Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

68. Same

Sheldon

Reynard, you piece of shit, I will hunt you down and find out who you work for.

My first course of action was to somehow gain access to the cameras that were present that day, which shouldn't be too hard since people were there for the show off. Then with the footage I found, I could—

Rudra was staring at me with raised eyebrows as if he was waiting for me to respond.

"What?" My response came out blunter than I intended and I cursed under my breath.

"I was just wondering if you're still okay with going on the date tonight." Rudra's fingers brushed over my knuckles and my eyes were fixated on the gesture.

I cleared my throat. "Um, yeah. I suppose."

"Awesome, I was thinking we could get some sushi and maybe just hang out afterwards. Unless there was something you really wanted to do."

"Not really—"

"Fantastic!" His hands clasped around mine and my face suddenly felt very hot. "I can't wait for tonight."

"Same," I squeaked out.

It wasn't very long before we sat at the lunch table with his eyes on me while mine found the ceiling much easier to stare at. The moment I thought I would shut down from overheating, someone approached our table.

"Hey guys, have you seen Haresa?"

Mia had her hands hovering over the wheels of her wheelchair and my hands quickly retracted from Rudra's grasp.

"I haven't seen her this morning," Rudra leaned on his elbows and his eyes were looking upwards as if to search for a thought. "She might be busy doing a hero job or something."

Mia's smile was unwavering but it felt different from earlier. I wasn't sure what exactly changed but she didn't seem as happy anymore.

"Oh," she said. "Well, what about you Sheldon? You two seem like good friends. Know where she could be?"

"I'm not their friend."

Mia's eyebrows shot upwards. "Really? I see you two hanging out quite often. I even saw how you two buddied up on tv not too long ago."

"That's work, not hanging out. We've had the same kind of dynamic since we met, which is just enemies," My hands gripped the table. "But no, I haven't seen them."

"That's typical," Mia muttered.

Rudra didn't seem to have caught onto what she had said since he was unwrapping a package of some kind of snack. "What do you need her for?"

"Just some GSA stuff. We still have to plan out what we're going to do for the next few meetings. I haven't been able to meet up with them lately since I started basketball practice."

My eyes glance back to her wheelchair and my mind raced to what little I know of sports. "The game where people jump and put orange balls into nets?"

"Yeah, I play the version where it accommodates wheelchair users. Just to make things fun and not as frustrating," she said.

"Oh yeah, if Mia was unleashed onto a basketball court where no one was in wheelchairs, they would all be screwed. She would be running over everyone's feet and scoring more points than anyone could count," Rudra joked.

"Okay, I ran over your feet one time," Mia's mouth hung open and hints of a breathless laugh escaped. "It was an accident."

"Girl, you didn't seem sorry at the time."

Their back-and-forth banter went on for a bit and I could only watch as I grew more and more self-conscious about how out of place I was. These two seemed so happy. So normal. I could only watch their interaction progress as they laughed and reference past events.

"Why don't you hang out with us anymore by the way?" Rudra asked Mia and the conversation came to a brief standstill.

Mia's eyes were frozen on Rudra's face. Her legs shifted slightly on her footrests and her smile was completely gone.

"I've just been busy," she said. "That's all."

I didn't have to know her that well to get the understanding that something more was going on. But I wasn't going to be the one to point that out.

"I'll see you boys at the next GSA meeting," she gave a wave before leaving.

The moment Mia left, Haresa came into the lunchroom and I could see that their hair was in disarray and their under eyes were extremely dark.

"There's Haresa," Rudra said in sort of relief while I could only stare at the hero in confusion.

There were no signs of a fight or any other heroic duties judging from their clothing but it looked like there was a struggle.

I kept my head down and began to eat my food.