Akeli shook her head with a chuckle. "Nah," she said, feeling stuffed already. She didn't know what was in the pizza, but it was plenty filling and after ages of tiny meals Akeli finally felt full. Bloated, but at least her stomach wasn't growling. Draining the last of he coke as quietly as she could manage Akeli let out a soft sigh, eyes half closed. "That was amazing," she stated in a matter of fact voice, nudging Xavier with a grin. "And while you're at it can you teach me the idea of money and stuff?" Fiddling with her fingers Akeli sat up straight glanced around the room, feeling a set of eyes on her. Shoulder blades tingling inauspiciously she glared at the sandy-haired teen near her and Xav, eyes narrowing dangerously. She didn't like the feral way he was watching them. It made her feel as if she was prey.

Shaking out her hair with a sniff Akeli dug into the pocket of her jeans and cam up with a small hair elastic, tugging at it for a few moments before she realized it was supposed to be used on her hair. In awe at the marvelous contraption she jerked her hair into a high ponytail, brushing her bangs as they covered her stormy eyes. "Much better," she murmured. 

Xavier waved the waitress over and asked for a to-go box. She shrugged indifferently and Xavier assumed that she would return, whether with the check or the box, he had no idea. Xavier sighed when she asked him the basics of money so he pulled out the cash he had on him. His brows raised when he realized he had a couple of hundred dollars in his hands. He picked out a one, a five, a ten, and a twenty from the pile. "Things are priced in stores and you just pay with that amount," he said, frowning at his sucky explanation. "You can see the numbers on the slips of paper. That tells you how much the money is worth. There's also coins such as the penny, quarter, nickel, dime, and half dollar." he said, but realized she wasn't exactly paying attention.

He stopped and followed Akeli's gaze to the same blonde-haired kid that had been glancing their way earlier. Xavier's eyes narrowed and he protectively put his arm around Akeli. "I have a bad feeling from him," Xavier murmured as he brushed a lock of Akeli's hair away from her face. When she threw her hair up into a pony tail, Xavier frowned and tugged softly on the elastic. "I don't like that. I like your hair when it frames your face," he said softly.

Xavier chuckled softly when she jumped and bent down to pick up the coins himself. He shook his head at Akeli's statement on the boy, adamant about his gut instinct. "I still don't like him," he said stubbornly. He glanced around the ground for any other bits of money. He frowned when he saw the blonde flick a penny into his hand. While Akeli was still facing the ground, he arched his brows at Xavier and flipped the coin through the air, a feral smile on his face. Xavier blinked before narrowing his eyes at the boy. Definitely not good.

---

Shay twisted the penny in his rough hands. When the waitress came over to bother him, he waved her off, keeping his gaze trained on Xavier. The blue-eyed boy narrowed his eyes and Shay kicked his chair onto the back legs, contemplating his next move. Something about the other boy made him nervous, but then his gaze fell on the girl.

He found himself standing up and approaching the two. He slid into the booth across from them, a totally new face over his old. He had a shy smile tugging at his lips and his honey brown eyes were light. He slid the penny onto the table and hesitantly brushed his bangs away from his face.

"I saw you guys dropped this," he said.

"Hey! Oh, thanks!" Akeli said distractedly, a bemused grin on her lightly freckled face. Plucking the penny from the table she whistled an eerie tune and shoved in Xav's hand with a smile. "Oh, by the way, what's your name?" she asked, infinitely curious about this strange kid. "I'm Ak...Akena," she said, pausing slightly. She didn't think giving her actual name away was such a good thing. Not when Xav had been so freaking hyped up about Erasers that morning. Glancing back at the waitress, who they had yet to pay, Akeli sighed. "How 'bout you go pay her before she brings that...large man over," she said, eyes flickering to the obese man in a red shirt, the name tag indicating he was Bobby Sr. 

"Bobby Sr.," she corrected out of habit, then flushed. Normal people wouldn't be able to see that clearly from such a distance. "I saw him when I walked in..." she added, trailing off as she realized her excuse made no sense. 

