A Little More Trust Cpt. 59

Bryan couldn’t help but smile as he walked to class. He wasn’t worried in the least about potentially talking to Charlie or Sawyer while he was there; quite the opposite, he was almost looking forward to it. He had no doubts that whatever they came to him expecting, he would be able to end with them having no suspicions whatsoever. It was a challenge he welcomed. After all, it wasn’t often that he got to practice his acting skills in such a thrilling way. He even made it to class a little early, smirking slightly as he sat down in his seat. Class was going to be interesting indeed.

Charlie and Sawyer walked in together, and he examined them critically. Sawyer looked slightly pissed, and Bryan was glad that he hadn’t given the man any further reason to suspect him by, say, skipping class. The tall, athletic Texan was not somebody Bryan would wish to tangle with in a physical fight. In a mental one, however, he was confident that he held the upper hand. Charlie looked even smaller and peakier than usual. His eyes looked around the classroom keenly, however, and Bryan busied himself with unpacking his backpack as they paused on him. He smiled to himself; Charlie was smart enough to consider Bryan as a potential suspect, but he doubted the little nerd was smart enough to actually reach the truth.

Sawyer slumped into his seat, staring ahead with a rather distraught, determined gaze. He looked up, however, as Charlie failed to sit down in his own seat. “What is it?” he asked quietly, his voice low and somewhat hoarse. They both looked a great deal worse for the wear; neither of them had been able to sleep the last night, and both of them sported dark bags under their eyes. Charlie was practically shaking on his feet, both from sleep deprivation and the occasional fit of worry that would overtake him whenever he thought about the horrible predicament his friends might be in. At least now, he thought, he might be able to do something to get them closer to finding a solution.

“I’m going to try to go talk to some of the people on the list,” Charlie murmured in reply. He was referring, of course, to the list he and Sawyer had put together the night before. It included any students that were in both this class and Charlie’s art history one; and while Charlie was loath to imagine any of them being capable of kidnapping, they didn’t have any other leads. If they didn’t investigate these people, he had no idea what else they could do; save maybe combing campus on foot looking for the scooter Sawyer saw the girl riding off of. That, however, sounded to Charlie like a last resort.

Sawyer nodded, looking vaguely relieved that Charlie was going to go do that. Neither of them looked relaxed; they hadn’t been since losing their friends the day before. How could they? They didn’t even know where their friends were, much less what kind of awful things they must be going through. They needed to get them back, and soon; otherwise, Charlie had this sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that nothing would ever be okay. Sawyer felt the same, though it showed less on his face- looking there, one could only see determination, and the faintest vestiges of anger.

Looking around Charlie took stock of the situation. So far only about three of the people he was concerned with had showed up- if some of the others didn’t, he would certainly make a note of it. Alicia and Emily were talking to each other, so Charlie wandered over to Bryan first. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself of what he had planned to say. He couldn’t exactly ask them if they had kidnapped any viri, after all. Still, he couldn’t help but shift nervously as he approached Bryan’s desk. “Er, hello Bryan,” he greeted him, giving him a bit of an anxious smile despite himself.

Bryan glanced up at Charlie, nothing but wide-eyed innocence meeting the other student’s gaze. “Good morning, Charlie,” he greeted him calmly. With the slightest furrow of his brow he asked, sounding suitably concerned for just a classmate, “Is something wrong?” Inwardly he was laughing at Charlie’s hesitant demeanor. It was a wonder he even managed to get up enough gumption to actually talk to people; it made Bryan curious as to how the slight student had been able to catch and train a little person like Adrian.

“Er, well, yes, I suppose,” Charlie stammered. He wished he could act less nervous, but he didn’t know Bryan all that well, and his constant state of worry had begun to wear on him. Needless to say he wasn’t feeling the most capable at the moment. Taking a deep breath he tried to collect himself, and continued, “It’s just, er, I lost something pretty important yesterday in ancient history, I think it might have fallen out of my bag. You… you didn’t find anything, did you?” It was said casually, but Bryan caught the sharpness behind Charlie’s eyes. He was looking to analyze his reaction.

