Chp. 59 “Training”

After I had left Roger’s office I had felt a sense of relief in knowing what exactly happened to my dad, and that he had died fighting and protecting his country. I felt a sense of pride in him, and I felt even more proud to share his DNA and be his daughter.

I wanted to make him proud even though I had never met him in my entire life, and knowing I never would.

As I wandered around the facility I wondered where Avery was at this moment. I didn’t want to see her, and I especially didn’t want to talk to her. Not right now anyway. I was still highly upset and hurt, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to ignore her forever.

My heart was torn, because I was in love with her, but I felt completely betrayed by her. How could she hide something like that from me? How could she lie to me for that long, and not slip up and accidently reveal something? And what else could she by lying to me about?

The feeling of betrayal sucked in general, but when it was from someone you truly cared about, well it only multiplied. The feeling was always there, no matter how far I tried to push it back in my mind. It was haunting me, and it was overtaking me and wearing me down. I wanted an explanation, but I wanted nothing to do with Avery, simply because I didn’t want to hurt her if I saw her.

And I knew I would if I did.

Just thinking about her made my blood bubble, and I knew it was a very bad sign. I knew I couldn’t see her yet, at least not in the next 24 hours. I needed space from her to try and sort these feelings out in my head.

I took the elevator to my room, not wanting to deal with anyone for the rest of the day. I just wanted to be alone, and to figure everything out.

I made it silently to my room, passing Avery’s door and staring at it, wondering if she was in there. A part of me wanted to knock, but the other was telling me no, that seeing her wasn’t what I needed. I needed time, and I needed space from her, even though my heart missed her, my brain knew better.

I ignored the thought of knocking on her door and let myself into my room, locking the door behind me and walking into the emptiness of it. I felt pretty alone, and I knew it was because of Avery, but I had to keep reminding myself I wasn’t.

I wasn’t alone, right?

I still had Max and Gage, and Roger… but I knew deep down the one person I really wanted by my side.

And that person probably only pretended to be everything I wanted, just so she could gain my trust.

~ ~ ~ ~

The annoying sound of my alarm clock pulled me out of sleep, almost startling me. I had been having a nightmare about Avery, and when I sat up in my room I realized it was just a dream.

I glanced at the clock that read 7:00 AM, and I remembered suddenly what I had planned today.

I would be meeting with Agent Berkley in the Training Facility in an hour.

I forced myself to shower and ready myself for the day, wondering how this “training session” was going to go. In a sense I was looking forward to it because obviously I was excited to use the power, but in another sense I wasn’t looking forward to having to face Agent Berkley. Again.

My eyes just couldn’t help themselves when I was around her.

Knowing that Berkley was also Agent Roger’s work partner made me uneasy, knowing she would be around us when we were going into dangerous situations. For some reason I felt a sense of protection over her, but I usually felt that about anyone if they didn’t have the Healing power.

But she was different.

I didn’t know if it was a good different or a different I should honestly be worried about, considering I had just found out my girlfriend had lied to me for five months about her true self.

God I felt so stupid.

I pulled on some casual clothes, consisting of comfy jeans and a muscle shirt, knowing we wouldn’t be physically training today anyway. I left my phone on my nightstand, shoving my room key into my back pocket, knowing the tightness of my jeans would keep it there. I didn’t know how I felt about meeting Agent Berkley, but I was praying she was already in the training room waiting for me. I wanted more time to think to myself of how I was going to approach this whole “Berkley is gay and I’m pretty sure she’s into me” situation.

And of course my luck came up short when I stepped out of my room, seeing her gorgeous figure a couple of feet down the hallway.

She spotted me and smiled warmly, as if there was nothing else going on around us. It was odd, because her smile actually made me want to smile, and I hadn’t smiled in almost a whole 24 hours.

Thanks to Avery, of course.

Taylor walked up to me, her smile twisting into a more playful one as she crossed her arms. I took in her figure quickly, she was also wearing jeans and a loose T shirt, and she looked awfully cute.  She sighed, “Do you know a place where we can be alone so we can concentrate? I was thinking the training room but considering it’s now Saturday I know it’s going to be packed soon.”