Shay brushed his hair out of his eyes when the girl, Akena, told him her name. You're lying, Akeli. he thought to himself as he surveyed the young girl. Xavier, he finally recalled. When they were debriefing him, of course they had told Shay of his target's names. All the same, he smiled at Akeli when she introduced herself under Akena. "That's a beautiful name, Akena. I'm Shay and you are?" he asked with brows arched at Xavier. The blue-eyed boy blinked and slipped his hand around Akeli's waist, probably attempting to be discreet. Shay felt his blood boil.

"Xavier," he replied with a flinty glint in his eyes. Ah, so the boy knew something was wrong with Shay. Of course, the girl was rather clueless. Shay would play along with her instead. He knew that there was more to this decision than he was letting himself believe, but all the same, Akeli it would be. He blinked when Akeli read the name off of the man's name tag and she tried to cover up her lie. Xavier stiffened slightly, but was careful to hide his emotions. Too careful.

"You have good eyesight, Akena," Shay said with a slight wink. He snipped the bill off of their table and flashed out some money. "I'll pay," he said. He walked over to the front of the restaurant and waved the check in front of the man.

---

As soon as Shay turned his back around, Xavier gripped Akeli's waist and forced her to stand up. "We're getting out of here now," he whispered anxiously, his blue eyes pleading. He swiped the remaining money off of the table and stepped out of the booth. His blue gaze caught on the blaring light of an 'exit' sign. He began to head that way, tugging Akeli after him.

"Thank you," Akeli said with a shy smile, flushing slightly at his winking. She hadn't met someone like this, and even Xav was quite as smooth with his flirting. 

"Why?" Akeli asked, all maidenly confusion. She was glad the guy had offered to pay their bill. It would save them some time and money. "He's just being gentlemanly." Grinning at him mischievously she poked Xavier. "Why not take a few lessons from Shay?" Sticking out her tongue at Xav she got out of his grip, slipping Xav's arm off her waist before wandering up to the cashier. "Come on~" she called, waving at him before plunging into the thickening crowd before the counter where Shay was standing. "Mind clarifying what you're doing?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder so her auburn hair brushed his neck.

Xavier stopped in his tracks when Akeli wound out from his grip. She stuck her tongue out at him childishly and proceeded to walk over to the cashier desk. Xavier felt his jaw tighten and he balled his fists together when her hair curled over his neck as she bent over. "Why not take a few lessons from Shay? Because he gives me the creeps," Xavier muttered under his breath as he half-heartedly followed Akeli through the sea of people. If she wanted to stick with Shay so badly, he could just leave her with him. He shoved the thought to the back of his mind, knowing jealousy was clouding his decisions. Okay. I'll give him a chance. For Akeli. After all, she probably just wants to know why he's being so nice to us, he thought to himself. Why is he being nice?

He leaned his back against the rough stone wall and watched the two with impassive blue eyes. His black hair fell into his right eye, but he did not make any movement that indicated he was interested in brushing it away. He watched Shay instead.

---

Shay grinned to himself when Akeli brushed against him, but he made sure to hide his smile. He held up the remains of his money after the cashier handed back the change. "Right now, I just paid for a pizza and some drinks. Now I'm getting change back and talking to a sweet girl," he said as he turned toward her, her auburn hair tickling his neck. He pocketed the money, his hands skimming 'accidentally' over her waist. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced at the two.

"You guys staying anywhere? We could take a walk around downtown. I could show you around," he said as he scratched the back of his head in a show of embarassment.

Shay chewed on his tongue as Akeli walked back to Xavier. He made himself appear nonchalant, his eyes toying with Xavier's. The blue-eyed boy glared back at Shay and the Eraser gave him a quirky smile. "Xav doesn't have to come," Shay said with a slight challenge in his voice. Xavier reached to put his arms around Akeli, but she was already out of his hands and tugging on Shay's sleeve. Shay winked at Xavier when her back was turned.

