Krit was staring at me.

“W...w...why? Why did you do that?” I finally managed to spit out.

“It was a goodnight kiss. Only in the middle of the day. It’s generally accepted as a good way to end a date. Of course, a goodbye kiss the morning after...”

I interrupted him.

“But we...that wasn’t a date. We were just talking. I...” I was so confused.

Krit rubbed his forearm anxiously and the tension began to build rapidly. I wanted to run away from the situation, but my leg hurt just at the thought. The worst part of all of it, though, was that I knew I had enjoyed the brief kiss.

“I should go.” I finally blurted out, gesturing weakly at the infirmary door.

“Yeah.” Krit agreed, “I should collect Syl.”

We both headed towards the door at the same time. I stopped, anticipating a collision, but Krit stopped as well. I felt very awkward. Krit gestured for me to go first and I tried to hurry through.

I froze just inside the door, barely registering the fact that Krit bumped into me. The sight in front of me consumed all my attention.

Syl and Alec’s faces were a hair’s breadth apart and they were staring each other in the eye. They both noticed my entrance, I saw their eyes dart towards me. But then they looked back at each other. And Alec kissed her. Not a quick kiss like Krit had given me, but a long, deep kiss. I felt sick.

My leg chose that moment to give out on me after all the abuse it had taken recently. Alec tore himself away from Syl to look at me in concern, but Krit caught me before I could fall. He helped me back over to my bed. I tried not to look at Alec, who had returned his attention to Syl, but I couldn’t help myself. It was like some masochist tendency in me would not allow me to look away.

Alec gave Syl a lopsided smile, his eyes sparkling.

“See you later?” he asked.

“Definitely.” Syl said, wetting her upper lip with her tongue as she straightened.

“Good.” Alec said, his gaze dropping to her mouth to watch the movement.

“Later.”

“Later.” Alec replied, watching as Syl walked towards the door.

“Coming Krit?” she asked.

“Just a sec.” Krit replied. He looked down at me with a worried expression, “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” I assured him.

I glanced at Alec again who was in the process of winking at Syl and felt an intense desire for revenge. My hand reached out, as if of its own accord, and grabbed the back of Krit’s head, pulling him in to a kiss. I saw his eyes widen momentarily, then felt him smile and respond. After a long moment, I released him, falling back onto my bed.

“Bye, Krit.” I said, smiling at him.

“Uh...bye? I mean, bye, Jess.” Krit said, seeming slightly mystified.

He remained frozen for a second before snapping out of it and hurrying to join an impatient Syl. The two left a moment later. The silence that followed weighed heavily down on me.

“So, Krit, huh?” Alec asked quietly.

“Syl?” I shot back.

“She’s cute.” Alec shrugged, “Very...spunky.”

I tried to keep myself from growling angrily.

“What was with kissing Krit all of a sudden, huh?” Alec continued unexpectedly.

His voice was sharper than usual.

“He’s cute.” I mimicked Alec, “And he’s sweet. Understanding.”

“Wuss.” he tried to make it sound like a cough, “So what were you doing all that time?”

I glared at him, resenting the tone of voice he was using. He had no right to interrogate me.

“None of your business.” I snapped.

“Whatever.” Alec replied coolly.

My temper was flaring. I tried to calm it, but wasn’t having much luck.

“Why are you being such a prick?” I demanded, sitting up.

“Me? I’m not being a prick.” Alec replied, unperturbed, “I’m just asking how your date was?”

“We were just talking.”

“Sure.” he said sarcastically.

“Leave me alone! You’re the one who started flirting with Syl!”

Alec struggled to sit up and winced in pain. He managed to move his head a little higher up on his pillow so he was closer to on the level with me.

“I started? You’re the one who was all ‘Actually, I escaped. Isn’t that cool? We have something in common. Wanna make out in front of Alec?’” Alec’s eyes flashed anger.

“What the hell? I was just answering his questions! What did you want me to do, ignore him?” I demanded.

“No! But you could have...I don’t know, been a little less nice about it!”

I crossed my arms across my chest and laid back down on my bed, facing away from Alec.

“I don’t even know why I’m having this conversation with you.”

“Maybe because you feel just a little bit guilty about dissing me so royally.”

“How the hell does me having anything to do with Krit concern you?” I asked angrily, turning back towards him so that I could glare at him.

“Forget it.” he growled, laying his head back on the pillow and staring straight up at the ceiling.

“Fine!”

