The ALICE Program (Big Hero 6 Fanfic) (Book 2) 《COMPLETED ✔️》

22| Cigarettes

Cigarettes

Two cigarette buts littered the metal mesh trash can. Tadashi was on his third, brushing some ash off of his t-shirt that had made its way onto the fabric. He hoped Abigal was feeling better and had taken Morley's advice on going home for the day, but knowing how stubborn she was it seemed unlikely that she would listen. She was her father's daughter, that was for sure.

"What a beautifully boring day." Tadashi said, popping open a can of Rockstar and putting his final cigarette out, his throat parched after not having a drink since earlier on in the day. "Sunny Elemente one, Tadashi Hamada zero. Fan-friggin'-tastic."

The flavour of the energy drink wasn't particularly Tadashi's favourite, but it was the only one the local 7-Eleven had. It fizzed on his tongue as he tried to see how long he could go without swallowing, though the challenge didn't last too long.

"What's going on in here?"

Tadashi swirled around in his seat to spot Evie, and seeing the outfit she was wearing didn't fail in making him blush head to toe. Evie's polka dot crop top and rolled up short denim made her look somewhat younger than her actual age, and the front part of her brunette hair that reached just over her shoulders was braided while the rest was left down.

Had he noticed Evie looked so pleasent before?

"O-oh, hey." Tadashi put the cigarette out and tossed it into the trash, coughing from the aftermath of the smoke. "I didn't see you there, Evie. How are you?"

"I'm good." she replied, smiling. "You?"

"I'm good." Tadashi answered, patting the free seat next to his own. "Here, you wanna sit down?"

"Thanks."

Evie sat down and admired the view from Tadashi's window. The glass shield was a lot bigger than the one she had in her lab, but she wasn't one to complain. The less sunlight there was, the better it was for her aquatic abilities. It was when she saw the pack of cigarettes on the table that her desire for one kicked in.

It had been a while since she had had a smoke. Ever since her grandparents caught her smoking with her two then best friends, she was never able to do it whenever they were around, and even when they weren't they would always check her bag for them before she left for school.

Though they weren't here now, were they? They were dead and buried in another country, unable to stop her from doing what she pleased.

"You got any to spare?" she asked, eyes motioning to the box.

Tadashi was definitely surprised hearing that, and his expression wasn't too shy of showing it. He wasn't going to be rude about it though, so he handed her a cigarette out of the box and lit it for her.

"Thanks."

"Wow. I never thought you'd be the smoking type, Evie." Tadashi said with a mixture of slight shock and pure awe. "You seem so sweet and innocent all the time that no one would suspect you."

"I guess acting so kind all the time does that to people." Evie added, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke with a single breath. "It makes them think that you don't have a sour bone in your body, that you always stick by the rules."

Tadashi went ahead with getting another cancer-stick, lighting it up when he had placed the end in his mouth. "I can relate to that. When I starting studying here again, people expected me to be the same person I was before. But how can you been after everything you've seen? I'm traumatised, and some people fail to understand that I can't go back to being the man I was five years ago, before the SFIT fire."

"That fire was all over the news." Evie said, remembering. "I heard it even went international, every news station in the world was broadcasting the story. I thought there was no way on earth that there would be any survivors, but then when I heard about the Yokai incident...it got me questioning about Robert Callaghan. I wanted to hate him, because of what Greg did to me and so many other people. As horrible as it sounds, I wanted to hate Abigal and Morley too."

Tadashi was just about to say something, though held his tongue when he heard Evie was finishing what she had to say.

"But then I realised something. I couldn't hate Callaghan or Abigal or Morley. They had no part in what Greg did. Sure I can hate Callaghan for the Yokai incident, I think half the world hates him by now. Though I could never bring myself to hate someone just because they were related to a terrible person. Abigal and Morley seem like really good people, and I want to be able to get to know them further."

Tadashi was relieved, he'd feared the worst for a second but was glad that the words that left Evie's mouth were different ones to those he had imagined. "Abigal and Morley really are good people. Their grandma makes the best peppermint cookies and herbal tea i've ever tasted. You can't help but love her as soon as you meet her, she's just that type of person."

"She sounds nice," Evie said, taking another drag. "A little like how my grandma was. She used to make the best raspberry tea ever, and she used to say to me how she used to always drink it while she was pregnant with my mom. Sorry, that's probably a little too personal."

"No, no." Tadashi reassured her, for some reason he was beginning to enjoy the sound of Evie's voice. She was so soft whenever she spoke, not harsh or anything else like that. It was almost as though she had come to life from the pages of a fairytale. "Its a nice story. From the way you act, it seems like you've learned a lot from your grandma."

"And my grandpa too." Evie added, looking back on good times. "I guess being a science teacher really worked in his favour, because he got to teach me all sorts of cool stuff. He majored in the mechanical side of things, so he taught me about robotics and how things worked. What a guy my grandpa was, Jeremy-Carter Loubelle."

Jeremy-Carter and Isla Loubelle, the best grandparents Evie could ever ask for. They took her in when she needed someone to look after her, her grandpa would read her bed time stories to send her off to sleep, her grandma took care of her when she was sick. They did all the things loving people were meant to do for their relatives.

"He sounded- sounds, like a good grandpa." Tadashi smiled, not wanting to assume the wrong thing by thinking Evie's grandparents were dead.

"They died a few months ago." Evie said, sadly at that. "It was quick, and they didn't suffer. They got really sick, and there was nothing I could do to help them. The last thing they told me to do was follow my dreams. They left everything they had to me...but its hard. I miss them, I miss them both so much. I think that's the real reason why I wanted to start smoking again, to numb the pain."

Tadashi understood, smoking his cigarette until it was nothing but a little stub. Sighing, he put the box of remaining cigarettes in his pocket and hoped that he could forget about them.

"Mind if I spray some of that aerosol in here?" he asked, and Evie nodded.

"Sure, go ahead. Its really starting to smell of smoke in here."

Tadashi picked the can up and sprayed an even amount before turning on the fan, letting the sweet smell do its magic to disguise the smell of smoke.

"That's better." he said, now no one would know of the mistake he had made. Looking down at his wrist watch, groaning. "Well, looks like its time for class. You wanna walk with me?"

"Sure. Lets go." Evie said, grabbing her things and walking out of the lab with Tadashi. She had her next class with him, and it was hard not to say that sitting on the same row as he did made her blush.

"Who wouldn't want a piece of that? Girl, you should totally reel him in. I mean, get a look at that body."

Evie was shocked at her conscience's words, though succeeded in holding back in a giggle. Part of her had to admit, Tadashi Hamada sure was a looker, and she was thankful towards his parents for bringing such a bright and intelligent gentleman into a world that had become so dark and ruthless.