Page 17 of The Not So Super Hero

I f there was one thing Bailey was exceedingly bad at, regardless of his cursed luck, it was his curiosity.

Curiosity killed the cat, and Bailey certainly had an issue with his own inquisitiveness.

One day, it would get him into a shit ton of trouble.

He suspected that day to be soon, since he was bugging Zane.

The glare Zane sent Bailey over the counter was made of pure hate. Clearly exhausted, Bailey didn’t help that agitation by denying Zane his glorious caffeine, but he was simply concerned. Ok, and curious, but they went hand in hand.

“Maybe you should try taking a day off?” Bailey suggested.

Zane’s lethargic posture had grown worse, shoulders slumped, eyes drooping, and color drained. This appearance had lasted over a week. With winter vacation on the horizon, Bailey hoped to help Zane out of whatever slump had befallen him.

“Are you going to give me my coffee?” Zane sighed.

“You’ve been like this for over a week. Are you sleeping? You need rest, especially you. I’m surprised you aren’t dead yet.”

Zane clicked his tongue, then rubbed his forehead.

Rather than say anything, he spun on his heels to leave.

Bailey panicked, dropping Zane’s coffee.

The beverage splattered across the floor.

Zane didn’t smirk like usual. He blinked those tired eyes like he was having a hard time processing what he saw, then left.

Bailey’s chest tightened. He actually preferred the sarcastic and somewhat rude Zane.

“You spilled another drink, didn’t you?” Martin shouted from the back.

“No!”

Martin snorted.

Muttering to himself, Bailey cleaned the mess while pondering what troubled Zane. Then he reminded himself that it was none of his business. They weren’t friends, although they had dinner together on a questionable holiday. Zane had grown a tad nicer, so maybe they were friends.

Whatever, they weren’t close enough to talk about what was bothering them.

When Bailey considered things, he wasn’t certain he’d speak to Zane either.

Everyone had secrets, even from people they deemed close.

It was hard to talk. Even those who thrived off being around others had certain topics that were difficult to discuss.

Even if he and Zane were close, Zane wasn’t much of a talker.

Then again, not much probably bothered him, so he told himself to forget about it.

If Zane didn’t want to talk, then that was his choice.

Later, Amery visited the cafe. Bailey had an hour left of work, so she sat at the counter.

They had homework for their Mutant Studies class.

Amery assured Bailey that he could copy the work he missed while on his shift.

Leaning over the counter, Bailey watched Amery read over their assigned chapter.

If she thought he was reading, then she was shit out of luck.

He was not capable of reading upside down.

His talents lived in making coffee and apparently dropping it.

“Isn’t it interesting?” Amery asked. “Says here that higher leveled mutants can eventually come to have a multitude of abilities stemming off from their original mutation.”

Bailey hummed.

“Say, Scorch, for example, she can control fire.” Amery brushed her red hair behind her ear. “But you notice how the heat doesn’t affect her even without her suit? Technically, heat resistance is another ability.”

Bailey twisted his hands together; the thought of fire made him uncomfortable. He pressed his fingers against the scars on his palms and willed the memories to fade.

“And you remember when that one villain caused a volcanic eruption? Scorch kept the lava to an area while officers evacuated the town.”

“Yeah, and she was burned like hell, so does that really count?” he asked.

“From what I hear, she’s been training a lot, attempting to keep that from happening again.

The fact is, she could still do it and that ability branched off her original mutation.

She could tap into it and kind of twist it in a way?

The point is, mutations are not as clean cut as people think.

There are twists and loopholes. We haven’t even scratched the surface to understanding them.

I’m sure Professor Lou will explain more after we turn our work in. ”

“Better to hear it from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about,” said Bailey, which earned him a swift whack to the head with Amery’s notebook.

“Say Bailey, I never asked, but what got you to pick this major, anyway?” Amery inquired.

Bailey’s mind when blank. His hands shook. “What do you mean?”

“You know, like, what made you think you wanted to study mutations? For me, it’s because both my parents are Level 6 mutants, yet somehow they had me.

I have no abilities. You’d think they’d have a kid with some form of mutation.

It made me curious. I wanted to know why mutations aren’t always passed on, or why more and more people are getting them each year. ”

Bailey pivoted on his heel, walking away. He fiddled with a few things. It was almost closing time so, technically he wasn’t acting odd, but honestly, he was a shit liar.

