Devil in the Church: Chapter 7
Moving the curtain aside, I looked out the window down the street. No vehicles that weren't supposed to be there, and if the red Prius was any indication, Ms. Lawson was back from her trip to Cancun. Hopefully, the last part of her vacation had gone better than the last week had for me. Looking down the other side didn't reveal any new additions to the street either.
After talking to Calle last night, I knew I was being overly paranoid, but it wasn't paranoia when people really were out to get you. Seems ever since I'd arrived in this city, my luck had been more geared to making enemies than friends. At the very least, I hadn't made the kind of friends I needed yet.
Not seeing anyone watching the house, I opened the back door and stepped on the porch. The sun hadn't yet started rising, but the sky was lightening. Streaks of purple and gold pushed back the dark skyline. I usually loved this time of day. A magical hour between when people were sleeping and all was quiet, and people rising to start their day. A peaceful time where I used to end my nights and just take some time for myself to think. More recently, I'd taken to running for the same reason.
But not today. While I wouldn't mind the time to think, I didn't even know where to start and running wasn't an option in my condition. At least I'd healed enough to walk on my own now. After the last few days spent chained to a bed, being able to walk without help was almost as good the music of my old home. Even if I was still a week or two from being able to work.
Opening the mailbox, I grabbed several days worth of mail that had accumulated while we'd been hiding. Neither of us had thought about it last night when we'd come home after Calle's assurances. Giving the empty street a final once-over for anything out of the ordinary, and finding nothing, I reentered the house.
Taking a seat at the kitchen table, I smiled my thanks to Danny when he placed a steaming cup of tea next to me. After a fortifying sip, I sorted the mail. Mostly stuff for Danny, bills and such, though there were two letters that weren't. Both from the same place. One for each of us.
"Calle was right," I said. "Letters from Arcadia, and they don't look like my assessment results."
"Hmmm," Danny hummed, setting eggs and sausage out. "Let's hope he's equally right about the other details he explained last night."
"I'll know for sure if I don't get foamed and arrested should someone recognizes me. Besides, enough is enough, Danny. We need the kind of information that people don't share with people like Calle. You can't live like this forever."
"I'm willing to try it."
"But is Lillian?" I asked, opening the letter and taking it from the envelope. "It's been days since you talked, much less seen her. She has to be worried."
"I had Kurt pass a message letting her know I was going to be very busy for a while. Besides, our situation doesn't have anything to do with Lillian."
"Doesn't it?" I asked. When Danny didn't reply, I continued. "Calle said that right now there isn't anything openly in the works. If it makes you feel better, as far as I could see there's nobody watching the house."
"It doesn't really."
"I don't blame you. With the right gear, I wouldn't notice anyone anyway. They could be watching the house using remote cameras or something."
"Wonderful thought to have our first morning back."
"Isn't it though?" I chuckled.
My letter proved that Calle was right. Inside was an apology from Glory Girl. Smiling bemused, I read through it. Other than my name, it read like a uniform letter that was probably scripted, and nothing like what I would have expected from the cape's personality. It also hadn't addressed what had happened between us, only that she was sorry for losing control of her power and it affecting me. Being hand written was a nice touch. I'd bet every stolen dollar in my hidden cubby that it was probably something she was made to do, than for any sense of guilt, despite the words on the page.
Danny placed a plate of eggs and sausages next to me before taking a seat at the table.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Danny said. Picking up the letter from Arcadia addressed to him, he opened it instead of eating. Sipping my tea, I waited as he read through it. When finished, he noticed my curiosity.
"Apologies from the school," he said dryly before continuing. "As well as assurances that Miss Dallon's actions will not be repeated."
"We'll see," I muttered, trading my cup for my fork. "I'm more worried about the lack of reaction from the Protectorate than New Wave's reaction to one of their heroes causing problems for me at Arcadia."
"Renee… I don't... " he sighed, clearly fumbling for the right words.
"I'm worrying you to death? You're getting more grey hairs than ever? You want me to be a normal girl and stop causing you such headaches? Am I warm?" I asked with a bleak smile.
