Aftg react

Part39

Foxes react: chapter10

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"Fortunately for me, I was not as smart as I thought I was. When I was fifteen the police caught me, and my lawyer traded my testimony for a reduced sentence. My words got a lot of people in trouble, including my mother. My lawyer explained my home life so the court would understand my lack of positive role models. His findings sent both my mother and her then-lover to prison on assorted charges. They were beaten to death by angry members of the gang I helped put away."
"I'm sorry," Neil said, when in reality he was a little jealous. Both she and Wymack lost their parents to prison violence, but no one dared attack his father. It would solve a world of problems for Neil if a few inmates could just work up enough aggression and courage.

"The first time I saw someone being jealous about his parents not dying in prison, I mean definitely wish he dies there too but wow" said Nicky and he was right it's not everyday that someone admits to wishing that his dad died in prison but everyone in the room understood.
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"Then why don't you and Andrew work?" Neil asked.
"I'm sorry," Renee said. "Work how?"
"Why haven't you asked him out?"
The look on her face said it was the last question she'd expected from
him.

"Oh maybe we will actually get an answer" said Alison with a smirk.
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She bought herself time by motioning Neil into the next shop. Neil went in first but stepped aside so she could lead the way. The look she gave him on her way by was assessing, but she turned to the task at hand soon enough and rummaged through the trinkets on the closest shelf.
"What is all this about, if you don't mind my asking?" she asked. "You've never seemed interested before."
"I'm not," Neil said, but that didn't make sense considering he'd been the one to bring it up.
Neil grasped for a good way to explain. He didn't want to tell her he'd spent Friday night thinking about dying. He hadn't wanted to think about a future he didn't have, so he stood at the railing and thought about his teammates instead.

That killed most of the energy in the room, Neil had admitted that he had spend his time thinking about dying and the only thing that could distract him was to think about them.
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"Never mind," he said.
He started to turn away, but Renee said, "I'm not Andrew's type, Neil. There's nothing between us."
"Allison said that," Neil said, searching Renee's face for the truth. "She told Seth not to worry about you two getting together. But the others are all waiting for something to happen. You have to know how many times they've bet on you. If you can say 'no' so easily to me, why haven't you set anyone else straight yet?"
"It's complicated," Renee said, "and we profit more from silence. Allison believed me when I said I wouldn't fall for Andrew. The others stopped listening when Andrew and I started talking more. I reward Allison's trust in me by stacking the odds in her favor on any bets about us. She and I split the proceeds.

"Hey that's cheating" said Dan "No it's not" said Alison with sass but was stopped from saying anything else by Matt "no it definitely counts as cheating" and Nicky followed with "it's unfair" faking a motion of wiping his tears away, Alison scoffed and ignored them all after saying again that it was not cheating and Renee was watching with a smile not adding or saying anything.
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I put my winnings aside for our Christmas Adopt-a-Family project. Allison buys manicures with hers."
"How does Andrew benefit?" Neil asked. "Free entertainment watching everyone guess?"
"Peace of mind," Renee said after a moment's consideration.
"I don't understand."
Renee hesitated again. Neil watched as she rummaged through a
collection of leather wallets. She held one up and turned it this way and that. "Andrew said you would have questions for me. I asked him what he wanted me to say if you came by, but he said he didn't care and didn't have time to play moderator. If he knew this was what you wanted to talk about I'll assume he knew this would come up."
Renee put the wallet back, let her fingers linger a few seconds longer as she debated, then turned to face Neil fully. "When I said I wasn't Andrew's type, I meant it. It's not about my looks or faith. It's that I'm a woman."
Neil heard her words but was slow to understand them.

The silence that filled the room was loud and it stayed like that for a while before it all just exploded with talking coming from most of them and Andrew was in the middle of it acting like he hears nothing scratching his ear looking at the far wall as everyone that was not talking (Aaron, Dan, Kevin) were looking at him with jaws open, the only one that didn't say anything were Wymack  and Renee because they both knew.
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He blinked at her in confusion, blinked again when it clicked, and said a little too loudly, "Oh. Then Andrew and Kevin—" Renee laughed and waved that off. "Oh, no. You'll meet Kevin's girlfriend later this year, I'm sure."

The loudness of before was gone in a heartbeat as everyone watched the screen some turning to look at Kevin and Andrew, Andrew was still ignoring them but Kevin was as shocked almost horrified and everyone was laughing at this point. The shocked voice from before having turned to laughter.
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"You're lying." Neil stared at her.
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He was more curious how Kevin found room in his heart for someone else when he lived and breathed Exy. It seemed impossible that a man could be so devoted to more than one thing.

"He says that about Kevin but he is not better himself" said Nicky.
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"I do not know your story," she continued before Neil could react. "If you've trusted Andrew with anything, he hasn't shared the details with me and he never will. But if you are as like us as we first predicted you to be, perhaps one day you can also come to see me as a friend. We're all here because we have problems, Neil. That doesn't mean all our problems are the same. Dan and Matt try to understand the things I've seen and done, but they will never fully succeed. Andrew understands me, and I him. It's comforting knowing someone else has been where we once were. If either Andrew or I can help you, please know we are here."
Neil didn't answer that; he couldn't. It was too much to think about and too much to consider. He wanted to ask her about the trial and what it was like giving testimony. He needed to know how the courts protected her and if it was worth it. If he went to the FBI in spring with proof to take his father down he'd at least like an idea of what he was getting into.

"I would have been happy to answer that but I understand his hesitation" said Renee with a sad smile.
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Andrew gave up the farce a couple seconds later and laughed. "Guess she hit him one time too many. I warned her not to lay a hand on him, but she didn't listen to me. She got what was coming to her. Does that frighten you, Neil?"
"My first memories are of people dying," Neil said. "I'm not afraid of you."
"That's why you're so interesting," Andrew said. "How aggravating."
He sounded amused, not annoyed, so Neil said, "I'll try to be more boring in the future."
"How considerate."

The room got quiet and everyone remembered the conversation that Nicky and Neil had at the library, seeing how Neil had come to the right conclusion. Aaron didn't say anything still not able to accept it with a hard look on his face, he looked at his brother but Andrew only glanced back before going back to what he was doing.