After that full day and getting some sleep, Sam woke up feeling optimistic that they'd finish the quest soon and head for India. How hard could it be to get approached by some guy?

It turned out it was damn near impossible. They spent the entire day walking around aimlessly, visiting local attractions and institutions, hoping to make themselves as visible and as invisible as possible at the same time. It was a total bust. Sam never had the feeling that he was being watched or followed. He just felt like it was a total waste of time.

As the evening came, he found that he was exhausted and discouraged. He and Kay were the only ones left in the cafeteria for dinner. Jerry had gone to the reception to call home and lie to their parents some more while Kyle, Jessie, and Jimmy were by the pool, trying to cool down.

Sam looked at the fish lasagna on his plate and had the sudden impulse to gag. He knew he should eat something because he'd missed lunch, but he just couldn't. Everything was made of either pasta or fish. Except for the soggy French fries Kay was drowning in ketchup.

"I can't eat this," she said, getting up. "You can finish it if you want. I'll go see what the others are doing."

Sam watched her heading out and pulled her plate towards him. One interesting thing he had noticed was that the heat was doing weird things to everyone. It made Jerry grumpy, it made him exhausted, and it made Kay and Jessie wear extremely short shorts. Which in turn had a very interesting effect on Kyle and Jimmy. It was so funny to see them trying to act normal for the sake of avoiding another of Jerry's lectures. But Sam could tell they were both seconds away from drooling, and he couldn't blame them. Objectively speaking, Kay and Jessie were gorgeous.

What he found even more amusing, was that it went both ways. Like right now, Jessie was lounging in a beach chair, pretending to read some material for their research, while actually ogling Jimmy who was taking swimming lessons from Kyle. Doomed lessons, since the pool was extremely small and crowded.

Once Kay approached the edge of the pool, Kyle immediately dropped Jimmy and focused on her. He swam to the edge and grabbed her hand. Kay pulled back, probably telling him off. As he ate a soggy fry, Sam wished he could hear what they were saying. Oh, right, he could. So he picked up the plate and made his way outside.

"That's stupid and immature," Kay was saying, trying to pull further away, but Kyle had grabbed her calves and was keeping her in place.

"It makes sense, since I'm stupid and immature," he answered.

Sam sat on the chair next to Jessie's. "What's up?"

Jessie hardly tore her gaze from Jimmy and glanced at his plate. "Would you like some fries with that ketchup?"

He shrugged. "It's either ketchup or grease."

"Seriously, Kyle, back off," Kay said, finally escaping his grip. "If you want to pull me in the pool..." She pulled her t-shirt over her head.

Sam had never seen Kyle's eyes going so wide, even if Kay actually had a bikini top on. Then he narrowed them.

"Well played."

"Get a room," Jessie called at them over her book.

"Give us one and we'll take it."

"Shut up!" Kay threw one of her flip flops in Kyle's head.

Sam chuckled into his fries. This was way too amusing. Until a wave of water splashed him and Jessie from head to foot.

"Jimmy, what the hell?" Kay shrieked.

He and Kyle were both laughing their butts off, while Jessie shook her book, cursing under her breath. Sam looked from Jessie, to his fries, to Jimmy and Kyle and Kay and for a moment he just felt lost. These interactions were confusing.

"Now that you're already wet, maybe you can finally get in," Jimmy called to Jessie.

"I'm not getting in a swimming pool with you," Jessie said between her teeth. "Now stop being a moron."

He grinned. "Why not? You scared?"

Jessie gave him the stink-eye, then looked down at her soaked tank top. She seemed to be doing some quick thinking, then, with a nonchalant shrug, she took it off, revealing the top of a red bikini. Jimmy's mouth dropped open.

"Should I get you a bucket?" Kyle asked.

Sam choked on a fry. They could all be so entertaining, and it made him feel so much— His vision darkened and his eyes twitched. There was reddish light, mad laughter, and for a second, he could see himself looking in a mirror again, rubbing his scar, his eyes with a blue tinge in them. His head pounded. I don't have a scar. I don't have a—Yet, as his vision return and the pain in his temples dimmed, he realized he was rubbing his forehead above his eyebrow.

"Sam, are you okay?"

Jessie sat next to him, her hands on his shoulders, a worry frown on her face. The others had also stopped fooling around and were watching him carefully. He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again. Everything felt normal. His head was fine and his forehead no longer itched. He lowered his hand slowly.

