Hana
tapped Neil on the shoulder, surprising him. “Hey,” she said, perhaps offended
that he hadn’t seen her standing next to Mary, “What happened to your face?”
“Uh,” Neil said, “Mary didn’t say?”
“What?” Hana asked, and then she
turned to Mary and shouted, “TURN THE MUSIC DOWN A BIT.”
Mary did, and then casually added,
“Huh?”
“How did, I mean, what happened to
Neil? Did someone jump him?” She turned to Neil, “I mean, did someone jump
you?”
“Kind of,” Neil said, “I got banged
up. It looked pretty bad earlier.”
“It is looking a lot better, Neil,”
Mary said, “I mean, don’t bruises take longer to heal? Maybe he didn’t hurt you
too bad.” Of course none of them realized that Neil had been injured in a
manner that would have become severe in the next few days. Goons have that
effect on people. But Neil had been graced with the presence of a healer who
possessed means of convalescence that can specifically counteract the wounds
perpetrated by goons, among others.
“Yeah,” Neil said.
“You’re a fighter!” Hana said, “A
real tough guy! I’m so proud of you!”
She hugged him tightly.
Neil realized that Hana had already
imbibed more than a few drinks. Mary looked like she’d had a fair share too, but
he wasn’t sure, as Neil had only ever seen her enjoy a glass or two, never
anything more.
He didn’t think he wanted much to
drink.
“A drink for our fighter!” Hana
said, breaking off from the hug.
“Hell… yeah…” Mary said, walking off
into the kitchen.
Neil stood still until Hana gave him
a push in that direction.
The kitchen wasn’t as large as Neil
had been expecting; there was room enough to get around, but Neil was certain
that later in the night things would feel tighter. Neil didn’t like brushing
past people if he could help it. He just thought it was rude.
The music was quieter there and so
Neil felt it was safer to attempt to open up lines of communication, “You guys
started without me?”
“Yeah,” Hana said, “I’d say sorry
but does it really matter?”
“Ha, what if someone other than me
came and you answered the door the way you are now?” Neil asked, “They’d know
right away what was going on.”
“Neil,” Mary said, “You worry too much.
Anyway we didn’t answer the door.”
“Yeah that was weird,” Neil said.
“Really?” Mary asked.
“Nothing,” Neil said.
“That’s cool,” Mary said, “Hey,
listen, we should have a talk sometime tonight. I have something I want to tell
you, and maybe you should have a few drinks first.”
Those weren’t words intended to
instill confidence in someone, and if Mary had been sober, she’d have phrased
it differently, to come across less foreboding. But she didn’t think about the
words before she’d said them. Neil’s mind didn’t see the negative implication. She wants me to be as drunk as she is, Neil’s
mind said to him, So she’ll feel less
nervous about saying whatever it is she has to say. Which I sure hope is
something along the lines of I like you the way you like me or something.
Neil had always been afraid of asking
her out; she was older than him and he hadn’t ever actually asked a girl out
before. David had told him repeatedly that those weren’t sufficient reasons to
be afraid, and Neil had quickly changed the subject every time David told him
so.
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