Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 18

I was grateful that Dakota wasn't standing in the open doorway when I stepped out of the shower, but he could have been polite and closed it to give me some privacy. Well whatever, it wasn't like I'd never been naked it front of other people before. I quickly dried myself off before pulling on the boxers and jeans I'd dropped to the bathroom floor prior to my shower, then stood in front of the mirror and scrubbed the towel on my head to dry my hair.

"So what did you want?" I called out to the room, "You interrupted me you know."

"Yea, sorry about that," Dakota muttered back to me, "I was just... wondering how you were feeling is all."

Figures.

I pulled the towel off of my head and draped it over the side of the sink, leaning against it and looking into the mirror as I raked my fingers through my hair, pushing it away from my face so I could see the dark rings under my eyes, the frown on my lips etching deeper as I rubbed at the circles with the pads of my fingers.

How did he even expect me to reply to that? Did he want me to say I was fine? I was used to it? Maybe laugh like a normal twenty-three-year-old and wave it off like a failed math quiz? Happens all the time, just another slip-up? Is that what he wanted?

For a long time, I just stared at my reflection, the white hair, the gold eyes, and the longer I stared the more foreign and strange I looked. Was I really Demitri Inou? Or was I looking through a window into another universe? That was a different Demitri Inou, not me. He was the assassin, not me. I was... I was normal, I was Demi, I was still a thirteen-year-old video game nerd with black hair and a walkie talkie instead of a cell phone.

"Demi?"

I pushed myself away from the sink and dropped my hand from my head before turning and leaving the bathroom, not looking at Dakota, who had taken a seat in the armchair beside the window, feet on the seat and knees to his chest. I just ignored him as I pulled on my shirt and picked up the Bluetooth, then sat down on the foot of the bed, elbows against my knees.

"Forget it," I said, "Forget what happened, okay? It's not your problem."

"What?" he shifted in place and placed his feet on the ground before standing up, "I can't do that, I can't just forget it. You saved my life, you know."

I shrugged, "People make mistakes."

"Yea right," Dakota snorted before walking over and throwing himself onto the bed, grumbling, "I won't tell anyone, I can promise you that, but I won't forget it. Any of it. You're stuck with me now."

A heavy, exasperated sigh left my lips as I turned to glare at him, "You're a pain in the ass."

"You're welcome," was his reply as he rolled onto his back and inched closer to the head of the bed, reaching out and picking up one of the photo albums that were sitting on the bedside table, "What are these anyway? Picture books? My grandma had these."

"Don't mess with them, they're not mine," I mumbled, but he ignored me like the teenager he was as he rolled back onto his stomach, setting the album down and opening it.

"Who's this nerdy dweeb?" he asked, and I sighed before leaning closer to see what he was pointing to.

It was a familiar face with shaggy blond hair and thick rimmed glasses too big for his face, "Arthur," I answered, "That's Arthur."

"Are you serious?" Dakota laughed and pushed onto his knees, "His glasses are so big! He's such a weird looking kid!"

"Those are all he could afford," I argued, reaching out and turning the page, "He's not weird looking, this guy is."