CHAPTER THREE: I KEEP SEEING HIS FACE

The group of friends left the Purple Pie Place at around nine, after much talking, much laughing, and probably too much pie and ice cream. Needless to say the drive to the hotel that they would be staying at, which was a half-hour away, was interesting.

Jonas and Fable were both asleep on Johnathan, who was reading Jonas's Twilight book with very little light. Amy was driving, Beckett sitting beside her in the passenger seat, reading Ace of Shades, a book that Fable had recommended to him. He was reading it aloud quietly, but Amy didn't mind, she liked the book, and Beckett's voice was calming. She liked how he did different voices for the different characters, it made it easier for her to track where exactly the book was going. Austin was sipping a cup of coffee that he had gotten to go, much to Beckett, and everyone else's dismay, and was listening to the latest album from his favorite band. Evie had stolen one of Johnathan's books, and was reading it with her headphones in, she had yet to realize that the book was the second one in the series, but Amy would wager that it still wouldn't stop her from finishing the book.

As Amy pulled into the small drive-in hotel, she had to admit that it wasn't the luxury that she was expecting. It was only two stories tall, and the parking lot was riddled with potholes and cracks.

"Come on guys, we're here," Amy said to the car, and seemingly, that was able to do the trick, as everyone in the car began to wake from their daze.

"How many rooms did you get for us?" Beckett asked Fable as he helped her out of the car.

"Beckett, we get the rooms when we show up, so like, it depends on how many they have," Fable murmured tiredly, leaning heavily on Johnathan for support. Amy could wager a guess as to why Fable was more tired than usual, she knew that as much as the girl liked to brag about leaving home, Amy was more than positive that she was up into the early hours of the morning, playing board games with her Mom, or watching shows with her Mum.

"This seems like a terrible plan, what if they only have one room?" Austin asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Austin, no offense, but that's not really a thing you should be worrying about, considering you're probably going to be up into the wee hours of the morning with the amount of coffee you're drinking," Fable replied. "Besides, that's not how these places work. They should have at least two rooms available, and while I'm sure three would be nice, because then only two people need to share a bed, two rooms will be no big deal." Austin shrugged his shoulders, as if he were acknowledging that her words made sense, without having to admit that he was wrong.

"Fable and I can go check in, and the rest of you guys can unload our bags?" Amy suggested, trying to get the group to move along, and she was met with grumbles and shrugs. Johnathan handed Fable off to Amy, Fable wrapped her arm around Amy's, and the two started inside, Amy trying to conceal her blush.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Fable murmured under her breath as she walked up to the person who was sitting at the front desk, a boy around their age, with his feet on the table.

"We'd like three rooms please?" Fable asked, and Amy noticed how she began to fidget with a small bracelet that she was wearing around her wrist, a gift from her younger brother.

Luckily, there were three rooms available. Unluckily, they weren't all in the same place, or on the same floor. Fable and Amy walked out of the hotel with three different sets of room keys in their pockets.

"Alright, so how many rooms do they have?" Beckett asked, and Amy could tell that the lack of planning on this road trip was starting to bother him.

"We got three rooms," Amy told the group, who all let out a half-hearted cheer. "But they're in three different places. So we're going to have to figure out how to split up the rooms."

"Dibs on a room on the first floor!" Austin called out, and Fable handed a key card out to him.

"I'll go with him," Johnathan volunteered, and Fable gave him the other key card.

"Your room is right by the pool, go straight in, and then make a left, and then a right, and it should be the third door on the right," Fable told her friend, and Johnathan nodded his head, taking his and Austin's bags, Austin rushing after him, his coffee sloshing in his hands.

"Alright, that means that you two boys get room 150b, and we girls will be in 280a," Amy said, handing Beckett and Jonas their room key cards. As Beckett grabbed their things, Fable was telling Jonas the directions of the room.

"Who's going to have to share?" Evie asked, holding her things, as the two boys walked away.

"I'll take the couch," Fable replied, and she took her things and started to make her way into the building.

"Is she feeling alright?" Evie asked Amy, and Amy just shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure," Amy replied, grabbing her things, and walking with Evie to their room. The two girls were quiet most of the way to their room, and it wasn't until Amy opened the door to the room did they say anything to each other.

"Well, it's a good thing this room has a couch," Evie murmured underneath her breath as she walked through the door. Amy set her things down upon the bed that was closest to the window, looking out at the view that they had, which, she had to admit, wasn't the best view in the entire world, but it was something.

Amy and Evie both got changed into their pajamas, and after Amy was done changing (she had let Evie use the bathroom to change first), Fable was lying down on the small couch, eyes closed, and Amy figured that she was asleep.

