97

After a moment of silence, Lamesha starts talking to you idly, mostly about movies and programs that have been aired recently, and you respond to it just like you used to back in high school, talking about these topics idly. Of course, knowing Lamesha, she's just using this as a lead-in for a big question that she's going to pop on you, and this is her way of easing you in and catching you off-guard with the question when she actually asks it.

So it doesn't surprise you when she suddenly asks, "So why did you really come back, Wendell Dumein? You've been gone for almost two years with only e-mails to say how you've been, and now you're suddenly back for a week and you just want to hang out?" She turns to look at you sharply, which makes you squirm internally even though you've been mentally prepared for it. This was one thing you never did like about Lamesha: how intense she can be when she wants to find out about something, especially when it comes to her friends.

She taps her fingers on her arm impatiently, waiting for you to come up with an answer, and you…