Hiding In Plain Sight Who: Lennon and Kai Where: by the pool When: about 9 p.m.
Day eight, and Lennon was finally having one of his anxiety reactions. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd wondered how long it would take. He wasn't sure if the reality of where he was and the fact that he had no control over any of it was finally sinking in, if it was the knowledge that his family would be frantic by now or the tone of the day set by the revelation of people's requests and what they had to do to avoid punishment... or some mixture of all of the above. He gave a fairly good impression of being very light-hearted and jokey and not giving a shit about much, and sometimes he was like that. But he was also a person who cared about people, especially those he was thrown together with in a situation like this. He felt helpless waiting to see what would happen, and he figured he wasn't the only one.
He'd spent most of the afternoon and early evening in his room, pacing, staring at the ceiling, going to stand in the shower and letting water beat down on him in an attempt to loosen what felt like a constriction in his chest. Despite knowing it was only psychological, it was a very real discomfort. Finally the room had begun to feel like a trap, even though he didn't usually like to be around people when he felt like this. He had to get out, he decided.
Barefoot, dressed in the sweatpants and tanktop he was beginning to despise because he wore them so much, Lennon grabbed one of the blankets from his bed and headed downstairs. After a brief stop in the billiards room to grab a bottle of whiskey, he walked outside to the pool area. It was very quiet, and he settled himself in a lounger, bundled in the blanket with the bottle on his lap. Maybe he could relax a little out here, out in the open but somewhat hidden in the dimly lit pool area with the dark sky looming overhead.