~23~ For My Own Interest

(Lulu’s POV)

“Good morning,” Brian called from the kitchen. I patted down my messy hair and sat up correctly on the couch. Mmh. I smelled bacon and eggs.

“Morning,” I returned. I looked around. “Where’s Angel and Nelly?”

“Angel’s still upstairs and Nelly’s out to breakfast with Callaghan,” he answered.

“I knew they’d sleep with each other this soon,” I breathed.

“Nope. Nelly came home last night. I saw her leave this morning too,” he defended. Whatever. I reached over to the coffee table to grab my phone and realized that I had one missed call with a voicemail, a text from a New York number saying “Good morning, beautiful (:”, and another missed call this morning. Who kept calling me?

“It was probably Zac,” Brian answered my unasked question. “He called me last night too. Even Angel’s phone.”

“What for?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I told him to stop calling us and then I hung up,” he told. Well that was getting us nowhere. Something wasn’t right about that.

“Do you think it’s fair?” I asked him. He stopped cooking and looked over to me.

“What?”

“Not letting him talk to her. I mean it doesn’t seem so wrong,” I expressed, biting my lip afterwards. “After all, we’ve talked to him.”

“But that was strictly for the sake of Devin—”

“And maybe that’s why he’s also calling Angel,” I reasoned, somehow defending him. No. Was I defending him? Or the justification that his and Angel’s love should be what’s important for now?

“Yeah right,” Brian scoffed.

“Seriously,” I spoke. “Maybe he has questions—”

“He can ask someone else.”

“Like who?” I asked. “Joey, who’s been away at Florida…or you in South freaking America? Angel was the only consistent person he talked to.”

“Who cares?”

I paused.

“‘Who cares’?” I quoted with disbelief. “This is Devin’s health we’re talking about. You’re really going to sacrifice that all for a stupid phone call—”

“I’m done with him hurting her!” he interrupted. “She doesn’t deserve it and we both know that’s not why he’s calling her.”

“Who would know now?” I asked. “After all, you told him not to call here anymore.”

“Exactly.”

“Zac’s a stubborn boy, you know,” I reminded. Our eyes locked. “He’s gonna call again and I’ll be the one to decide if Angel can talk to him—”

“Because you know what’s best for her, or something?” Brian laughed. “Yeah right.”

“You’re really hypocritical, you know,” I accused.

“Humor me,” he allowed.

“You’re so against her talking to him, but as I recall, it was you being supportive of them in the first place,” I stated. “It was always Zac over Joey, no matter what, for you. Now, it’s as if they’ve switched places.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” he informed, walking over to the living room with two plates full of breakfast. “In the beginning, I wanted Joey to be with her because he seemed safer, and then I grew to see the connection she had with Zac instead. And then of course Zac became my best friend and crap. And now…he thinks he’s grown and bada$$ and that’s not good for Angel, in anyway. At least with Joey, it’s what you see is what you get. Nonetheless, I still hate Joey.”

I was confused.

“So…she doesn’t talk to him,” I said with a nod.

“Not unless it’s clear through us that he’s purely conversing about Devin,” he added. Fine. I make no promises though.

“And if he shows up in person?” I asked. From my perspective, they didn’t have any burning hatred for each other. Angel running off was just a natural shock and you didn’t hear him go off on a tangent about hating Angel with the passion of a thousand raging suns when Nelly asked, so nothing was actually wrong. Things were just…rocky? No. Awkward? Kind of. Confusing? Yeah. Frustrating? DEFINITELY.

“If who shows up in person?” Angel asked, making an appearance at the foot of the stairs. We all looked up at her with no answer. Then her good morning smile faded. “You’re talking about Zac.”

“Yeah, we are,” I admitted, receiving a nudge from Brian.

“Alright,” Angel shrugged before going to the kitchen and making herself a plate.

“I told you nothing would be weird. She’s perfectly capable of being civil towards him,” I hissed to Brian once Angel was far enough away in the kitchen.

“I’m not convinced,” Brian spoke. The ONLY reason why I didn’t deny him right then and  there—because, as her best friend, I’d know loads more of Angel’s emotional behavior (good or bad)—was because he was given the powers of perception and was expected to see past the normal facial expressions anyone else could see on someone. His weakness in that? He wasn’t a girl to fully understand it.

***

 “So how about that Archer kid?” Angel asked me. I, she, and Brian were walking through the mall. I smiled at the mention of his name. “Yeah. You’re hooked.”

“Not hooked—”

“Then what?” she asked. I looked around, looking for a response to try and prove her wrong when I knew otherwise.

“I don’t know,” I ended up shrugging.

“Did you get his number?” she asked. I nodded. “Way to go.”

“Hey!” a voice called. All three of us turned and saw Nelly jogging over to us.

“Hey,” I greeted.

“What are you doing here?” Angel asked.

