I wasted no time packing up and exiting his room as fast as I could.

   Ever since then, it was impossible to recall having an actual conversation with Dorian. But maybe it was for the best. I was still yet to properly look him in the eye without the memories of that night rushing to my mind with energetic force.

"I'm pretty sure these are the jeans of my people's oppressors." Talise yanked on its sides with a scowl. "Can we at least do something about this? There's a hole in one of its pockets for goodness sake!"

"We need to reflect the underprivileged nature of Destiny Omaha. Besides, it's too late now," Camila said with her eyes glued to her phone. "Dorian and Rav are back with the van."

   My thoughts and gaze instantly shifted to Talise. The relaxed look she had on wasn't enough to suppress the sudden pangs I experienced in my gut.

   This was it.

***

   By the time we were ready to drop Talise off a few feet away from Zavlon, all the necessary preparations were made.

   The ones our anxieties were merciful to not let us forget anyway.

   We'd picked out one of the abandoned skyscraper construction sites some miles away from the school to carry out our operation, synced the cameras and communication systems tech with Camila and Rav's devices and hidden them in the spots created in the leg brace.

"Don't forget Tali," Camila said from the drivers' seat. "If you stick to the plan, nothing should go wrong."

"Right." She nodded, her steps to the van's door wobbly due to the leg brace.

   I rushed over to help Talise open it but ended up needing her help due to how tightly sealed the door was. Honestly, it was surprising that this van hadn't fallen apart yet with how ancient it appeared. After yanking and yanking for a while,our joint effort eventually paid off for the door to jerk open.

"You can totally fix that," Talise laughed while trying to catch her breath like I was.

"Or we could do it together when you get back." I replied with a forced shrug, hoping she didn't hear the crack in my voice.

"Well," She proceeded to hop out of the van. "I'm off."

"Wait." I grabbed her hand.

   The awareness of Dorian, Rav and Camila gawking at my actions didn't faze me. And it still wasn't going to after what I was about to do next.

   I pulled Talise into my arms and hugged her with all the strength I could muster. Making sure my arms could take in as much of her as they could, I didn't refrain from basking in Tali's soothing warmth and flowery scent. While she was away, I was going to hold on to these as my source of calm until she returned.

"Please, please, be careful," I whispered into her hair, hating the fact that soon, I was going to have to let go.

"Am I ever?" She gave a shaky laugh when I thumped the back of her head in response to her sarcastic question.

   I blinked several times to suppress the tears that threatened to sprout as we pulled away. After helping Talise down the van, I decided to leave the van's door open and stare at her back until she was out of sight.

"I'll see you soon, Talise."

***

   Seeing and hearing from Talise could only occur after she activated the camera we'd picked out to follow her around and the pea sized earpiece hidden with the other cameras in the leg brace. And that could only happen if she passed the body search and metal detector tests conducted on all visitors to enter into Zavlon.

   When. I meant when she passed the search. Not if.

   It seemed like we had been waiting forever though. Each passing minute was pure agony. I contemplated joining Camila and Rav in setting up the computers but decided against it eventually. My anxiety kept me glued to the seat closest to the door, clutching and staring at one of the necklaces Talise had been wearing before sneaking one into my hand during our hug.

   She was going to be okay, I said to myself for the umpteenth time, Talise was going to be okay.

"Hey," A familiar voice greeted me.

   I lifted my hesitant eyes to glance at Dorian. Either he didn't notice how uncomfortable I was as he towered over me or chose to ignore it. I replied with a silent 'hi' of my own, trying to stifle whatever my chest was brewing up as Dorian suddenly settled into the seat beside me. This wasn't the time for weird feelings. I had Talise to think about.

"You know," he said. "I do like Alter, but I can't consider him to be one of my favourite superheroes the way you do."

   Why the hell did he just rehash the old comic book conversation from two days ago in his room? That was what caused the awkward situation we were facing now. I wasn't sure I wanted to respond.

   I cast my gaze toward Cami and Rav. They were still laser-focused on the computers. Considering the fact that we weren't alone, I didn't think his intention was to revisit that night.

"Why is that?" I dared to ask.

"Honestly," He released a sheepish grin. "I still don't have any serious arguments, other than there are much cooler ones. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to stick with the pioneer heroes. Even the depressed one with the all black costume and tons of money trying to save his city, which is clearly a fast sinking ship by the way."

"You mean... Batman?" I chuckled.

"Yes, him!" Dorian exclaimed with a triumphant smile.

"That's great to hear," I remarked. "But why bring up all this superhero talk now?"

"Uh," His eyes shifted to his hands before he looked up again. "I noticed how nervous you appeared and I just thought a comic book conversation would make you less tense."

   Oh. He was being nice.

   I did not see that coming. For the first time in two days, I glanced into Dorian's eyes unflinchingly.

"Thank you." I said without breaking eye contact, ignoring the heat that flooded my cheeks.

"Always," he leaned into his seat with a grin. "It's the least I could do anyway, you know, since I've been screwing you for two minutes."

"W-what?" I choked.

   Dorian merely burst into hysterical laughter at my disheveled state. I swirled to stare Cami and Rav, relieved to find that they were still preoccupied. And to think he was the same person who'd just lessened my anxiety a few seconds agai.

"I'm..." Dorian heaved out a last laugh before continuing. "I'm sorry, Beth."

"Why would you say that?" I shot daggers into his face with my eyes.

"Well, I didn't technically say it," he responded with a calm voice this time. "Those were Tali's first words to me. When I tried to stand up for you at the party near the river , remember? She responded by saying something along the lines of, 'Just because you've been screwing my best friend for what, two minutes, doesn't mean you know her more than me' or something."

   I buried my face into my palms with a groan. I can't believe I'd forgotten those words and the humiliation they wrought.

   Damn it, Talise.

   At least her horrible first impression seemed to only amuse Dorian.

"I never got to make her apologize for saying that to you," I peeked at him through my covered face. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He chuckled. "You can always make her do it when she comes back."

"HELLO?! GUYS?! Can anyone hear me?" A scratchy voice suddenly filled the van.

   On instinct, my heart leaped. The joy that rippled through me when I traced the sound of Talise's voice to Cami and Rav's laptops was indescribable.

   She really did it. Talise got into Zavlon Academia!

   Without wasting any time, I sprinted over to where they were seated, yelling into one of the laptops on a small table we managed to sneak into the van, "Talise! Yeah, we c-can. We can hear you!"

"Turn on the camera," Rav said. "We need to know exactly where you are now."

"Relax." I already had a vivid image of the eye roll that would have accompanied her stern whispered response. "I just got all the cameras out. I'm still in the bathroom trying to wear the brace again and it's a lot harder without help."

"Okay." Camila told her. "We'll give you time and deactivate the communication system for a few minutes. Call us when you're—"

"No!" She cut Camila off, her voice loud this time. "I activated the earpiece now because what I'm about to say can't wait."

   We exchanged gazes on our end. No one was ready to show emotion to what was just said.

"What is it, Talise?" Dorian finally spoke out, after seconds of silence passed.

"We have a problem. A really huge problem."

A/N: Vote if you agree that they seriously can't catch a break😂😂
Predictions on what this "huge problem" is? Leave them in the comments alongside any thoughts you have on this chapter!

Thanks for reading 🙂❤️🎉