Always Something Else (Part Three)

The gym was something of a sanctuary for me. There was nothing to do there, but move heavy things, which didn't exactly require a lot of attention. Some of my best thinking was done while lifting a heavy metal object.

Squats were good for that sort of thing. You just went down and stood back up. So simple. All you had to do was keep your posture straight, which was something you really didn't have to think about when you were used to doing them. Even putting on and taking off weight didn't require much more thought than basic addition and subtraction.

I guess the grind helped pump blood to my brain or something. I seemed to think better when I was doing something strenuous. Perhaps bringing my calculus homework to the gym would have been productive.

I was interrupted from my sense of inner peace by the voice of Santo, which actually made it through the earbuds I had playing music.

"Think you're so great, Marcher?" I heard him say from across the room, "How 'bout this?"

I set the weight back on the rack and looked over to where Santo was benching six tons of weight in the superhuman part of the gym.

The louder members of the Hellions still had beef with me, but mostly on a rivalry level at this point. My attempts to make peace from earlier in the semester, and standing to fight with Julian in the Danger room did a lot to help with that.

Was there still some heat? No, not with most of them. And even with Julian, well, it wasn't scalding.

I toweled myself off and watched Santo do his thing with the controlled weights. I was a bit jealous to see him throw around so much. Even with my powers, I could only lift so much, "Well, I'm not made of rock, so..." I commented, "Still, good on you. Wait. Do you even have muscles to build?"

Santo shrugged, even as he was lifting thousands of pounds over his body, "Beats me."

Damn. I should have figured a guy like Santo wouldn't even have thought about whether or not he was getting any stronger lifting all of that crap. Hell, he wasn't even struggling. How much could he even lift?

I hung around by the big rock boy, taking a moment to catch my breath while he finished his set, "So I heard you guys got a new teammate," Santo said, trying to make some conversation, "She hot?"

What a familiar question. I got the feeling that I was going to hear that a lot until most people were introduced to Laura proper, "Did you talk to Eddie?"

"Hell yeah," Santo said, benching his weight and sitting up from the machine he had been on, "Wing won't shut up about it. No one's seen her yet though. I'm starting to think she's imaginary."

I was more or less done, and Santo seemed to be too, as we started heading for the doors together, "No, she's real. She's legit too."

Towering over me, Santo looked over my way with a huge grin, "Yeah, I heard she kicked your ass too, no powers."

Of course he would have heard about that too. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone hadn't heard about it by now. People seemed to take delight in me losing to other people at things. I guess I was easy to root against.

"I told you, she's legit," I said, trying to justify my loss. I didn't think there was another student in the entire school that could beat Laura in pure hand-to-hand, "I wouldn't roll over and say I'd lose to just anyone. When you're good, you're good."

"Right. Well we'll just see how good when team competitions start again," Santo said leaving me alone as I headed off to the showers. It wasn't like he needed to wash off any sweat. He was made of rock, "Julian still wants a piece of you. Something about not wanting to let you think you're too badass or something."

I put my hands over my heart mockingly as I backed into the locker room, "So Hellion thinks I'm badass. That just made my day!"

Santo wasn't really a bad guy. He was just the walking epitome of meathead jock. Never had I met someone with powers so appropriate to who they were as a person. Still, if you knew how to handle those types of people, they were fine.

I had pissed off all kinds of folks in my time, so picking up on personality traits was a thing I could do. Knowing how to deal with those traits was something else entirely though. It usually took me a while to figure out how to go about getting on with others.

Which was what worried me about Laura. I hadn't figured out what kind of person she was yet. I had no experience with anyone like her before, and I wanted to make her feel welcome.

Not welcome enough to confront me in the boys' locker room, but still...

"Holy shit!" I changed clothes, and after I pulled my shirt over my head, she was right there, "Hooo. What? You-? Laura, what the hell?" I needed a moment to let my heart rate lower, "Woman, I almost shot you. Don't sneak up on me," I didn't think it needed to be said to not follow me into certain places, yet there she stood.

Laura didn't seem too concerned with potentially eating a light blast for scaring me, "You were looking for me, weren't you? I did not wish to interrupt your workout, or your conversation with Rockslide once you were done."

Weird circumstances aside, I got over her presence quickly, "You're my teammate, you can interrupt me whenever you want," I told her before putting on a smirk, "You know, unless I was with a girl or something. Then use discretion," She just stared back at me, clearly not enjoying my brand of humor, "That was a joke... kind of."

"I know. I just did not find it funny."

Ouch.

"Well, I do want to talk to you. But this isn't the best place for it," I turned to my locker and went to grab my bag out of there, "So if you can get out without letting anyone see you, we can go somewhere and-," By the time I turned back around, ready to go, Laura was already gone, "...Gonna have to get used to that."

When I stepped out of the locker room, I looked around for any sign of Laura. Conventional wisdom would have suggested that she would have waited for me right outside, but this wasn't the case. I was ready to go on the hunt for her and started checking out the hallways. After circling the sub-basement level, I gave up and started heading for the elevator. Maybe I would have better luck on the upper floors.

On my way to the elevator, I came across two members of the Paragons squad. Megan and Hope. Even though the Paladins and the Paragons had it out for a bit during the Field Day finale, we were still on good terms. Their team was nice, and they didn't seem to hate me, which was also nice.

"Oh! There he is!" Megan seemed excited to see me, which was a real pick-me-up, "He's actually down here. Hi, Bel!"