He looked at me with a frustrated smile of his own, before sighing to himself inwardly. "Oh Annette, help me… your daughter has every bit of your cheekiness and then some. Renée…"
"Danny, I know what you're going to say. But if I'd known all of this would've happened in advance, I still would've done the same thing."
"Well, do I even need to be here for this conversation then?"
"We could not have it and just enjoy a real breakfast that didn't come from a gas station."
"You're my daughter! I… dammit, how can you be so calm about all of this!? You could have died, Renée! I know you would've done it again. I know! I know and it kills me! Don't you see that?"
I flinched, stung by the sheer hurt that his voice held. How long had he been holding this in while I'd healed?
"It... wasn't the first time that's happened," I returned, a little lamely, trying to play it off. "You should have seen what I looked like when I started learning to move by rooftop. Early puberty played hell with my balance."
"And how does that make this better!? Renée, your whole future rests on an outcome, that as far as we know, will end up with you going to jail or worse. Doesn't any of that bother you?"
I paused, contemplating his words for a moment. It didn't, really, but I couldn't say that without hurting his feelings. Instead of answering, I asked, "Did I ever tell you about the first time I had eggs?"
Sighing, Danny shook his head. "Renée please don't just blow me off here. I'm trying to–!"
"It was a couple of days after I woke up in New Orleans," I interrupted. I took a moment to spear a small forkful of eggs, taking a bite. A bit bland, but after the last few days, good for being different than what I'd been living on.
"I had no idea where I was going and ended up pretty deep in the Lower Ninth Ward. That area had been devastated by the Slaughterhouse Nine a few weeks prior and was still reeling, like most of the city was. I'm sure you've heard of the kinds of things they do when they visit a place."
Danny flinched. Clearly he had. Then again, they'd been around for longer than I'd been alive in one form or another, so it really wasn't much of a surprise.
"Well, at that time there were lots of abandoned homes. Abandoned people the Nine hadn't killed but maimed and were still holding on. More than a few driven mad that the Protectorate hadn't found. On top of that, there were still a lot of regular people desperately trying to survive in any way they could. The Lower Ninth always had a reputation for being a bad area, but after the Nine came through, it was worse. Even the Protectorate wouldn't go in there without backup. A lot of it."
Danny looked guilty of course. I was sure every word was making him feel like my experiences were all his fault.
"Of course, I didn't know any of that back then," I continued. "I didn't even have a name I could remember. I was living on instinct. Well, what instinct a little girl with no memory could have, anyway."
Danny's knuckles whitened as his hand tightened around his cup. I barely noticed half lost in one of my first memories. "I had just squeezed through this wooden fence to hide from a couple of guys. They hadn't seen me yet, and I wanted to keep it that way. I hadn't learned how to use my power on purpose yet, though I'd accidentally done so a couple of times and I'd already learned the hard way that large men who looked like they did meant trouble. "
Taking a drink of my cooling tea, I leaned back in the chair. Even sitting in Danny's house, I could still smell the grass and feel it on the skin of my legs. The desperate need to be quiet while trying to not panic at how loud my breathing was.
"A couple of chickens got spooked when they came too close," I continued. "I didn't even notice them until then. Thankfully they jumped the fence and bolted. The guys gave chase, laughing and throwing rocks. I stayed where I was until I couldn't hear them anymore. It was when I felt I could sneak away without them seeing me that I found it. A nest, complete with six eggs.
"It was like finding treasure," I whispered, turning from my tea to look directly at Danny. "In the two days of my existence I hadn't eaten anything more than a bite or two and I was terribly hungry. Every time I found something someone would show up and take it.
"The first day I ran from everyone who came after me, thankful they were more interested in the spoils than in me. But by the second the pains were too much. Too hungry to let the morsels I found be taken again, I tried fighting, for all the good it did. I was just beaten until I gave them up and it seemed like everyone was faster and stronger than I was."
"Oh, Renée." Danny's pain clear when he whispered my name.
"But, here were these eggs and no one knew about them. My hands were shaking so badly that when I picked up the first one, I dropped it. I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming and giving myself away. Thankfully it fell in the grass and the shell only cracked, not shattered. The clear liquid spilling from the crack didn't seem familiar, but it didn't matter. I ate it. Shell and all."