"I'm okay. I just..."

"You were rubbing your forehead," Jimmy said, his voice tense. "Right where Tom has his scar."

Has... Not had, has. Because Jimmy didn't really believe Tom was dead. None of them did. That's why they could fool around like that. They weren't moving on faster than him, they were way behind him, still in denial. And it was his fault, having reactions like this, giving them false hope.

"It's nothing. I just got a little headache, that's all. Probably still jetlagged." He stood, trying to shake the panic growing inside him. "I'm going to walk around a bit." And he headed towards the reception, not sure what to do.

Why was this happening to him? Why did he keep seeing Tom everywhere? Dreaming about him, hallucinating about him. It wasn't fair! Would he ever be able to be normal again? To live his own life, unhindered by the disappearance of his twin? His heart ached at the thought of forgetting Tom, getting over him.

It's not that. You're not forgetting him. But you can't go on like this. Oh, how he wished he'd hallucinate Tom again, have his brother's ghost telling him all this. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so lost, so guilty about it. But now that he'd gotten sleep, the likeliness to hallucinate was zero. There was no way to get his brain confused enough to— He froze on his way to the door. The drinking age in Malta was seventeen. He was over that age. Getting sloshed it was.

⭐⭐⭐

Jimmy watched Sam leaving, getting a horrible twisted feeling in his gut. Even if he'd stopped himself from saying it, he was convinced that Sam was wrong. Tom couldn't be sending him messages from beyond the grave, and all those headaches and dreams had to mean something. He refused to lose hope again even if it meant getting crushed later.

"Poor Sam," Kay whispered.

"Yeah." Kyle turned his gaze from the reception building back to her. "You're a damn tease."

She eyed him up and down. "I'm a tease?"

Kyle shook his head and climbed out of the pool. "I need a shower."

He walked to Jessie and grabbed a towel. Jimmy leaned his elbows on the edge of the pool, totally getting what his older brother meant. The heat, the water, the shorts, the bras... they weren't helping. Fortunately, it seemed to work both ways. He fought the desire to offer Kay a bucket, too, as she stared shamelessly at Kyle. To be fair, the entire female population was. Except for Jessie.

Jessie was too busy looking at him with mischief and daring in her eyes. He pushed himself out of the pool too, determined to find out why she was so unwilling to come in for a swim.

She grabbed another towel and reached it out to him. "Towel?"

He pushed her hand away and stopped an inch from her. "What's up? You're obviously hot. Why no water?"

"I'm not hot," she replied. The bead of sweat dripping down her collar bone said otherwise. He followed it as in sunk lower down her chest. "Hey, face up here." She put a finger under his chin and lifted his head so he'd look her in the eye.

"Huh?"

"Exactly." She pulled away from him and started folding towels.

Kyle had already gone inside and Kay had jumped in the pool, so they were technically alone. Jimmy grabbed her wrist and returned her focus to him.

"Exactly is not an answer," he said quietly.

Jessie bit her lower lip, watching a drop of water making its way down his chest. Her finger followed its progress and a shiver ran down his spine. Okay, forget conversation, this was way better. She'd never touched him like this, just like he'd never seen so much skin from her and all he wanted to do was touch her back, so he ran his hands up her arms, on her shoulders, down her back.

She did the same, sinking her fingers into his skin, and all of a sudden, she hugged him. It felt like sensory overload, like he would explode into a million little pieces from the heat, the softness, the desire coursing through his veins. Jessie rested her cheek on his shoulder.

"This is why I didn't want in," she whispered in his ear. "Too much skin, too much heat, too much..."

It wasn't too much. It wasn't nearly enough. She was like a drug and he was addicted. He wanted more. Much more. All of her. He secured one arm around her waist, and cupped her cheek with his other hand, bringing her even closer to him. There was anticipation in her yes, and a tiny bit of fear. They had to talk about that, he had to know why she wouldn't want this. But when desire clouded her eyes, it could wait.

"Jimmy!"

Ah, shit. Damn it. Damn it to hell and back.

Jerry stomped towards them, his fists clenched, his teeth gritted together, and Jimmy could practically feel the anger and annoyance bouncing off his twin. He'd been so careful around Jerry, trying to prove him wrong, avoid a giant lecture, and he'd messed up. Jessie was right. They shouldn't be this close when they were so naked.

