Page 17 of Solo Stan
Kai recognized this line of questioning. He smiled inwardly. “Because she asked.”
“Iasked first, before we were interrupted,” Elias said. “I still want you to tell me about those NFTs.”
“You play entirely too much. Are you ever serious about anything?”
“All the time.”
“Then why don’t you get serious about work and go find something to do, and maybe I’ll consider it.” Kai turned his attention back to his sketchbook, using the box he had previously used as a crying perch as a chair. He kept his eyes down and held on to his breath until Elias finally scoffed and returned to work.
What am I doing?Kai thought. He had never done anything like that before—using people to make someone jealous. But something told him that Elias liked to play games, and Kai would be lying if he said it hadn’t been fun.
Even though it went against Kai’s normal pattern, he decided he’d see how the rest of the day went before asking Elias to go to the concert.
8
Elias
3:56 p.m.
Elias stood behind the counter, tasting his latest failed coffee creation, his attention remaining fixed on Dakarai, who continued sketching. Dakarai struck Elias as delicate and overly sensitive—Elias had, after all, caught him struggling to tie his shoelaces and crying within half an hour of meeting him—yet he proved far more formidable than Elias had anticipated. There was more to him than met the eye.
Whatever he’s ignoring me for better be good,Elias thought.
Dakarai tilted his head, surveyed his work, and then kept going. Elias tried to get a better look, but Dakarai caught him every time he tried.
With the excess energy Elias had from drinking so much caffeine, he felt like he could run a marathon and then deroot a tree with his bare hands. He had to burn off the restless energy or he’d probably start bench-pressing customers soon. He directed his attention to the dessert case, which had nearly snapped off his finger earlier when he tried to set out a new batch of Wookiee cookies. He found a tool kit in the staff room and got to work fixing the misaligned track.
The sun was just leaving its highest point in the sky, bathing the street in gold. Layers of oranges and yellows intensified behind the shops, casting long shadows on the storefront window and, consequently, Dakarai.
Elias occasionally glanced over at Dakarai, their eyes meeting for brief moments before the two went back to pretending they hadn’t been looking. Elias couldn’t look at Dakarai without him immediately turning toward Elias, waiting for him to speak. Elias tried again just for good measure. Same thing.
Elias finally decided he didn’t care if Dakarai saw him looking; he smoothly slid the dessert case closed, put the tools away, and marched right up to Dakarai. “How are you doing that?” he asked with an accusatory tone.
“What do you mean?” Dakarai replied in his low drawl.
“How do you always know when I’m looking at you?”
“Because I can feel it. But I think the better question is why do you keep looking at me? Do you need help with something?”
“No, I’m just curious what you’re doing.” His eyes traveled down Dakarai’s form and settled on his still-untied sneaker. “And because your shoe being untied for this long is wild,” he added. He crouched down, a playful gleam in his eyes as he reached for Dakarai’s shoelaces.
Dakarai stood up and made an exaggerated sidestep to dodge the advance. “What are you doing?”
“You’re a liability in my uncle’s shop, and I’m just being the change I want to see in the world,” he replied.
Dakarai took another big step to the right and said, “You’re making fun of me.”
“Why would I…?” Elias began, then stopped as it dawned onhim that Dakarai did not, in fact, know how to tie his shoes. He’d noticed Dakarai struggling with it when he first walked in that morning but hadn’t thought much of it at the time. “I’m not making fun of you,” Elias continued, gentler this time. “Just let me do it. It’s been driving me crazy all day.”
“If you do it for me, then how am I supposed to learn?”
Elias knelt down and deftly untied his own shoelace in one pull. “Do mine, then. I’ll teach you.”
Dakarai glanced between Elias and his shoe several times, as if trying to figure out if this was a con or not. He finally shrugged, seemingly deciding Elias was being genuine, and stooped low, taking a lace in each hand. “Now what?” he asked.
Elias couldn’t help but grin. “This is nice. I was tired of you towering over me all day.”
Disapproval showed on Dakarai’s face as he clicked his teeth. “Youweremaking fun of me.”
