Page 38 of The Not So Super Hero
Zane cocked a brow.“What?”
He shrugged.“What do you like to do in your spare time?”
“Why?”
“Just curious.”He shrugged again.
Come on, Zane had to know at least part of the reason.The guy was pretty mysterious without meaning to be.He was lazy, kept to himself, and had secrets.Not to say Bailey was an open book either.Zane didn’t know everything there was to know about him, but Bailey thought it would be nice if they started somewhere.
“Watching TV, I guess,” Zane responded hesitantly, as if he expected Bailey to take that information and misuse it somehow.
“It’s just a simple question, Zane.”
“Which is why it’s bugging me.”
“You can ask me one?”Bailey suggested.
“I don’t really have anything to ask,” he answered because, honestly, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask.There was this constant gnawing at the back of his mind that reminded him of Leona, her words, and how he was an idiot for accepting Bailey’s offer.His best bet was to leave Bailey alone, act like they never knew each other.It was the best for the both of them.
“Come on.You have a little interest in others of the human race, right?”Bailey asked.
“Nope.”
Not shocking for Bailey to hear.He chuckled.Zane gave a small smile, so miniscule that Bailey barely saw it, but it was certainly there.It kind of made him nervous and ecstatic.How many others have managed to do that?Was Bailey allowed to feel a bit proud, or was he thinking too highly of himself?
“Since you won’t ask me anything, then I’ll just keep asking you,” Bailey said.
“Oh, joy.”
“Do you believe in aliens?”
“Wow, for a moment, I thought you were going to be normal.”Zane pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how someone like Bailey existed.He cut through the tense atmosphere like it was nothing.
“Normal is boring, so I take that as a compliment,” Bailey chirped.
“Believe me, it wasn’t.”
“Is that your way of saying you don’t believe in aliens?”Bailey was positively gleeful at the look of exasperation on Zane’s face.It was nice to be the one (kind of) teasing instead of being the one that was getting teased.
“Why the fuck are we talking about this?”Zane rubbed the sides of his temple with his knuckles.This kid was bad news.Why did he even agree to come up here?Yet he made no move to leave.Why weren’t his legs moving?Why couldn’t he just get up and leave?He needed to, seriously.
“If aliens exist, I think they would have already come here, but they probably didn’t like us, so they left,” Bailey added.
“No surprise there.There’s no intelligent life here, after all.”
“Ha!You insulted yourself.”
“Never thought of myself as intelligent, so, technically, I didn’t.”
“Whatever, you can’t dig yourself out of that.You insulted yourself, end of story.”Bailey crossed his arms.
Zane stared in disbelief at Bailey, the boy who seemed so keen on starting the conversation.Unlike Bailey, who seemed to thrive off speaking, Zane did not.His vocal chords often forgot they were functioning.Silence was what Zane was best at so it was making things very difficult.He was at a loss of what to say, how to start and keep a conversation, not that he wanted to...
“Have you ever considered going to college?”Bailey nudged Zane’s leg with his foot.
“No.”
“I’m not surprised.”
