Space and Time

Flashbacks and Backlash

I can't tell if Maeva's shivering or just hunching her shoulders in her usual vampiric public posture. I've told her it probably scares people when she does that, but she's only said that that's the point. This is one of those things I just don't bother getting to know in more detail. I probably don't need to know. I don't think I want to know. It's just a Maeva Thing.

Still, if she's cold, I want her to warm up. "Hey, do you want to stop in somewhere? I know it's snowing and you didn't bring a hat or anything."

"Nah, I'm good. I technically have a hood."

"With snow in it..."

Maeva's laughing. "It's fine, don't worry, Mom."

I take the compliment. As long as she's doing good I'm good. "All right, well let me know if you get cold so we can pop in at a rest stop or something before we get too far into the wilderness."

"Evren, this isn't Cardend, the street will always be close by."

Touché.

"So, how's Aika?"

God, Maeva always gets straight to the point, doesn't she? I was hoping to avoid talking about my flustered ass. "Well, it looked like a broken wrist," I tell her, keeping the news solemn and far away from everything else. "She was in the hospital on her birthday, too."

"Oh, I didn't know she had a fight on her birthday. I'm surprised the announcer didn't say anything about it."

"Well, we got there late so maybe he did?"

"Good point." Maeva pauses before her expression changes. "Broken, though. That's not good news."

"No," I agree. "Lev said she was going to be kept longer in the hospital, too. That can't mean a good prognosis. Could I really have seen her last fight?"

Maeva dodges the question. "I was hoping you'd give me some good gossip I could use to make fun of you later," she says. Wow, thanks, Maeva. "Are you gonna ask her out or not?"

"Maeva!"

"Ooh, you already have, haven't you? That wasn't a surprised tone!" she says.

I groan. "Listen, I said 'date' but I meant 'friend date,' not... date date."

She just cackles her weird witch cackle. "You're too cute."

I give her my best pout.

"I know you like her," she says with her incredibly annoying shit-eating grin. "You hit it off pretty well last time we were together, too. You're both good competitors and you seem really interested in getting to know her. You know, in the 'I have an obsession... crush' kind of way. I think you'd be cute."

"Maeva, we haven't even talked much about, like, deep stuff," I argue. I think I'm flailing my hands. Maeva's smirk confirms that the heat I'm feeling in my face is visible. "And besides, relationships are a two-way street. I'm not sure she likes me."

"Of course she likes you, have you seen how she looks at you? She's got a hawk eye, I swear. If you're within a hundred metres, she'll spot you. No one's that good at spotting someone unless that someone is already on their mind."

"Well, I'm pretty easy to spot with the hair. And the publicity. I'm kind of famous."

Maeva huffs.

I laugh. "No, but seriously, just because she's interested in me as a competitor, or even as a... friend... doesn't mean she's interested in me, like, romantically."