Once Upon A Bet

/11/ Pushing

[Little disclaimer: I'm no architect nor I know stuff from that area, so any information I poured here is taken from internet and might not be precise nor right. Don't hold it on me, please]

Dedicated to BellaZdean for all the amazing support so far <333

"Right there." Ramfire traced a straight line across the sketch, sectioned by dots. "Four points. Two for support, one for stability and the other because-"

"-Because three would be unaesthetic." I finished in a murmur for him and his eyes shot up to narrowed at me, almost as if he'd forgotten I was there. I bit my lip, wishing I had shut it instead, but now with his attention on me there was no turning back. I fiddled with the folder I'd been using as support to take notes. "I've been paying attention."

"Oh, have you?" he didn't sound thrilled by the interruption, but not exactly mad either. I nodded, hoping he let it slid and went back to rearrange the structure, but instead he straightened his back, folding his arms. "Do you even know what building code is applied here?"

My spine straightened. He's testing me. Don't fail now.

"It's..." I squeezed my brain, pushing the answer out of it. "All building construction in Maine, with some exceptions, is governed by the Maine Uniform Building Code and Uniform Energy Code, which is adopted by the Technical Building Codes and Standards Board by rule in Chapters 1 through 6, pursuant to 10 M.R.S 9721, et seq."

He didn't snap right away and I take it as in I'd said it right. I felt like smiling, but instead shifted awkwardly at the weight of his judging eyes on me. "Okay smart-pants, if you know so much, what would be my next move here?"

I gulped, glancing down at the sketch half-drawn of the section C. It was a room on the first floor. Now that they'd done the entrance -section A-, we have a base to build up from, but section C was just over it so the only thing left for us to work after the cleaning was the floor and main wall.

"Well, anyone would place another wall in this section," I pointed it in the draft. "With a window on it, provably replacing the old one. But you've been going for a more open style, kinda neoclassic. So I'd say you put columns here, four, matching the ones on the main wall. And keep it linked with the balcony as a gallery."

"And keep the room open?" he scoffed. "What use could that be?"

"Not fully open, I mean, using curtains, those thick ones that isolated, and maybe a big mirror right in the opposite wall? So that way it would seem a lot larger."

"What material."

"What?"

"The columns." he pressed annoyed at my lack of an immediate response. "What material would they be?"

"Well," my mind went blank as he waited not-patiently for any kind of response. Come on, Nova, say something. Anything! "I, uh, I don't know." I lowered my gaze, ashamed, accepting defeat.

"Wood." Ramfire stated after a moment of consideration as I drowned in my own ignorance. "Oak wood, polished and ivory varnished, just like the once from the hall. It's solid, but malleable enough. It would support the weight of the ceiling if they're thick enough and in the right places."

"Oh." was all I could muster, taking mental note for future references on material for support.

There was an eternal moment of silence, tense as it stretched. But then there was the slightest twitch in the corner of his mouth, so smooth I barely caught it before his permanent scowl was plastered once more, so fast I wondered if it'd been even real.