Page 3 of Until We Fall

“I am?”

He flips the case to his reader closed, his thin lips pressing. “Yes. Very.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” I groan. He must get so annoyed with me. “I’m antsy. It’s a long flight. You know how I get.”

He smiles faintly. “We could talk.”

“Really?” I straighten.

“Sure.”

“Okay. So…” I give him a megawatt smile. “Tell me about what you’re reading.”

His eyes widen again, and then he seems to catch himself, blinking and shrugging a shoulder.

“Sure,” he says. “We could talk about… that.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

He runs his index finger across the top edge of his reader case. “It’s about electromagnetic wave theory. You probably wouldn’t find it interesting.”

“I’m sure I could follow along.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t follow along.” His attention flips so it’s directly on me, his eyes not moving around my face, not flinching, not questioning. Iridescent gray and certain. “I said you wouldn’t find it interesting.”

Rory iswaysmarter than me. Like oodles. I’m not stupid. And having an LD in no way makes me stupid, but sometimesother people don’t seem to get that. Or they think they understand it, but they still treat me differently anyway. Rory’s never treated me differently. It’s never once felt like he’s looking down on me. In fact, when I say something that might be kinda disparaging about myself, he’s the first one to point out that I don’t need to limit myself. The first one to remind me that how I see the world is perfectly fucking fine, and if anyone else doesn’t understand that, they can go fuck a duck.

Well, he doesn’t say it quite like that. He says it in his Rory way.

I nudge his elbow. “If you talk about it, I bet I’d find it interesting. I could see a world where electromagnetic waves get me going.”

His lips part, and now his eyes do move around my face. “Um, well.” His fingers tap on his reader case. “There’s a theory that electromagnetic radiation could power airplanes.”

“No shit? How would that work?”

See, healwayssays something interesting.

“Well…” He launches into an explanation about ground antennas emitting electromagnetic radiation—probably microwaves, since those can pass through clouds—using a phased array, which sends out a tight beam of energy. He gets all excited halfway through, talking about a NASA experiment in 1975, his cheeks flushing under his freckles.

“Although,” he concludes, his nose wrinkling, “it’s pretty unlikely. It would take a physics masterpiece, and getting federal regulation would be nearly impossible.”

“Seems like it would take a lot of antennas too.” I shrug. “In high density populated areas where airports are built.”

“That’s true.” His forehead lines. He’s probably calculating all sorts of shit in his head. “I didn’t think of that.” He suddenly blinks. “So, anyway, that’s what I’m reading.”

“Uh huh.” My lips curl up in a half smile. Do I believe him? He has no reason to lie to me. But I just… have thisfeeling. I can’t explain it. “What’s the title?”

“Applications of Electromagnetic Waves.” He scrapes his teeth across his top lip, his fingers toying with the frayed edge of his reader case. “What are you excited about doing in Clua?”

I tilt my head at the sudden subject change.

I mean, he’s smart. He could have just pulled all that electromagnetic radiation knowledge out of his ass. But I don’t know. I still have this feeling.

“Sandcastles,” I say, answering his question anyway.

“I should have guessed that.” He smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He’s got these long, dark red eyelashes. They swipe on the inside of his glasses when he blinks.

I like watching them swipe.

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