Ariana, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
The young girl placed a hand on her cheek. "I don't know, brother. What do you want to be?"
"A firefighter," Christopher replied, smiling. "You need to decide soon, Ariana."
She folded her arms, pouting, then pointed to Emmanuel. "You're still thinking too, right, Emmanuel? It's not bad to not know yet."
Emmanuel jumped down from the dinner table, grinning. "You're alone now, Ariana. I've decided to be a doctor!"
"No!" Ariana wailed, heading over to Connie. "Don't tell me you also know—"
He shook his head. "I wanted to be a race car driver, but Dad said it isn't possible."
"He's wrong!" Emmanuel screamed. "You can be anything you aspire to be!"
"Even a suicide bomber?" Christopher asked.
Emmanuel nodded. "Yes! Though I don't remember what they do, you can be that too!"
"They cook," Ariana added, proud of her vast knowledge. "I can't believe you're this dumb, Emmanuel. This is why you keep failing school."
He grabbed a pillow from the couch as Ariana ran as fast as she could, knowing what was coming.
Connie and Christopher grabbed pillows too, joining him as they screamed in unison, "Capture Ariana!"
■■■■
I held the broken pieces of my phone, sharp enough to cut flesh, right against my throat.
A tear fell from my eye, not because of second thoughts, but because I simply missed being as happy as I once was.
The memories were exhausting and only drove me crazy; I deserved rest.
Long rest.
"Apple."
I turned around sharply, not knowing someone was outside; the voice came from outside the door, strangely like Roman's.
"Answer if you're in there," the voice repeated. "If someone comes in and sees me in the girls' bathroom, it's over for me."
I gripped my phone tighter, sure it was him. "What... do you want?"
"We need to be done and over with this croissant," he replied. "You've been in there for like 20 minutes, and Kayden's been begging me to check up on you since he's busy."
My grip loosened slowly as another tear fell from my eye; I didn't know why.
"I'm coming," I said. "Give me a minute."
"I'm waiting for you here; make it quick."
I hit my head against the door, gritting my teeth. Why wouldn't he leave? Why was he interrupting me? I couldn't kill myself with him right outside the stall.
I put my phone in my pocket and pressed the small flush button on the toilet.
I opened the door, coming face to face with the green-eyed blonde in front of me
"Are you done?" he asked, folding his arms. "I feel disgusted just standing in this cheap bathroom."
I walked to the sink, controlling my anger. It was hard to believe he still had the guts to talk about feeling disgusted.
"Let's go," I said, turning to him as I headed towards the exit.
I walked in front of him, allowing my imagination to take over. What scenario would we be in if I had just done it earlier?
"I've got something to ask you, Rye."
I turned to him. "What?"
"Are you sure you don't know Emmanuel, the one from our school?"
I stopped. "Why do you ask again?"
He arranged his fingers like he was holding a phone to his ear, "When I helped you take that call, I saw the contact—Emmanuel, that was it."
"That's a different Emmanuel", I said quickly. "I don't know the one from our school."
His face twisted a bit, like he didn't believe me, but I shrugged it off and continued my wa way to the kitchen.
"You're back!" Kayden said once he saw us, his hands deep inside dough. I really thought something had happened to you, Apple."
"I'm fine", I reassured him.
He resumed explaining croissants tous, dropping interesting France facts now and then. It was like everything concerning the bathroom never happened.
To them, not me.
"One more thing," Kayden said as I prepared for more of his tiring stories.
"Apple, would you like to go on a blind date?"
I paused, wondering if I heard right. I figured he knew me well enough not to ask that.
"I'm not interested, thank you."
"Really?" He pouted. "The guy's pretty cute. I thought he'd be your type; he's in the same college as me".
I grabbed a towel, cleaning the tables since we were done. "I don't have a type, and I don't date."
Kayden nodded, smiling as he turned to Roman. "And you, Vault? Not into relationships either?"
Roman looked up, dropping his towel. "I don't know about all that; I've never dated, and I'm not interested."
Kayden groaned, tossing his head back. "Why are you guys so inexperienced and unmotivated?"
"Find someone your age, not in high school," Roman added, leaning on the counter.
Kayden took our towels, excusing himself to quickly keep them and bring them dry
"Let's switch back," Roman said once Kayden was out.
I knew it was coming; I was glad it did come.
"I'll tell Timothy; you tell Adriana. I know you don't want to stay with me either, so it's better for both of us."
I almost smiled, some relief washing over me, thinking of Adriana’s words: 'Tell me if your new roommate causes any trouble'.
"Sure, no problem.", I said,
Once the croissants were ready and we had enough notes for a recipe, we began walking back to the hotel.
"1 PM," Roman said, checking his phone. "Activities start at 2:30 PM, so we have time to rest".