"Did you want to join me?" Root asked. "Help me decide if I should plant flowers or vegetables?"
"No, not really my thing," Para answered after a moment of thought. I'd only screw things up. "All the best with it though."
Root nodded. "How is the songwriting going?"
Root blinked. "Expona hated your last one? I thought it was a tribute to her."
"Yeah, she thought I was pandering. But then, the redhead hates everything I do, so hey, I don't let that get to me." Except for how it did. And continued to bother her, even now.
"Well, that's good," Root concluded. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and the two of them walked in silence for a short time.
"So, you seem to be a bit more level headed lately," Para ventured, the silence making her uneasy. "Less of the big positive or big negative in front of you. Am I imagining that?"
"Could be," Para mused. Certainly not due to anything I did. "I'm happy for you." In fact, ParaB could totally replace her, now that she thought of it. There really WASN'T any need for two parabolas. And Para, she was the more worthless of the two. By far.
Root had said something. "Sorry, what?" the blonde polynomial asked.
"I said did you want to go get something to eat?"
Para sucked in her lower lip. Given that new revelation about ParaB, she didn't think she could keep up the facade of joy much longer. "Tomorrow, maybe? I'm feeling a little lightheaded all of a sudden. How about Maud's for breakfast?"
"Sure, that works," Root agreed. He started to lean in, then paused. Para completed the distance, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, followed by another smile.
"Talk to you tomorrow then!" With that, the parabola waved, then turned, and with a little skipping motion, headed back to her apartment. Where she could sit in the dark. And stare at the ceiling. And play with her knife.
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Oh, ow. Poor Para. Definitely feeling for her here.
ReplyDeletePartly pleased that the depiction was enough to warrant a remark. Though partly sad too, because empathy probably requires a level of understanding. I wonder, do we all have that voice in our head? The one which beats us down more as soon as we start trending negative?
ReplyDeleteEmpathy might not need understanding, but sympathy for the character/person. That's a good question about the voice in our head; I suspect most people either don't have one or the voice is far less critical and far better at boosting than the ones in our heads.
ReplyDelete