No Turning Back [REWRITTEN]

Chapter 2

[305 hours, 23 minutes]

[Blake]

"Hello? Earth to Blake?"

I blinked as a British accented voice broke me from my thoughts. Dark green eyes stared with curious concern through lower-framed glasses at me across the picnic table.

"Huh?"

"You were zoning out, mate, I thought you'd fallen asleep with your eyes open or something," he said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Oh, did I?" I scratched the back of my head with a slight nervous laugh. "Sorry. I've just... been a little distracted lately."

"You're right about that one," the British man smiled a little in amusement, though it quickly faded. "Are you alright, mate? I heard Tyson saying something about you being quieter than usual since arriving here."

"No, I'm fine, Lionel, really," I assured. "What were you saying, then?"

Lionel slightly adjusted his glasses, causing a small scar over his nose previously covered by the frame of his glasses to become visible. He had short, brown hair and wore a short sleeved collared shirt that was a little formal for a simple friendly gathering like the current situation. Overall he seemed very collected, a fairly normal look for Lionel. Even outside of work, he seemed to dress the same way every day. Of course, I tend to wear sweatshirts or t-shirts every day unless I'm at work, so I really can't judge much.

Lionel muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear, then continued talking. "I was asking you if you had anything you've been working on lately. I know you sometimes like to make artworks and such in your free time."

I thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, actually, now that you mention it. I kinda forgot about it a while back, work got a little busy and I just wasn't thinking about it."

"Mind telling me about it?"

"I'd rather keep it a surprise," I determined, smiling a little.

"Ah, a little secret project, eh?" Lionel replied. He seemed somewhat interested. "Well, I hope to see it when it's finished, I'm sure it'll turn out wonderful."

"I hope so."

An aggressive hand suddenly slammed onto the table next to me, bringing my attention with a start to a dark blonde-haired woman that was now sitting on the bench beside me. Wearing a light denim jacket and a dark blue t-shirt, she had dark brown eyes and a goofy smirk that turned into a grin as she saw my embarrassingly startled reaction.

"Hah! Gotcha!" She said, giving my shoulder a light jab.

"Alexis!" I snapped with annoyance, quite embarrassed that I'd let her startle me.

Alexis just laughed, as did Lionel, much to my irritation.

"What?" She said through giggles, a very not-innocent grin on her face. I just sighed with a small smile that had started to form on my face, giving her a teasing eye roll.

"Well, being on edge like you've been coulda saved you there, I'll admit," Lionel chuckled.

"Oh, shut up, man," I said, lightly jabbing his shoulder across the table. He sort of froze for a moment, almost processing it before sort of shaking off the surprise and proceeding with his lightened mood.

"So, if you're here," Lionel started to say to Alexis, "Then where's-"

"Good to see you haven't forgotten, then."

This time all of us jumped as another girl seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Dark, forest green hair covered the left half of her face and fell in an unorganized fashion down to her mid torso, which bore a loose black jacket hung partially by her elbow and a semi-short sleeveless white crop top underneath. There were multiple necklaces around her neck and hanging around her collarbone, some bearing interesting looking crystals and others simple charms like mushrooms. Green eyes that were close to the same color as her hair flickered between all of us in an odd, mysterious way that was reminiscent of only one person I've ever known.