His goofy grin burned her eyeballs with a brightness with a brightness even his screen could not dim.
"I'd never."
"But it's more than you're not attracted to her."
He actually laughed, burping out a singular 'ha'. He was such a weirdo! It was hilarious that it transcribed that way too.
"It's a little of the other way around. A little bit of both. But we are too different. And what she believes in, I hate. And what I believe in, she thinks is useless. Bleeding people of goodness."
He said finally.
"How does that even work?"
"Okay. Think of it like this. You're snowboarding and the snow is perfect and there's someone blowing heat onto the snow, turning it into ice. Or someone replaces a parachute with a silk sheet because it would be more comfortable."
"She thinks you're a dangerous idiot."
Kate said after a moment of thought.
He smiled.
"And she's smart enough not to snowboard where you're holding a blow-dryer and smart enough to check her parachute before jumping anywhere near you."
His smile. Kate was generally great at reading people, but that smile that followed, with a stare that appeared to extend into infinity.
Did her words add to the pain? Taking away joy? The world was 'different' in his eyes and the happy raise of his lips. What did it mean? She should have reached out but that would have caused a scene.
"What about Genevieve?"
"Gen?"
"Genevieve, it's fun to say her full name."
"Don't tell her that."
"You diverting right not?"
"No. Tangent at best."
"She has the fullest faith in Sakura."
"And in you?"
He didn't say anything but at the same time, Kate was not so oblivious as to not know there was a question she had yet to ask.
So who was it?
Was it a boy? A girl?
Was it Sakura's friend? A lover? For either of you? For both of you?
But Eric was harmless giant. Not a gentle giant. What he'd said to Gen, that had been so severe, so biting. But it was so hard to imagine him who could have folded them like origami so much as accidentally bumping them. It felt like he'd rather throw himself off of a mountain to avoid that happening.
But if she asked that harmless giant such a harmful question. No, he oozed a silent musk of manliness that warned her that asking would cost her something.
She'd be available and then, without a doubt he'd start talking and she'd be there to listen and if she was the chosen one to be the one he cut his wrists open to, then she would be beyond grateful. She would cut nothing out of her.
But Genevieve who was pinned up against her chest. Then she would do what she could to learn what was needed. The stand-offish girl was getting to her. Though being called stand offish was ridiculous, stand offish being her unwillingness to cuddle when literally the whole world wanted to.
"I feel like I should ask you."
Eric said finally.
"Don't be boring."
Kate complained.
"Fine. I think she would like me if it wasn't for Sakura. But she understands the game that's being played and accepts it. She smiles as they watch. But as you saw. She doesn't really like how we all pretend."
He said.
"Pretend what?"
Kate asked.
"That we aren't all killing ourselves, tossing around hand grenades."
He said.
"Should I be scared for my brother?"
Kate asked, suddenly stiff, which, considering her position, might have been the bad touch Gen had warned about, but she said nothing.
Eric laughed.
"Yes. Of course you should. But if he's got Jackie's attention who really, really has a good eye means he might be safe. But that she keeps ignoring you makes it dangerous for you."
Eric warned.
Kate felt a twinge and remembered the past. Remembered words that had been said to her before that, they resonated with her. In a truly terrible way.
God, now she was being punctured, the business end of a rapier being plunged into her gutt.
"He's still my brother I will not take the risk."
Kate said.
"Maybe Sakura's stupid group make the right choice for you. But it will mean nothing if you can't find your own Zenith within it. Either way at some point you're gonna have to let your brother go."
Their little fun suddenly came to an end because what likely had been a bad touch before was currently a brutal assault because it had not only been Kate's spine that had stiffened, she'd tensed so fully she'd put Gen's face in a death grip.
Gen got up and pulled away.
"Okay that's enough! Just so you know. I have a deluxe reading implant; I've been reading your torso moments against my face enough to know what you're saying!"