Page 113 of Even Robots Die
I’m still exhausted after my shower but at least I feel clean. I’m not used to being so active on the days of my periods and it made me feel like I was reeking.
I know it’s probably all in my mind, but I don’t care. I needed that shower like my next breath.
I don’t linger under the water, though. I’ve told Brice ten minutes was enough, so I can’t take my time like I would love to do, but it’s for a good cause.
When I’ve finished putting a new shirt and pair of pants—that magically appeared in my wardrobe again—on, the door opens without a knock.
And my sisters all file into the room one after another.
I’m barefoot, and my sneakers are somewhere in a corner where I tossed them.
I sit on the ground against the bed and the girls sit in front of me as if I'm about to tell them a story.
“So?” Elodie asks before I start talking.
I sigh. They’re not going to like what I have to say, especially Elodie. She is the one with the worst abandonment issues.
“He’s alright. He met a new woman and believes he’s in love. He’ll be here tonight,” I tell them.
I want to tell them more, but I’m not sure they're ready to hear about all the debts he’s collected again, or that he was ready to forget about us for however long it would take him to gather the money he owed the foxes.
“That’s good,” Amélie says.
“When can we go back home?” Elodie asks.
I’m saved from answering by a knock on the door.
“Enter,” I tell whoever is here. To be honest, there are very few people that would think to come knocking at my door.
Brice enters with a plate of lasagna that smells delicious and another covered in chocolate chip cookies.
“I know you didn’t eat, and I thought cookies to share might be a good idea,” he says as he drops the plate with the cookies between me and the girls and sets the lasagna next to me.
“Do you need me to stay?” he asks in a murmur so I’m the only one who can hear.
“I’ll be alright,” I answer with a shake of my head.
“Yell if you need me,” he adds and I know that knowing him, I wouldn’t even need to yell, he would be here right away if I needed him.
I don’t know how I came to think about him like this, but it’s true. He might annoy me, piss me off and toy with my mood eighty percent of the time we’re together, but he grounded me earlier when I needed him the most, and I know that’s not nothing.
Especially for someone like me who values my independence above all.
Brice walks away and closes the door after him.
And I’m greeted by four pairs of eyes staring at me.
“Are you two together?” Juliette asks in a soft voice.
I’m lucky I didn’t start eating before her question because I think I would have choked on my lasagna.
As it is, I choke on nothing and cough because the question was so surprising—especially asked by Juliette—that my saliva went the wrong way.
“No. We’ve come to respect each other,” I answer when I'm finally able to breathe normally again.
It’s not the truth, or at least only half of it. I’ve come to respect him, I have no idea if he does, and I don’t want to tell them that.
I can’t tell them that I’ve been dreaming of him taking me for weeks, either.
