NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: TREMBLING BOOKS

SHE let her eyes linger on Mitchs form before she slid past him out of the bed. Carefully creeping across the floor in hopes of not waking him, she found herself in the kitchen looking around, she wondered if he drank coffee or if that had just been on the mission, unsure and not wanting to pry, she moved towards the bed grabbing her bag from beside the frame.

The boy- still resting his head on his forearms- cracked his eyes open, he stared at her blinking a few more times to try and clear the irritation he was experiencing, "what are you doing?" she didn't reply as she pulled her laptop out from the contents of the bag, he sat up rubbing his face with his left hand before glancing at his watch.

She cast him a silent look plopping down on the bed with her device, he sat up stretching his arms over his head watching as the girl opened her laptop and began to type away across the keys. His curiosity getting the best of him, he climbed into the bed managing to sit beside her without any glares thrown in his direction.

Staring at what he was seeing pop up on the screen, he realized she was searching for Colleges, more specifically; Universities.

He raised an eyebrow in her direction almost as if he was questioning her, "college? After the shitstorm we just experienced?" she shrugged her shoulders, "It'll give me something to do, I never really got the opportunity to go." she replied continuing to look through the long list of colleges.

He relaxed placing his arms behind him so he could lean back on them, "how are you going to go to a University with no money?" he questioned, she turned her head in his direction glaring for a brief moment, "I'll get a job, it's not like I'm dumb or something." she mumbled, he rolled his eyes watching from over her shoulder as she clicked on the link to a University website.

His eyes widened at the sight of the logo on the screen, he sat up resting his hands on his legs as he watched her scroll through the site, noticing his sudden silence, she glanced over her shoulder- where Mitch had decided he was going to watch from- "what?" she asked refusing to take her eyes away from him as she awaited an answer, he shook his head glancing down at the bed before looking up and scratching his head.

"I used to go to Syracuse."

Margo furrowed her eyebrows glancing from the laptop screen to the ember eyed boy beside her, "you? Syracuse? Mitch, that's for smart people." she cracked a grin before realizing he wasn't going to smile back, "I was studying International Business, my minor was French." he paused meeting her gaze, "I was there on a lacrosse scholarship." the girl's lips parted staring at him in utter shock.

"Mitch Rapp, are you trying to tell me that you, of all people, played lacrosse while studying International Business?" he feigned an obviously fake smile before letting it fall to a frown, "yeah, and believe it or not I was pretty good at it." she rolled her eyes at the statement somewhat amused with the bickering they were sharing.

She let out a sigh continuing to look through the website, meanwhile, Mitch climbed out of the bed heading off towards the kitchen in his sleeveless black top and joggers, "you want coffee?" he called, she raised her thumb in the air too caught up in the website to try and reply.

She switched to a new tab typing the Universities name into the google search engine only to see that the college was four hours away, far less than she'd thought it would be, glancing over to where Mitch stood preparing two mugs of coffee she spoke, "Syracuse is only four hours away, maybe I could find a place over there." while she may not have noticed, Mitch slightly slouched frowning at the coffee cups in front of him.

"Yeah, there's plenty of apartments over there, a lot near the campus too." he picked the two mugs up careful to not spill them as he carried them over to the bed, he held one out to her watching as the girl slowly took it from him taking a small sip to test the temperature, when she realized it wouldn't singe her tongue she took a longer sip letting out a sigh as the warm liquid slid down her throat.

"That's good." she mumbled holding the mug in one hand while she used the other to scroll, "you should go back too." Mitch stuttered halfway through his sip almost spitting the brown liquid out, "why the hell would I go back?" she shrugged her shoulders unable to offer an explanation, "it would give you something to do." she stated clicking on another link the site offered.

It took her to the list of majors she could choose from the girl diligently searching for something she knew would interest her, she stopped at another series of links clicking on the first one that caught her eye, "aerospace engineering?" Mitch questioned from beside her, she turned to face him scowling, "why? What's wrong with it?" he shook his head pressing his lips together, "nothing, I just didn't peg you as the science-y type of girl."

"And I didn't peg you as a smart guy, or a lacrosse player for that matter." she retorted, they say in silence both sipping from their mugs as Margo- and Mitch, despite the fact he would never admit to it- read through the description for the major, after a few minutes she nodded to herself moving the mouse to click on the pop up reading Admissions.

