If Not Humans Then What: Part 4

During lunch I found myself talking with Keith quite a lot, finding myself fascinated by his personality. He was very open and cheerful and whenever he was around I always felt lighter and I wasn’t afraid to admit it.

When it was time for dinner, we all gathered in a large dining area where everyone sat together. There were more people around us than I expected and I wondered who they all were. A tall girl with short black hair and glasses sitting next to a boy who looked exactly like my friend, a girl with green hair sitting across from me, and a blonde guy who looked exactly like the one that was sitting next to me earlier. The others had introduced themselves during lunch and their names were: Ashley, Rachel, and Ryan.

Ashley turned to look at us as we were all seated.

“So you guys aren’t human, huh?”

I looked at her, narrowing my eyes slightly.

Rachel giggled “we aren’t exactly human ourselves”

Before anyone else could say anything Keith cleared his throat loudly causing everyone in the room to look at him. He gave a small smile when everyone's attention was focused on him.

“Sorry, it’s just that there's something important I'd like to discuss with you guys” he started “as you probably figured out, we're not humans and we’ve been here for a few weeks now. We’d like to stay longer if you want us to”

I glanced at the blond woman next to me as I heard him, smiling warmly when I caught her eyes staring at me. I noticed how her brown eyes seemed so familiar but when I tried to figure out who they reminded me of, the only image that came to my mind was...the blonde guy?

My eyes widened slightly when I realized I was still watching him ‘holy crap, am I drooling?’, I mentally groaned at how stupid I must look but quickly snapped back from my thoughts when Keith began speaking again.

“But you guys don’t need to worry! We don’t bite or anything”, he flashed a quick grin while making the others laugh “we just wanna see where our friends are, so if you’ll be willing that’d be great, alright?”

I watched in awe as he gave a big smile, which he directed toward the rest of us. I felt my cheeks warming up a bit and I glanced to the side, focusing on the plate in front of me as my ears became hot from embarrassment.

Why does Keith look so…normal? I thought.

After dinner, we returned to the lounge room and the blonde guy handed out blankets and pillows while the others spread out some of the tables they had placed near the window. We put our plates on them and sat down; some people chose to go to sleep while others decided to watch TV. I opted to sit between Ashley and Ryan; we talked for a little while the others occupied themselves.

As usual, it didn't take long before I fell asleep and it was not until the next morning that I opened my eyes. My first thought upon waking up was that the day had started and although I was surprised, I was pretty excited too. I was feeling a bit thirsty and I went over to the glass cabinet with bottles on top of it and grabbed a glass. As I walked back towards the couch with it I heard Ashley speak.

"Did you sleep well?" She was looking straight ahead and seemed lost in her own world. I nodded, replying "yeah", I sat down, drinking the water, glancing at Ashley for a second before continuing with what I was doing.

"We've decided to head back tomorrow. We'll leave at 10 in the morning and be gone for about four hours; then we’ll come back here and spend the night, okay?”

"Sounds good. We'll see you tomorrow" answered Ashley.

To be continued…