Beside

21 - erotica

"Fox, why do you keep that rock in your pocket?"

"It's my lucky one."

"But you didn't win the spelling test."

"It's still charging."

ｃｈｒｉｓ

Toothpaste foam bubbles up as I brush. I blink the sleep from my eyes, staring at my reflection. I'm okay with how I look. My hair's growing—it's just past my chin, now, choppy and without order. My cheeks have colour, and my eyes are alive. Mirrors have been kinder to me lately.

I spit, rinse, and finish up.

I head to the living room with a tingling tongue.

Noah's already up, steam swirling from his coffee as he sits at the island. He's wearing that focused look with those focused clothes, marking papers in red ink.

Across from him, Jed's humming a tune, flipping through a big, thick book. Today's title: The BD Apocalypse Codes.

I shuffle over to the kitchen island and ask, "Mind if I sit?"

Noah barely looks up. "You live here, Chris."

I blink. "Right. Right. Of course."

I sit, adjusting my skirt with flushed cheeks. Maybe I should have picked a longer one, but I have this plan for today and I just... Maybe I should have picked a longer one.

"Hello." It's Jed, head tilting, his afro with it. "You're not afraid of choosing the wrong class, you're afraid of what happens when you pick the right one."

I laugh nervously.

Jed's eyes stay on me. "There's no darkness in you."

Noah clears his throat, "You going to the fight next week? Mercy vs. Onyx?"

"Mercy?" I frown, confused.

"Fox's fighter name."

"Do you know why he chose Mercy?" Jed asks.

I blink, looking down at my paper, fingers playing with the edges. "Nope."

When my palm tingles, I lift it onto the island. Heat blooms, and for just a second, an M appears, carved into my skin like a brand. Then an E. It burns. R. My pulse quickens—

I blink and they're gone.

"You're scaring her, Jed," Noah mumbles. He sets down his red pen and looks at me. "The fight's next Friday. It'll be entertaining."

Oh.

I've seen glimpses of him training, sure, but imagining him in a real match, where people get hurt... It makes my stomach twist.

"He'll win," Noah says. "Right Jed?"

"I am unsure about string theory thus I have no way to communicate my feelings on this."

I can't stop myself from whispering, "Jed, do you believe in fate?"

He leans back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. "A slippery concept. Some think life is set in stone. Others feel you can change it, rewrite your story if you want it bad enough. Though in the face of death—death that we cannot stop—our beliefs crumble quicker than they were formed."

I nod, biting my lip, and I actually understand. My dad told me once he did not believe in God. When my heart stopped once when I was thirteen, and I came back into the light of my room, he was holding my hand and praying.