Falling Falling Stars

49 - Park

Note: We have all definitely earned some Arden time!

*

'Okay, it's your call, do you want to go out or do you want to stay in?' Arden said, at the entrance to Efnisien's apartment building.

It was late, eleven in the evening. Efnisien contacted Arden at nine. Arden said something about being busy, and then after a quick call, said he could come over once he was done with whatever he was doing, and now Efnisien was a combination of tired and excited and miserable and guilty and pleased all at once.

'Do you think we should break up?' Efnisien said.

Arden tilted his head at Efnisien, then pursed his lips. 'Does Dr Gary?'

'No, it's not a Dr Gary thing. He doesn't- He wouldn't tell me to do things like that, I think, unless he thought I was in a lot of... Unless he thought it was bad for me or for you. He told me to like, talk to you, because he thinks you help me. But only if you have time! Because if I spend too much time with you, Dr Gary thinks I'll get like, dependent, and then that would be bad, for like- for you. And I don't want to be bad for you.'

Arden was starting to smile during the end of Efnisien's rambling, and by the time Efnisien was done, his cheeks were clearly tight with the effort of not smiling or laughing outright. Efnisien felt defensive in response, his hand clenching on the door.

'It's not funny,' he said.

'It's cute though,' Arden said, his voice lower than before. 'Come on. You ready to head out? Let's go for a drive.'

'Now?'

'Mmhm. Don't worry, Sleeping Beauty, I'll get you home before everything comes up pumpkins. You're ready, right?'

Efnisien nodded. He was, because Arden had suggested a walk earlier, which kind of blew Efnisien's mind. Civilised people didn't go out for walks so late at night, and he associated those late hours with criminals and Lludd's shitty actions and Crielle asleep in bed like a princess, because she guarded her sleep zealously and was only ever up late if she was in her lab and absorbed with what she was doing. No one was allowed to talk to her then anyway.

Arden reached out and took Efnisien by the wrist, the motion easy and natural. It made Efnisien feel a little better about the fact that they weren't doing scenes for now. Because Arden was still... Arden.

After a short drive, they ended up at a large park around a huge manmade lake surrounded by grass and manicured gardens, along with huge wild Moreton Bay figs left to grow to unreasonable sizes, their sprawling above-ground roots splaying over the soil like sleepy, dark brown serpents. The park was well-lit, there was hardly anyone around. As they got out of the car, a guy flew by on his bicycle, and that was it. All the shadows were dark and impenetrable, but the moon gleamed on the water of the lake.

'So why do you think we should break up?' Arden said. 'Like, don't get me wrong, your heart doesn't really seem to be in it.'

'Uh, well. Bridge...you remember Bridge?'

'Yeah, choir woman who was good to you and then changed her mind.'

'She kind of said...' Efnisien pressed the heel of his other hand to his forehead. 'Actually maybe I should give you a cliff notes version or something. Dr Gary heard the whole thing already. But it's- It's so stupid, Arden.'

'I doubt it. Why not tell me? We're already at this park, it's a nice night, we have time, don't we?'

Efnisien was used to narrating events to Dr Gary, but he didn't really know how to do it with Arden. Surely Arden didn't want to know everything. But he also wasn't going to forget Arden mentioning that he cared about honesty any time soon, either.