"I thought you were always right," I chortled.
"I used to be." He shook his head again, probably reminiscing about the times he had been right. "I was wrong about you on one other thing, as well. You're not a magnet for accidents—that's not a broad enough classification. You are a magnet for trouble. Do you know what I'm saying? If there is anything dangerous within a twenty-kilometer radius, it will invariably find you."
I did the quick math in my head; twenty kilometers was somewhere around one hundred gallons.
"And you put yourself in that trouble category? I guessed.
His faced turned cold, hard, expressionless; his eyes were as jet black as Eric's Chinese afro. "Unequivocally."
"Unequivocally... " I said the word to myself, as quietly as possible, for a moment, trying to remember what it meant.
He came to my rescue. "Without a doubt."
I stretched my hand across the table again—ignoring him when he pulled back slightly once more—to touch the back of his hand shyly with my fingertips. Fredward's skin was cold as well as hard. The waitress, who had been looking at us the whole time, glared at me a bit. "Eat my dust!" I mouthed at her.
"Thank you." My voice was fervent with gratitude. "That's twice now."
His face softened. "Let's not try again for three, agreed?"
I scowled, but nodded. I was torn. He moved his hand out from under mine, and placed both of his under the table. But he leaned toward me a little bit, which made me feel somewhat better about my chances of him being in love with me.
"I followed you to Fort Angles," he admitted, speaking in a rush. "I've never tried to keep a specific person alive before, and it's much more troublesome than I would have believed. But that's probably just because it's you. Ordinary people seem to make it through the day without so many catastrophes."' He paused. I wondered if it should bother me that he was following me; instead I felt a strange surge of pleasure, like I was being tickled in a place I hadn't been tickled in years. He stared, maybe wondering why my lips were curving into an involuntary smile?
"Did you ever think that maybe my number was up the first time with the van, and that you've been interfering with fate?"

175

Chapter 8

←

→

main contents contact