Amy laid down in her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Goodnight Ames," Evie said tiredly, and Amy looked over and saw that the red-headed girl was already on her side, snoring softly.

Amy rolled over to her side, looking out the crack of the window, trying to shut off her thoughts as she closed her eyes, hoping that sleep wouldn't be far behind.

It was surprisingly easy to break into the hotel pool, Fable learned. With her sketchbook in her arm, and a bobby pin, she was fully prepared to pickpocket the door, something that she had learned to impress people and make friends, although she never really got to try that out. But, much to her surprise, the door pushed open, not setting off any alarms, and Fable quickly ran inside the pool room.

Fable wasn't entirely sure why she decided to sneak out of her room at two in the morning to go to the pool. She wasn't wearing her swimming gear, so she had no intention of actually getting into the pool. But she kept tossing and turning, and she didn't want to wake up Evie or Amy, and so the pool seemed like a logical place to go and hide out.

And she figured she could get some drawing done as well.

Fable pulled off her shoes, dipping her feet into the water of the pool as she pulled out a pencil and her sketchbook.

And that's when she noticed the face in the water. The face was one that was familiar to her, after all, she had been drawing it for the past two weeks, although she could never get the eyes right. They always seemed to change color in her mind, from red like a fire, to green like the forest, and occasionally, dark as the night sky.

She blinked slowly, trying to figure out if what she was seeing was actually real, or if it was just another figment of her imagination. Fable wouldn't consider herself crazy per say, but this was getting just a bit too creepy for her. Drawing some random stranger that happened to look practically perfect, that wasn't weird, but seeing that face? There was absolutely no way that she was ever going to be able to live that down.

"Fable, what on earth are you doing here?" a voice from behind Fable asked, jolting Fable out of her stupor, nearing causing her to fall into the water. She turned her head to find Johnathan, looking practically dead, with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"I couldn't sleep," Fable confessed to her friend, feeling stupid. "How did you even find me?"

"Amy woke up and noticed you weren't in the room, got worried, and woke up me and Austin. She figured that I would know where you were," Johnathan replied, walking over to the smaller girl and wrapping her up in his arms. "What's been going on with you recently?"

Fable stifled a snob, burying her head into the older boy's shoulder. "I don't know Johnathan, I just keep feeling crazy, I mean, everytime I close my eyes I see this boy's face and I have no idea why, and then while we're driving I see him in the corners of my eyes and out the windows. And now he's in the pool and Johnathan, I just feel like I'm losing it." Fable began to cry, her face buried in Johnathan's shoulder, wrapping her arms around his torso, squeezing him tight.

"Why don't we go and get some sleep?" Johnathan suggested, and for that moment, Fable was infinitely grateful for the boy that was in her arms. As he led her back to his room, helping her gather her things first, and then leaving the pool room, she could tell why people would think that the two of them might have been together, once upon a time. But Fable was glad that nothing ever happened between the two of them, because it meant that she had a person that she had to confide in whenever she needed someone to talk to.

Johnathan tucked Fable into one of the large queen sized beds in his room, and Fable was too tired to notice that Austin was missing from the other double bed.

"Try to get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning Faylee," Johnathan murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and as she nodded off to sleep, she swore that she told him goodnight as well, although she wasn't entirely sure if he heard her. And for the first time in a long time, when she closed her eyes she didn't see the face of the boy with the changing eyes.

story gif made by: skaikrurogers

AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:

Hey everyone! I hope you guys liked the chapter! (If you couldn't tell I'm trying to get as much writing done before I'm going to be leaving for a short break, and also like, I'm feeling very inspired for this book as of late!)
Let me know what you guys thought of the chapter, and what you guys would like to see more of in future chapters!

me to me: you're including too much of Fable and Johnathan you need to start including more of the other main characters.
also me: writes a whole half a chapter about their friendship because i realized how important it was for me to portray male/female friendships where like, they don't have to be mutually pining over each other and can be affectionate with each other without needing to be romantically involved.

anyways all that to say I pinky promise that more of the characters will be featuring more prominently in the later chapters! (This is something I'm trying to figure out how to do in moderation, because like, there's seven main characters and like, some will interact with different characters more than the others and like, also fable is like, hardly featured in act two because you know, spoilers, but like, i dunno.)
Basically if you feel like your character is getting featured enough I'm sorry I pinky promise I'm trying.

Also to everyone who applied to the side cast, I super appreciate you guys reading these chapters and commenting occasionally even though like, your character isn't featured it super means a lot to me and like also makes me really want to include your character more when they show up, which will be in act two!

Anyways hope you liked the chapter! :D