“No, but it would have been kind of clever if I’d slipped that in along with my point.”
The corner of his lips twitched again. “Okay. Then whatisyour point?”
“I can’t remember how long ago it was,” I said, turning to make another cup of coffee. “Or when I read about it. But they found a burial. And it was obvious that they were, uh...I can’t remember if they were born with… They were basically deformed, lame, or whatever. They wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the nomadic, harsh conditions of ancient humans.”
“And this body was found thrown in a hole somewhere after the injury?”
“They wereburied,” I said, watching the coffee trickle. “With mementos or tokens. Not only that, but they had lived with that deformity for a long time, even though they couldn’t take care of themselves.”
Taking the fresh coffee, I sat across from him, adding a heavy amount of sugar. Rowan watched me, his nose curling. “Would you like some coffee with your sugar? Perhaps some cream?”
“Nah, lactose intolerant,” I told him as I stirred. “My point was that despite offering nothing practical to the group, they were cared for. They were fed and watered. Despite the idea that ancient humans only cared about survival, this person, who offered little, was still cared for by the group, and when they died, they were buried with love and grace, not because they were useful, but because the groupcared.”
Rowan took another sip of coffee, his eyes going distant. I leaned back and sipped; it needed more sugar, but was tolerable. God, I’d watched Reggie drink the stuff straight up like Rowan did, and I never understood how the hell anyone could do that.
“I’m afraid I don’t see your point,” Rowan said, his gaze clearing as it shifted back to my face.
“You don’t see it, or you don’t want to?” I wondered.
He frowned. “How about you skip the psychoanalysis and tell me what the point you were attempting to make is?”
“Attempting to make,” I chuckled. “I see what you’re doing. And my point is, people survive because others care, and caring is as built into us as selfishness and cruelty. The cruelties we enact on one another would make demons cringe, but the wonders we work would make angels weep with envy. So yeah, I did it because I didn’t want you to be in more pain than necessary over something as simple as getting a fresh cup of coffee when I could do it for you. But that doesn’t mean I pity you or think you’re not capable. How uncaring would I be to know you’re in pain and expect you to do something I can easily handle?”
His eyes narrowed, and he took another sip before letting out a scoff. “You know, I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard someone make a half-decent argument for pitying me.”
“Lord have Mercy, they were right when they said you can lead that horse to water, but you sure can’t make it drink,” I said with a laugh. “At least in this case, the horse decided to sniff the water.”
“I’m not sure how I feel being compared to a horse,” he said dryly.
“Mmm, considering what I witnessed when I first came in, you should understand why that’s an apt comparison,” I said.
Rowan choked, hard enough that he covered his mouth with a napkin. His eyes were wide as he got his coughing under control. “Ex-excuse me?”
“It was a dick joke,” I said, smiling despite my face beginning to warm. God, I was taking a huge risk showing my entire personality in one go, but fuck it, I didn’t think it could be any worse than the past week and a half. If it turned out this really wasn’t going to work between us, it was better, especially for him, if we figured that out before he was really in the program. “About your dick, if that wasn’t clear.”
“It was clear,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I just...wasn’t prepared.”
“Yeah, I’m sure plenty of people have said that to you before,” I said, making sure to give him a smirk so he didn’t miss my meaning.
“That is...” he began, and then shook his head. “You’ve decided to let it all hang out, haven’t you?”
“I can’t tell if you’re so oblivious you don’t realize how easy you just made it for me to joke, or if you’re intentionally baiting me,” I said. I watched his expression go blank and snorted. “Okay, oblivious it is.”
“I am…” he began, his nostrils flaring and shoulders slumping slightly, “not the best at dealing with people, or their jokes.”
“I kinda figured that out,” I said with a wink. “But you’re not a completely lost cause.”
He eyed me. “What makes you say that?”
“You seemed to like Cade just fine, even though he puts off the more refined people that come here,” I said. I might be more willing to be upfront, but that didn’t mean I wanted to come right out and tell him it was obvious he came from money and had probably been raised differently than most people here.
“He was...charming,” Rowan said, unsure if that was the word he wanted, but settled on it anyway. “Direct, genuine...a little like you’ve been.”
“You mean after I witnessed you at your most vulnerable, freaked out, and yelled at you for being an asshole?” I asked with a smile, hoping he was trying to give me some sort of in with him, and I wasn’t shooting myself in the foot.
“Yes,” he said, smiling gently. “Not exactly the way I would have chosen for you to loosen up, but it seems to have worked.”
“You could have just asked me to loosen up,” I said with a shake of my head. “Not sure if that occurred to you.”
