~o~
Rex's Point of View
On his way out, Zane had knocked on my door and shouted to me that it was him. I considered ignoring him, but decided not to. Maybe Nina would tolerate me. Zane wasn't Nina. Something told me he could be a scary demon when he wanted to.
"What's up?" I asked, opening up.
"I'm leaving. Nina just sent to tell Six and Holiday that she'll be back next week. Tell them for me, will you?"
"Next week? Where'd she go? I mean I saw her leave but...where'd she go?"
"Didn't say but from what I saw, she's driving."
"Driving what?"
"A beautiful red BMW convertible. It's hers. She went and bought it."
"Where was she headed?"
"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell. Goodbye, Rex. Please pass on the message. And I suggest that none of you go looking for her."
As I sat on my bed and remembered the conversation while throwing a ball at the wall, my mind began to wonder where she was going. She didn't say goodbye and when I checked her room, most of her stuff was there, including her sniper rifle, Shield. She was planning on coming back. I'd probably forced her to leave. I wanted to fling myself off the building. I felt so low.
I passed along the message and Holiday was alarmed at first until I told her that she was coming back and that her things were still here. Still she seemed on edge. Six declared that he was going to look for her but I stopped him.
"No, she needs some time. This is my fault."
"Rex, will you tell me what's going on?" Holiday asked, face looking purely worried.
"He's trying to break up with her," Six said flatly.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"It's bit obvious. Five days ago, they were madly in love. Now they can't get away from each other fast enough. Your teamwork remains pretty unaffected, but your affections have almost completely been suppressed. The only thing I haven't figured out is why." I wondered if I should tell them or if I should have begged to get let off again, but it occurred to me that they would try to force it out of me soon. They both really liked Nina and wasn't happy that she had taken off for the week without asking permission or telling anyone specifically where she was going.
"It's...about my blackouts," I began.
"Oh, no," she exclaimed, covering her hand with her face for a long moment before removing it.
"I just don't want to put her through that so I think it would be better if I just...stayed single. But you can't tell Nina or else she'd probably beat me up for thinking that way."
"Rex, you can't live like that—"
"I have to, Doc. I won't cause anyone any pain."
"But you're already causing her pain!"
"It's only temporary. She'll get over me."
"But you didn't even tell her you were breaking up with her, did you?" Six asked.
"I...want her to decide to leave me. That way it'll be easier for her to get over me."
"You don't know that, Rex." I shook my head vehemently.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going back to my room." I turned and started leaving.
"Good thing I came and hid here. At least you guys got it outta him," Bobo said from behind me. I groaned and headed to my room faster.
The week was pretty bland without her. It made it easier for me since I didn't have to dodge her all the time but at the same time, it made my head feel at liberty to think all kinds of thoughts about her. It brought up memories of us talking, of her stories, of the feel of my hands running down her back as we kissed...I really had to stop that. Thinking about all the good things made it that much harder. But I was doing the right thing. Right?
The time moved slowly and for a while I forgot that the New Year was coming. Saturday was tomorrow, the first of January.
"Six, will you come shopping with me?" I asked, walking into Doctor Holiday's office where they had been talking. I'd seen them together more often than usual and I thought maybe Nina's words were having an effect on them. I had yet to catch them making out though. Maybe I had to check the broom closets randomly. I chuckled to myself.
"Shopping?" he asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah. I want to get Nina a gift."
"I thought you were breaking up."
"Sure, but I should at least have gotten her something back. It'll be a goodbye present. Maybe we could still be friends."
"That would never end well. You'd both still love each other and it would suck every day knowing that you were bound by the confines of plain friendship," Holiday said.
"Will you come shopping with us, too? You guys could give it to her and tell her it's from you."
"Rex—"
"Oh, come on, Doc. Please. I need to do this." Six sighed and gave me a long look.
"Where do you want to go shopping?" he asked.
"Yay!" I jumped in victory but then sobered quickly. "I don't know what to get her."
"Think, Rex. This is your girlfriend you're talking about. You know what she likes," Holiday scolded.
"Well, I was thinking about getting her tags like the one she gave me but then it hit me since we're not going to be together that that would be a bad idea."
"Maybe you could just put her name on it. But what were you thinking of putting on it exactly?" Six said.
"Besides her name, I was going to put 'The Core to Rex's World' or something like that, but I guess it sounds kind of stupid, not that it matters anymore."
"It's not stupid, Rex. It's sweet," Holiday said.
"So, just her name on it, then?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess. She doesn't strike me as a jewellery person apart from that. All she wears are these black stud earrings most of the time."
"Go get ready and we'll go."
"Thanks, Six." I went to my room and gathered up the little cash I had gotten from playing cards with Nina, Bobo and Noah and then we headed out. At least we'd be even after this...or closer to it, anyway.