Taken By Surprise

by Jessica Frances

  ***

  Back at training, Martha makes a point of hanging around and Stan decides to do one-on-ones again. He pairs Charlie with me and I feel like Martha might have had a say in that, even given Stan has already paired us up previously. I assume she is hoping to see us bonding again. The question of why she wants us together nags me even further. If in our old timeline I had been married to Joel, then Charlie and I wouldn’t have been together. They obviously hadn’t cared about that then, so why are they caring now in this timeline? What’s different?

  “I believe I’m only two away from winning that bet, want to stage another wager?”

  “Well, I’m only one away from winning, you sure you want to risk it?” I smile back at Charlie, leaving my thoughts alone to focus on the here and now. My heart rate picks up, seeing his smile directed at me, and I briefly wonder how I was able to resist it in the old timeline. There surely could be no version of me who would not be incredibly attracted to Charlie.

  “I think I’m willing to risk it if you are?”

  “What do we have to do?” I ask. I already know that, whatever it is, I’m sure to lose. The only reason I won last time we were doing one-on-ones was because Charlie was going easy and I got a lucky punch. This time I won’t be getting that chance.

  “First one on the floor loses?” Charlie suggests innocently.

  I keep my hands up to protect myself and consider his idea while we slowly circle each other. “Okay—”

  I don’t get time to react before Charlie swings out his leg and swipes me off my feet. I fall backwards and land flat on my back.

  “I win.” Charlie leans over me and laughs, offering me a hand to help me up.

  “You didn’t even give me time to react!” I exclaim, trying to sound indignant, but unable to wipe the smile from my face. I give him my hand and let him pull me up. He keeps hold of it when I’m standing and I can practically feel Martha’s watchful eyes on us. I bet she is pretty happy right about now. I can talk as much as I want to her that I don’t like Charlie, it’s all too obvious how I really feel when I’m around him.

  “Want to do another one for the winning round?” Charlie finally let’s go of my hand and we start circling each other again. To our left, Will and Rose are actually properly going through the motions of fighting. Stan is egging them on and stopping them every once in a while to show them something ignoring Charlie and me. I imagine that also has something to do with Martha.

  “Fine.” I quickly decide and as I say the words, I swing my leg out like he had just done and try to trip him up. I’m not as successful as he was and I instead kick him hard in the side of his calf. He doesn’t even flinch as he takes a step past me and pushes me so when I try to step back to catch my balance, his leg is there and I simply fall to the ground.

  “I win.” Charlie again holds his hand out and I roll my eyes at him. I try to seem disappointed, but really I wouldn’t mind delivering Charlie his prize right this moment. Besides, with us leaving tonight and separating, having a day of Charlie and Rose not fighting wouldn’t have meant all that much.

  “I guess I should pay up?” I step closer to him and watch his eyes quickly dart to Stan and Martha.

  I feel a quick sense of embarrassment, however I swallow it down and stand on my tip toes to get closer to Charlie. We both move closer to each other and I feel his warm breath graze my face. Anticipation lights a fuse inside me and my heart beat quickens in excitement. I reach out and my fingers brush his chest just as his lips gently touch mine.

  “What the hell are you two doing? Have you already forgotten our little talk earlier? No blackouts. If you’re not going to fight, then go and run the bloody circuit,” Stan yells out to us.

  We pull away from each other and I groan, wishing Charlie and I could go back to merely walking around each other in circles while chatting. It would put a lot less strain on the body.

  I watch Martha leave and I can tell she is more relaxed. She assumes she’s rekindled Charlie and me so I guess she thinks her work here is done.

  The rest of training is brutal and a while later I lose Charlie to Martha and I’m left jogging the circuit alone. By the end, I’m barely able to walk it and I’m so out of breathe that when Stan tells me I can finish for the day I lie on the mats for over ten minutes, breathing heavily. When we get out of here, I’m never exercising again.

  Eventually Will comes over to me and helps me stand up. He walks me back to my room and I thank him before collapsing into my shower.

  Dinner is a bit more upbeat than usual, but I assume it’s because of the fact that we’re all aware we will hopefully not be spending another night here. I can’t tell if they’ve placed cameras in our rooms since I’m not really sure what I’m looking for, although we all will have to assume they have, which means Charlie is going to have to cause a blackout. We’ll have five minutes to get out of here before our escape is caught on camera.

  I feel a buzz going through me, knowing what is coming up. If we fail this, then our chances of escaping anytime soon are practically nil. They’ll up security for sure and, while I might not get separated from Charlie, chances are they’ll split us up. I can’t leave knowing Will and Rose are still somewhere hidden and it’ll be rather difficult to stage a breakout when you have to try to find everyone first.

  This is our one and only chance and we don’t have any options to screw it up. No pressure right?

  Martha watches a movie with us and, afterwards, Charlie and Rose play pool again. Will and I watch and eventually are roped into playing each other. Will is a quick learn and after his abysmal effort against Rose on our first day here, he’s already improved. I barely manage to get the ball into any of the holes and, when I do, it’s usually Will’s and not mine. He’s happy to win and I try to enjoy this moment, of us all together, smiling. I haven’t known these people long, but already I feel a connection to them. I only hope I feel this because I know we’ll get to spend happy times together in the future. I hope my instincts are leading me right and not setting me up to get hurt.

  We stay up late and, without saying a word about our plans, we go to bed. We can’t risk someone overhearing us.

  I brush my teeth and eye my room one last time, glancing over to my bag. I’ll have to run in here and grab it before we leave. I can’t take it with me now to Charlie’s room in case I’m being watched.

  I climb into bed and lean on him as he wraps his arms around me. I allow myself to feel comfortable like this and close my eyes, wishing I could sleep, however knowing my mind won’t shut off long enough to allow me any peace. I try to savor this moment with Charlie, instead. Even though I doubt Martha will want to separate us if we’re caught, I know things won’t be like this. I’ll worry about Rose and Will if they’re taken away and I’ll always wonder why Martha wants us together. What does it benefit them? If anything, having us together is causing them headaches since Charlie has given them the assumption that us together is causing the blackouts. There isn’t an explanation I can think of that explains it.

  Goosebumps run over my body when Charlie moves his fingers along my arm and I focus my mind on his touch.

  After what feels like seconds later, I wake up. After blinking my eyes several times, I feel Charlie leaning over me. I must have fallen asleep.

  “What—” I mumble, but Charlie leans in so close to me that our lips are almost touching.

  “You owe me a kiss,” he whispers.

  “Now?” I wonder what the time is, though I don’t have to look at a clock before I figure it out. It must be nearly four in the morning. If anyone can see us right now, then the connection between us kissing and the power going out will seem obvious to them.

  I lift my head up the small amount needed and our lips touch. It quickly escalates to feeling so intense that all thought of escaping this place leaves me for a moment and I pull at his shirt urgently. My mouth opens to him and he hungrily enters it. He bites on my lips and a groan erupts from
me, my legs automatically moving around him and pulling him closer to me. When our bodies are flush against each other, it’s Charlie’s turn to groan.

  I don’t hear any noises, but when he pulls away breathing heavily, I know why. He caused a blackout. We don’t give ourselves any time to recover, we both simply bounce out of bed and I run across the hallway to grab my bag. I pull on my shoes with the laces already tied and when I run back out, Rose and Will are already there. It’s dark, but I see their shadows from the moon shining outside my window coming through the open door.

  Rose leads the way around the corner and I wonder if one of us should be counting.

  Less than three hundred seconds before the cameras come back on and we’re seen escaping.