Psychic

54. Decided

"I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone," Reno said softly as Rai stood opposite of him in the elevator, which Rai was trying for the first time. Her back was pressed against the glass wall of it and she was gripping the railing behind her.

"About what?"

"Why didn't you tell them what Francisca actually wanted?"

She cracked a nervous smile as the elevator bounced slightly at its stop. "For the same reason I haven't told anyone about you."

"Except you kind of did just tell them."

"They might think they know what I meant but they don't actually know." The elevator doors opened and she jumped out quickly, turning to wait for Reno. "I don't want their input. Whatever I decide, I want it to be my decision and for my reasons."

"So why are you talking about it with me?" They walked out of the hotel lobby together and Reno took two lollipops from the front desk.

"You're kind of involved." She took the lollipop he was holding out to her. "Wherever I go, you're going, so my decision involves you too. Plus, I don't really care what Kiyo or Lestat think. I know what they think and nothing I say is going to make them see staying as a viable option the way I do. I need unbiased contribution to this decision. You're perfect for that because it won't make much difference to you either way."

* * *

After a long day of visiting pretty much every store Rai could see, they returned to their hotel. Reno encouraged Rai to order room service since she had never done it before. She ordered herself a small breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Reno ordered what appeared to Rai to be a chicken leg on some mashed potatoes. He tried to explain to her that it was a pork chop on risotto but she insisted that it had to be chicken and potatoes.

Rai leaned forward to take an extra close look at the risotto as he gathered the last of it onto his spoon. "Ugh!" She dropped herself back into her own chair. "It looks like a bunch of maggots. You nasty, bro."

He cleaned his spoon off before telling her, "yeah, I know. So... you think you know what you're going to do tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I was sure you'd wait to make a decision at the last moment."

Rai chuckled softly as she laid her fork on her empty plate. "I was going to but I think I knew what I wanted to do but I thought I could convince myself to do what I should do. Obviously, I should go home but do I want to? Not really."

There was a knock at their door and Rai sat up straight suddenly. "I didn't call them back."

"I did," Reno admitted, patting her hand that was gripping the edge of the table. "Come on in."

"You ordered again?" She said softly as a white cart was wheeled into the suite by two female employees who seemed even younger than she was.

"Dessert of course. When you were in the shower." Reno pushed his chair back slightly as the cart stopped behind him.

"What... is that?"

The two young girls both smiled at each other as they both lifted opposite sides of the round serving tray with metal handles. "This is our Ice Dream. Five scoops of cognac ice cream covered in a hot chocolate syrup made with cocoa imported from Dalcaia." The ice cream was sitting in a large golden chalice. "Covered in edible gold flakes with brownie cubes full of more hot chocolate syrup. You get to keep the chalice and the gold nugget on top."

Rai laughed suddenly, "that's so dumb. Why would anyone do that?"

The girl shrugged, "it's your mom's restaurant."

Her smile faded slowly. "How much is it?"

"You do not want to know."

Reno sighed and gestured for the employees to go. "Don't worry about it," he told Rai as they let themselves back out. "I've already paid for it."

"You paid for this?! It's so ridiculous. We're not even going to be able to finish it all."

"Did you get paid to do this? To come out and do all the shit you did?"

"I didn't expect to."

"Then this is it," he said pointing at the chalice and picking the nugget off the top. "This is your payment." He wiped it off on his cloth napkin and placed it in front of her. "A memento from the time some idiot bought you an overpriced dessert you didn't even want."

"I didn't say I didn't want it. It's here. Might as well eat it."

"I wanted to get you something."

"You bought me those cuties from the store earlier."

"I wanted to get you something nice. Something you'd never get for yourself but that you'd still like. It came with candied strawberries but I knew you wouldn't like them. I ordered it perfect for you."

"You can eat gold?" Rai picked one of the gold flakes off the top and touched it to her tongue. "It doesn't taste like anything. Why add it if it has no taste?"

"It's not supposed to taste good. It's supposed to be fancy. Just eat it," Reno laughed picking up a spoon, "before I finish it myself."

"I'll kick your ass if you finish my expensive ice cream."