“You actually said that to him?” Alice nodded and Relm roared with laughter. “Omigosh! I wish I could've been there to see it.”
“The jerk kept on and asked me out to dinner. Tonight.” Alice crossed her arms. “In his dreams.”
“It's a harmless dinner, Alice. It might do you some good. You're pretty uptight, you know.”
Alice threw herself onto her bed and covered her eyes with her arm. “Gee. You think?”
“Well, it is kind of a 'duh'.”
“My entire life is a 'duh'.”
Relm came and sat on the bed next to Alice. “Tell me about it.”
Alice peeked at her from under her arm. “Huh?”
“Your lovelife.”
Alice sat up. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Relm actually paused before talking. “Now I'm not so sure. What were you talking about?”
Alice shook her head. “No way. You go first.”
Relm looked away. “Oh look. A pigeon.” She stood and made her way to the window to carefully take the tube from the pigeon's foot. “It's for you. Cool.”
Alice caught the tube Relm tossed and carefully pulled the paper free. She unrolled it and raised an eyebrow. ‘Alice, we haven't seen Gau since you left. Carol's worried, thinking she said something bad. I'm sure he's fine. Keep your chin up. Eric.’ “Hm.”
“What? Bad news?” Relm came to sit on the bed beside her. “Tell me, tell me.”
Alice lowered the paper. “Gau's not been around for a while.”
“You've only been gone about two days. He disappears that long while holding his breath. Don't sweat it.” There was a knock, and Relm waved Alice off. “I'll get it.” She opened the door and looked the person up and down. “Riley, I presume.” Alice moaned and fell back onto the bed. Relm opened the door wider and gave the guy a smile. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” Riley stepped into the room like he owned it. “So, you ready for that dinner?”
“What part of ‘no relationship’ confused you?”
Riley came to stand beside her bed. “Look, I didn't mean to be a jerk, all right? I'm trying to make it up to you, if you'll give me the chance.”
“I've got a headache.”
Relm sniggered into her hand and moved to the far side of the room with a slight shake of her head.
“Yeah,” Riley said. “Sure.”
The pounding behind her eyes became a sharp pain and she winced as she brought a hand up. “No. I really do. You're making it worse. Go away.”
“Only if you promise to have dinner with me tomorrow.”
“Fine.”
“Really? Great.” He gave a brief wave to Relm. “Later, cutie.”
Relm leaned against the windowsill. “Bye, Riley,” she purred as she crossed her arms.
He shut the door behind him.
Alice rolled over onto her side. “You have any Remedy?”
“Sure.” She chucked a bottle to Alice. “He's kind of cute, in a twisted way I guess.”
Alice took the Remedy dry. “Yeah, but he's as dense as a guy ever is.”
“Hey, they aren't that bad. Gau's actually pretty sharp.”
A knife seemed to go through Alice's brain. “Yeah.”
Relm came to sit on Alice's bed. “I'm curious. How'd you meet him anyway? He steers clear of towns usually. People have a tendency of throwing rocks at him and screaming before running away.”
Alice rolled onto her other side. “It was an accident.”
“That's the best way to meet someone. Didn't you know that?” Relm nudged Alice in the back with an elbow. “Come on. Spill.”
Alice sighed and closed her eyes. She could still see the whole humiliating thing. “I got caught unawares by a Baskervor as I tried to get samples from the Veldt. He saved my butt.”
“Cool.” Relm laid down on her back beside Alice. “What happened after that?”
Alice opened her eyes. “We did a trade, kind of. I wanted to learn more about the Veldt for my paper, and he wanted to go to school. I made it possible.”
“Rad. I know he'd been wanting to go to school for a while. Terra and Celes taught him how to read and write, and a little about history and math, but he wanted to be taught like other kids his age.” Relm nudged Alice again. “That was really nice, Alice. I bet he loved it.”
Alice remembered his smile after the first day of class and adjusted her shoulders. The Remedy was starting to work. “He did.” Her throat tightened. And now he's missing out. But why? Alice clenched her jaw. Carol, if you said anything to hurt his feelings, I'll pound you.
“Makes me wonder why he's vanished. Hm. Oh well. He's a big boy.”
Why does everyone keep saying that? He still needs help with things! Alice cleared her throat. “Yeah. I know.”