Dangerous Games

A PILLAR OF DOUBT

Kali laughed as Ember continued panther on about her attractive former teaching assistant. Samuel had gone off somewhere, and Ember took her from one group to another, making introductions and catching up with old friends. Kali had only stepped away for ten minutes to get something to drink when Ember joined her, agitated and fiery by the bar. She spent the next five minutes ranting about her college professor.

"Teaching assistant." Ember corrected. "He was a teaching assistant."

"Fine. Did you guys get off on the wrong foot when you met in Germany?"

"No. I mean, he must have thought I was crazy or drunk because, in the middle of our conversation, I started giggling."

Kali chuckled. "Why?"

"I don't know, he was dressed as I always remembered him dressing, down to the last T, and I found it funny that so many years later, nothing has changed. The man is a robot."

"He might have thought you were drunk."

"And now, he is here. I bumped into him, and the conversation was exactly the same. How can someone so attractive be so bland."

Kali choked on her champagne and started sputtering while Ember apologised. She coughed out the rest of her shock into the crook of her arm and began waving Ember off. "No, it's fine. I am confused; are you hitting on him or want to hit him."

"Okay, I know how the "attractive" comment is out of place, but I don't mean it like that. I am not blind; I can appreciate what I see. You'd think he has a character to back the attractiveness and nothing. It's like getting the Mona Lisa only to realise it's a copy."

"Alright." Kali set her drink down. "If all he is doing is being formal, why is it griding you the wrong way?"

"This has nothing to do with formality. It's one thing for him to treat me like a student when I am one and another thing to continue to do so when I am no longer one. Talking to him is like I am ten seconds from scolding."

"I am still confused."

Ember kissed her teeth and downed her glass. "He always sounds preachy, and it stinks. I graduated years ago, and have a degree."

"I mean, what if it's his character. You did call him a robot."

"It's not. That's what irks me. I saw him with other people. He didn't talk to them like he talked to me. It's demeaning, and I am avoiding him, or there would be drama at this party."

"Maybe avoidance is best then. Childish, as he already thinks you are, but best."

"Are you trying to irk me as well?"

Her hands went up. "Hey, am just saying."

Kali was pleasantly surprised to see Ember so wound up on a man. It was refreshing, to say the least. So, while Ember tried to get herself together. Kali observed the source of Ember's dilemma. He was a handsome man. Dressed in a clean cut and slightly fitted nude-coloured suit. He stood a few inches taller than most people in the room, but he wasn't on the muscular side; he was lean.

As he spoke, a small smile appeared here and there, occasionally she saw him laughing. Ember saw it, as well, and she muttered another complaint under her breath before turning to the bar, blocking him from her sight.

Unconsciously, her eyes moved behind him to where Samuel and Peter stood, laughing and chatting in the corner. Something about his comportment after the dinner had been needling at her conscience. They had a moment when she looked into his eyes as she saw his nervousness to meet hers. Kali wondered if something upset him, but they talked, and he seemed like himself. She fell back into that comfortable space until mid-way through their dance.