Picking up one of the sausages Danny made, I ignored his expression. "Spat out the shell almost immediately, losing half the egg with it. I drank the rest. Too hungry to care about the slimy consistency or the taste. All I cared about was eating every single one of them as quickly as I could before someone found me and took them away."
"I am so sorry you had to go through that, Renée," he sighed.
"I don't want your pity, Danny," I said firmly. "I never wanted anyone's pity. That isn't why I told you about that."
"Then why are you telling me this?"
"So you understand," I answered. "I wasn't the only one with a story like that. Half the people who worked with me had a similar one. I don't think you fully understand what it meant for me to give that up to come here."
"I know I don't. I try but I…" He bit his tongue as if worried that saying the wrong words would keep me from telling my story. "Tell me? There's more to this, isn't there?"
"There is," I confirmed. "I didn't like a lot of the people I worked with, Danny. Most of them were career criminals long before I was born, much less arrived in the city. Add in cape gangs trying to dominate the underworld, or whatever piece of it they had a stake in, and it was safer for all concerned to simply keep to the shadows and skirt the line. That's what helped unite us. Marcus put a spotlight on the whole in trying to edge me out, but he wasn't the only one who thought I had too much influence."
"The implications of how easy it was for him to kill people were very worrying without the fact that homicides bring a lot of attention," Danny agreed. "You did the right thing. From what you told me the others had to have understood that as well."
"I'm sure there are those that did, but that doesn't change the fact I can never go back," I countered.
"What?" he asked, shocked.
Smiling sadly, I shrugged. "A message had to be sent across the board. A reminder of what the Guild represented, absolute unity or a return to desperate times."
Putting aside my fork, I got up to make a fresh cup of tea.
"Over time, some started forgetting our roots, pretended they'd always been who they were now. Some were getting greedy even before Marcus made his move. I'd been hearing rumors for months but didn't put the pieces together until right at the end. They wanted to be more. They wanted territory, not hunting grounds. They wanted respect, to be something," I exaggerated. "Marcus just moved first, and just as Marcus betrayed our principles, I chose to break the rules to remind them all how fragile the Guild really was. Not just to what Marcus did, but what he wanted to do, and the likely results of such. So I did, and the cost of protecting them is that I will never be welcome back in New Orleans."
Danny sat quietly as I filled my cup with steaming water. Finished, I turned of the burner setting the kettle aside as I left my tea to seep.
"Why do you think you're so damn evil?" he asked.
"I don't think I'm evil, but one should never deceive themselves by saying they have no sin, Danny," I replied. "One of the first things Sister Mary taught us. I don't hide from mine, and we all eventually pay for the things we do."
"Saved little girls, and protected everyone you could? Helped keep people alive and provide for them until they could do it on their own? You see all that as bad?"
"Sounds nice when you put it like that, but to achieve those goals I've done things that are not so noble. You heard Calle the other day, and that was just one event. One very public event. I've gotten by in the past because there weren't witnesses, but a lot of people saw what happened, and that I was at the center of it."
"I love how big your heart is, kiddo, but that doesn't give you the right to choose what I do. Your bad experiences don't give you the right to dictate who gets in trouble with you."
"Sin should be a private thing, and I don't share the consequences of mine with anyone if I can help it. I know what I am, what I've done, and I'm comfortable with that. It's the life I chose, but this isn't the life you chose. I'm not going to let you throw it away for me.
"You are a good papa, Danny, but I am not a good daughter," I said, picking up my finished tea, taking a sip. The man reacted like I'd punched him in the gut.
"Regardless of what either of us want, the situation is what it is, and I want this dealt with sooner rather than later. So we know what we need to do to go forward. Normally when I go to ground, I stay there for weeks, or a month. But I don't have a crew to get the information we need to stay ahead of the repercussions. Just because the Protectorate isn't immediately coming after me, doesn't mean they won't."
Moving away from the counter, I walked away to get ready. Pausing next to him, I leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "Regardless of everything, Danny, Brockton Bay is my home now. Not because I have nowhere else, but because you are here. Despite the cold, I like it. No matter what happens, that isn't going to change."
Danny didn't say anything as I left. Not because he didn't want to, but I suspected because he just didn't know what to say. He let out a long breath so filled with exasperation and desperate care that it told me more than any words could have.