Immediately my mind thought about the roof top, and I knew we would be alone there. Considering I had brought Avery up there a little over a week ago made me feel guilty for thinking it, but then again fuck her for lying to me. I responded, pointing my finger up, “The roof top.”

She nodded, “Good thought, here,” then she held out her hand again for me to take.

I looked at her warily, “Are we teleporting there?”

She gave me a sarcastic smile and retorted, “No, we’re going to hold hands and skip through the hallways together. Of course we’re teleporting up there, genius. Now take my hand.”

I smiled shyly then, and I could feel myself blush involuntarily. I cursed myself inexplicitly, praying that she hadn’t seen the redness of my cheeks as I took her hand. Then suddenly I felt the sense of dizziness settle into my mind, but it wasn’t as bad this time. I figured it was my body trying to get used to the feeling. Then within a split second we were alone on the roof top.

I felt the morning air around me, and the birds were chirping while the air was still cool with morning dew. She sighed, “It feels so good to be outside. We don’t get out much working here.”

I nodded slowly, not really understanding why she was being so friendly. In a sense I had looked at her more as an authority figure, but now it was clear she didn’t want that between her and I. She seemed to want more of a friendship, which I was oddly ok with, but I knew I needed to keep myself in check.

I studied her as she looked over the edge of the building, and I noticed her blond hair was pulled into a loose pony tail. She looked oddly sexy, so I allowed myself to drink in more of her figure while she was oblivious to my stare.

I questioned, “How long have you known Roger?”

She looked at me and smiled, walking up to me slowly and crossing her arms, “Couple years, I only became his partner recently though, if that’s what you’re really asking. You seemed quite shocked yesterday when you found out.”

I felt myself blush again, and this time I knew she had seen.

She smiled in response to the redness of my face and she spoke again, “Ok, so using teleportation is actually fairly easily. Do you have a good photographic memory?”

I thought about the question and figured the answer would be yes, considering I used my brain imagery a lot when I used my other powers. I nodded, “Well yea, I would say so.”

She nodded, “Ok, good. Our first exercise will be simple,” she then laced her hand through mine and I swear my heart was about to explode out my chest. I looked up at her as she finished, “Close your eyes.”

I did, and I listened for her smooth voice as I felt her soft hand in mine.

“Picture your room, the room here at the Bureau.”

I focused, and it seemed pretty easy as I remembered what I had left my room looking like this morning. The lamp that was sitting on my nightstand, and my un-made bed that had the covers turned down.

She whispered, trying not to interrupt my thought, “Got it?”

I nodded, and I waited for her next direction.

“Do you feel that? The want to go there? Focus on it.”

I nodded again, wondering if it was my want to actually use teleportation or just my want to get her alone in my room. And then she spoke again.

“Now take us there.”

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath, but as soon as I released the breath I had been holding I had been floating in mid-air for a split second. The familiar dizzy feeling entered my head but it was weaker this time, and when my feet hit the ground I lost my balance, falling into Berkley again.

Luckily the bed had caught our fall as Taylor tried to steady us but failed miserably, and I began laughing from excitement. She was smiling too, and she spoke, “Good, a little un-balanced but, it’ll get easier for you the more you do it.”

She lifted herself off of me and my bed, walking through my room that seemed to be a mess. I was actually quite embarrassed that I had brought her here, considering my room looked like a little boys room. I scolded myself internally as she paced around the room.

She stopped at my nightstand, and then picked up the familiar piece of film paper that held me and Avery’s pictures we took at the mall. I felt my cheeks redden suddenly, knowing Avery and I had kissed in that photo booth, and one of the pictures proved that.

She glanced at me, smiling playfully, “She’s cute. That’s Avery right?”

I nodded slowly, looking up at her from my bed, knowing she was gay just from her reaction to the pictures. I guess Roger’s assumptions were right about her.

She placed the pictures down and smiled, “So she’s not just your friend, she’s obviously a little more than that.”

I wanted to correct her and say Avery was a lot more than what she thought, and that I was in love with Avery, but I couldn’t. One, because I still felt completely used and betrayed by Avery, and I hadn’t spoken a word to her in an entire day. Second, because looking at Taylor right now made me want to kiss her, and I had kind of forgotten about Avery the moments Taylor and I spent been together.

