ROGUE

21 : Curiosity Is A Weakness

Your POV

"I'm going to the store, you coming?" Alara finished her incredibly neat French Braids and pulled on her black leather jacket.

Jason was still asleep in the hotel bedroom, resting and slowly healing whilst the rest of the boys were binge-watching all the soccer matches they had missed whilst being stuck in that shit-hole of a hospital.
They screamed at the flat-screen TV as if the players could actually hear them.

I rolled my eyes. "Try and stop me." I muttered, glancing at them in disapproval.

"Great." She said, opening the hotel door.
I grabbed Jason's jacket from the coat hook and slipped into it comfortably. It practically buried me and reached my mid-thigh.
I followed Alara out, wrapping Jason's clothing around me and protecting my healing wound.
I had been recovering pretty quickly, but my mind was yet to repair.
Neither of us spoke until we stepped outside the hotel and on to the filthy street.
"How was Jason last night?" Alara asked as we stood on the edge of the curb, waiting for a taxi.
She shoved her hands inside her pockets and her breath came out in crystallised puffs.

My eyes widened.
Holy shit.

"Um," Heat spread across my cheeks. "What do you mean?" I stammered.

Alara looked at me, eyebrows raised. "Was he in a lot of pain?" She hesitated and the corners of her lips tugged into a smirk. "What did you think I meant?"

"Uh, nothing." I shook my head, mentally kicking myself for even thinking she meant that.
"And yeah, he was fine. He had a nightmare though," I frowned at the memory. "He was talking in his sleep, so I woke him up."

Alara furrowed her eyebrows. "What was he saying?"

"It was hard to make out," I sank my teeth into my lower lip. "I think he was dreaming about the hospital, he wouldn't talk to me about it though," I sighed. "He doesn't really talk to me about anything."

Alara raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head. "He doesn't let me know about any of his problems, he won't even tell me what his mission is... after everything we've been through."

Alara seemed to tense and she bit her lip, looking down at the gum-spotted concrete.
"He's trying to protect you," She shuffled awkwardly. "Sometimes it's better if you just don't know."

"Is it always gonna be like this?" I tried to keep my voice calm, despite the fact that the unknown was driving me completely insane.

She shook her head. "It's just this one mission, Jason's finding it hard to..." She trailed off uncomfortably.

"Hard to what?" I narrowed my eyes.
She knows something.

"Hard to deal with." She looked up and forced a smile. "Everything's gonna be alright when this is all over."

"Will it?" I was hardly convinced.

"Yeah," she chewed on her lower lip. "Jason will make sure of it."

A taxi pulled up and Alara and I slipped inside.
Hopefully, the end to this nightmare is near.

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I mindlessly browsed the isles whilst Alara collected items for the long journey back to Ben's house, throwing everything carelessly into a rusty shopping basket.
"Do you need anything?" Alara asked as she studied a tube of toothpaste.