After a quick shower, I got ready. Just the chest piece of my armor hidden under a hoodie should do it. My ribs could use the support. The hoodie hid most of it and it would take someone really looking to tell it was even there. No need to go looking confrontational, just in case Calle was right, but I'd taken enough risks walking around without some armor recently. Once finished, I sat in front of Annette's vanity.
It's surface was cluttered with just about every bit of makeup I owned. Looking at the bruises on my face I picked up a concealer to hide them. I might not be in any condition to get into another fight, but there was no need to advertise that fact. Besides, the less attention as I was hunting, the better.
Danny joined me about halfway through my efforts to look more human, and less like a piece of beaten meat. He stood at the door, leaning against the frame and watching me for a while. A curious look on his face like he was fondly remembering something unpleasant.
"What happens if it's a trap?" he eventually asked. "What if they're just waiting for you to surface before going after you?"
"Then I end up in custody and we see if Calle's reputation is worth the money I've been paying him," I answered.
"Do you think that will be enough?"
"I've been careful enough in the past and Calle seems confident enough."
"I still think…"
"We've been over this, Danny," I interrupted. Through the mirror, I watched as he seemed to sink into himself. "What's really on your mind?"
"I've been thinking," Danny said slowly. "More like remembering, actually."
"Well, that clears it up," I chuckled.
He eyed me. "You have absolutely no room to talk, Renée. You obfuscate better than anyone I know."
"You… might have a point," I acknowledged with a chuckle. "But there is a certain mystique to a gambler that is irresistible, no?"
Chuckling weakly at my joke, Danny continued staring at me with that strange expression. "I haven't told you much about Annette when she was going to college, have I?"
I shook my head. "Most of the stories were from after I was born."
"Your mother, well, you could say she fell in with a bad crowd," Danny sighed. "To be fair, it wasn't like that at first."
"Most things happen like that. By a bad crowd, do you mean Annette ran with a gang?"
"Something like that," Danny chuckled weakly. "It started off as an equality movement. Women's Rights and lesbian acceptance."
"That doesn't sound so bad," I noted. "Though kind of strange. Were those issues back then?"
"It wasn't the stone age, Renée," Danny said, rolling his eyes. "But even in the early nineties, there was still some discrimination. Noticeably bad in some places."
"Still doesn't sound that bad," I muttered. Then again, that kind of blatant discrimination hadn't been something I ever had to deal with.
"The movement was headed by a cape who called herself Lustrum. She made fanatical extremists seem reasonable."
"Ah. That would do it," I nodded. "Annette was a member?"
Chuckling self mockingly, Danny offered a weak smile. "Since not long after she started her masters courses. Annette met and started dating one of Lustrum's lieutenants. Her name was Claire. Eventually Annette became a minor lieutenant herself."
Staring at Danny through the mirror, I put the makeup in my hand down, spinning to look directly at him. "Alright, mon'ami, you had my interest, but now you have my attention."
"I thought that might get it," Danny said, smiling. "They were very close. Even lived together for over a year. Claire didn't like Annette and I being friends, obviously, but tolerated me for your mother. Annette believed in the movement and even I supported it at first. However, over the years, it became less a movement, and more a gang."
"Hmm. Not often you see political movements going bad openly like that. Usually too many eyes on them…" I murmured.
"Started off innocently enough. Tracking down men who took advantage of women. Eventually setting traps in bars and parties for men who were known for getting women drunk or outright drugging them. Before long, some decided to take it further and started hunting them. Usually to a bad end for those they found, or believed were involved."
"Annette as well?" I asked. The parallels with the Guild were not lost on me, even with the differences that comprised our separate goals. Especially considering what we'd talked about in the kitchen.
"To a degree, yes, she was involved with a lot of what went on. Not the extreme end of it, but she was aware. She got out before things got truly bad, but it caused problems."
"Claire did not approve, I take it."
"No," Danny sighed. "The fight between them when Annette tried to get Claire to leave the gang with her was very… unpleasant. You see, Claire had gotten hurt in a PRT retaliation after a rather gruesome attack. The same attack that Annette later discovered was done out of hate than for the movement. Claire was very badly hurt, as a matter of fact. She couldn't even walk when I got to them. Claire wouldn't listen to Annette that she wanted them to quit because the movement had lost its way. Called your mother… many unpleasant things and blamed me for trying to steal Annette away."