She walked over to me and stood in front, holding out her delicate hand for me to take. I took it, and she pulled me up quite forcefully, bringing me almost nose to nose with her. She smiled, “Second exercise.”

The short moment when we had been close enough to kiss lingered in my mind, and I smiled slightly as I responded, “What?”

She was still holding my hand, and I knew it was because we were about to try to go someplace else, but I wanted to believe it was something a little more. She tilted her head, allowing me to study her smooth skin and her angular jaw. I felt my palm grow slightly sweaty as I squeezed her hand gently, out of instinct. I was also staring at her lips, wondering what it would feel like to just kiss them.

And she took notice to everything thing I did.

“Take me someplace else, anywhere you want. Just not somewhere that’s going to get us in trouble.”

I smiled, instantly thinking of the perfect place. I closed my eyes again, and I felt Taylor’s presence slightly closer to me this time, as if she was trying to put more pressure on me to focus. I pictured the place I knew so well, knowing I wanted to see it again. It had been awhile since I had been there, and I held my breath.

Then I exhaled, and we were there.

I landed better this time, and the dizzy feeling in my head was just in the back of my mind now. I soon felt the hot Florida humidity surrounding me, and it actually felt good. Taylor took in the scene around her and looked at me, “What is this place?”

I smiled, walking over to the familiar couch under the open-ended warehouse that smelt of metal and outside air. I spoke, “Max and I discovered this place over a year ago. We would come here to practice our powers and to just get away from the world. It was kind of like our secret paradise, even though it’s not really anything like a paradise.”

Taylor joined me under the hanging roof, smiling and fanning herself with her shirt, “This is Hell, not paradise.”

I smiled sarcastically, “You can go anywhere in the world, and you’ve never been to Jacksonville?”

She tilted her head and spoke, “I’ve been to Jacksonville before Andrea, just not when it’s 104 degrees outside.”

I smiled playfully, “I could take you to Teal’s house in Louisiana, its much worse there.”

She shook her head, continuing to smile, “Not that’s alright.”

Then her hand found my dog tag that was hanging over my muscle shirt, the one my mom had given me before I left. She smiled, “This is cute.”

I looked down at the dog-tag and then into her light brown eyes that were now focused on mine. I felt her hand graze my chest, and she rubbed the dog-tag between her thumb and pointer finger, as if she knew she was silently driving me crazy. I stuttered slightly, “M-My adopted mom gave it to me before I left, I never take it off.”

We were close, and I felt the tension slowly forming between us. We were about the same height, and she was just slightly taller considering she wasn’t wearing her usual heels when I had first met her. I kept reminding myself she was 24 because she honestly didn’t look it, and I noticed we had been looking at each other silently for quite some time now, as if reading each other.

Then her full, pink lips parted, speaking, “We should head back to the Bureau.”

Then I responded automatically, not realizing what I was saying, “Why? I like being here with you.”

I had been to slow to stop my mouth from reacting, but now it was too late. I had completely embarrassed myself, and Taylor was probably freaked out by my teenage crush I had on her.

She just smiled slightly and spoke, “Don’t you want to spend time with Avery? Since she’s better and all?”

Suddenly I felt like the worst girlfriend, even though Avery had been the worst girlfriend to me. I was flirting with this woman, this woman I barely knew, because we had some weird sexual tension, and I had a girlfriend. I knew I needed to face Avery, but Taylor seemed to read my face before I could cover it up.

She spoke, “You two fought or something?”

I instantly began shying away from the subject, “I guess you could say that.”

I watched as she bit the inside of her lip, looking at me the entire time. She seemed to be studying me, but I was starting to think that maybe she was just trying to be a good friend and figure something out between Avery and I.

She shrugged, “I think you should talk to her.”

And that was that, and instantly I wanted to the Bureau. Taylor obviously didn’t want to continue whatever was going on between her and I, if there was anything going on in the first place. I felt slightly embarrassed and stupid, assuming Taylor had been coming onto me. It had been shallow to think like that, and selfish, and now I just looked plain stupid to her.

I nodded, “Yea.”

She smiled but it seemed weak and sad, and then she disappeared into thin air. Allowing me to realize I was on my own, and it was always going to be that way.