Page 36 of The Omega Archives: Part One

She shook her head as I bit my bottom lip. "Not much else going on. I’m pretty boring.”

“For some reason, I think you are more interesting than you are telling me,justElla.”

She chewed for another second before swallowing. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Favorite food?”

She paused. “Cereal.”

“You’re kidding.” This girl was mine. It was official so long as her favorite cereal wasn’t something stupid like bran flakes. “I fucking love cereal.”

“You really like to curse.”

“You don’t?”

She shrugged again. "Depends on the situation, I guess."

Oh, so I just had to find out what was? Challenge accepted.

“I used to be punished whenever I cursed when I was a kid. I think about it all the time. I’m traumatized so now I can’t fucking stop," I explained.

Ella shook her head with a smile. “So your favorite food is cereal too?”

“Followed closely by that slightly more expensive box of mac n cheese you can make on the stove." It also had a similar cheese consistency as our nachos. “Favorite color?”

“Purple, I think.”

“Solid. I guess I shouldn’t ask you what your favorite book is, right?”

“Or else we would be here all night trying to decide?” She filled in the blank. “Probably.”

“I can think of much worse ways to spend my time. Did you always grow up around here?”

Taking a deep breath, Ella shook her head, pursing those pretty pink lips of hers again. “Nope.”

“Where are you from?”

“Real small town.” She waved her hand as if it was around the corner. “You probably never heard of it.”

“Try me.”

“Trust me, sometimes I think I’ve rather never heard of it.”

I’d take her word for it even though it took all I had not to pry. “All right then.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“About the same,” I said, going to go with my usual storyline of being from just about nowhere too before I paused. “Actually, I grew up further northwest. Not as fun as around here or the other places I lived before.”

“Where else have you lived?”

“I was bounced around a bit in foster care until I hit high school,” I admitted.

She blinked, her forehead creasing as she dropped one of her chips back into the basket in front of her. “Oh. Was it...”’

“Not great. No. I think there are only a few that can give that kind of growing up five out of five stars though.”

“I thought..." She trailed off once more.

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