Bryan didn’t intend to give him anything to work with. “Hmm,” he hummed, still looking vaguely concerned. “No, sorry Charlie, I didn’t find anything of yours yesterday.” He gave a sympathetic look up at the pale, trembling student, trying not to smirk at how easy this was. Instead he smiled slightly, a kind smile, and suggested, “Maybe you could look in the lost and found? I lost my hat once in that building and they had it there, they’re pretty nice about that kind of thing.”

With a soft sigh Charlie shook his head, returning Bryan’s smile tremulously. “Ah, no, I don’t think it would be there,” he quietly replied. “Thank you though.” Bryan nodded with a small smile and Charlie shuffled back to his seat. He sat into it with a heavy release of breath, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands. Sawyer looked over expectantly, and Charlie whispered to him, “I don’t think it’s Bryan. He didn’t seem to know at all what I was talking about.” He slumped back in his seat, looking over at Sawyer with a worried smile. “He nicely suggested I check the lost and found.”

Sawyer snorted at that, imagining how pissed Colfax would be to find himself stuck in the lost and found. It would be funnier if the little guy weren’t actually lost, and if it were so easy to go get him and Adrian back. As it was, however, it was a darker sort of humor. “Oh well,” Sawyer said, glancing back at Bryan. The other student was tapping his pen against his notes and rereading them. With a sigh he turned back to Charlie. “We still have other people to check on the list, right?” Charlie nodded, and Sawyer tried to give him an encouraging smile.

The lights were turned down as the professor started his presentation, and Charlie settled into his seat a bit. He practically disappeared into it. “Yeah,” he said softly, almost too quiet for even Sawyer to hear. “We can talk to them after class.” He couldn’t help but worry that they would talk to all the people on his little list, and none of them would give them anything to work with. What if they couldn’t find Adrian or Colfax? What if it was already too late, and something terrible had already happened to them? He shook his head slightly, trying to push the fear and worry out of his mind. They would find them. They had to.

Class went by slowly, and somewhat arduously, for all involved. As the professor turned the lights back on and students began to pack up, Charlie sat up in his seat, rubbing his eyes blearily. Beside him Sawyer yawned and stretched, trying to wake up as well. The long presentation hadn’t exactly helped their exhaustion. Wanting to catch a couple more people before they left, Charlie stood up and said to Sawyer, “Watch my things, please, I’m going to go talk to more people.” He glanced down at his bag once, feeling guilty about having ever left it alone with Adrian inside. Charlie didn’t think he could ever forgive himself for making such a mistake.

As he watched Charlie walk over to Emily and Alicia again, Sawyer slumped in his seat. They had decided last night that Charlie should be the one to talk to people, since he knew what to say and Sawyer was so awful at lying. Not that Charlie was much better at being deceitful, but at least people were used to him stammering his way through a conversation. He felt just as guilty as his friend did about what had happened; between the two of them they were practically wallowing in remorse. Still, regretting the past wasn’t going to help them get their friends back. They had to do something… something useful.

The two girls looked up as Charlie approached them. “Er, hi Emily,” Charlie said awkwardly, nodding to her and her friend. “Alicia. Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure, Charlie,” Emily said, turning towards him. She looked vaguely confused. Alicia was still hovering nearby, watching the both of them absently. “What’s up?”

“I just… um…” Charlie stammered, trying to get his thoughts in order. He was about to ask her the same kind of thing he had asked Bryan, but he had been thinking about the circumstances of leaving his bag alone the day before and had realized something. So instead he said, “Well, I was actually wondering why you told me that thing about there being a problem with my exam yesterday.” He shook his head, still flustered even just thinking about it. “Because, I mean, it wasn’t true. I talked to the professor and he had no idea what I was talking about. He said he didn’t tell anybody anything like that.”

The shorter student glanced up at Emily, his eyes more beseeching than accusing. They widened slightly as her reaction was not quite what he expected. “Charlie,” she said, sounding hurt… and kind of pissed. “Are you saying I would lie to you?” Alicia looked at him sharply as her friend said this, the both of them staring expectantly at him.