"We're in Utah right now. Odd you don't know where you're traveling," he said with a light laugh. "I'll take you around." he promised Akeli. "You coming, Xav?" Shay asked. Xavier did not reply, but stood in step behind Shay. The bird boy wanted nothing more than to fly away from the strange kid. Why couldn't Akeli sense the same bad thing about Shay as he did?

"Utah," Akeli mouthed awkwardly, pronouncing it in a strange manner. "Colorado was so much easier to say." After a few more tries she got it as close as she could manage. Something along the lines of 'oo-tah'. Smiling at her own small achievement she grabbed Shay's arm in a friendly manner. "It's not really strange I didn't know where we were," she gabbled on happily. "I'm directionally challenged and all. Xav's the smart one."

Turning her blue eyes on Xav Akeli grinned at him. "You have to come along!" she said excitedly. "Shay's going to show us around this place. It'll be useful." Reaching with her free arm she snagged Xav's own and tugged on him. 

Xavier snorted, but followed after Akeli all the same. When they turned their backs to him, he settled himself by glowering at Akeli's hand gripping Shay's arm. He looked down at where she was tugging him along and sighed. He wanted to make Akeli happy and acting like a jerk to this kid wasn't going to accomplish anything. For her benefit, he stifled his anger and locked eyes with Shay. "So any particular place we're going?" he asked.

Shay loped his arms through Akeli's after Xavier's question and he saw just a mild spark of anger flare in the boy's blue eyes. Oops, Shay thought with a grin. "I figured I'd just show you two around the area and such. Great tourists center, Utah is." he said, winking at Akeli as he did so. They stepped out of the pizza shop and walked back into the midst of people outside.

Ooc; Hiiiiii Det. :D

"Anywhere green?" Akeli inquired curiously, having noted that there weren't many open nature spaces in this area. "I've a hankering to see something green," she added in a wistful tone. Turning her blue eyes left and right she felt a bit swamped by the crowds, and wondered how Xav was holding up. He had had more experience dealing with large places with lots of people (and Akeli didn't even want to think about how many people actually lived here) but being left in a cage for most of one's life hampered their social skills somewhat.

Scratching her neck Akeli slipped her arm from under Shay's and pointed at the pointy tops of some trees in the distance. "What's over there?" she asked curiously, meeting Shay's eyes with her own.

Ooc; Took you long enough. ;c 

Akeli was smiling at Shay when she noticed that Xavier had a somewhat pained ex
pression on his face. Her mouth dropped and she let go of the new guy, touching Xav's shoulder tentatively. "Hey...are you alright?" she asked in an undertone, glaring at Shay to go away. So much as she liked the tow-headed boy this was none of his business. Making shooing movements with one hand she gave Xav a small grin.

"Do we need some medicine or something?" she asked worriedly, completely unsure of what to do if Xav's ankle was still aching. Turning back to Shay she shrugged.

"Awesome, forest. Look, we may have to skip or something. Would you mind giving me and Xav a moment? We need some private time." Akeli's demeanour had gone a bit cold, no doubt because she wasn't so sure if Shay was actually going to go. Was it just Xav or had he actually been right? About Shay being a creep?

Shaking her head Akeli dismissed the thought. Shay had done nothing untoward to them, so why worry? 

Xavier's blue eyes didn't catch when Akeli let go of Shay's arm so he blinked a few times when Akeli lightly prodded his shoulder.  "Hey...are you alright?" she asked quietly and Xavier watched as Akeli shot an obvious glare at Shay for him to leave. He sighed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. To him, Akeli seemed hot and cold, unable to decide who she wanted now. He just wanted to go back to their motel and rest; he also wanted to get rid of the pain in his leg.

Shay got the picture, thankfully, and walked a few paces away from them. Xavier, instead of answering Akeli, grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him in a tight hug. He breathed in her comforting scent as her slight curls touched his face. He wanted to tell her that he honestly didn't like Shay, but he didn't want to be so pushy on her. The least he could do for her was let them walk around for a bit without bugging her.

"I shouldn't have let it get to me, my leg and Shay," he said as he ruffled her hair lightly. "Let's go on that walk, but I want to be back in the motel by night," he said through a yawn.