Rewrite the Stars (bxb)

Chapter 20 Portal Finding

Happy Halloween everyone!
I went as c!Karl Jacobs to a Halloween party last night, and no one knew who I was. Sadness.

I can tell Jax is mad at me just by how he acts. He never outright did anything, but I know the subtle signs. I have to apologize to him, but I suck at apologizing. It always tends to sound fake when I do it.

So over the course of the last few days, I've been helping Jax with his chores. If he had dishes one night, I would volunteer to wash them instead of him. If he had laundry, I would volunteer to do it.

I tend to believe that actions speak louder than words, and I was showing all I could to say how sorry I was for snapping at him.

Surprisingly, he seems to see my apology.

He pulled me into a hug yesterday and told me he's sorry.

I would like to have said that I gracefully told him that he shouldn't be sorry, and I should be the one apologizing, but that would be a lie. I completely blushed and fumbled with my words. Oh my god, I don't even want to think about it. I completely embarrassed myself, but when you're squished that close to him, there's no way you wouldn't become brain dead.

His smell is intoxicating.

I'm getting off track. I shake my head and wander downstairs where Orion, Jax, and Peter are watching a movie. Only Orion looks up as I enter.

"What's up, Blythe?"

I sit down next to him. "I'm bored."

"Oh, god," Orion groans as Peter and Jax look up with excited gleams in their eyes. "Don't even think about it." He points at all three of us. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't do it."

I shrug. "I don't really think to begin with. I kinda just do whatever I feel like."

"Yeah, well, don't do it. Why can't you do something calm for once, like tag or hide-and-go-seek?"

I sigh. "Fine." I look at Peter and Jax. "Let's do something 'calm' and play hide-and-go-seek."

They both groan. "That's no fun," Peter says. "Party pooper." He sticks his tongue out at Orion, and I laugh at the face he makes.

"Hey!" Orion says. "Last time Blythe said he was bored, the cops showed up at the house."

"Yeah, but that's mostly because of me anyway," Dev says as he enters the room, a sandwich in his hand.

"Still," Orion says and shoos us away. "Go away. I actually want to finish this movie."

We all stand up. "We're going. We're going."

I follow Peter, Dev, and Jax to the bottom of the stairs where we run into Sam.

"We're gonna play hide-and-go-seek. You wanna play?" Peter asks Sam as Jax heads up the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go finish some work," he calls from the top of the stairs.

"You're not gonna play?"

"Maybe later."

Peter pouts and crosses his arms.

"So." I clap my hands together, getting everyone's attention. "Hide-and-go-seek. You guys in?"

"I'll count," Sam says. "You guys go hide. No bedrooms." We all agree, and he turns to the front door, closes his eyes, and starts counting. The others flee before he even gets to two.

I quietly make my way upstairs and look around. I have no idea where to hide. I go into the closet on the left side of the hallway. There's just jackets and boxes of winter gear in here, so I move that aside and go to the back wall. I put everything back in place and hide in the dark. Something pokes me, so I move around, but it won't budge. I lean forward and feel around for whatever it is. It feels like a small cylinder against the wall. But there's also a tiny crease in the wall. I move my hand along it and come to another small cylinder. Then I follow the crease until I've gone in a box shape. I press on a certain part of it, and it pops open. I push it farther open and look through it to see a small room on the other side.