When Cindy got back Jimmy was asleep on the cave floor. She smiled to herself. Half of her wanted to wake him up so they could put the splint on, but she decided to let him sleep for a while, at least until she could get the fire going. She set down the sticks and dried leaves and grass that she had gathered to start the fire. She made a small nest of dry grass, twigs, and other things, then drilled a rough hole in a stick with a sharp rock. Just as she was preparing to try and start the fire, she heard a movement. Holding up a stick, she looked around the cave. Oh, yeah Cindy, she thought. Like a stick is going to do any good against a dinosaur. She took another look around, and lowered the stick when she realized that the movement was just Jimmy rolling over in his sleep. Smiling to herself, she got ready to try and start the fire again, but her eyes traveled back to Jimmy and she set the sticks down.
Can't keep your eyes off him, huh?
Cindy jumped when she heard the voice, and at first she thought that there was someone else in the cave, until she realized that it was the stupid little voice in her head, the one that seemed to pop up whenever her guard was down.
Not you again, she thought. Thinking to it was better than talking out loud to it, because A: she'd look really dumb, carrying on a conversation with someone invisible, and B: she might wake Jimmy up, and then she'd look dumb in front of him, which was even worse.
Yes, it's me again.
Must you pop up whenever I'm not expecting you?
If I popped up whenever you were expecting me, it would get really boring. Popping up when you don't expect me to is more fun, because I get to annoy you. Besides, when you're not expecting me it's easier to talk some sense into you.
You call it talking sense into me?
Either that or 'opening your eyes.' Whichever you prefer. Anyway, it's not my fault. If you would just quit denying it, I might go away.
Denying what?
Ah, denying that you're even denying it in the first place. Classic symptoms. Do you see why I need to work with you?
If you'd just let me know what you're talking about, I might.
Must we go through this every time? You know what I'm talking about, you know you do, so don't say you don't.
I don't. Not my fault.
You're stubborn today, aren't you? Listen, you know why I'm here. You must, otherwise you wouldn't have recognized me. You just don't want to admit that you know why I'm here, because you figure that I'll leave if you play dumb, but that won't work. I know you better than you know yourself.
That's not fair. You're not supposed to know about my plots to get you to leave.
Well, I do. So anyway, what's new? Been staring at Jimmy recently?
I wasn't staring at him! I just… looked up momentarily, that's all.
Excuses, excuses. Well, okay, maybe you weren't that time. But what about the time when you were going to rescue the parents and you were flying through space? There was some definite staring there. Or last week, in class, when the teacher was giving that lesson on the Amazon? You stared at him throughout the whole lesson.
Not the whole lesson!
Okay, so you stopped to take notes. Big deal.
Are you going to even say anything useful, or are you just going to debate with me over whether or not I was staring at Jimmy in class one day?
This is new. You actually want me to say my usual bit.
I want you to say it so that I can deny it, you can say 'if you say so' and leave, and I can go back to what I was doing.
Staring at Jimmy?
No! Building a fire.
If you say so. Anyway, here goes. I think you should tell Jimmy how you feel, because you like him, and everyone knows it.
Now it's my turn to say my part. You're crazy, we're enemies, we fight all the time, why would I like him, etcetera. You know what, this gets really boring after a couple hundred times. Can't you just leave?
Well, it wouldn't even keep happening if you would just listen to me, because you know I'm right. And I can't leave until you do what I want you to.
And I can't do what you want me to because you're crazy and you have a really distorted view of reality. Besides, even if I did like him, what would happen if I said that I did? My rep would be totally screwed up.
Everyone knows already, and your reputation seems to still be intact. Besides, reputations are highly overrated.
If everyone knows already, then that means he knows too. There! Mission accomplished. You can leave.
I meant everyone except him. Anyway, even if he did, it still wouldn't count because you have to say it.
Figures.
There's gotta be a way to get you to say it. Let's see…. Oh, I know! The simplest, yet most efficient way: the chant. Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!
Will you stop that?
Nope. Say it! Say it! Say it!
That is really, really, annoying.
I know. Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!
"Will you cut that out!" Cindy shouted. She then realized that she'd yelled that out loud and covered her mouth, glancing over at Jimmy. He stirred a little but didn't wake up. Cindy sighed, relieved.
Now look what you did! He almost woke up! And he's hurt too.
Me? You're the one who yelled. And it sounds like someone has a crush….
I do not! And as for the yelling thing, it was your fault that I yelled. Can't you leave me alone for now? In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck in the Cretaceous Period with a T-Rex, probably more than one, come to think of it, and we have absolutely no way to get home!
Okay, okay, I'm going. But one last piece of advice. What if he – or you – gets killed, and you never get to tell him? Like you said, there are a lot of T-Rex around here.
With that he (or it, really) was gone, leaving Cindy by herself to think about everything that had just been said.