She returned four hours later.

                I didn’t know how to pass the time.

                I tried to remember moments with Ellie, but I found myself failing to escape into the clouds my memories could bring.

                I felt distracted.

                I tried to imagine what John would be doing right now with Cassie. Would he assume that I was dead too? Would he have tried to escape with Cassie while I was on a wild good chase for Mimi? Did he even bother to bring Cassie along?

                For some reason, I was unable to bring up a plausible situation for what John would have done in the time that passed.

                I wondered what Sofia said to Mimi.

                But I quickly realized I didn’t care. I didn’t care how she dealt with Mimi. That girl was trouble. She was dangerous. She was a risk that Sofia couldn’t afford to take anymore. I didn’t understand why she let Mimi stay for so long.

                I ended up replaying the memories of the first few days on the Girls’ Side.

                And I realized that now I was playing Ellie.

                Sofia was me.

                And Mimi was John, so to say.

                She wasn’t as cruel as John was to Ellie, but she definitely wasn’t welcoming me with open arms like Sofia did.

                So to say.

                I sighed quietly, trying to resist the urge to bang my head repeatedly against Sofia’s walls out of complete boredom.

                This had to be four of the longest hours of my life.

                I watched the sky darken as time flew by, eventually encasing the outside world in a blanket of darkness, referred to as night.

                My head turned sharply as two voices filled the silence that had engulfed me for the better part of my imprisonment.

                I moved slowly, quietly, towards the door, crouching down. I pressed my ear gently against, hoping to catch a whiff of what the two women were discussing. At first their voices were incoherent mumbles. As I strained my ears, I picked up the jist of what they were talking about. A few seconds later and their words became clearer.

                “…was the scariest moment in my entire life.” A high voice said, sounding as if she was dazing off.

                “Absolutely.” Sofia sympathized, but from what it sounded like, she wasn’t serious about it. “I’m surprised you managed to get away.”

                “So am I!” Mimi exclaimed, “I mean, I had it under control until he grabbed me! Sofe, he tried to strangle me!”

                Sofia made a noise that I couldn’t figure out what it meant, “Wow, Mimi! I seriously don’t know what I would have done.”

                Mimi snorted, laughing, “You would have shot him just like you did, idiota. I swear sometimes you’re loco in el cerebro.”

                Sofia laughed with her. I frowned, pulling my eyebrows together. What were those words that Mimi had spoken?

                Sofia clearly understood though, “Shut up, Mimi!” She sobered up quickly, “I-I had to do what was needed.”

                A brief silence passed through the girls.

                “Thanks, Cuz.” Mimi said, barely audible for my already straining ears. “I’m seriously glad to have you.”

                “Anytime.” Sofia said hesitantly.

                “I’m leaving in two days.”

                “To where?”

                “I don’t know. I really don’t. But I can’t be a burden on you any longer.” Mimi sighed dramatically. I rolled my eyes.

                Sofia didn’t say anything.

                “Anyways, I have a friend in Russia I can stay with for a few months until I land myself a stable job again.”

                So she was only here because she had nowhere else to go?

                “Russia? That’s pretty far away.” Sofia seemed surprised.

                “Nah,” Mimi sighed, “It’s not too bad. I’ll have a Taxi-Craft drive me there and I’ll pay him with my leftover money.”

                “At least let me help with that…”

                “No!” Mimi laughed, “Anyways, I’m fairly beat. Running for my life from a boy tends to exhaust you. I’m going to head to bed.”

                Sofia sighed, “Alright. Goodnight, Mimi.”

                “Night, Sofe.”

                Sofia knocked softly on the door to her room. I moved back out of the way quickly, so as not to get hit when she opened the door.

                Her eyes glinted slightly when she saw me in my vulnerable position on the ground before her. Quickly, Sofia walked into the room, closing the door behind her. I could only hope that Mimi hadn’t been around to see me there.

                “Eavesdropping much?”

                “I wasn’t…”

                Sofia rolled her eyes, stepping over me to get to her bed. My eyes followed her as she moved. She sat down on the edge, watching me.

                “If you ah… if you’d like, you can sleep on the bed too.” She looked away as she spoke, her face heating up.

