After I'd picked myself up off the floor, I found that I couldn't stand to be in the house anymore. I grabbed some semblance of a breakfast and, for lack of anywhere better to mope around, headed to the local basketball courts.
I sat on the courtside bench, thinking about how things had gotten skewed.
...
In the end I'd given up trying to convince Soul. He was laughing too hard to hear anything I had to say. He was even laughing too hard to notice me limp out the door.
...
I could feel something in my pocket.
The ties from Maka's hair.
Somehow, just holding them, everything came rushing back. Those memories felt real once more.
It wasn't a silly lie or a bid to get out of trouble.
It had happened. I'd slept with Maka 'legs up to her chin' Albarn.
I wondered whether she'd left anything else behind, hopefully something incriminating like underwear. Liz and Patti would have to believe me then.
No. She was wearing a skirt and wouldn't have been able to get away with it.
Damn.
I'd told my partners the truth...but, how was I supposed to prove it?
...
I walked the streets, aimless. I only paused when I noticed a figure in black sitting on the bench at the basketball courts. It could only be Kid; nobody else wore so much black. I might as well join him.
I called out and waved.
...
Maka?
It was Maka. She limped towards me.
"Hey." She collapsed next to me on the bench.
"You're limping..." That was my fault and I knew it.
"Yeah... I had some hot, wild sex with a death god." She smirked. "It was fantastic."
"Was it now?" I laughed.
"Oh yeah." She nodded. "A pity Soul didn't believe me."
"So you told him?"
"Yeah. He laughed." She shook her head.
"He laughed?"
"Non-stop."
"That's rough. Liz thought I was trying to get out of trouble."
"You were in trouble?"
"Yeah, over something I didn't do."
"And Patti?"
"She called me silly."
"The truth hurts the most..."
"Are you calling me silly?"
"No. Of course not...I'm implying it. Much more sophisticated." She raised her nose comically in the air.
"More devious, more like."
"Why do you always say that?"
"What?"
"That I'm devious."
"Because it's true..."
She pouted.
I sighed. "What are we gonna do about our friends?"
"I don't know," she answered quietly.
"They really ought to know."
"I know, but we told them. It was them who didn't believe us."
"How on earth do we prove something like that?"
She was silent for a moment. "Why do we need to prove it?"
"Huh?"
"Our conscience is clear. We haven't hidden anything from them!"
"You're right...If they don't believe us then that is their problem, not ours. They can figure it out on their own and then they can damn well deal with it!"
"They'll get it eventually. If I keep limping, they're bound to ask why."
"You wear that limp like a champ then."
"I think it may be wearing off...?" She looked at me suggestively.
She was lying. That limp was still very much apparent.
But I could catch a hint.
"Well, we can't have that...but, where do you plan on going? I don't care if our friends know, but we can't exactly go at it while they're around."
"Blair did give me a key to her new place..."