Poor Charlie actually took a step back, his hands raised in a passive gesture. “No, no!” he quickly said, sounding flustered. “Not at all!” Behind him Bryan smirked to himself as he left the classroom, amused by the consequences of his little misdirection the day before. There was absolutely no way that mild-mannered nerd and his idiot friend were ever going to get close to he and Felicia. Confident in this thought, Bryan left, not even lingering to hear the end of Charlie’s unfortunate conversation. “I’m not saying you lied, or that you thought that you lied…” he said, trying to find a neutral ground again.

Charlie winced as Emily all but shouted at him. “I didn’t lie!” she protested, and he nodded quickly.

“Right, right, I don’t think you did!” he said emphatically. His eyes were wide and he was kind of panicking, looking up at her with surprise and worry. By this time Sawyer had noticed something was going on and had stood up, picking up his and Charlie’s bags and coming over. He came up behind Charlie just in time to hear his small friend saying, “I was just confused, because I didn’t know why you would say something like that and I was just wondering…”

Emily was fuming now, and Alicia had crossed her arms, staring skeptically at Charlie with an eyebrow raised. “Charlie, I didn’t lie to you,” Emily said angrily. “I don’t know why you won’t believe me about that!”

“What’s going on?” Sawyer asked, looking between them with concern. He stared at the two girls with a hard gaze, feeling protective of Charlie. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder, too, if one of them (or both of them) were at fault for their friends’ kidnapping. They were certainly being mean enough to his human friend, who was practically shaking as he tried to remedy the situation.

Emily just looked at Sawyer and scoffed, seeming offended that he had come up to them. “Right, get Sawyer to come and back you up,” she said coolly to Charlie. She didn’t give either of the young men time to protest even before she turned with a "hmph!" to Alicia and said, “Come on, let’s go. I have a class to get to.” Alicia gave each of them one last judging glance and walked out after her friend.

Charlie slumped, looking smaller and more defeated than Sawyer had ever seen him. “That was a bloody disaster,” he mumbled, staring at the door with worried eyes. “I don’t even know if that was suspicious behavior or if I just bolloxed up and pissed her off.” Whatever it was, the conversation hadn’t gone well. If anything Charlie felt like he had just been interrogated- and it certainly hadn’t answered any of his questions.

“I thought it was suspicious,” Sawyer muttered. He for one still felt irritated at Emily for making Charlie feel bad, even if it had been mostly defensive. “I think she’s our most likely suspect so far. I think we should track her down and ask her more about it.” He sounded more determined to do this than eager, but all the same Charlie looked mildly alarmed by the suggestion.

The smaller student glanced around nervously- it was only them and the professor left in the classroom, though the latter wasn’t paying them any attention. “Here,” Charlie said, tugging Sawyer into the hallway. Once they were a bit more out of earshot he looked up at his friend worriedly and hissed, “We can’t just go busting down people’s doors because we think they might have taken Adrian and Colfax.” Sawyer looked ready to protest, and it hurt Charlie to admit it too, but he continued, “Look, we’ll get arrested or something if we do, or worse, alert more people to the viri’s existence. If we don’t go about this right, we’ll end up getting Adrian and Colfax in more trouble than they already are.” He looked beseechingly up at Sawyer, who sighed but didn’t argue. Charlie was right, as usual; but that didn’t mean either of them had to like it.

“Okay,” Sawyer eventually acquiesced. “But the moment we get something solid, something irrefutable, then we’re going, no questions asked, alright?” Charlie nodded, looking somewhat relieved. Sawyer took a fortifying breath and looked around; most of the students were gone now, but a few still lingered or made their way over to the student center in the building over. He turned back to his anxious friend and tried a smile. “Who’s next on the list?”

Hardly three miles from where the two of them were talking, Bryan was getting back to the apartment. He had a smile on his face- after all, class had gone perfectly, and there was still quite a lot to look forward to doing with the little people remaining in his possession. There was plenty to smile about. “I’m home!” he yelled as he came in through the front door, closing it behind him and locking it for good measure. He hung his jacket up on the wall and slung his backpack on the floor as he wandered into the living room.

