Gifted Connections 3

They both scrutinized me and must have seen something in my face because they both nodded. Drake grabbed his pack and pulled his binders out. He immediately got to work on them.

“Okay, well goodnight, beautiful,” Jax kissed the top of my head before he turned to go into his room.

“Night, Mr. All American,” I mumbled.

He chuckled tiredly as he stumbled into his room.

I grabbed the laundry basket and went into Jax and Remy’s room first. I took their clothing out of their hampers before I emptied their packs of all their clothing. I carried their food into the kitchen and put them on the counter. I decided our sleeping bags would need to be cleaned as well, the smell of the bonfire still clung to them.

I hit up Drake and Troy’s room next. Both of their packs were in their closets. I wasn’t surprised to see Drake had already emptied his pack and put all his stuff away. I just had to empty Drake’s hamper into my basket and empty Troy’s pack.

I crept into Jaxson and Noah’s room last. Jaxson was already passed out. He looked extremely boyish in sleep. One of his black locks of hair fell over his eyes as his mouth hung open slightly. I couldn’t help but smile at his wildly sprawled out body.

Jaxson was also the messiest of all the guys. Noah or I were constantly cleaning up after him since we moved here. His pants, shirt, and socks hadn’t even made it to the hamper, instead they were lying beside it. The extra inches to put them in were apparently too difficult of a task for him. I shook my head in exasperation as I loaded his clothes up in my basket. I folded the shirt and pants he wore tonight and placed them on his dresser.

I emptied their packs and loaded them in my basket, as well. It was overflowing now. I grabbed our dryer sheets and laundry detergent pods.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Drake as I opened the apartment door. “I think I’m going to wash our sleeping bags. I’m sure the laundry room is empty now so I’m going to take advantage of all the empty machines.”

Drake looked up. “Are you sure you don’t want help?” he looked down at his watch. “It’s already nine. We can wait to do them tomorrow.” He frowned

“It’s fine,” I reassured him once again.

I left the room and started the long walk to the laundry rooms. The only problem with our apartment was the fact that it was away from almost everything. Not that I was really complaining. I would prefer living in the apartment then the other alternative.

I had to walk past the dayroom and noticed it was empty. I wondered where they could be but didn’t dwell on it too long. I was trying to get my mind off them. I made a mental note to grab a few bucks for a soda from the machine and maybe a snack.

It sucked not being able to have our own machines in the apartment. Especially since the laundry room was typically a mess. People were inconsiderate and didn’t like to clean their lint traps, even with the signs posted everywhere. Trash, drinks, and food were typically left on the folding tables. I had come in here several times to find sticky, unknown substances on the surfaces. It was clean right now, so I assumed whoever had it as their additional duty today had just finished in here.

The laundry room was also blissfully empty. I was glad I didn’t have to see or talk to anyone. I could easily load all of laundry up, including the sleeping bags. I was going to load what was in my baskets up and go back for the others.

It was a large room with over twenty front load washers and over twenty front load dryers. Most of the dryers were on the walls while the washers were in the middle of the room. There were also several folding tables for those who preferred to fold their laundry after they came out of the dryer or if they were waiting for another load to dry.

As I left the room, I noticed the lights in the hallways were already dimmed. It was eerily quiet for nine o’clock at night. I knew a quarter of us had been on that training exercise, but it didn’t account for everyone else. There were plenty of single people that had been left behind, and they were strangely absent.

Drake was still immersed in his research when I got back so I just walked into the rooms and retrieved our sleeping bags. I loved how focused he could get when he set his mind on something. I had no doubt he could, and would, improve the dining facility here. I wondered if they would let me back in the kitchen, too. I wouldn’t mind helping Drake from time to time. I missed cooking with him.

I looked at the sleeping bags’ care instructions to make sure I could wash them in the machines and saw that I could. I grabbed one of the wagons Remy purchased. They conveniently folded up and could easily be stored under the beds. It had come in handy for our shopping trip. Now I could use it to carry our seven sleeping bags. I was almost out the door with the one of the filled wagons when I remembered to grab some money for the vending machines.

After loading up the machines with the sleeping bags I made my way over to the dayroom. It was still empty. I grabbed a drink and a bag of skittles. As I was walking out the door, I noticed a guitar laying on one of the armchairs.

I longed to borrow it but didn’t know if I should. My desire to get lost in music outweighed my fear of having the owner get mad at me. I looked around the room and found a notebook and pen. I wrote a quick note for the owner.

Dear Owner of the Guitar,

I borrowed your guitar. I apologize in advance

if this displeases you. I am in the laundry room

if you would like it back.

Thank You! Blake Thomas

I placed the note on the armchair and took it back to the laundry room. I found a seat on the folding table and noticed immediately that it was out of tune. My dad had taught me how to tune a guitar by ear. I hadn’t known there was any other way until I met other people who played. Most of them used a little electronic tuner. I wasn’t criticizing them, but I knew I had an upper hand when it came to recognizing when an instrument, or any instrument for that matter, was out of tune.

Will and Jace were also musically inclined. I wonder if they missed music as much as I did. I pushed that thought away, determined not to think about Jace, Remy, or Troy. I was still torn between hurt and anger towards them.

Once the guitar was tuned I started strumming away on it. I found myself closing my eyes and singing along with some of the songs my heart led me to play. The band and I had created a few songs together. There was one song in particular that continued to come to my mind as I played.