1.14 – Momentum is a funny thing

“What the fuck, Nathan?!” Alicia covered her eyes, her gaze averted.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Nathan reprimanded, covering himself as best as he could. The towel began slipping the moment he stood up, but he doubted that she saw anything. It was still wrapped around his waist. For the most part.

“This is my house, you know? Why should I care about knocking?” She rebuked, shaking her head.

“Because it’s basic courtesy. Close the damn door already!”

She thankfully listened, the door closing swiftly. Did Nathan hallucinate, or were there red on her cheeks?

His muscles were showing nicely, yes, but he didn’t see himself as that particularly attractive.

Another thought stopped him. “Wait, Alicia.”

“I swear if you ask me to open the door, I’m gonna kick your ass out today, no questions asked.”

“No, no, no. I wanted to ask you if you happen to have any clothes I can use…”

……

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“Where did you get that towel from anyway?”

“From the bathroom. There were clean towels in the cupboard.”

“And you didn’t ask if you could take one?”

The thought hasn’t even crossed his mind. He was so tired and out of place today that asking if something like that was fine seemed just out of the ordinary. “No.”

A sigh was audible from the other side of the door, and then soft steps of walking away. Nathan began thinking that maybe Alicia just left him there, not bothering to even answer, but then the steps returned and her annoyed voice soon followed: “I’m leaving my older brother’s things on the floor. Take them when I leave. Don’t let this happen again. Also, buy some clothes for god’s sake.”

“Again, wouldn’t happen if you knocked.” Nathan stopped, mulling over her words. “Wait, older brother?”

“I’m not an only child. Anyway… Sorry for all that.” She paused in the middle of the sentence, clearly frustrated, but Nathan appreciated the sentiment.

“All is fine. Just pretend nothing happened?”

“Suits me fine. Anyway, come eat when you dress up.”

Nathan was once again ravenous. He waited for a moment until the steps once again completely disappeared, and then opened the door, finding a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt placed there. He quickly tried them on, and found them a bit restraining, but they fit him well enough. Who was he to complain anyway?

At least they didn’t look completely foolish. The fact that she had a brother at all was a stroke of good luck in this situation. He went down the stairs, finding Alicia already sitting on a couch, watching some TV show that Nathan didn’t recognize. Some kind of sci-fi. That fit Alicia somewhat, though he half expected her to watch some romance instead.

Weirdly specific, he knew. He should know better than to judge people just based on their appearance.

He then walked towards the table, finding a nice-smelling French toast there and gobbled it up in a matter of seconds.

“You know that you’re not timed on that, right?”

He looked around, confused, before he realized that she was commenting on the speed. Truth be told, that was just the way for him. He enjoyed his meals the most when he ate them swiftly, not that he knew why. Just one of his habits, he supposed.

“I don’t see your meal anywhere, so look who’s talking.” He grinned.

“You have been holed up in your room for the whole day. Plenty of time to eat without you seeing me.”

Tiring of this particular conversation, he stretched, went towards the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher, and then stepped out of the glass door towards the back garden.

“Where are you going?” Alicia asked, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Just testing my power out.”

“So what you’re gonna do, punch the ground?”

“No, I’m trying out something new.”

“Your ability didn’t seem to make anything new possible.” She said, though, there wasn’t any conflict in her tone, just mere curiosity instead.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“You would be surprised. Wanna see?”

She seemed to fight with herself as she looked between him and the TV, but then she pressed the pause button and scrunched her shoulders. “Sure, I guess maybe you’ll be less useless the next time we have to fight in the school.”

“That’s the hope, at least.” He stopped before he walked through the door completely. “Wait, actually, do you happen to have anything that I can throw?”

Nathan felt the soft grass under his feet, standing barefoot in the backyard of Alicia’s home. It was a nice little place. There were a lot of flowers placed next to the house, their colors intertwining and giving the whole area a more polished look.

At least a sibling and two parents. The house seemed awfully lonely, and he didn’t yet ask how often anyone from her family comes home.