Felicia was right where he expected to find her, kneeling at the coffee table and playing one of her games with Adrian. Bryan wandered over and was about to sit down when he noticed something was missing. The cage door was open but nothing was inside it, and the fruit bowl was empty. “Where’s Zack?” he asked his girlfriend, refraining from getting upset with her until he heard an explanation. He didn’t like the idea that she had put one of the little people somewhere out of her sight, and out of his knowledge. Still, if she had a good enough reason for it, he might not be angry with her.

Adrian was exhausted already, and his body felt like jelly. So when Felicia's hand wrapped around him again, he only shivered as usual, but didn't try to squirm away. He watched Bryan's face shift from cheerful to cautious, and Felicia's face fell again as she remembered the comment Colfax had shouted at her. Adrian fixed his gaze on her, worried sick and hoping to find out where Colfax was.

Felicia picked Adrian up as she stood, meeting Bryan's gaze sheepishly. There were tears threatening to build in her eyes, and she blinked a few times. "Zack is... I'll just show you," she told him meekly, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be mad; that would just be kicking her while she was down. She led him into the kitchen with Adrian in tow, going straight to the cabinet that had served as Zack's solitary confinement.

Colfax, huddled at one side of the mason jar, looked up from his doze when light flooded in again. He wasn't sure how long he'd been trapped, but the jar had to be running out of air. Felicia's hand lifted his small glass prison out, and he blinked owlishly in the light. This is it, he thought as his heart began to pound fearfully. Colfax shrank back against the far side of the jar as Felicia held it out towards Bryan.

"I-I didn't want to deal with him calling me..." Felicia took a shaky breath and whispered, "bitch. So I locked him up." She looked imploringly at her boyfriend, begging him to understand. The insult had shaken her so badly.

Bryan’s expression immediately hardened to something akin to stone. He looked positively furious; and all of that anger was clearly directed at the one in the jar, not the one holding it. “He called you what,” he growled, not a question really but a statement. Nobody was going to get away with insulting his girlfriend like that, especially not some runty, worthless little upstart. He could hardly believe the little titch had had the audacity to upset Felicia like that. With a snarl he snatched the jar from her hands, shaking it roughly. “Why you little shit,” he spit at Zack, hardly even getting the satisfaction of seeing the way his actions were bouncing the little person all over the jar. He was too angry for that.

Bryan stood in the middle of the kitchen shaking in rage, still glaring down at the jar and the little miscreant inside of it. All he wanted to do was dash the thing onto the ground, crush the life out of Zack with his own two hands… but he had to keep his head here. No matter how rude the little person had been, he needed him to be alive. They were no use to him dead. That didn’t, however, mean that Zack was going to get off easy for this. It just meant he was going to survive it.

“I’m going to deal with Zack in a moment,” Bryan said, his voice a carefully controlled tone of calm. The hand holding the jar was still shaking, rattling the little person inside. “Felicia, don’t you worry about what he said, he’s going to learn his lesson about spreading hurtful lies.” He gave his girlfriend a tight smile. “Why don’t you put Adrian away and get going to class? And make sure you bring back some strong medication for Zack- something that will fix his nasty little name-calling habits, hm?” At the last bit Bryan scowled and jerked the glass, feeling only a little better as he felt the little body impact with it.

Adrian watched in horror as Colfax was battered around in the jar. He opened his mouth, trying to come up with some protest, but the anger exuding from Bryan kept him silent. When Felicia nodded and left the room in a hurry, Adrian twisted around as much as he could to keep his eyes on his friend, curled up in the jar with his arms weakly covering his head. Sending that desperate message couldn't be worth it. I should have helped him instead, tried harder to get Felicia to go easy on him. These frantic, guilty thoughts accompanied him into the living room, where Felicia gently deposited him on the doll's bed and locked the cage.

Adrian scurried off the cushy bed and Felicia smiled faintly. Hopefully he wouldn't see too many punishments while she was gone. "I'll be back and it'll all be okay." She ducked into the office to grab her own small backpack. She fixed her ponytail and went back to the kitchen. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss Bryan on the cheek briefly, knowing he was angry on her behalf. "Thanks, babe," she whispered. "I'll be back."

Colfax curled into a tighter ball when he heard the front door close in the distance. He could only hope that Adrian had managed to send the message. Whatever he faced now, that chance at help would make it worth it. They tried.