"You loved Annette even then." I nodded quietly, curious about where he was going with this.
"Longer," Danny smiled sadly. "Almost since the first day we met. More than her beauty, which you thankfully inherited, Annette had a fire in her that was undeniable. A… physical presence that seemed to radiate her gentleness and warmth when she was happy. It was no less potent when she was upset. Unlike me, your mother never lost her temper, but when she was upset, you knew it. Her quiet disapproval was as cutting as one of my father's anger tantrums. But back then I was only her friend. A good friend, but only a friend."
"The kind of friend you call to get out of trouble?" I smirked.
"More than once," he confirmed. "I bailed Annette out of jail a handful of times. Small stuff usually, once when she led a protest that got out of hand. Almost cost her degree."
Walking into the room, Danny knelt next to me, taking my hands.
"Kiddo, you are your mother's daughter. So much so that it scares me. You have her conviction, her dedication, drive, and unfortunately her single minded stubbornness. Though I will admit some of that might have come from me."
I chuckled but didn't comment, letting him continue.
"You also have her way of looking at the world. I don't want you to think I am against the things you've done. If the truth was told, I have more than a few inappropriate stories about your mother and I and the trouble we got into back in those days."
"I would very much like to hear those stories," I smirked.
"Yes, I bet you would," he sighed, though his smile never left his face. "Renée, I watched Annette fall into that spiral. Watched as what she believed in was lost, becoming something unrecognizable from what it was in the beginning. Years later, Annette told me that despite all the people around her back then, she felt alone. Burdened by the things she had done and had to do to protect those she considered hers. I just want you to understand that you are not alone, Renée. You don't have to face this alone."
"Maybe, Danny," I whispered. Touched by his words and expression. "But there is no reason why you should lose everything for dice I've thrown."
"No, Renée. There is nothing in this world more precious to me than you are. When you vanished I blamed myself for a long time. I swore that when I found you, I wouldn't make the same mistakes again."
"You said I was at some kind of camp when I disappeared. Whatever happened wasn't your fault, Danny."
"No, but all the months I spent lost inside myself after Annette died, was."
"What do you mean?"
"When Annette died, a part of me died with her," Danny whispered. "We had a stupid fight. Over the kind of minor thing that seemed like a big issue then, but was just stupid in hindsight. Annette left to see a friend because I was close to losing my temper."
"That's when the car crash happened?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "I shut down, Renée. I didn't know how to deal with it, and in my pain, I forgot about you. You were suffering too and I didn't see it. Days bled into each other, becoming weeks, and months. I didn't take care of myself, and worse, I didn't take care of you. You spent a lot of time with Emma's family back then because I wasn't cooking or doing laundry regularly. It was… a dark time for us. Annette always enrolled you in summer camps because she felt it would broaden your horizons. I sent you there because I couldn't take care of you, and they would. Even if only for a little while."
I reached out, cupping the side of his face with my hand. "I don't blame you for what happened to me, Danny."
"And I don't blame you for the lifestyle you live because of what happened to you. Not in New Orleans and not here. I failed you once, Renée, I won't do it again."
It was funny, in a depressing way, now that I was looking at it. In the time we'd been living together, both of us had avoided subjects like my disappearance, and my life in New Orleans. Neither of us wanting to talk about such dark times or the things either of us lost. Now here we were throwing open those doors in an attempt to get the other to understand that each of us only wanted to protect the other.
The problem was that Danny couldn't protect me, and by the look in his eyes, he knew it. Not from the things that stood against us, and not from myself. While I might have had issues with the truth half the time, I always tried to avoid lying to myself. I tended to like exciting things, and half the time I took jobs for the challenge alone. On the other side of the coin, I couldn't protect Danny. Not from those same events surrounding us that I knew about and not from the things I didn't. It was obvious he wasn't going to let me, even if I knew how.
"I have to finish getting ready, Danny," I whispered.
"Alright, but promise me you'll be careful while looking around?" he whispered back.
