UNRELIABLY TOLDㅤ misc

are you jealous?, writing

"are you jealous?"

"of?"

"of me."

the girl laughed. "what's the right answer?" she asked.

"the right answer's the honest one," he said, with a smile.

the girl thought for a moment, her legs dangling over the edge of the roof. "i guess i am," she admitted. "i am jealous of you."

"really?"

"yeah."

"why?"

"you have a lot of friends," she said, "friends that you've had since forever. and you're smart, and your family's happy with each other, i think."

"oh," the boy said, and they sat there and thought for a moment.

"how about you?" she asked him. "are you jealous?"

"i think i am," he said, with a laugh. "isn't that ironic?"

the girl agreed. "it is," she said, then asked, "why?"

"why i'm jealous of you?"

"yes."

he paused to think. "you seem carefree," he said. "you don't have much defenses."

the girl knew that wasn't true; her defenses were rarely breached, was the right phrase; but she didn't interrupt him.

still, he could tell what she was thinking and laughed. "i'm sure you have worries," the boy said. "but.. you don't have them all the time. you seem so unafraid and i'm jealous of that."

"i'm afraid of a lot of things," the girl said, because she was.

he nodded, then reminded her of when she said she didn't think much, and she remembered when he said he was always thinking. she'd said it seemed exhausting.

he said, "i'm just jealous of your mindset, aren't i?"

she laughed. "you probably are," she said. "i'm jealous of a lot of worldly things, aren't i?"

"you probably are," he said. "but we'll attain both eventually."

she hesitated, then agreed. they had a whole life ahead of them, after all.