“I guess mine is kind of the same,” he said. “My dad’s a mutant, a Level 2, but my mom isn’t. There were a lot of kids in my class that were and I had always been a bit of a science geek, so it was something that interested me.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep, that’s it. Sorry it’s not more grand.”

Amery’s expression stated she sensed there was more to the story, and she’d be right. But Bailey didn’t want to talk, and she didn’t push.

“If I meet Scorch one day, I’m going to jump her bones,” Amery said instead.

“Where did that come from?” Bailey laughed.

“We were talking about her, so I thought we would discuss how I would totally eat her out.”

“Let’s discuss this in private, where I am less likely to get in trouble,” he pleaded.

“You realize we’re on a college campus. I am sure there are many people doing exactly that right now.” Amery wiggled her eyebrows, causing Bailey to snort.

“Whatever. Doesn’t mean you say it while I’m at work. I’ll be the one who gets scolded by the manager, or worse.” Bailey stabbed Amery in the nose with his finger. She giggled while promising to keep her statements more PG.

Not long afterwards, the two left. Amery visited Bailey’s dorm and quickly brought up the embarrassing topic of Zane. Poor Bailey felt his cheeks heat up the moment Amery asked, “So how are things with the custodian from hell? Has he tickled your pickle yet?”

“No.”

“But you want him to?” she giggled.

“I would like any hot guy to do that, which Zane is not.”

“Fine. Next time I get laid, I’m not giving you details.”

“Oh no, whatever will I do?”

“Ok, whatever crawled up your ass and died, you need Zane’s help to get it out. Should I talk to him sometime? I’m sure he can replace it with something far more pleasurable.”

Amery got kicked out of Bailey’s room for that. The girl cackled maniacally outside the door before finally leaving a few minutes later, while Bailey remained red as a tomato. When Ryan returned and asked why Bailey looked sun burnt, he simply replied, “Amery.”

Ryan asked nothing more. The night ended with Bailey’s blush remaining and his mental ranting of ways to dispose of Amery’s body.

The last days of the semester went by in a blur.

Basically, the moment Bailey got his project due dates, he became a zombie.

All procrastinating stopped while he rushed to turn in all his projects.

Everything that was due the week before finals.

All he did was work and study. Though he was confident that his finals would be fine, that didn’t mean he didn’t stop looking over his note cards every second he could. Ok, so not every second…

Zane came into the café, looking a smidge better than usual. Bailey assumed he finally passed out from lack of sleep, thus garnered a good night’s rest. Zane approached the counter. Bailey moved to retrieve Zane’s usual order while asking, “Are you feeling any better?”

Zane hummed, taking his beloved caffeine before he walked off to his usual booth.

Bailey was glad he got some type of answer that wasn’t a grunt or a glare.

Rather than study, he made his way over to Zane since there were no other customers.

Sipping his coffee, Zane’s blue eyes peered over the cup with a glint of curiosity in them.

“At least break is coming up, so you’ll get some time off work, right?” Bailey inquired.

“Shouldn’t you be studying?” Zane asked, sitting his cup down. He crossed his arms and leaned back into the booth. Honestly, he looked ready to pass out right. If he did, Bailey was so drawing on his face.

“I’ve studied enough.”

Zane snorted. “With your luck?”

“You’re not meant to make college students panic more during finals week.”

Zane shrugged, smirking while he drank the last of his coffee.

As he finished, a customer walked in. Bailey shouted he would be right with them, then pushed himself out of the booth.

Zane got up, too. Before Bailey asked again if Zane was all right, the man did something unusual.

He ruffled Bailey’s hair. Dare he think it, affectionately.

It stopped as soon as it started, and Zane walked away while saying, “Good luck.”

Bailey stood in the center of the café like a total idiot. Did that really happen? It was more likely he had died. Surely Zane wouldn’t do something as nice as ruffle his hair or wish him luck. No way. He was dead. That was the only plausible explanation.

He would have continued standing there like a buffoon, but there was a customer who cleared their throat to get his attention.

The flustered boy blushed, then ran behind the counter to ring them up.

He wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened.

Whatever it was, it made a colony of butterflies take up potentially permanent residency in his chest.