Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XXXV: Something Dark

Ch. 35: Something Dark

Tai leaned on the thin column of a nearby booth and gave Mara a little smirk—almost as if they knew exactly the reaction they had on her. Mara ignored them and pinned her gaze on the opened note.

Can we talk? Right now?

She scoffed, anger flaring inside her. In the back of her mind, she remembered how Tai had tried to assert their possession of her when Bernardo invited her to the Junina party. They had held her hand to spite Bernardo, they had hurt him, they had...played her. It was only obvious Tai would attempt to do the same again.

Mara folded the piece of paper once, twice, thrice, pressing it tight in an attempt to make it disappear. She shifted her weight to her right leg and hit Tai with her worst glare.

First of all, Mara didn't appreciate being used like that. Second of all, Numa must be somewhere in this damned HQ, and she needed to use Bernardo in order to find her.

Mara looked at the man with the frame basket and accepted the pen he was offering. She chose the cutest card she could find—a pretty heart-shaped card decorated with metallic paper stars—and wrote a big NO on it. She paid the elegant mailman and watched as he walked back to Tai and handed Mara's answer to them.

Tai's smirk disappeared, replaced by a roll of eyes and an angry frown that put a little smile on Mara's lips.

"Did...anything happen?" Bernardo asked in a whisper.

"Not at all." Her smile became a grin.

When Bernardo moved to look around, Mara touched his cheek and kept his eyes fixed on hers. If she needed to be honest, she was already trying to take advantage of him; the least she could do was try to avoid any more friction between Bernardo and Tai.

Bernardo breathed in and gently pushed Mara's hand away. He turned around and stood face-to-face with Tai. Understanding dawned on Bernardo's eyes. He set his jaw and faced her again. "Are you...sure? If you have somewhere else to go—"

"I said no," she interrupted, slower this time.

He swallowed hard. Bernardo peeked over his shoulder to where Tai once stood, but they had already disappeared into the crowd. "Then"—he turned around—"are you...hungry?"

She chuckled. "Starving."

"Wanna find something to eat?" Bernardo offered his hand.

Mara looked from Bernardo to his upturned palm and licked her lips. She breathed in, and a familiar feeling spread in the pit of her stomach. She took his hand, doing her best to avoid Tai's general direction. Find Numa and make sure Kiki was safe—those were her first, her only priorities right now.

"Let's go, Beh."

***

Mara looked at her wristwatch. Six-thirty.

"Actually, no." She licked the sauce off her thumb and put her vegetarian vaca louca sandwich on her paper plate. "All I did was tell her, 'This is not a pipe.' Maybe she liked my sense of humor 'cause she actually gave me the half point I needed, so I got to graduate."

Beh was in the middle of a sip of sugarcane juice, so his cough came out strangled and wet. He slapped his chest a few times, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Then he laughed.

"I can't believe she fell for that."

"Fell for that?" Mara echoed. It was her time to laugh. "It's art, dude. Everything about it is subjective—and it's stupid to give it a grade, to begin with."