“I thought you were out with Callaghan,” Brian commented.

“I was for breakfast, but it’s now…two o’clock and I do actually have a life, believe it or not,” she retorted.

“Ah, yet another love story in the making,” Angel chimed.

“What?” Nelly frowned.

“We were just talking about how friendly Lulu got with Archer last night,” Brian elaborated, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You make it seem like we had sex…” I whispered, embarrassed.

“Ha! You should’ve seen them after you left,” Nelly said. I lightly hit her arm. Great. I’m never going to hear the end of this.

“Oh?” Angel raised her eyebrow.

“They snogged…hardcore,” Nelly informed. Angel and Brian first gasped in shock before laughing.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, looking away from all of them and crossing my arms.

“Man, I wish I saw Zac’s face,” I heard Brian say aloud with humor as if Angel wasn’t even here. But as soon as he said it, he looked down, knowing that he shouldn’t have.

“Why’s that?” Nelly asked.

“Because Zac’s my ex boyfriend,” I rushed. Alright, time for the subject to change before I looked over once more to see the neutral look on Angel’s face. “And you should’ve seen you and Callaghan. He kissed you and man, you were as red as a fire truck!”

Sh!t. Fire truck equals fire. Fire equals Zac. Zac equals bad for Angel. Bad for Angel equals bad for everyone else.

“I’m surprised that she even liked someone, let alone kissed them,” Angel said. I felt relieved, but Brian and I still connected eyes, realizing that we weren’t giving Angel as much credit for handling this as she deserved.

I wonder how she actually feels though. Without the bullsh!t cover. What if she actually talked to him? In person or on the phone. I may just have to make that happen for my own interest.

***

 “Have either of you talked to Devin recently?” Angel asked Brian and me. Nelly had left us to go pick up some college textbooks or something like that. So now we were eating lunch at the food area in the mall.

“Mmh,” I said, setting down my soda. “Yeah—well no, but yeah—”

“What she means is we talked to Joey,” Brian clarified. I sent him a thankful smile for interpreting. “He called when you were asleep last night.”

“Well?” she asked.

Were we supposed to tell her about Zac’s new mutations. Ha. A mutation on a mutation…

“Devin and Joey think that by mixing strands of their DNA with the initial Drug will cure him, but of course they need all of our DNA to be in its original state,” Brian started. Well it’s time to find out if telling her was the right thing to do…

“Alright cool. So he’s cured?” Angel asked, hopeful with her face lighting up. Here comes the bad news.

“No,” Brian and I informed. Her face dropped.

“Zac changed and there’s no way to—”

“He changed?” she scoffed. “Come on. We studied evolution all through school and you expect me to believe that a personality change can affect someone’s DNA in a year?”

We nodded. She scoffed in disbelief once more.

“Joey said that Zac’s stop trigger is not really present and his ADHD and Diabetes are acting up—”

“His stop trigger?” she repeated with wide eyes. Yeah. I don’t think we should’ve told her. And as soon as she asked for a confirmation of the deletion of the one assurance that Zac Tyler had the slightest bit of care for her, her composure changed. “But his Diabetes is altering? That’s the only purpose Devin had for creating the stupid drug. Does that mean the cure now for Diabetes isn’t going to work?”

“No. The one now is perfectly fine,” Brian told. “I guess that while Devin’s powers affected his nervous system and brain waves, Zac’s is affecting his insulin levels…”

“I don’t understand though,” Angel expressed with a frown. “How do you have a stop trigger and then lose it? Does that mean it can happen to you and Joey—?”

“Calm down,” Brian said. “It can’t happen to me or Joey.”

“How do you know?” I asked. He was so sure of everything, but why? How?

“I don’t know,” he sighed. We all paused in silence. “I don’t know what will happen. I’m not lying when I feel like something’s changing with my powers and stuff, but mine and Joey’s stop triggers are simple. Every time I blink, I’m reminded of my stop. And Joey? Anger is way easier to feel than love. He actually has a harder time keeping his powers than even stopping them—well that’s what I think.”

Angel stared at the small, red table.

“Why is everything changing?” she whispered. How could she ask that when her life was just the same as even mine. It frustrated me.

“I don’t know,” Brian answered. She looked up at me.

“I’m sorry if you feel as if I’m being selfish or something, but keep in mind this involves people I care about,” she said to me with dark eyes and frustration that mirrored mine on the inside. I held up my hands defensively.

“I didn’t even say anything,” I reasoned. And I sure as h3ll didn’t portray any aggravation in body movements. I was sure of it.

She shook her head and then blinked a few times before sinking back into her silence. What was going on?

“Sorry…” she whispered as if she was the one confused.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked, resting a hand on Angel’s forearm. She slipped out of his touch and grabbed her bag to stand up. She snapped herself out of whatever day dream she was having.

“Yeah…yeah. Let’s just go home,” she decided. What was going on here?