Wrecked life

Chapter 17

Dani stepped into Ralph's shack and found him pouting in his chair his head resting on one large hand. She decided not to speak first in case he was tired of her talking. She snapped out the quilt and began running her hands over it to straighten it out.

" You know I can get Mary to bring her iron and iron it flat for you if you want."

Dani looked at him blankly.

Ralph shrugged " You've been yanking and straightening that cover for like 7 minutes now. I think it's about as straight as you'll get it unless you want run a steam roller over it."

Dani blushed. " No I guess I just have a lot on my mind."

" Did you mean what you said?"

Dani pulled of her hoodie and then paused to sniff herself. Her lip curled, definitely time for a shower.

" About coding? You bet every word.

"No. Being a gamer, being you know..a real lander."

She looked at him brows raised. He shrugged " I was eavesdropping."

She glanced away working off her shoes " Real lander? "

Ralph shrugged leaning forward staring at his floor. He really needed to sweep it. " That's what I call people out there. Real landers. People with no codes."

Dani sat on the bed " We have code Ralph, it's called DNA and we manipulate them all the time not always for the better."

Ralph stared at the floor hands clasped in front of him thinking hard. Whelp it worked for Felix here went nothing.

" You are one dynamite gal."

Ralph flinched actually coming from him it didn't sound as smooth at Felix. In fact it had sounded awkward and rough. He had actually sounded like he was trying not to vomit. He glanced up and his face went red as he saw she was staring at him with an expression that he couldn't read.

" Excuse me?" Her voice was perfectly polite.

" I said you are one...I think you're really great. Uh special and I wanted to uh...you know...just let you know that your really really...great."

Great he thought, Great that's just great Ralph. She'll swoon in your arms you betcha. Great just great.

" And uh...why do you think I'm great Ralph? I haven't saved anyone like you have, I haven't rescued a whole game or fought of dangerous cybugs with my bare hands, I'm not a hero like you."

" I'm not a hero!" Ralph said running his hands through his hair.

" To Vanellope and several others you are." Dani said gently " In fact to be honest you're the one who's great. You're the one whose dynamite. Why you don't want to see that is beyond me."

The conversation had gotten away from him somehow he suddenly remembered what she had asked " Why do you think I'm great? Just cause I fought a few bugs? I mean, I'm still a bad guy. I still wreck stuff and I'm just code made to look like something real."

He stood up because he needed to pace. He couldn't even remember now what he was trying to do with this whole conversation.

" I think your great because under that big bad tough guy exterior your programmed to be beats a soft big heart that came to life on it's own. Not to mention...well your fearless."

Dani put her hand son her hips shaking her head slightly not looking at him " If my husband could have been you in real life...wow...what a life we would have had. We'd have had adventures even if we had just laid in the hammock at night, we would have passionate sex all the time, I would have been able to trust you because you're honest and you're good and you wouldn't have left me and taken everything I had away from me. But you know what? "