Scrolling further down the page, she clicked on the area for undergraduates her heart beating faster as the page loaded, there waiting on the page for her, were three options, the first one reading first year, she clicked on it finding it unnecessary to read the others, once again scrolling, she clicked on the ready to apply button.

Mitch watched on in silence not bothering to drink his coffee as he watched her, while it wasn't his decision or anything that involved him, it got his heart racing too. It brought back all the college nostalgia he'd buried away from years ago always remembering that it had been where he'd gone with Katrina.

He pushed the memory to the back of his mind refocusing on the screen in front of him- technically in front of Margo- he watched as she filled out her information the both of them simultaneously letting out a sigh once she'd finished the process.

She closed the computer slightly leaning back so she could place her mug on the bedside table before she plopped backwards her head begging for her to go back to sleep. "It'll probably only be a week or two." she propped herself up on her elbows raising an eyebrow in Mitch's direction, "for what?"

"Till you find out if you got in or not for your major." her mouth formed a small 'O' as she nodded her head and fell back onto the pillows. He took another sip of his coffee before he climbed out of the bed for the second time, "where are you going?" she called out refusing to bother with sitting up, "a walk, maybe try and find a job." she jabbed her thumb in the air listening as he grabbed a few things before heading into the bathroom moments later.

Turning over onto her stomach, she buried her face in the soft pillows using her feet to help pull the blanket close enough so that she could grab it with her hands, tugging the covers over her body she relaxed into the pillow closing her eyes seconds later.

Mitch stepped out of the bathroom casting her a quick glance before he grabbed his shoes- and his keys- and left the apartment locking the door behind him, it only took a few minutes for her to drift off the quiet surrounding her providing some comfort.

When she opened her eyes she let out a sigh surprised when she wasn't greeted by bright light, checking her watch she realized it was twelve at night, her eyes widened at the realization that she'd slept all day. As she glanced around the apartment from her spot in bed she took note that Mitch wasn't back yet, she wondered what he was doing, where he was, not that it mattered, she was just curious.

The lock on the door jolted with a clinking sound the girl's eyes widening once again at the sudden noise, the person outside continued to jostle the doorknob causing her brain to be thrown into overdrive, she quickly grappled beside the bed pulling her bag from the side.

Unzipping it as fast as it would allow without ripping it apart, she pulled her pistol out aiming it at the dead center of the door- where someone's head would be based on the average human height- she clicked off the safety pulling back the hammer with a small click.

The doorknob jostled a final time before the door sprung open, "don't move." she warned, peeking over what he was carrying, Mitch raised an eyebrow his eyes widening at the sight of the gun, "what the hell is it with you and pointing guns at me?" she let out a sigh shifting the hammer back into place- clicking the safety back into place seconds later- she lowered the gun into her lap her hands never leaving the weapon.

"I thought someone was trying to fucking break-in, what the hell are you doing out at twelve anyway?" Mitch ignored her setting the bag he had been carrying down on the table, "I had things to do, not that it's your business." he grumbled quietly unpacking the contents of the bag.

Upon further inspection, Margo identified the bag as one that you usually received at a grocery store, while she wasn't sure which one specifically it had come from, she could tell he had definitely gone shopping.

Sliding out of bed, she padded across the room sidling up beside Mitch to see what all he had stayed out so late to get, he propped open the fridge door silently transferring the items that needed to go inside from the bag to the cold interior of the appliance.

"I got more sugar, since you seem to like your coffee with it." he spoke gesturing to the small container of sugar closer to the bottom of the bag, her lips turned upwards in a small smile, "thanks." she mumbled turning to watch him as he put things away, "you want any help?" he glanced over his shoulder as he slid something onto the third shelf shaking his head, "I've got it."

The two of them continued on in silence exchanging glances every now and again until he was finished, Margo cleared her throat easily gaining his attention from the action, "so, even though it's not any of my business..." she paused meeting his gaze, "why were you out so late?" he shrugged his shoulders grabbing the bag from the tabletop before he crumpled it into a ball.

"I just felt like it."

He moved across the kitchen opening up the lid to drop the balled-up bag inside, she nodded her head glancing in the direction of the bed, "plus, you looked like you were tired, figured I'd give you some time on your own to get used to the place." he met her gaze for a split second before turning away.

She watched as he moved across the room grabbing his clothes from where he'd left them on the side of the couch, he pointed in the direction of the bathroom asking with no words if she needed to go before he went in, she shook her head her eyes following him as he disappeared into the room the sound of the shower starting up following minutes later.

NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: TREMBLING BOOKS