The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 14

"It's so good to see your face." Those were Patrick's first words when he was able to make visual contact with Alice. There was a lightness in his eyes, as though he had not a single care in the world. His smile was small, but filled with a happiness that made Alice second guess everything up until this point. She nibbled her fingernail, her eyes darting back and forth between the keyboard in front of her and the video screen. Something stirred inside of her, she was upset, she was hurt, and yet she had no true confirmation of anything.

"Pat, I have to ask you something," she led right into it before she flaked out.

"Is this about what I said before?" he asked. "I know I should have waited until you got back, it was inappropriate of me to bring up such things while you're out there."

"That's not what this is about."

He looked more serious now, his eyebrows pulling together into a sort of confusion. He had a sweater on, and was leaning forward towards the laptop he was using. Alice felt as though he was staring through that screen right into her, and she suddenly had no idea how to bring it up. The words had been planned over and over again, and yet she had nothing. Her tongue was numb and she had no idea how to talk. A shuddery breath ran through her, and she glanced around the rec room to make sure that no one was there. She knew that no one was, but she needed to look away from Patrick's prying eyes for just a moment. To recollect herself.

When she turned back, she asked, "How are you?"

"I'm fine..." He knew that this was not what she was stressing out about, even thousands of miles away, he could tell that something was wrong. It wasn't exactly hard to see, though.

"Look, I've been gone for a while, and I know I left on terms that weren't the best."

"Alice..." He looked perplexed, worried.

"I need you to answer me honestly."

He simply nodded; in his eyes he did not look worried that Alice might suspect he was seeing someone else, but instead there was a suspicious look in his eyes. He was suspicious of her, he expected the next words to come out of her mouth to be along the lines of her having cheated on him with Beck. Because in truth, he suspected that it had already happened.

"Are you seeing someone?" There was what felt like a long silence after the words hung in the air.

But in reality it had only been a few seconds of silence when Patrick shook his head and half chuckled. He leaned back in his seat and widened his eyes in disbelief. Alice felt her head throb, her whole body was throbbing in nervousness when Patrick spoke again; she didn't even hear the door to the rec room open. "You're asking if I'm cheating on you? This is unbelievable; you're out there with that Beck guy and you're asking me? That's just... You know, you never cease to surprise me, Alice. When you told me that you'd slept with him, I thought you were kidding. That should have been enough for you to turn down going on the mission, but I bet you just couldn't wait to see him again."