Kim Pine's Precious Little Knives

Chapter 2

"Wh-what? Knives, what are you doing?"

"Not letting you leave," she said again, adorable little face almost collapsing in on itself when I questioned her. "I... was that not clear?"

Rolling my eyes, I went on, "Yeah, but why? And why are you threatening to disembowel me?"

"Oh..." After a second or two, she lowered the blades. "Sorry, just a reflex. But I didn't want you to go yet! I... I wanted to say..." Her movements were more and more squirmy as she sheathed her daggers somewhere behind her back, I guess. No idea. "Thanks."

"And nothing says 'thank you' like a near-assault?"

"I said I was sorry!"

Steph looked between us. "So... can I like... go?" When I nodded, Steph slipped around Knives and out the door.

"Alright," I sighed, moving to follow her — and again, a knife came up to block my path. "HEY!"

"Sorry!" she squeaked again, ducking her head. "I'll try to stop that, I just..."

Giving up on being able to leave the café anytime soon, I gestured to one of the tables in the corner. "Can I at least sit down if I can't go home?" When she nodded, I led her over to it. She followed like an obedient puppy, either because she was still starstruck from the Sex Bob-omb days — for reasons I will never understand — or because she felt bad for continuing to accidentally threaten my life.

"So..." She waited as I set down my backpack on the table. "You wanted to do more than just say 'thank you,' I'm guessing. Want to find out how Scott's doing? Don't know, don't want to know."

A little shrug of her shoulder as she tapped her blue-painted fingernails against the tabletop, looking a little glum, and a lot nervous. "Um, I did want to ask, but that wasn't, like... the only reason. Just miss you guys. Everybody from Sex Bob-omb, not just Scott, or you. Like, how's Stephen Stills doing? Or Young Neil?"

"It's just 'Neil' now. And you should know better than I do."

"Nope."

"What?"

"We broke up. Like... I don't know, don't worry about that. He just stopped being interesting. Is that okay to say?"

I rolled one hand to show her I didn't mind. "He always kind of... liked living in Steph's shadow. Was easier for him to just keep playing Zelda and ignoring life's bigger concerns. You could have asked her just now."

"Oh? That was her? I never met his sister..."

"You never m-" But I shook my head to clear away the unnecessary question; she had been out of town in those days, after all. "Well, now you have."

"Yeah."

The table went quiet for a few seconds. It was just beginning to get tense and stale, and I thought I could actually feel every single eye in the coffee shop glaring at us when Julie's grating voice rang out, "Fucking tea and fucking espresso for the fucking carrot-head."

Before I could lift a finger, Knives had backflipped out of her chair and sped past the counter, leaving Julie's glasses on the barista next to her and her hair swept entirely to one side as she settled back into her seat, sliding my espresso across the table to me.

"Uh... here you go."

"Anyway," I said, clearing my throat before taking a long drink.

"Kim? Do you ever think about life?"

"Well, it's been real, but I want to get a head start on sleep," I announced, trying to get up from the table. To escape that promising conversation.