Page 31 of Collin: Episodes 13-15
“Oh?”
“I keep thinking about Ash all alone in his tech dungeon.”
Mr. Moreau nodded, eyes distant and thoughtful. “It wouldn’t be appropriate to invite him here tonight.”
“I know. I worry about him.”
“Ash is a good kid, and he needs community. Maybe you could invite him out with you and your sister this weekend. Do something together on Saturday.”
That was brilliant. Collin’s face split into a smile. “Sounds perfect. Although, I’d kinda told myself the two of them should never meet.”
Mr. Moreau chuckled. “Then they probably should, and the rest of us will brace for impact.”
It was as close to a Reevesworth family evening as Collin had seen. He curled up with his head on Mr. Reevesworth’s lap with Artemis lying on top of him. Linda sat in one of the chairs, Mr. Moreau sat in the other, and Ellisandre and Damian both chose cushions on the floor.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you sitting on a floor, Ellisandre.” Collin yawned. Dinner was sitting warm and heavy in his stomach.
Ellisandre shook their head indulgently. “This is a no-shoe house. The floor is a perfectly respectable option for sitting.”
Collin smothered a laugh. “But you’re always so…you.”
“Precisely. I am me whether I am standing, sitting, or laying.” They raised their chin haughtily, their glass of sherry rising with it.
“I think what kitten is saying is that you never unbend your spine in public,” Damian tossed out.
Ellisandre huffed. “I left my corset at home.”
“I’m pretty sure you left it at my place.” Linda laughed. “Clean the room when we get back.”
Ellisandre shot Linda a dark look. “Truly? That is where you want to take this?”
Linda blushed. “I could make you.”
Ellisandre narrowed their eyes. “You do have your ways.”
“I’m going to Indianapolis after this,” Collin told Ash as they cleaned up from Chinese class the next morning.
Zhou Laoshi waved at them from the door, ready to leave. “Zài jiàn. Xingqiyi jiàn.”
Collin waved back. “Xièxiè, Laoshi. Zài jiàn.”
Ash joined in, repeating the same phrase. It was awkward, only having so many set phrases at their disposal. It led to a lot of repeating and no finesse of language, but there was also something pleasant about the bluntness of communication with limited, basic words. Thank you, Teacher. See you Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, etcetera led to simplicity and rawness not found in his other communication.
Zhou Laoshi smiled one more time and made her way out of the room.
Collin closed his bag. “Do you want to come with?”
“To?” Ash frowned. He picked up his box of buttons. There were only five new ones today.
“Indianapolis.”
“Oh.” Ash hopped from one foot to the other. “I don’t know. Am I allowed?”
“You put in like eighty hours a week, dude. I’m sure you have time off. What are you working on right now?”
“Nothing. I did all the updates. And Paulsen doesn’t need anything out of me right now. He told me to be good.” Ash huffed. “I’m always good. All I’m doing is monitoring your laptop. It’s not always on, but next time it’s plugged in, I have a program running to jump onto the local network. Still trying to find out where they are.”
“Can you do that from a phone and a laptop?”
