Page 23 of Psync
Eli didn’t even get a chance to make his opinion known on the matter, Alice and the two women from the booth all began to talk at Nate at once.
“Nate, how could you grow up to be a monster without me noticing?”
“Who do you think you are? Zuko?”
“There are so many different kinds of tea plants out there, not to mention the various fruits and herbs you can use to add flavor to them . . .”
“That kid is a genius.” Haruka observed quietly, bending low so only Eli could hear him.
“How so? He got everyone angry at him.”
Haruka’s only response was to jerk his chin toward Nate.
At first, all Eli saw was his friend getting badgered on all sides as two more women who’d been lingering in the back of the tent came up to join in the heated discussion.
Then he noticed it.
At the very corner of his mouth, Nate was sporting a sly little smile.
“He did that on purpose?”
Haruka shrugged. “Draw something.” He nudged the scroll he’d thrust into Eli’s hand earlier.
Since he wasn’t particularly interesting in getting caught up in Nate’s bizarre flirting ritual, Eli decided to go with it. What should he write? His character formation wasn’t the best, but he’d memorized at least four thousand kanji by this point. He had a lot to choose from.
On a whim, he asked, “What characters do you use in your name?”
Haruka went still and got that thoughtful look on his face again. Then he said, “My given name is written using the kanji for distant.”
Eli snorted. “That figures. I didn’t take you as a spring fragrance kind of guy.” Which was another way Haruka could have been written.
Haruka raised his eyebrows playfully. “Are you saying I smell bad?”
“N-no, not at all, you smell great!”
“So, you like how I smell?” Haruka’s mouth curled into a smile that was very reminiscent of the one Nate was still sporting.
Eli was all too aware of how amazing Haruka smelled at the moment. After baking in the hot sun all day, he should have the decency to smell sweaty like other mere mortals, but instead he smelled like fresh laundry hanging outside combined with a hint of lavender. Eli had been doing his best to ignore it.
Instead of responding, Eli rolled his eyes and focused on the scroll in front of him. “What’s your family name?”
“Yamada.”
Eli didn’t need to ask how to draw it. It was a common surname in Japan—like Smith, or Jones were in America. He held the brush perpendicular to the page and drew the kanji for mountain(?)and field(?)placing mountain on top, field underneath, and then distant( ?)at the bottom.
He looked it over and bit his lip. As usual, he managed to splatter ink on the page, rather than the achieving the efficient, tidy strokes he’d been aiming for. He could definitely use some practice.
“That’s really good.” One of the women had drawn away from the group surrounding Nate. It was the redhead with the mole.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to compliment me, I know it needs work.” Eli scrunched his nose ruefully.
“Maybe a little, but we could help you get better if you joined our club. My name is Kate.” The woman held out her hand to shake his.
Eli paused. He’d been having a good day. It probably wouldn’t be the end of the world to shake one hand. Besides, he actually thought he might want to join this club and hurting the feelings of one of the club members wasn’t the best way to go about joining.
Eli lifted his hand slowly but stopped when Haruka placed Eli’s brush in Kate’s hand.
“Thanks for letting us borrow this.”