"I will."
"Okay. I'll let you get back to it, but if anything happens, I'll be right here next to the phone. Just a call away."
I smiled weakly, blowing out the breath I'd been holding once Danny left. Turning around to once again face the mirror, I looked at my reflection and its sorry state, only partially covered up. After a moment, my eyes lowered to the tarot card I'd placed next to the mirror.
The World Reversed.
Picking it up, I still felt the tingling from within the card tickling at my mind. I'd made that reading weeks ago, and it was still active. I'd never had a reading last so long. I had thought that the subject of the reading would have already passed, but it hadn't.
Its placement suggested that I needed to take stock of things going on in my life. I thought I'd had, which was why I'd taken the chance to meet with Clockblocker, but with the card still active, maybe that wasn't all that was going on. The spread itself had shown five cards all in agreement with my thoughts at the time, and this one counter to it all. It signified significant change. Not as singular as the Fool typically would have; more broad, and should have meant something that surpassed the superficial and went deeper than the obvious.
But that was the problem with tarot reading. Even with the insight my power gave me into the cards, it was still so hard to understand. Or was the problem that the solution was so obvious, I couldn't see it?
Putting it back, I quietly mulled over that line of thought while finishing my makeup. Done, I was testing the overall effect with my hood up finding it satisfactory when it hit me.
Even with things like statute of limitations for how long they had to accuse me of things, they had control of the long game. I couldn't afford to wait years for the weird and see if I was going to get away with it. That was why I planned on going into the city, to get information so I could find away to deal with this. Looking at the tarot card against the vanity mirror, I realized there was one solution that covered all the issues I was facing, just as that card seemed to cover far more than one question.
It would be the biggest gamble I'd ever thrown my dice at. For that alone, the idea appealed to me.
Picking up my cell, I turned it on. Eventually, I was greeted with a list of missed calls, and one text message. All the calls came from the same unknown number but no voicemails. That made sense. Only one person even had this number and I doubted he was the voicemail type. Looking at the message confirmed my thoughts.
Hope you're okay. Little Sis said the party got pretty rough and we're worried about you. Call back and let us know you're alright please?
Closing the message, I dialed a different number. It was picked up after the second ring, though no one immediately greeted me.
"Mr. Calle?"
"Ah, Miss Hebert, I thought that might have been you," the Latino man answered in his smooth voice. "How can I help you today?"
"I have an idea."
"Is this idea something legal, or is this call to prepare me for something more adventurous?"
"The other day you mentioned that parahuman law wasn't as cut and dry as most believe," I said instead of answering.
"True. There are many variables to account for, most of those centered around the infractions and the individual cape in question. In your case I have discovered several interesting aspects to your situation that should make for an amusing negotiation. I so rarely have access to such materials. I am quite looking forward to it."
"You're going in today?"
"Yes, my appointment is for this afternoon," he said sounding amused. "Did you have a particular avenue for me to investigate or inquire about?"
"Yeah, assuming it can be done with certain concerns in mind. I'm flexible, mon cher, but on a few points, I will not bend. I can't afford to."
"You have my full attention, Miss Hebert."
XxXGambitXxX
I looked away from the walls surrounding Arcadia for the screen of my phone again. Another update from Calle. I typed my response to his question before heading into the school just as the lunch bell rang. The crush of teen bodies worked perfectly to conceal the fact I was returning to the scene of a crime.
Biting my lip, I tried not to hiss every time I was jostled. Instead keeping my head down as I moved with the flow toward the cafeteria. Once inside I got in line, waited, got a lunch and paid for it with no one taking more than a cursory look before ignoring me as I'd hoped.
Looking around the cafeteria seating I didn't see him. Unless he was called into work that should mean he was in the quad. Entering it didn't take long to find Dennis sitting on the far side with two other people.
Taking a seat at an empty table, I watched while I ate and answered the occasional message from Calle. The dark haired girl sitting to his right sat quietly as she read from some novel I couldn't get a clear look at. On his left a decent looking guy was whispering something that made Dennis roll his eyes. Even the girl sharing the table seemed irritated. Eventually, he gave up and left, walking to a table a few down from me. A mostly full table that screamed 'popular clique'. Couldn't say I was surprised to see Glory Girl sitting there or the guy sit next to her.
