The Things We Do (Under Editing)

The Calm

I sighed and unfolded my legs, stretching them out in front of me. Holding a small piece of tech that refused to work two inches from my nose, I flopped onto my back and scowled.

"... helicopter lost control, crashing into the Eclipse Records building." The news story vaguely made it past my annoyance, but I didn't look over to the TV until the reporter followed up. "Six people were critically injured, but as of now, all victims are still alive. Thankfully, the building was mostly empty." The screen cut off.

"Quit spacing out." From across the pile of scraps on the floor that would eventually take form into our project, Elliot berated me. As usual, he wasn't looking at me, choosing to focus on his work, but he somehow knew that I'd taken my eyes off the tech for all of two seconds.

"Sorry." I drew the word out sarcastically. "The fact that several people almost died caught my attention for a moment, but let me return it to the oh-so-important topic of computers."

Elliot took a deep breath. "It's not a computer," he found it necessary to tell me for the fourth time, despite the fact that I do actually know the difference. "It's an AI, and it's smarter than you."

I nodded solemnly like it was a sad, indisputable fact, then stopped. "Well, whatever it's going to be, it's not that now, so currently, it's got no intelligence whatsoever, which means you're actually an even bigger jerk than you sound."

"I'm surprised you figured that out so quickly." I could almost swear that he smirked slightly. "Good job,"' he said as if to a puppy that had successfully performed a trick. I resisted the urge to chuck the piece of tech I was holding at his head.

"How about you go jump from your I.Q. to your opinion of me and we can see if there's enough hot air in your head to break your fall."

He finally looked up at me, one eyebrow raised. "You think I'm smart?"

"Yes, well, unlike someone else in this room, I realize that whether or not I like someone doesn't affect their intelligence." I gave him a sweet smile and he rolled his eyes right as Kacie and Mel crashed into the apartment."

"Amy!" Kacie screeched at me and Elliot jumped, head snapping around to look at them with a deer in the headlights expression. I didn't even look at her.

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"From your tone, the only possibilities are that you want me to go to a party, or you want me to go shopping." I scowled at the tech again.

"Come on! There's this-" Kacie cut herself off when Mel shoved an elbow hard into her side, staring at Elliot. Kacie turned to look at him, clearly not having realized that he was there. "Oh. Hello."

He glanced between the three of us and nodded his head once, decisively. "I'm leaving now."

Mel waved her hands, "You don't have to do that, really."

"Goodbye." He grabbed his bag and bolted out the door like he was fleeing a burning building. We stared after him for a moment. As one, Kacie's and Mel's heads spun to face me.

"Well, he's cute," Kacie said, pointedly.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, if you like cocky jerks who only care about you if you have a circuit board instead of a brain."

"Stop being so picky!"

"Stop telling me what to do." I tried to sound disinterested in the conversation, but repeating the same argument over and over was getting exhausting.

"He was cute. He's in your classes. He was in your living room!"

"He's got more ego than a politician."

"If you're not going to get a date, then at least get a friend!"

"I have you two."

"You never go out with us, though!"

"I'm busy."

Kacie groaned loudly, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Amelia, you are going to rot away in this apartment."

Mel watched us like a tennis match, head turning back and forth. She'd learned in high school that there was no point in fighting once I'd made up my mind, but that didn't stop her from letting Kacie fight.

"I leave the apartment to go to class."

My friends both sighed heavily.

"One of these days we're going to give up on you," Kacie muttered.

I smirked in reply. "No, you won't."