                I suppressed a smirk, nodding gratefully, “Thanks. I’ve been sleeping on the floor far too long to pass up that option.”

                She giggled slightly, standing up. “I’m going to get a blanket.”

                “What for?”

                “I’ll sleep on the ground.”
                “No!” I said quickly, yet quietly, “I’ll sleep on the floor, then. You stay on the bed. It’s your house after all.”

                She raised an eyebrow, “You’re the guest.”

                “Sofia, I will force you to sleep on the bed if I have to.” I said, trying to sound as intimidating as I could manage.

                She rolled her eyes, “We’ll share.”

                I hesitated, “Are you sure? You don’t think I’ll slit your throat while you sleep or something like that?”

                “That’s just Mimi.”

                “What’s your point?”

                “I…” She bit her lip, looking at me seriously, “I think I trust you enough to share a bed one night and not kill me.”

                I grinned ridiculously, walking hesitantly next to her. Pushing away the urge to run and tackle her into a hug, I sat on the edge of the bed next to her, kicking off my shoes. The smile was visible on my face as I leaned back on the bed, hands behind my head.

                Sofia turned, smirking from where she sat.

                “What?”

                “You seem too excited to me on a bed.”

                “I haven’t been on one in weeks.” I argued teasingly “Let a man have some peace! This feels so nice.”

                “That’s not the correct way to sleep on a bed, you know.” She teased, “Maybe it has been a while since you’ve had one.”

                I scoffed, “I know what the right way is…. I’m just… enjoying the moment as it is right now, Sofia.”

                She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are.”

                “I am!”

                “Move the right way so I can lie down too.”

                I switched position, rolling up so that my back pressed against the wall. Sofia silently shifted her body so that she was parallel to the floor, her face to mine. I smiled slightly, propping my head up on one hand, elbow bent.

                She rolled so that her back was to me, turning off the light in the room. Her bed was large if only one person slept in it. Two people made it mildly cramped. I tried my best to keep from touching her, and I could tell she was doing the same.

                I hesitated before whispering into the night, shattering the silence that had formed between the two of us, “Sofia?”

                “Yes?” She asked, her voice softer than before. It sounded as if she had almost fallen asleep, but the stiffness of her body said otherwise.

                “Thanks for everything.”
                “I…” She breathed, “You’re welcome, Clay.”

                Another silence passed between us.

                “Can I ask you something else?”

                “You already did.” She giggled slightly.

                I rolled my eyes in the darkness, thankful she couldn’t see the look at I had on. “I’m being serious here.”

                “Yeah, I guess you can…if you really must.”

                “I really must.” I mocked.

                She laughed, nudging her elbow into my side blindly, “Go on now. What’s this question you wanted to ask me?”

                “Why do you call me ‘Clay’?”

                “What do you mean?”

                “All my life people have called me Clayton. I’ve never really had another nickname before. Why is it you call me Clay instead?”

                She hesitated before answering, “I really don’t know.”

                “Oh…”

                “I mean, why do you call me Sofe?”

                “Other people have though…”

                “Still. It’s shorter and simpler than my full name. I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to you enough to give you a nickname, so to say.” She paused for a moment before she turned her body. Her eyes held mine. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion as she spoke again, “You’re not upset that I gave you a nickname, are you?”

                I shook my head, “Absolutely not. I was just curious.”

                “Is John’s real name John?”

                I nodded, “Full name and everything, why?”

                “That’s strange.”

                “Why?” I pressed.

                “John sounds too short of a name to be a full name. Think about it. All the girls here have more than one syllable for their name, so we shorten it down to one. I’m Sofe, Mimi is Mims, and Ezra—the girl we were looking for briefly—is Zee.”

                “What about Cassie?”

                “That’s her full name I think.” Sofia said, “I’m sure she’d be called Cass as her nickname. So you guys don’t do nicknames on the Boys’ Side?”

                I shook my head, “I guess not.”

                “Weird.”

                “You’re telling me.”

                Sofia rolled over the entire way now so that our chests touching barely, “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question.”
                “Go ahead.”

                “The girl you like, Elise?”

                “Ellie.”

                “Did she not have a nickname?”

                “No. I’ve always called her Ellie.”

                “Never called her Elle?”