"What have I told you?" Jerry raged.

"Bro, chill, not in front of Jessie," Jimmy said, raising his hands in surrender.

Jerry turned to Jessie who was once again folding towels, her cheeks red and hands shaky. "She should hear this too, because if she said no, you'd back off instantly."

"You try saying no to him," Jessie answered between gritted teeth.

"I'm sure you can do it, Jessie," Jerry said, clearly immune too all temptation the world had to offer. "You are a sensible, strong, responsible young woman who can obviously fend off my hormonal twin brother."

Jimmy had a sudden desire to slap Jerry's head off. Even if he had a point. "Okay, we're sorry, but we weren't technically doing anything."

"Bullshit," Kay coughed from the edge of the pool.

"Hey, who's side are you on?" Jessie demanded.

Kay just giggled and dove under water. Jerry looked away from her and scanned the area, probably looking for Kyle to tell him off a little, too. Finally, he smirked satisfied and returned to his targets.

"There are children around, and such displays are unnecessary. You can hug half-naked in private if you so wish." Jerry frowned. "Then again, that's a terrible idea. Best not do it at all. You've barely started your relationship. There is enough time to get to know each other better after you... um, get to know each other better."

"Okay, okay, we get it. You're right," Jessie said, dropping back on the chair and picking up her book.

"Oh, my Lord, what happened to that poor book?"

Jimmy couldn't take it anymore. He shoved his t-shirt over his head and headed for his room before he broke a chair over Jerry's back or something. Yes, his twin was right, yes PDA was annoying, yes, he and Jessie had been together properly for like three weeks, but damn it! He'd never felt more frustrated in his life.

Halfway up the stairs, he realized his problems were a bit bigger than Jerry. Too much. Jessie had said it was too much. For him, it was nowhere near enough. And that was a problem because in the heat of the moment, he'd totally ignored her words. And she couldn't say no to him, apparently. He was such an idiot.

He stepped into Kyle's room instead, just to find him in the middle of it, all dressed up, towel drying his hair, looking as annoyed as Jimmy felt.

"What's up?" Jimmy asked.

Kyle turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Right back at you."

Jimmy heaved a sigh and leaned against the closed door. He and Kyle barely had any space in the small room. "I'm a freaking idiot, that's what."

"Jerry catch you at it?"

"It was just a hug."

"You were both half-naked. To Jerry it was much more than just a hug."

To him it was much more. "She said it's too much and I didn't listen."

Kyle stopped drying and narrowed his eyes, and at that moment, Jimmy got the distinct feeling he was talking to Jessie's older brother, not his. "Why didn't you listen?"

"It just didn't register. My brain was all like more, more, more. Ugh." He dropped on the bottom bunk, sinking his head in his hands.

"Dude, get up, you're getting my sheets wet."

"Screw your sheets."

"I'd wish."

Jimmy raised his face. "What?"

Kyle just shook his head, a disgusted expression on his face. "This heat isn't helping at all. The pain isn't helping either. And that thing yelling more, more, more... Trust me, that's not your brain. It's more southwards."

"The same thing yelling at you about sheets and screwing?"

"Pretty much." Kyle dropped on the other bed. "We're so screwed."

"No, we're not, and that's basically the problem."

Kyle laughed and Jimmy joined in, feeling the tension easing up a little. It didn't make the problem go away though. But Kyle was right. It was mostly the heat and the pain, his mind's desperate attempt to do something, anything to feel better. And if there was one thing in the world that could make everything better, it was Jessie.

Something else about what Kyle said clicked. "Wait a minute. Is your only problem Jerry or did you and Kay never actually...?"

"Did I ever ask you about stuff like that?" Kyle asked, though he sounded nowhere near upset, more like amused.

"No. You can ask me, but the answer's not going to be pretty. Though as far as Jessie's concerned, Jerry would be so happy."

"He's happy about me and Kay, too, trust me. And he actually knows there was no funny business. That's probably why he's trying so hard to keep it that way."

Jimmy sighed and stood. "At least Jerry found a way to deal with the pain. I need a cold shower."

"Good luck with that," Kyle mumbled. "I tried it and got burned to death. Ran out of cold water."

Great. This place was getting better by the second. "You going after Sam?"

"I guess I should, before he does something stupid."