Hope gave Megan a soft elbow in the side, "And you thought you missed your chance at lunch. All we had to do was ask someone where he was."

I certainly felt popular. First Laura now Megan and Hope. Everyone seemed to want a piece of me, which in this instance was something I could get behind, "Hey, girls. Were you looking for me?" I asked with an honest-to-goodness smile.

I liked Megan. She was a total sweetheart. A real positive person. At a time when most of the people my age were self-centered, moody tools (myself included, don't worry), it was nice to come across someone who was so uncompromisingly upbeat.

That was when Megan's demeanor changed. She stood in front of me, wringing her hands uncomfortably. Was I scaring her or something? I did have resting asshole face, which was the male equivalent of resting bitch face. A lot of people usually thought I was pissed, even when I tried to be pleasant. Honestly, even if I seemed mad all of the time, I really wasn't!

"No. Yes," She backtracked. Her wings drooped a bit as she tried to settle on one or the other, "Well, kind of. You see, I wanted to talk to you about something, but I didn't want to bother you if you weren't in the mood. Not that I'm saying you're grumpy or anything, even though you seem kind of grumpy a lot of the time!" Megan kept rambling. From her body language, I could tell she knew she was talking too much and getting way off-track, but still couldn't help herself.

Thankfully, Hope stepped in to keep her from going on and on, "Anyway, Megan just wanted to ask if you were doing anything Friday afternoon. A few of us are heading into town to hang out, and we thought, Bellamy's a nice guy. Plus, we owe him one. Right, Pixie?" She said, trying to lead her friend along in the conversation.

"R-Right!" Megan said with a much more confident smile, "You saved me in the Danger Room. And you did keep me from looking silly after... you know," At the wake. I remembered. She didn't need to say anymore about it, and she definitely didn't have to give me any credit for that. I wasn't a bad enough guy to ignore someone who came to me crying, "You helped a lot, and I'd like to say thank you, if that's okay."

I waved off part of what she said, "You don't have to thank me for anything, but I'd love to hang out," I made sure to specify. I rarely got to spend any time with anyone. A lot of my spare time was spent gaming, or binging on Netflix and Hulu with Saberwolf, "Yeah, that sounds great, actually. Count me in."

Hope gave Megan a good shake. Both of them seemed happy with me agreeing to go, which was nice, "Great! We'll meet up at the shuttle at 4:00, if that works for you."

"Can do. It's gonna be a good time," I said before waving goodbye to head off my own way, "Catch you guys later."

Even as I moved away, I could still hear the two of them talking among themselves, "That's so great!" Hope said in more of a stage whisper than an actual one, "You see? I told you he'd say yes. Bel's not some intense, scary guy. He's really nice."

Megan shot back, sounding no less enthused about everything, "I knew that already! Still, he might have said no to me."

My ego was inflated more than a zeppelin. I stopped just short of clicking my heels in the air when I made it into the elevator heading to the ground floor of the Institute, because that shit wasn't cool. I wasn't going on a date, not really, seeing as how I wasn't going to be alone with a girl, but I was asked to do something away from the school... by a girl. That counted for partial credit, didn't it?

"Do you wish to speak now?"

I jumped halfway across the elevator when my newest teammate seemed to come out of nowhere all over again. I had nearly forgotten that she was around, "Damn it, Laura," Did she not make footsteps when she walked? It didn't make any sense how someone could have no presence unless they wanted to, "I said don't scare me anymore. You don't have to do that."

"You just said not to interrupt you when you were talking to a girl," She reasoned with a shrug, "I was by the elevators and waited until you were finished."

Fair enough. Megan had enough trouble talking to me with Hope backing her up. If Laura had been lingering around nearby staring a hole through her, she probably would have just scared her, as unintentional as it would have been.

I got myself back together quickly enough, trying to look all composed and leader-like. I doubted it did much to get any of Laura's respect, "I just wanted to see how you were doing, how you were setting in, things like that."

She tilted her head to the side, as if she were questioning what I wanted, "Why?"

Laura looked at me as though she were waiting for a catch. I couldn't believe it. Did she really not get it? It made no sense to me, "You're my teammate. That means I'm supposed to have your back, support you, all of that good stuff."

Little Miss Loner didn't want any part of that though, "There is no need. I will adapt," She said, "Thank you for your concern, though."

I looked up at the sky for a split-second as if to ask God him or herself, 'really?' Laura was really going to make me work for this one. Well she needed to know I meant what I said, and I that I was in for the long-haul, "Got a new phone yet?" I asked. She nodded and handed it over when I asked, albeit hesitantly. I quickly put my contact info in there, "Here. My number's in here now. If you do need something or want to talk, just give me a call or come to my room. I don't really sleep, so anytime is fine."

Getting a real conversation or some kind of rapport with her was going to take time. I wasn't going to rush it. Clearly it wasn't going to happen overnight, so I would keep chipping away at it. I wasn't going anywhere, and hopefully neither was she.

I gave her back the phone and patted her on the shoulder. I didn't even hit her with any force. I just made solid contact... you know, just letting her know I was there. She flinched – hard. She didn't think I was going to do something to hurt her, did she?

Laura got away from me quickly. I couldn't put the two parts of her together. Even from the one time when we were sparring, in a fight she was confident, angry and intense. It was a night and day difference from how she was at any other time. She was awkward. She seemed scared to even make the effort to interact with anyone on the team.

I sighed and headed back to my room, "...Leader problems..." I muttered.