                I shook my head no.

                “That’s really weird.” Sofia wrinkled her nose. I let out a soft laugh, poking at it with my finger gently.

                “You look cute like that.”

                “You think I’m cute?” A smirk crossed her lips.
                I blinked, realizing what I just said, “No—I mean—well—I—”

                “What about Ellie?”

                “I—”

                Sofia laughed, pressing a finger over my lips, “Chill out, Clay. I’m only teasing you about this. I know you really liked Ellie while she was still alive.”

                I grew silent quickly thinking about her death.

                “You have moved on though.” Sofia said, “You used to get incredibly depressed at just the thought of her. Now you’re a little bit better about that kind of thing. Not perfect yet, but I don’t know if you ever will be.”

                “I loved her.”

                “I know.”

                “I’m sorry.” I sighed.

                “Don’t be. I’m sorry I couldn’t let you kill John right away. But it’s vital that we extract some information from him before that.”

                “I want to be the one to put the bullet in his head.” The words felt hollow now, as if I was reciting them from a paper.

                “You will.”

                I sighed, shaking my head. This conversation was doing me in. “Thanks again Sofia. For everything.”

                “You’re welcome again, Clay. For everything.” She mocked.

                I rolled my eyes, “Good night.”

                “Night, Clay.” She turned to roll over.

                I grabbed her shoulder, hesitating. Sofia frowned, turning back my way. I pulled her so that she was flat on her back, hovering above her.

                I pressed my lips against hers.

                I was just testing.

                Testing… just testing.

                She was surprised at first. I moved my lips against her frozen ones, feeling her slowly thaw out. Sofia’s lips moved into action, falling into the steady pace with mine. I brushed my fingers over her cheek as we kissed.

                I licked her bottom lip, wondering of her reaction to that.

                She opened her mouth slightly, allowing me entrance.

                Our tongues met in a battle for dominance. I smiled into the kiss. This was exactly Sofia’s personality. Ellie always let me take control. Sofia was an independent woman. I would have to fight for my control.

                My fingers moved into her hair, tangling themselves in her locks. I pulled her face towards mine more. Her hands moved to touch me. Her fingers on one hand played with the edges of my hairs on the nape of my neck. Her other hand trailed up and down the front of my shirt slowly, sensually. I grunted softly under her touch, still aware that I had to be quiet.

                I pulled away with her bottom lip between my teeth. I released it softly, staring into her eyes.

                “Whoa.” Sofia breathed.

                “I’m so sorry!” I said quickly, “I don’t know what I was thinking! Sofia, I’m so sorry! I just… I just felt this urge and I slipped and I’m so sorry!”

                “Whoa.” She repeated.

                I rolled off of her, keeping my body as far away from her as I could manage, “I am so sorry. I can’t believe I Just did that.”

                “Whoa.”

                “Can you say anything else?”

                She turned her head to face me, “That was…. Whoa.”

                “I’m so sorry.”

                “Don’t be. That was amazing.”

                I let out a weak smile. “Look, I’ll just stay on the floor now.”

                She grabbed my wrist, holding me there, “No you are not. Especially after that. I want another demonstration.” She winked at the last part.

                I blinked, surprised, “Are you serious?”

                “Clayton…that was… wow.”

                “You’re not going to kill me?”

                “Why would I?”

                “I…”

                She giggled, “Come here. Show me what that was again? It seemed to have slipped my memory.”

                Grinning, I pressed my lips against hers once again.

*********

Alright. Here's my excuse. It's legit too!

So, I was writing this and I got the chapter done and I went to bed. The next day, all I could think about was that chapter. I didn't like the way I was taking it. So I tried again with a different route a few days later.  I realized that the route I was taking that time was the exact opposite of how I wanted the story to end and would leave you guys with far too many questions. So Two days ago, I said, "Whatever. I'm going to write and where ever I go, I go. I'm posting after this." It takes me a while to write [especially on an American holiday like this weekend was] and finally, it's posted. 

Sorry if you guys don't like it. I do. xD Apparently, I'm in the lovey-dovey mood or something like that. Anyways, I'm going to try to get updates like BAM BAM BAM now :D With action. Lot's of science fiction action >:D Hopefully.