Jimmy nodded and headed for the bathroom, paying to God that Sam hadn't done anything too stupid.

⭐⭐⭐

Sam had no idea who this Vodka person was, but they were now his best friend. Seriously. Tom had been right. Alcohol plus no food, plus no movement equaled getting buzzed with the speed of light. And buzzed Sam was fun Sam because buzzed Sam was too busy not throwing up to think about anything else. Like his dead twin, or his girlfriend who was no longer his girlfriend. Who needed a girlfriend? He had three napkins with phone numbers already and he'd only been in that bar for an hour.

Buzzed Sam was cool Sam. Why hadn't he done this before? He should totally spend the rest of his life wasted. Who needed a brain? Who needed a future? Who needed pain and sorrow when he could just stay there forever? He didn't even need his Tom hallucination anymore.

"Having a rough time, kid?"

Sam turned to the middle-aged man sitting next to him, a shot glass in his hand. The liquid was amber, like Christine's eyes. He wondered what it tasted like. Would Christine's eyes taste like that too?

The man chuckled. "You're totally wasted."

"Yup." Sam wasn't even apologetic about it because he was doing nothing wrong.

"So would passing you some sensitive information be a total waste of time?" the man asked.

Sam's mind cleared a little against his will. "You're Snitch Gravel's man?"

"Used to be." The man knocked his drink back and singled to the barman for another, raising two fingers. He was served another shot glass. The barman put the second one in front of Sam. "Have you ever had tequila?"

Sam lifted the small glass and eyes it curiously. "Nope. But I'm willing to try it." He downed it. It was like oily fire running down his throat. He liked it. It instantly numbed everything inside him. "So, what do you have for me?"

The man shook his head, a smirk on his face. He had crow's feet at the corner of his eyes and a scar running down his upper lip. His skin was weathered and his hair so closely cropped to his skull that Sam couldn't really tell what color it was.

"Don't patronize me," Sam mumbled. "It's your fault for not reaching out while I was still sober."

"I guess so," the man said with a chuckle. "Good thing that all I have for you is written down. They are just plans to the boss' place in Delhi. He keeps his detailed research with him all the time. Don't forget that." He leaned towards Sam conspiratorially. "I've heard the boys say that the jewel in India is a giant yellow diamond."

Sam nodded. His brain hit the wall of his skull and the bottles behind the bar started spinning. The dance was mesmerizing.

"Here." The man handed him a folder. "Don't lose it, kid."

"Yeah, yeah. What do you think I am, some kind of amateur?" Damn, those bottles were nice and shiny. He wondered if he could climb behind the bar and drink out of them. It felt like a wonderful idea.

An annoying wailing interrupted Sam's musing. He frowned. It was giving him a headache. The man sunk his fingers into his shoulder and turned him around.

"Did you call the police?" he asked in a panicked voice.

"Honestly, idiot, did you see me touching my phone?" Sam wasn't even sure he still had his phone.

The man let him go and hurried towards the door. Sam looked after him, annoyed with all the noise and the scuffling. There were people pushing each other at the door. When it opened, a gust of cold air burst in and his head cleared the tiniest bit. Enough to look at the yellow folder in his hand and realize that their mission in Malta was over.

Well, what a productive evening it had been. Someone grabbed his shoulder and Sam looked up. Kyle glared down at him, a disgusted expression on his face, as if he were about to throw up.

"Damn it, kid! Booze? Really?"

The cold air coming in through the still open doors made Sam even dizzier, but he tried to focus on Kyle. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

The crowd shifted some more as the police made their way towards them. Sam held the folder tight against his chest, but the men were not there for him. They grabbed Kyle's shoulders and pulled him back, one of them already taking out handcuffs.

"Kyle? What's going on? What did you do?"

"Made sure you stayed safe," Kyle answered. "You were being followed."

🌟🌟🌟

Way too much fun with this chapter. It's very long too, so sorry about that.

In this episode, Sam has more headaches (What does that mean?), awkward sex talk (because why not? And everyone copes with pain differently), and Sam getting wasted (drunk Sam is fun Sam).

Thoughts, feelings, theories?

Next chapter title: Theo

Don't forget to vote and leave your thoughts down here at the bottom.

Re: the photo - That's literally the place. The gang would be staying in one of the identical houses on the left. Right in front is the cafeteria.