Emotions and Feelings

A:

"Please let me do this," I say, taking the plates from Alfred and Alieen. "You fours have offered me so much, this is the least I can do."

"Knock yourself out," Matt says, shoving his plate toward me. The second his plate falls onto the two I am already holding, he runs into the living and jumps onto the sofa. He places his hands behind his head and kicks up his legs.

"That may not have been a soup and a pizza," Matt sighs, "But that was still amazing."

Matt lets out a burp and, once again, Lafayette throws a potato chip at him.

"Thanks again," Matt says, smiling as he throws the chip into his mouth.

"Don't mention it," Lafayette says, before unrolling and bag and dumping everything on Matt. Screaming as potato chips rain on him, he shakes uncontrollably and rolls off the sofa. Landing in a pile of chips, he looks up.

"Really," he asks.

"Yes," Lafayette replies. "Really."

As I watch from the kitchen, I place the plates in the sink and turn back to Matt and Lafayette. I hold out my hand and am about to use my power to clean up the mess when Alieen steps in. She grabs my hand and pushes it down.

"Hey," she says, looking me in the eyes. "Uhh, do you think you can clean the dishes later?"

"I believe so. Why?"

"There's something I'm wondering if you could help me with. Please follow me to my room."

"Your room," I repeat, my head feeling hot all of a sudden. Almost immediately, I feel sweats start to form, despite being in an air-conditioned room. My hands and my legs go numb, and I nearly trip just from standing.

"Uhhh," I say, clearing my throat over and over. "Uhhhh, sure. Yeah. Sure."

I put the plates down in the kitchen skin before following Alieen up the stairs.

"Hey," Lafayette says, stopping us halfway up the stairs. "Where do you think you're going?"

I have no clue what to say, but very luckily, Alieen answer for both of us.

"I'm just going to give him some clothes before sending him away."

"Some clothes," Matt says while picking up some broken potato chips. "No offense or anything, but from where I'm kneeling right now, A looks a little bigger than you. I don't know if your clothes will fit him or not."

"My aunts and uncles gave me some old clothes a while back for donation," Alieen says, "And luckily for A, I haven't been able to donate them yet. Come on, from the look of it, you could use a new jacket."

As Alieen said those words, I look down at my jacket.

"I think my jacket is okay," I think, "But then again, this is my only other jacket besides the one I was wearing when I woke up. Maybe it would not hurt to have some other jackets."

Once more, I follow after Alieen as she guides me to her room. When I am following after her, I can hear Lafayette growling.

Leading me through a small, narrow hallway, Alieen pushes open a door and holds it open for me. As I enter her room, I immediately make notes of everything hanging on her yellow walls. It seems to be one list after another of things to do. The lists are all side-by-side with colorfully marked calendars.

"Buy foods," one of the lists starts. "Cook dinner. Help Matt and Alfred with their car."

There is a date at the bottom of the list. It seems to be a year old.

"Help Leia with Franklin's fish," another list starts. "Study at the library (don't forget charger for laptop). Need to pass test."

The date at the bottom of this list is only a few months old.

"You are one very busy person," I say, turning to Alieen as she walks past me.

"What," she asks, before turning to her walls and seeing all the hanging lists. "Oh, those. Yeah, I never have a day off. Even if I did, I would probably use it to get rid of some of these lists. Some of them are old and I really need to take them down."

Alieen makes her way to her closet, she slides open the door and a mountain of old clothes comes falling out. Jumping back, Alieen trips but I catch her in time. Falling into my arms, I stand completely still for some time.

Alieen feels very soft, and she smells very sweet. Once more, I feel my face starts to go heat up. I feel something inside of me bumping rapidly.

"What is going on," I think.

"Sorry about that," Alieen says, clearing her throat as she pushes off of me. "I forget just how about T-shirts and jackets I have to give to donation."

Laughing as she walks toward the pile, she drops to her knees and starts to sort them. Throwing away a few old shirts, she grabs a black and purple hoodie and hands it to me.

"Here," she says.

Lafayette:

"I don't like the idea of Alieen being alone with that guy," I say, crossing my arms as I look up at the ceiling. "Am I the only one? Please tell me I'm not the only one."

"You're not the only one," Alfred says.

"Yes," I say, raising my hands into the air. "Come on, let's go kick that guy out."

I step toward Alfred but he puts up his hands and steps back.

"No, no, no," he says, his hands shaking. "I'm not crazy about the idea of Alieen being alone with some guy we barely know, but I know Alieen. You do too. She's a smart person, and she wouldn't let some complete stranger into her room. At least, not without some sort of explanation."

"What would possibly explanation would that be," I ask, my arms crossing themself again. "What possible explanation would there be to let some complete stranger in a dirty jacket into her room? Especially if that stranger's name is A? What kind of name is A? I'm telling you, this is bad. We should kick him out now."

I turn around and prepare to walk up the stair to Alieens' room but stop when I see the two of them walking down the stairs. A is holding a few jackets in his arms.

"Thank you for the new jackets," he says, nodding his head as he walks down the stairs.

"Don't mention it," Alieen replies, also nodding her head. A looking at me as he walks past, he places the jackets on the kitchen counter and starts to wash the plates from before. After a few minutes, he washes, dries, and places the dishes away before grabbing the jackets again and walking up to the front door.

As he opens it, he turns around and looks at the four of us.

"Thank you for everything," he says, once more nodding his head. "I really appreciate the food and the company."

With that, he walks out and closes the door.

"Finally," I say, turning around.

A:

Walking down the stairs, my five new jackets swinging in my arm, I reach the sidewalk. Turning and walking down the street, I walk for a while to make sure I am out of everyone's sight. Looking around, I find myself a quiet and empty spot in the shade of a building. Once more, making sure there is not anyone around, I teleport away.

Appearing back home, directly in the gas station store, I walk up to the corner of the station where I sleep. My "bedroom" is just a bed, a large desk, and a lamp on the desk. It may not seems like much, but it is more than I need.

Placing the jackets on my bed, I start to examine them.

Besides the purple and black hoodie, there is also a thick blue jacket with a picture of a white tree on it, two identical thin grey hoodies, and a sand-color vest. As I examine the jackets, my mind starts to fill with imageries of Alieen. I see her smiling as she helps me. I hear her talking and laughing. I remember the softness of her skin when she tripped and I caught her.

"She is special," I think. "Even if she does not know it, she is special."

Examining the jackets one last time, I neatly fold them and put them in the drawer of my desk. I close the drawer and then go to sleep.