Chapter Nineteen

~ Adaria

It's been over an hour since we left the office. We didn't talk the entire time. I sat on the couch a full cushion away from him. We were watching people exploring a world called Venra. It looked like pictures of Earth that I saw in books when dinosaurs were still alive. I yawned and glanced over at him. He was looking at his phone. I leaned forward and turned off the T.V. He jumped. I got up and headed toward the kitchen. I could feel him watching me. I opened the fridge and pulled out a beef-like meat, cream, cheese, and several other items. I stood to find Tyrell sitting at the counter watching me.

"I'm fine." I said, going back to what I was doing.

"I know. I just wanted to watch you." I gave him a slanted glance.

"Whatever. Did you call your parents yet?" I got out a pan and put it on the stove, generously covering the bottom with oil.

"Yeah, but I only got their answering machine. I'm waiting for them to call back." I turned.

"Aren't they retired?" He laughed.

"Yeah, right. I bet he's scouting for another planet with my mother as a 'date'." He tried to see over my shoulder. "What are you making?"

"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "Hopefully it will taste good?" He gave me a crooked smile.

"I bet it will. Your cooking is fantastic." I stared at him for a second.

"Yeah.... so, how do you feel about the whole 'plugged into a computer' bit?"

"I think that it's a horrible idea. I mean, your forcing a intelligent life form to transfer its knowledge into a non-living thing. I have to imagine that it was painful."

"It was for a few years. Eventually I thought up a way to make it so that you didn't have to plug anything into the body."

"What?" I leaned over the counter to him and moved the hair away from my right temple.

"There's a scar there from when they plugged the adapter cords in. Do you see it." I felt his fingers brush against it.

"Wow, that's horrible." He whispered. I leaned back and began cooking again. After a few minutes of silence he cleared his throat. "I... uh.... forgot to apologise for what I did last night. It wasn't right." I turned my head.

"It's fine. Honestly, it was my fault to begin with. I shouldn't have teased you like that." I faced the stove again. "You really don't have to apologise for anything that you did last night." I could feel my face heat up. I wanted to tell him, but how would that affect our relationship after all that he found out about my?

"Adaria... I was wondering," I turned to look at him again. He was wringing his hands. "would you be okay with not pretending to date?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will you date me, for real?"