7.

“You should’ve just let me bleed out,” The words Elliot had spoken to Sheree during their training session echoed in her mind as she walked past him and out of their dorm room.
It was 6:10 am and she hadn’t slept at all the night before. She had actually spent the entire night crying, being angry at herself for crying, and then being angry at Elliot for making her cry. She finally gave up at 5 am and got up for the day. She stared at Elliot from the doorway. He fell asleep facing her side of the room, even though there was no way he could’ve seen her. He was so sweet and dumb, and sexy she thought as he stretched in his sleep, exposing that chest that felt so good against her skin. She suddenly wanted to crawl into the bed with him and wake him up with her mouth. Her pulse quickened as she thought about all the places she wanted to taste on his body.
“Stupid hormones,” she said aloud and slammed the door behind her and walked away from the room.
Sitting in her first class tired and distracted, she tried to work out the dynamics of their situation. She couldn’t just write Elliot off completely, that was obvious. Some higher power had found it necessary to join them on the atomic level. Even though she was pissed at Elliot she did still intend to get stronger. She had noticed how much easier moving things had become for her. She smiled as she remembered the look on Elliots face when she pulled him to her yesterday. It was a mixture of shock, and admiration. Then she was only thinking about his lips, then his chest as he slept. She shook her head to clear the images away. Why did she want him so badly? Was that part of their connection, like a failsafe maybe? Could their bodies be physically attracted to each other as a way to ensure their continued survival and growth? It happened with animals right? For that matter, was Elliot the only person she could connect with and get stronger? This new theory seemed worthy of testing, that way she didn't have to be a slave to her stupid 19 year old hormones. She could simply have a short physical interaction with someone and move on with her life.
Now she just needed someone to test her theory with. The list of guys she spoke to, or even knew, was only a few names long. Elliot was the first name she thought of, no. Albert was next, oh god no! Then there was Josh, she didn’t actually know him well enough yet to dislike him. He utterly bored her like most people, but not for a specific reason. Maybe he would be a nice test subject. Or Elliot, her brain chimed in once more. She ignored the thought and considered how to approach Josh. She had never asked anyone out before, so this was definitely going to be strange.
The good news for her was that she didn’t actually have to ask him. After classes as she headed back to her dorm room, she walked into Elliot. He looked at her as if he wanted to say something, but then the look faded from his face and he walked silently next to her. It was awkward and uncomfortable until they walked past Josh. He was sitting on a bench just outside of their dorm, when he saw Sheree he jumped up and wiped his palms on the legs of his pants.
“Is he nervous about something?” Sheree thought as he approached her.
“Hey Sheree, are you busy right now?” He asked.
“I'm actually not busy at all,” Sheree said, pleased that she might be able to test her theory.
Elliot would normally have walked away from a situation like this, but Josh was making his move. He had to witness this epic failure. He smiled eagerly as he listened in.
“I wanted to know.....” he took a deep breath “If you would like to maybe...,”
This is supposed to be the highest ranked student, this guy was a bumbling idiot,” Elliot thought as he watched the trainwreck unfold.
“Maybe go out with me sometime?” Josh finally finished.
“Here it comes! Go for the kill Sheree, tear his intestines out in front of everyone!” Elliot thought to himself as Sheree considered what Josh had just proposed.
“I'm free today,” she said and shattered Elliot’s entire world. “ Just give me time to change and shower.”
“Okay, umm there is a theater just off campus we can go to, if you like,” Josh said, clearly surprised that she agreed.
“Umm, not for a first date. Let’s just hang out in the lounge and get to know each other better for now,” Sheree said.
The word date hit Elliot like a wrecking ball to the testicles. So she was willing to date this guy, but not him. He stormed back to his dorm without looking back at either of them.
He went to his dorm room, grabbed his pillow from his bed and screamed into it before throwing it back onto his bed. She said yes, he thought as he began pacing back and forth across the front of the room. She fed him that bullshit line about not being a person that went on dates, and then agreed to a date with Just Josh. Of all the guys on this damn campus it had to be him.
"Oh look at me, I'm tall and handsome, and I'm gonna take Elliot’s girl!" He said aloud in a high pitched voice. It sounded nothing like Just Josh's voice, but it made him feel better. Especially since he knew that Sheree wasn't his girlfriend. She truly was nothing more than a teammate and roomate to him. That made him helpless to do anything about them going out. He angrily threw a left and then right hook at the air in front of him. There was a whoosh sound followed by a small trail of crackling energy after each of his punches. That was new. He wondered what Just Josh's pretty, stupid face would look like after one of those punches. He sat on his bed and continued to fantasize about beating the snot out of Just Josh as Sheree walked into the room. His heart skipped a beat when she looked over at him.
Stop it, she doesn't want me, he told himself silently and looked away from her.
As she moved through the room getting ready he wanted to ask her to stay, but he knew she wouldn't. He wasn't the begging type anyway. If she wanted to run off with "Island boy" he wouldn't try to stop her.
When she left for her date, Elliot sat and stared out into the quiet empty room. He could just happen to show up at the lounge while they were there. No, that was a desperate thing to do. He wouldn't stoop that low. Instead, he switched his focus. He thought about the girl that went missing. He had definitely seen her the night before, so she hadn't been gone for that long. She would probably come back after she finished doing whatever it was she was doing all night. Yeah somebody definitely jumped the gun when they started the missing rumor. That had to be it, people didn't just vanish from the university, especially not people with super powers. Elliot turned on the tv and watched some of his favorite shows. He did his best to forget about all the negativity the day had brought his way. It was working too, he was able to relax and enjoy his night off. Right up until the moment he heard Sheree and Josh talking outside of the door.

Chapter end