“Darius—” I said with a sigh. This was not quite how I’d hoped our reunion would go.
“Who betrayed you, Adrian?”
He took a step forward, determined, but I only shook my head.
“I’ll tell you everything, Darius,” I told him. “I swear. But for now, can we just be two best friends who never thought they’d see each other again? I missed you.”
At that, his anger gave way to a tentative smile.
“I missed you too, Adrian.”
We stood still for a moment, just watching one another, then he turned and stalked back to the row he'd been working. He bent and picked up his tools before striding back over to me.
“I suppose I could take the rest of the day off,” he said and then turned back to face the man he'd been working with when I'd arrived. “Hey Ian! Think you can take over for me today?”
Ian looked up from his work, gaze traveling between Darius and I, and nodded curtly before returning to the field. Darius turned back, already heading for the tunnel I'd come from. I followed after him.
“Is it always so hot out here?” I asked, peering up at the synthetic sun high above us.
“It’s not so bad,” he replied with a shrug. “Roxy’s in mechanical; level 7. That’s just welding shit in the dark down there.”
“Roxy?”
He glanced my way with a genuine smile.
“I’ve got a lot to tell you too, Adrian,” he replied, and I couldn’t help but grin back at the genuine happiness on my friend’s face.
I followed him all the way back to the tunnel and waited while he stashed away his tools and changed out of his dirty work overalls. I looked away then, crossing my arms over my chest and trying my best to ignore the furtive glances mygrayuniform was attracting from the others going about their duties.
After a while, Darius tapped me on the shoulder to let me know he was done and I turned to find him in a tee shirt and jeans. It was so much like the old Darius I couldn’t help the way the corners of my lips quirked up in a smile. After everything that had happened, finding him here meant more than he could possibly know.
I followed him out of the agriculture tunnel and down a side tunnel on the way back to the lifts. We walked through dimly lit darkness for some time before it broadened out and I found myself faced with another set of lifts at the end. But instead of taking one, Darius turned right and we made our way down another set of halls until the lighting improved and doors began to appear on either side of us. Darius stopped at one only a third of the way down the hall and pulled a key from his pocket.
“It’s not much,” he said, sliding the key into the lock and turning it with a click, “but it’s home.”
Home.
I stepped around Darius and into the small studio apartment. He tossed his keys onto the island that separated the small kitchen from the living room area and shut the door behind him as I looked around. Standard issue beige sheets, beige sofa, beige counters. A refrigerator that hummed constantly and an oven that was only half the size of a normal one.
“Singles get the studios down here,” he explained. He kicked off his shoes and strode toward the kitchen where he washed his hands, dirty from the fields, as I continued to look around. “Families get moved into bigger spaces. They try to keep you on the same floor you work on but sometimes you just have to takewhatever'savailable.”
I nodded, hardly hearing him as I stared at the lifelessness of his apartment. No art from Sophie, no watch from his father, no trinkets from his mother or little aluminum sculptures from Harrison. We’d been poor in the Third Ring but at least we'd been allowed our individuality. At least we’d had some sort of freedom.
“I bet you have a nice crib up there on level one though, huh?” he asked with a smile as he dried his hands and leaned against the threshold.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I answered, peeling my eyes away from all the beige to look at him. “I haven’t seen it.”
His smile faltered.
“Did youjustget here?” he asked.
“Um, sort of,” I answered.
“Shit, Adrian,” he cursed, running a hand through his hair as he strode into the living room. “Sit down. Come on.”
I did as I was told, my legs moving of their own accord as I joined him on the couch. He waited until I was settled before speaking again. His voice was soft but his eyes bore into me.
“Tell me what happened,” he said.
