20
January 5, 2027
Alainn sat in her living room, bored out of her mind.
Lorccan had been ignoring her for three days now. Three days where she was told that she wasn’t required at dinner and when the barrier to the upstairs simply didn’t open.
Obviously, Lorccan wanted her gone.
She wanted to be gone.
But when she pointed this out to Rosebud 03AF, she simply ignored Alainn. Rosebud was really good at ignoring her. Alainn had always wanted her absent, and now that there was essential information to get from her, Rosebud was silent.
Reading and watching movies killed a bit of time, but she was too restless to veg out for more than an hour or so each day. She spent the days wandering alone, her footsteps echoing down the long, deserted halls.
By that evening, she was ready and willing to do almost anything to alleviate her boredom.
Her feet hit the coffee table. “Hey, Rosebud 03AF . . . my evil captor!” she called out.
Rosebud didn’t respond.
“Want to play a game of chess or something?”
Again, she ignored Alainn.
“Pool? Checkers? Tic-Tac-Toe?”
Nothing.
“Screw this. Screw this and screw both of you. Yeah, I shouldn’t have said all those things to Lorccan, but they were the truth!”
And yet again, nothing.
She blew out a breath and settled farther into the couch.
Alainn didn’t know much about love. But she was pretty sure that love couldn’t be arranged over a series of scheduled phone calls. That was, like, a business partnership or something. Love didn’t seem like something that could be organized or contained; it should be messy and emotional, like exploding and imploding with someone at the exact same time.
But what did she know? Absolutely nothing.
Leaning forward, she grabbed the remote and pressed a button at random. The room went dark as lights started flashing around her.
“Niiiice.” She drew out the word while leaning back. She had completely forgotten about the disco party function in the room. A newer pop song played now—a song from her era. First, she rocked her head. Then, still sitting on the couch, she swung up her arms, waving them with the beat. Punching into the air, she watched the disco ball shining out from the roof. It had to be on a video screen, but it looked three-dimensional.
“You suck, Lorccan Garbhan!” Alainn kept punching at the air.
“What? What is this?”
She actually heard Lorccan’s voice along with the music, blaring out in the room.
“I said, you suck, Lorccan Garbhan!”
His voice came again, “Jade?”
“You know what else sucks? That you’ve made it so my whole life revolves around you! And now that you’re mad at me, my whole life revolves around nothing! How is that fair?”
“Jade, how are you making that . . . what is that music? Where are you?”
“Hey Rosebud, will you turn the music up?”
Rosebud, to Alainn’s amazement, turned up the music. A new pop song came on, and to her joy, this one was extremely repetitive. “Na, na, na!” she yelled along with the music.
After about a minute of her singing along, the door to the entertainment room swung open and Lorccan came charging in. “Turn that off, Jade!” he yelled.
“No, no, no!” she sang back and threw in a saucy wink for good measure.
“Rosebud, turn it off!” he yelled, but she didn’t turn it off, either. He crossed to the coffee table and started grabbing at the remotes and pressing buttons. The lights flashed even more intensely.
Still sitting, Alainn rocked her head to the beat, watching him frantically pressing at buttons and trying to turn the music off.
“Looking for this?” she held up the remote he needed and grinned.
He turned to glare directly at her. “Jade!” Crossing the room, he held his hand out.
After she made him wait for a second, she handed it over.
He pressed the button and the music fell silent. The lights, too, stopped flashing as the room filled with its usual low light.
“I thought you were supposed to have an adult level of maturity,” he said, looking down at her.
Not at all liking how he was towering over her, she stood and crossed her arms. “I’m learning my maturity from you. I’m pretty sure that the silent treatment is something humans usually stop doing at age twelve.”
He leaned closer, clearly still pissed off. “I’m not giving you the silent treatment. I thought we’d benefit from a few days apart.”
“Yeah, that’s fine for you. But you made it so you’re my entire life here. I’m stuck here in this tower, my life revolving around you, but with no you . . . And you’re fine, working and talking to people while I have absolutely nothing to do. I asked you for a job, for something to do, but I get nothing.”
He sighed, running both hands through his dark hair. “Jade,” he said, as if the word pained him.
“I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings, okay? But I didn’t say it to hurt your feelings; I just said what I thought.”
His gaze returned to her and he was, again, glaring. “You weren’t trying to hurt my feelings?” he said in disbelief.
She shook her head.
“You see, I’m pretty sure you did want to hurt me.”
“Why would I want to hurt you, Lorccan?”
He stayed silent, just staring into her eyes. Throughout the whole confrontation, he hadn’t hidden his face from her. “I honestly don’t know why,” he said.
“Well, I wasn’t,” she whispered. “You’re my friend. I’m just trying to be honest with you. But what do I know?” She threw up her hands. “Nothing.”
His gaze moved from hers. “You really want a job?”
“I want something to do. I love spending time with you, but that’s not enough to fill a whole life.”
He blinked and looked back.
“I mean, I like spending time with you—I mean, it’s fine.” She shrugged. “I could take it or leave it.”
“Uh-huh.” He blew out an almost-laugh.
“I think the question you should be asking yourself is whether you want to be living with a robot driven insane by having absolutely no life.”
“I’m pretty sure the question I should be asking myself is if I’m already living with an insane robot.” He smirked.
“Ha ha,” she said, dryly. Though she was pretty sure he already was; it just wasn’t her. “Lorccan, just give me a job and forgive me already.”
“You see? That’s not how humans usually ask for forgiveness.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled, looking down into her eyes, not at all looking angry anymore.
Who knew that admitting she loved spending time with him would extinguish his anger?
As if he suddenly remembered, he turned the scarred side of his face away.
“Don’t.” She put a hand on his arm. “Please don’t.”
He turned his face back, his gaze moving down to where her fingers brushed the bare skin at his wrist.
She pulled her hand back. “Sorry.”
“No. It’s okay,” he whispered, barely audible.
She moved her hand back, ever so slowly, and touched his arm. When he didn’t object, she stepped even closer. The idea of embracing him filled her mind, but she wasn’t sure if he’d freak if she tried.
He watched her cautiously as she slipped her foot forward.
Alainn slipped her hands under Lorccan’s somewhat open arms and wrapped them around his waist. At first, she gently placed her hands on his back and her head at his shoulder, ready to move away quickly if he asked for space.
Ever so slowly, his arms wrapped around her body.
As she closed her eyes, she squeezed him tighter and tighter to her. His hands did the same.
“Will you forgive me?” she whispered into his chest.
“Of course.”
Alainn didn’t want to let go of him. Maybe he didn’t want to release her either, since his hands stayed securely around her. Eventually, he said, “We should turn in, Jade, especially if you want to start working tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
His hands dropped and he pulled away from her by taking a slow step back. Even though she let him go, he stayed close for a second more. “Goodnight.”
After he walked away and back through the doorway, she whispered, “Goodnight, Lorccan.”