Chapter 18: An Epiphany and Ping Pong
"Stop that!" Reuben protested as the ping pong ball flew over his paddle.
"Stop what?" Amy asked as he retrieved the ball and returned to the table. The other crew members in the rec-room paid them no mind, and continued watching the bad soap opera, The Young and the Stupid, on TV. Reuben served the ball, and Amy quickly hit it back to him.
"Levitating the ball away from the paddle! Gah!" Reuben failed to hit it back for the fifth time that day. "See?"
"That's not me, you keep missing! Keep your eye on the ball!" Amy responded. Reuben turned to get the ball again, only for it to lift up in the air and float over to his hand, dropping into his palm. "That, however, was me."
"You're getting better at it, I'll admit," Reuben said while staring at the ordinary piece of plastic. "But I wouldn't start bragging about it just yet. You still haven't quite mastered it, and anybody who knows you have powers could want to use that for their own gain."
"… And then the girl gains full control of her powers and uses them to get away from the bad guy at the last possible minute. Everybody knows that plot." Amy shook her head.
"I thought you didn't watch TV." Reuben responded, raising an eyebrow. Amy nodded.
"I don't. I have another way of learning all the plots – these neat little inventions made of paper and ink. They're called books." She hit the ball again after he served it, and Reuben once again failed to hit the darn thing. "Reuben! What are you looking at that keeps distracting you?"
Reuben shrugged, and Amy rolled her eyes before looking at the ball. Reuben watched her eyes as the plastic orb lifted up into the air again – her eyes followed it, almost as if they were calling it forward. Reuben just watched her – he was vaguely aware of the energy surrounding her, following an unspoken command…
Plink.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." Amy walked around the table and lifted the ball off of the floor. "Whatever it is you're staring at, it's getting out of hand." She walked back around. "I'm serving this time, just because you failed to catch that. And I'm aiming for your head." She hit the ball, and Reuben succeeded in hitting it back a few times before it went over Amy's shoulder and bounced against the wall, somehow ricocheting at just the correct angle to go flying out of the room. Amy started to walk out of the room after it.
"I'll get it," Reuben said, and Amy stopped walking. Reuben stepped out of the room. What is going on with me? I can't stop looking at her… Oh, no. This can't be right. From the calm expression Reuben wore as he scanned the hall, one would have never realized he was panicking. This can't be right. This can't be happening… Gantu'll never let me live this down. I have a… a crush. On Amy. He found the ball after looking for a few moments, and walked over to it, lifting it off the ground. Just a stupid plastic ball… hard to believe it had been floating a few minutes before.
Reuben walked back into the room, and took a good look at Amy. She wasn't looking back – she'd noticed a smudge on her glasses and was wiping it off with a hand-cloth she must have been keeping in her shirt pocket. He stared, trying to see if anything that could clue him in on whether or not he really did like her would happen. Nothing happened – no heart skipping a beat, no cold sweat, no trouble breathing; but he found that he couldn't look away from her. Reuben couldn't direct his attention anywhere else besides where she was, and realized he was admiring her face, her hair… had she always looked that cute, or was he imagining it?
"Reuben?" Her voice snapped him out of the trance, and he walked over. "Did you find it?" He handed her the ball. "Good. Now, try to keep your eye on the ball this time, please?"