Sleepover: 3

Tulip frowns and raise her eyebrow, giving Lincoln an obvious questioning face. Looking between the illustrated book and Lincoln, she wore a dumbfounded look.

"Cat..handsome..have you lost it?"

"That cat is handsome, its name is handsome if you didn't know."

Tulip face drops, finding every word he speaks ridiculous, she started to feel offended even. How does a cat link to her saying Lincoln handsome? Is this an Earth thing, what was it? Slang?

"Here, hand-some."

Lincoln points to a part of the page, below the cat stomach that poses way too confidently now that Tulip looks closer, there is written 'Mr. Handsome kitty.'

"..handsome..it really does say handsome."

"Told you."

"That doesn't mean I said you're handsome though."

"You didn't say I'm handsome, fine, but you do think I'm handsome."

"No."

"Yes."

The two gaze at each other, an imaginary tense atmosphere formed around them. It isn't actually that tense, it's really just childish stuff. What else are they going to do with 2 books opened about cats, and it's Lincoln and Tulip, they're going to fight, in a way.

"Definitely no."

"Definitely yes."

The two go on like this, saying some new word following a no or a yes. This happens a lot, they never get tired of it though. Whether it's because it wastes time or because they're competitive, they do it. Even though they create a tense atmosphere the corner of their mouth, as they retort back and forth to each other, lift up and their bickering turns from a totally about to throw hands ruthless game to a inoffensive seesaw play.

"…technically yes."

"Totally not."

"The dozens of people that made this book totally thinks so."

"Dozens? For a cat book? As if."

"Yeah, that's how it works."

"Yeah, for sure. You're the one lying to me."

"Friends don't lie."

Lincoln then says, and Tulip stops. Lincoln stops too when he realises what he said. The playful atmosphere dies down, and goes quiet.

"..I haven't really lied to you, you know?"

"So, you keep secrets. Friends don't keep secrets."

Tight lipped, Lincoln only sat there. Tulip twists the corner page of the book, thinking of what has happened today. Going to Lincoln house, being with Lincoln, has and is helping her a lot, but of course she'll still think of what happened. It's inevitable.

"Everyone has secrets, Tulip."

"…"

No lie about that. Between the two of them, Tulip would have the most secrets. But it's different, her secrets, are secrets she feels she's never meant to share. Coming from a different place, is that a secret you tell? The secret of Piper and Noah, it feels like a big deal, but even Tulip understands if she doesn't think with feelings, that they could've said that secret.

"Noah and Piper, their secret..is something they can tell. So they should've."

Lincoln gazes at Tulip, then sighs. Adjusting his position against the couch making himself comfortable. Tulip does so too, putting her legs up and resting her head on top, facing forward but decides to look at Lincoln who's made himself comfortable and speaks.

"That's difficult. Yes, it's a secret they can tell, but that doesn't make a point. Every secret is a secret you can tell, all you have to do is say it."

Tulip takes his words in, trying her best to keep an open mind to his view on this matter.

"If you have know of some language that cracks Brishwa's top secret codes and the government tells you to keep it a secret, the government has their reasons right? And if the person does or doesn't, they have their reasons right? Whether right or wrong, they have their own reasons, we have the right to have our own thoughts, even if we don't, we're always thinking, if we know of the possibility of doing this or that then we're gonna know and think. My point is with this example, Noah and Piper had their reasons to keep it a secret, I don't know what, but it wouldn't be fair to call them fake friends for keeping a secret."

Thump.

Lincoln threw his head back to the cushioned couch with a soft thump, and looks at Tulip.

"They might not know it hurt you, maybe didn't even think it would hurt you. I don't know, we're talking about teenage boys and girls, yeah it's Noah and Piper so it makes it different to us but, they are still teenagers."

"…"

"Yeah, you probably can't imagine Noah being like one of those boys can you? The ones in your school? Gross, right?"

Tulip contorts her face, agreeing to Lincoln words. Definitely, never, not until Lincoln mentioned it.

"Good thing though, we know Noah, yeah he might be like them some way but we also know he's really cool, kind, and well not as smart as me but smart enough. Even though you have never even thought or wanted to think about it, those boys at your class could be the same too, they probably are, except different. Everyone is different, that's okay. Sometimes its a hard to deal with different, sometimes its a really good different, or a nice different, whatever it is, it's life."

"Life is going to happen. You know what life is? A lot of hardships. Depends on what we do, those hardships aren't always bad hardships, and bad hardships can be good hardships too. Actually, there's a lot of good things in life, a lot of us if not all of us, are a bunch of negative idiots though."

Tulips gapes at Lincoln's language, then giggles, not disagreeing.

"Like, all of us. As long as you're human, you're an idiot, you have been an idiot, you are an idiot, and you will be an idiot."

Tulip wearing a smile nods, listening intently to Lincoln long talk. It makes a lot of sense. It's actually all common sense or logic, whatever some people are different when understanding certain psychological things, but simple things are the things you forget about. Or you don't, you're just focused on the over complicated version. It all sounds confusing, could make you have an existential crisis. Or an intense breakdown.

"So earth has a lot of idiots."

"Aliens could be idiots too. They haven't reached us after all these years."

They both talk and laugh after every time they talk about whatever comes to mind. It's so liberating, so freeing, talking like this. Lincoln is a boy, but a very understanding one. Weird, but cool. Somehow.

"But seriously, what's with the cat books?"

Asking again, Tulip points with her eyes to the books now stacked on top of each other with an origami cat on top. Like he does when he doesn't know what to say, could be making up some lie, Lincoln looks away from Tulip, his eyes placed elsewhere.

"No lies. No secrets. Not right now."

In a voice that got quieter, softer, Tulip mutters them. Her hands that's placed on the floor close to a fist, digging her uncut nails to her palm.