Regenerate

Chapter 9

Mantis is not overly impressed by the fact that I jumped off a balcony. And I hear plenty about it when he calls me the next day.

"You're sure nobody saw you?" he asks.

"Well I was sure the other twenty times you asked me, but now that you mention it again, I'm not totally positive."

He ignores my sarcasm. "You're going to be going to bars a lot, Thalia. You're young and pretty and men are going to hit on you. And you're going to have to find a more civilized way of turning them down."

"I didn't exactly feel like I owed the guy a lot of civility. He was practically savage in his approach to courtship," I say, picking at something under my finger nail. I'm ready for this conversation to be over.

"At any rate," I say, before Mantis can start arguing again, "I'll do better next time. Okay?"

"Okay. Are you ready for tomorrow?"

Tomorrow. My date with Derek.

"Yes," I lie. I'm not about to have Mantis give me a pep talk before a date. What are the odds he even goes on dates? The vigilante act doesn't seem to provide him with much free time.

"Very well then," Mantis says. "I'll be in touch." He hangs up.

I sigh. At least he didn't call or text me back last night. It was nice to know he wasn't totally constantly connected to his phone, and by extension, to me.

It did leave me wondering a little at what he was doing instead. Probably recruiting other mutants. Who knows.

I spend most of the day obsessing about my date. I'm trying to decide if I should make dinner for when he comes over or if I should have snacks. And I don't know what movie I want to watch, even though there are plenty of choices from Mantis. He sent over like thirty DVD's. Half of them are movies I've never seen, and a couple are foreign films that I've never even heard of.

At least for once I've managed to keep myself legitimately busy for a whole day, planning a stupid date. I end up going to the grocery store three times, because I can't decide what to feed him.

I try to sleep at night, but not with very much success.

The next morning I wake up and try to fill time, but I end up showering and getting ready for my date a full three hours before Derek is supposed to show up.

Once I'm ready, I'm actually more nervous. I sit for a full half hour in my living room, just waiting for him to show up.

Finally he's here and I buzz him in. I look at myself in the mirror again, even though I know I don't have a hair out of place.

"Hey," Derek says when he walks in. If he's nervous about the encounter, he doesn't show it. He's probably one of those guys who goes out with girls all the time and actually knows what he's doing. Unlike me.

"Hey," I say, as he pulls me into a hug.

"What do you have picked out for us?" Derek asks.

"I planned on letting you pick the movie," I said. "Only fair since you're the guest."

Derek looks over my collection as I fidget with the television remote.

He holds up one of the foreign films that Mantis picked out. "El Laberinto del Fauno? Do you speak Spanish?"

"What? Oh. No. Not yet. I mean I'd like to learn. Very useful language to know." I shut up, not bothering to tell him that I'm sort of learning Chinese.

"You like foreign films?" Derek asks. "You have a couple."

"Uh, not really," I say. "They belong to an ex. We're not on speaking terms, so I couldn't give them back. But I haven't bothered to get rid of them either." The lie rolls off my tongue smoothly, and I try to ignore the way Derek suddenly seemed to be paying more attention when I mentioned an ex.