Chapter Fourteen #2
“They know that I’m afraid to be alone.” I nod. “And the fire…”
“What if I’m too weak?”
“You’re not weak. It takes guts to do what you did and to be where you are today. You have me and Jasper – even though he is acting like a douche. I can even see Kalen likes you, and Baxter. That’s a lot, to not have Baxter waiting to skin you alive every time you walk into the same room as him.”
She snorts and snot bubbles from her nose. I jump up and hand her a box of tissues. She cleans herself up and goes to say something, but the door opens and Adrianne walks in, red faced and holding a massive school sized tub of ice cream that is almost half the size of her body.
“What did you do?” I laugh.
“Those ladies down there are super protective of their ice cream! I had to break in, and one hit me with a mop! So I pulled my knife to get them to back off. I didn’t have time to be picky, so you get whatever the hell is in here.
I had to run all the way here with this shit before campus security caught me.
Lucky that guy is a lard-arse! For a school full of criminals you would think they would have better people watching over us. ”
“You do realise if you asked them for a few small tubs they would have given them to you? You didn’t have to break into the cafeteria during the day.”
Elsie loses it and laughs like a crazed hyena. “I really needed this, let’s get on some comfy pjs. How about we watch movies in my room?” Adrianne looks at me and I nod. “I have some spare sets.”
We follow Elsie from my room and down the hall to hers. Once we get there, I pull out my phone and send a text to my group chat with the guys.
Amelie
The B&E in the cafeteria…can we make that go away?
Sawyer
I can call Dad.
Amelie
Thx
Kalen
Please tell me you wore a sexy cat burglar outfit?!
Slate
What the hell happened?!
Onyx
Why the fuck are you breaking into the cafeteria?!
Amelie
Not me, Adrianne. She didn’t know she could just ask for ice cream.
Onyx
This is why we don’t hire wildcards Kalen.
Kalen
Slate
As long as you’re okay.
Sawyer
All done.
Amelie
I love you.
Sawyer
You too x
Slate
Love you.
Onyx
You know I like you a little bit.
Kalen
What kind of ice cream????
Amelie
Nope! You are NOT invited. Any of you. Girls’ day.
I laugh at the guys and put my phone away. Adrianne storms into Elsie’s bathroom, and I look at Elsie but she shrugs and starts to open the ice cream. “I have a set of pjs on my bed for you.”
Elsie’s room looks like it vomited up a unicorn’s playgroup. Shit is fluffy and pink and purple. She has so many pillows in here, and I’m unsure why someone needs that many. Adrianne walks out of the bathroom in a green Care Bear onesie and I giggle.
“Don’t you laugh, there is one for you.” Elsie informs me with a chuckle of her own.
“I thought you said PJs?”
“Close enough. Now go and get changed.”
I take the blue onesie off her bed, go to the bathroom and strip out of my uniform to put it on. I’m not actually hating it. It’s lovely and warm at least.
By the time we’re all changed, Elsie has the room set up with – somehow – even more pillows and blankets. She also has a show ready to go. I don’t question what she’s chosen to watch, but Adrianne has a little moan about chick flicks.
We all sit and Elsie hands us all spoons. Turns out that it is mint choc chip ice cream. We spend hours watching Gilmore Girls reruns, and even Adrianne seems to be having a good time.
We take a bathroom break before we continue our marathon, the ice cream has long since melted and now the tub is sitting in Elsie’s shower.
“Just to warn you, I plan to prank Kalen back. He has it coming,” Adrianne announces out of nowhere.
“So long as you don’t mess with his face, his hair, or his junk, it’s all good with me.” I laugh and Elsie snorts.
“It’s not like you don’t have plenty of dicks.”
“Hey, I happen to really like his too. Not that I get to see any of them very often anymore. All this Order stuff has me way too busy.”
“I heard about a party this weekend…it could be a good way to blow off some steam and you can get some time with your guys,” Adrianne suggests.
“I’ll see what I have on and get back to you.”
Elsie starts to cry again, and Adrianne curls her nose up in distaste.
“I’m late,” she blurts out and my eyes bug out of my head.
“Late?” Adrianne questions.
“Yeah. Late, late.”
“Are you not on birth control?” I ask, because this is something readily available to us all here. The nurse will check in and make sure girls can get the pill.
“It never crossed my mind, because I have only ever slept with girls, remember?”
“Okay, let’s launch operation ‘break into the nurse’s office’!” Adrianne hoots, clapping her hands together in excitement. I go to shake my head no but Elsie starts speaking.
“One case of breaking and entering removed from your file for one day should be enough.”
“Amelie, live a little, it isn't like we’re technically stealing anything. We’ll just get a pregnancy test and come back up here.”
Pregnant.
Shit.
I won’t be able to let her initiate if she is, and then I’ll have to keep shit from her. Worse, Elsie will end up feeling alone and excluded – her biggest fear. Anger surges through me as I wonder why the fuck wasn’t Jasper more careful.