Looking back to Dennis's table, I waited while eating my own lunch. After a few minutes of them sitting there quietly, I typed a quick text message, sending it to the number I'd noticed this morning.
Dennis lazily took out his cell phone a moment later. Half amused, I watched his body freeze for a second before looking around. It was obvious enough that it caught the attention of the girl reading next to him.
Obviously they didn't teach subtlety in the Wards.
A small discussion between them resulted in the girl rolling her eyes at whatever it was Dennis said. She got up emptying her tray into a trash can next to their table and left. Pocketing my apple, I did the same save for my drink before walking over. He was still absorbed in his text message when I sat across from him.
"Bonjour, Dennis," I greeted. "How have you been, chérie?"
His head snapped up, wide eyed as he stared. Smirking, I reached over to steal one of his fries while his eyes moved taking in my appearance under the hood.
"Renée," the red haired teen eventually managed to whisper. As if my name snapped him out of whatever his thoughts were, he quickly looked around before leaning closer. "What are you doing here? Where are your contacts?"
"Lost them in a recent misadventure," I replied dryly. "Even if I had another set I couldn't wear them anyway until the swelling goes down."
Dennis's face fell as he peered more intently at me. "Oh man, how bad was it?"
"Bad enough that I'm glad Vista got away when she did," I answered honestly. "She's alright, yes? Didn't get into too much trouble for helping me?"
"She's fine, but we've been more worried about you. No one's heard anything for almost a week. How are you? Are you alright?"
"Well enough. I'm alive and free."
"That doesn't say much."
"It's an attainable goal, and I am not greedy."
"Maybe, but you look kinda bad."
"You should see the other guys," I smirked.
"I heard," Dennis snorted. "Should you even be walking around right now? You look like you went a couple of rounds with Lung. Just without the fire damage and death that usually comes with something like that."
"Such a sweet talker," I mumbled, stealing another of his fries. I wondered if he even noticed. He didn't seem to, and I was eating them right in front of him. "You really know how to make a girl feel pretty, mon cher."
Seemingly embarrassed, Dennis tried verbally backpedaling while not tripping over his own tongue. The result of which was a sputter. "I'm serious."
"Your concern is touching, but I'm fine," I assured him, taking another fry. At this rate, I just might steal his lunch without him noticing. "Very sore and still a little broken, but fine."
Dennis looked over my shoulder for a moment, clearly not agreeing with me but thankfully let it drop. "What are you doing here? I thought, after what happened, you wouldn't come back."
"I got your message and thought I'd let you know I was alright."
"And Glory Girl?"
"Isn't the first to dislike me just because she can," I answered. "Besides, it's funny that she's sitting four tables behind me and has no clue I'm here, no?"
My comment finally got him to smile. Looking at his plate showed only a sole fry remained. I left it alone.
"Alright, that is kinda funny," he conceded before his face darkened slightly. "I am really sorry that happened at all."
"I don't blame you for it, Dennis. You didn't out me to her."
"Look, about that. I talked to him about it, and Vicky too. They promised it won't go any further. No one knows about what really happened but us."
"We'll see," I muttered uncaringly. "If things continue to go as projected then it won't be a concern for much longer anyway."
"That isn't cryptic," Dennis said wearily.
"It's going to be a surprise. For a lot of people."
"I don't suppose you could explain that?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" I asked, smirking. "Ignorance can be bliss, mon'ami, and a man should leery of knowledge offered by a woman who knows more than he does. Such things haven't historically worked very well."
"Is that seriously a Garden of Eden reference?" Dennis chuckled, easily catching on to my meaning. "Trust a southern Catholic girl to bring up the subject of original sin."
"Oh? What other kind of sin did the northern Christian yankee boy have in mind?"
Taking out the fruit I'd hidden in my pocket, my smile transformed into a smirk at Dennis's stunned expression. I felt entirely too pleased with myself at his wide eyed innocent look, mouth gaping at the obvious innuendo.
It became even more flustered when I took a large bite before holding it out to him. Dennis's eyes locked on my mouth when I licked the juice from my lower lip, asking, "Apple?"