Silence fell upon the room once again. Neither of us spoke a word for a long time. Eventually, Lena came back and spoke to Spaz, telling her she could leave if she wanted, but to check back in if she felt at all different. She changed Alec’s bandages again and took another look at my leg, commenting that it was healing well. I simply grunted in response. As long as it healed soon so I could get the hell away from Alec, I didn’t care. But all that had been about an hour ago. Now the building was empty and for some reason the silence was thicker.

It was funny, the pain that had welled up inside me at the sight of Alec kissing Syl was almost more painful than the bullet wound on my leg. The image kept playing through my mind, over and over again. Especially the part where he had looked at me and then kissed her. He’d wanted me to see it. But why?

I thought back over what Alec had said what was now a couple hours previously. His accusations about how I’d been flirting with Krit, his proclamation that I had dissed him, the fact that he even thought the matter concerned him. Could Alec have been...jealous? The conclusion was hard for me to swallow, but I knew that jealousy had been the feeling that had claimed me when I’d seen him with Syl. And I also knew that part of the reason why it was such a troubling solution to come to was because it was Alec. I was quite a bit less than objective when it came to Alec. That was obvious. I sighed to think that all the hurt and anger could have been caused simply by a misunderstanding.

“Jesus, would you stop thinking about him!” Alec snapped, suddenly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I couldn’t keep myself from snapping back at him.

“Sigh. Krit’s so dreamy.” he said in an annoying high-pitch voice.

“For your information, I wasn’t thinking about Krit and I haven’t for at least the past 46 minutes.”

“Right.” Alec said disbelievingly, “Then, why did you sigh?”

“I was thinking about you, you moron!” I yelled at him, “And about how stupid this fight is.”

“Sure, stupid. I mean, it’s not like you practically knifed me in the chest.” Alec stopped suddenly, mouth still open, when he realized what he had said.

“Knifed you in the chest?” I repeated, my suspicions all but confirmed, “Are you saying that I made you...jealous?”

“Whatever.” Alec did his best to recover by blowing off my question.

“Alec.” I said firmly, forcing him to look at me.

“What?” he demanded.

“I’m sorry.”

It was all I could think to say. I couldn’t tell him what I was feeling. It was too hard. But maybe, maybe if I let him know that I was sorry I’d hurt him we could resolve this fight and things would go back to the way they were.

“You’re...what?”

I glared at him, annoyed.

“You heard me, God damn it.”

His mouth twitched, hinting at a smile that he managed to control.

“Well, then. I guess I’m sorry, too.” he said.

I continued to glare at him.

“You guess?” the image of Alec and Syl flashed through my mind.

“Hey, don’t push it, babe.” he said, but smiled, showing me that he was just kidding.

I started to feel like the situation was mending.

“I didn’t mean it, Jess.” Alec said in a barely audible whisper.

I wasn’t really sure what he meant. He must have seen my confusion because he continued.

“Kissing Syl. I didn’t mean it. I mean, she’s hot and all,” I glared at him a third time and he smiled at me, “but I did it...I did it to get back at you.”

“Alec, I...” I couldn‘t bring myself to continue.

“What?” Alec asked.

I swung my feet out of bed and stood up, taking the few steps it took to get to Alec’s bed. Pulling the chair closer, I sat in it and leaned closer to him.

“Nothing.” I shook my head, “Just kiss me.”

Alec looked surprised at my boldness, and truthfully, I was, too. It was just that I had a feeling and unlike 613, I, Jess, decided to follow it.

Alec lifted his head and I leaned further down so that he wouldn’t have to move and hurt himself, but he surprised me by pushing himself up slightly onto his pillows. He was getting better.

His kiss seemed cautious at first, but gradually built into the kind of kiss we had shared on top of the old building what seemed like ages ago. I closed my eyes, wondering why my chest hurt on the inside and why I felt so...complete. How had Alec gotten this power over me? That thought scared me thoroughly for a moment before I reminded myself that Alec was used to power and that he wouldn’t abuse it anymore. Not with me. I hoped.

Slowly, I pulled back, opening my eyes to look at Alec to try and find his reaction in his face.

“That was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.” he joked+

, eyes bright and smile in place.

I half-laughed and returned to my bed, leaning my back against the pillows in the same position Alec was in. Lena would be back soon to check up on us. Maybe then I could finish eating. I was still starving. But that was okay, because Alec didn’t really like Syl.

I slid down my pillows to lie flat on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. This time, however, when I thought about Alec, the thoughts weren’t angry.