“Does Jasper know?” I ask and Elsie shakes her head.
We all head out into the hallway. The new security guy takes one look at us and cocks his head to the side. We ignore him, knowing he’ll follow, and run down the stairs and out towards the admin building.
The admin has long closed, and Adrianne walks around the side of the building and tries the windows. They will all be locked. This isn’t a campus that would leave them open. We head to the front doors with the onesie hoods pulled up to hide our identity.
“I’ll pick the lock,” Adrianne promises, pulling a little kit from her boot. I quirk a brow at her but she just smiles. She’s just about to get to work with her tools when Mr Security steps forward and scans a card, and the doors blip open.
“Hey! I almost had it,” Adrianne complains.
“Sure you did,” he responds with a snigger. I glare at him and he just shrugs. “It was fun watching three care bears try and break into a building, but my shift is almost over, and we need to be back before I get in shit for not reporting you leaving the building.”
I follow Adrianne and Elsie into the building and down the corridor to the nurse’s office. Mr Security scans the door again and Elsie flicks on the light. She must be on the same page as I am: that if we get caught one of the guys will save our asses.
Adrianne scours the room and finds a box filled with pregnancy tests, grabbing a handful.
“What the hell?!”
All of us turn at Jasper’s voice and freeze like kangaroos in a spotlight.
“Um, it’s not what it looks like,” I say, trying to come up with something.
“I don’t even know what it looks like.” He swears, shaking his head and looking at my new security guy.
“What the fuck is going on, Cap?”
“You’ll have to ask the girls, sir. I’m just doing my job. They’re fast and Miss Rossi’s safety is paramount.”
Something drops to the floor and we all look down. Adrianne has dropped a pregnancy test and Jasper's eyes go wide.
“Who is pregnant?”
I point to Adrianne, Elsie points at me and Adrianne points at Elsie. Cap snorts.
“So everyone is pregnant?” he questions.
“Yep,” Adrianne answers. “So what?”
“Let’s go back to the dorms and sort this out before campus security gets here.”
We all head back to the dorm, Elsie walking close on my right and Adrianne on my left.
“What the heck am I going to do?” Elsie whispers.
“Once we get close to the dorm, we can all pile in and lock him out. He has his suit on so he’s on duty. He can’t do anything stupid.”
We all nod with a new plan hatched. I think she should just tell him, but it isn’t my place to make her.
We get back to the dorm in no time. I look at Cap pointedly and he nods. He knows we’re up to something and slowly pulls back, still talking to Jasper. When we hit the stairs, we all make a run for it until we are safely in Elsie’s room and the door is locked. Elsie laughs and so does Adrianne.
The banging starts.
“Amelie, open the door!” Jasper shouts.
“Sorry! No can do!” I yell back.
Adrianne hands Elsie the pile of pregnancy tests and ushers her to the bathroom.
“You leave me no choice!” he shouts back and I expect him to break the door down but it goes quiet…hopefully he has just given up, knowing there isn’t much he can actually do about it.
Elsie walks out of the bathroom. “It says to wait two minutes.”
She places it upside down on her desk.
“Amelie, open up!”
“Fuck, he’s called in the big guns. Everyone act natural,” I say, walking to the door. I smile as I open it and I am faced with the twins and Kalen. I look at Jasper standing in the back. “Snitch.”
That was a low blow. He must have a gut feeling it’s Elsie but he knows that while he can’t cause a scene, they can. Onyx storms into the room past me and looks around. “What the fuck is going on?”
“We’re having a girls’ night,” Adrianne tells him, matter of factly.
“And girls’ nights consist of two counts of breaking and entering?” he asks.
“Technically, we didn't—” I’m cut off by Slate.
“Are you pregnant?” he demands.
“What? Amelie is pregnant? We should have talked about this first! This complicates things!” Kalen rambles, clearly freaked out. It’s not often he’s serious.
All three guys start freaking out and talking amongst themselves.
“Guys, I’m not bloody pregnant, you all know that I’m on birth control.”
They all turn and look at us, and Adrianne holds her hands up. Everyone's attention is on Elsie.
“Are you pregnant?” Jasper whispers. Her face goes red and her eyes water as she shrugs.
“Only one way to find out,” Adrianne adds, jumping over the mountain of pillows to grab the test off the desk and look at it. Her face screws up in confusion. “How many lines does it need to be positive?”
“Two,” Elsie whispers.
“Oh…thank fuck! It only has one.” Adrianne cries with relief as if the test was her own.
The room goes eerily quiet. I point to the door and my guys nod. We need to give Elsie and Jasper a minute to talk before Jasper starts his shift.
We all walk out into the hall and head to my room. Cap takes his spot against the wall. I turn at my door once Adrianne and the guys have entered the room.
“I like you,” I tell him and he tips his head in acknowledgment.
Now to deal with Kalen and his thoughts on these Care Bear costumes, because we won’t live this down.