Was it rude to just wander around, though?
She stepped out of the other end of the galley kitchen and moved along the hallway, peeking into the first doorway.
Yes! A toilet.
Rushing in, she locked the door behind her and drew up her skirt, pulling down her tights.
Sitting, she peed with a sigh. She hadn’t even had to coax herself into going.
Yay, her!
After cleaning up, she stepped out into the hallway. The sound of voices came from down the hall, from the opposite direction of the living room.
Just go back to the living room, Addie.
It’s none of your business.
But her feet didn’t want to listen to her brain, and she ended up walking toward the voices. Sure, she knew it was wrong, but that didn’t stop her, as she paused outside an open door.
“She’s really cute,” Ralen said. “I saw you looking at her.”
“Of course I was looking at her. She was hiding in the back of my pickup.”
“Right . . . and that meant you had to sit with her on your lap? And rush around in a panic when she got a small burn?”
“You bandaged her up!”
“Because you were making such a fuss. But it was a tiny mark. You overreacted and you know it.”
“I didn’t overreact,” Cash said sharply. “Maybe you should get to the point of what you’re trying to say.”
“What I’m trying to say is that she might be good for you. Get you out of the slump you’re in.”
“I’m not in a fucking slump.”
“When was the last time you had a date?” Ralen asked.
“I don’t know,” Cash grumbled. “Am I supposed to keep track of those things?”
“I know. It was nineteen-ninety-one.”
“Fuck you,” Cash said. “I wasn’t even alive in nineteen-ninety-one.”
Ralen snorted. “Well, it might as well have been nineteen-ninety-one, considering how long ago it was.”
“You’re an asshole. You know that, right?”
“But what do you think about her?” Ralen asked.
“I think she’s cute. I think she’s, well, shy and quiet, and there’s something not quite right about her.”
Not quite right.
Wow, those words hit her really hard.
Not quite right.
How often had she heard that or something similar? About how she wasn’t quite right in the head. How she wasn’t normal. She was different.
