"It's not as weird as you think," Kurt shouted over the compressed synth music and stock punch sounds blasting from the tinny speakers of the fat CRT TV sat on the floor in front of him and Evan. From the moth-eaten couch, the only 'real' furniture they had in their secret attic hideaway, Anna watched as the boys navigated a side-scrolling 'beat-em-up' video game featuring some brightly color-coated ninja turtles with matching weapons. "Kitty always goes nuts in the Danger Room. You've only trained with us - what - twice? She's done crazier stuff."
"Dude! The hell, man?" Evan squared his shoulders. "I needed that pizza! I got two boxes of life left!"
"Oh, my bad, dude. Next one."
"That's what you said about the last one!"
"Oh. Then the next one for sure."
Anna could hear the sweat on Evan's forehead sizzle all the way across the giant spool they used as a table. As fascinating as it was to watch the boys play a game that was old enough to be their dad, she decided to take the extra time before dinner to peruse Evan's well-organized shelf of books. Naturally with the shelf living the the 'Whispering Woods' AKA the gang's secret Dungeons and Dragons hideaway, most of the surprising shiny tomes were D&D related. Still, she managed to find a handful of tucked-away novels. 'Kings of the Wild' by Nicholas Eames - a sort of dad-themed 'getting the band back together' romp across the horrific badlands of a fantasy world, made sense to find on Evan's bookshelf. However 'Red, White, and Royal Blue' by Casey McQuiston - A romance that follows the complicated relationship between America's First Son and the Prince of England, and how they turned from bitter rivals to lovers - took her for a loop to find. Maybe there was more to the angry little nerd than she thought. She flipped open the front flap and found a chicken-scratch inscription:
'Can't figure out which one of us is the First Son and which one of us is the Prince in the story. Either way, made me think of you last time I read it.
Happy 2-week anniversary!
Love, K'
Anna felt her cheeks and neck go hot, and she shoved the book back into place with enough force to rock the shelf.
Kurt looked over his shoulder at her and scratched his nose. "You okay? You want a water from the chest or something? You look like you're about to melt over there."
"Fine!" Anna pulled a book randomly from the shelf and dropped back on the couch.
"Just - finding something to flip through."
Kurt smiled, his white teeth catching the rays of the afternoon sun through the open window, then rejoined Evan who seemingly had every muscle flexed while staring into the TV's flashing screen.
Anna let out a lungful of hot air and flipped her book open to a random page. "But you've seen Kitty in an actual fight." Anna started, glancing through the page labeled 'Basilisk.' "She's basically useless."
"That's a little harsh…"
"Is she wrong?" Evan was turning his tiny gray controller like a steering wheel while pivoting his torso. "No-no-no-no… damn. There's another life." He reached for a labelless bottle filled with blue liquid and took a sip. "Seriously, man. Where was she that whole time back at the gas station?"
"She was getting people out of the store and the parking lot," Kurt rolled up his sleeves, "right?"
"Man, I was down there next to that store and I didn't see a soul in there."
Anna looked at Evan. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah. I was hiding behind this parked car, and I could see through the windows from where I sat. The place was empty."
Anna rested her hand against the Basilisk page. "I was with Xavier the whole time watching y'alls cams. I saw Kitty and Scott pull a lady out of a car."
Evan raised his hands. "I'm not saying that didn't happen. But I'm telling you, I didn't see anyone in that store. And I didn't see Kitty pop in there at any point neither. You were the one watching the cams. What did you see her doing?"
Anna felt the space between her brows tighten. "To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to her."
Evan wiped his lip with the back of his hand. "I bet it's recorded somewhere. Xavier probably keeps recordings of all the stuff we do."
Kurt's lips drew to a line. "Well… that's a comforting thought."
"What are you suggesting, exactly?" Anna pulled her hair back out of her face. "We break into Cerebro and take a look?"
"Nah, there's no point. We all know what she was doing already." Evan took up his controller again and squared his shoulders. "Probably fucking cowering in a corner somewhere while we did all the work."
"Guys, come on." Kurt looked between them. "Let's take it a little easy, yeah? She's still a member of the team and family after all."
Evan resurrected his character in the game and started playing again. "I never agreed to any part of this 'family' stuff. Kitty, she's more like - I don't know - a coworker or something."
Anna tapped on her book. "Isn't she a part of the Dungeons and whatever group?"
"Yeah, only because Kurt insisted so hard."
"Oh, stop trying to be so cool, Evan." Kurt looked back at Anna. "Dude told me just a week ago he thought the way Kitty dealt with this boss was, and I quote, 'pretty cool.'"
Evan bobbed his head on his shoulders. "So - whatever! The thing where she shot the guy in the foot to pin him to the ground was clever. I won't deny that. Still doesn't make it any less annoying that she makes the Danger Room her own personal playground while in a real fight she's wet toilet paper. I mean really! Jumping off a building, lassoing a robot, then stealing one of its guns? What a show-off. If I had done something like that, Scott would have wined at me till my ears melted off my freaking head."
Kurt's face hardened. "It was kinda scary to watch. Xavier was right, what if something went wrong? Like you said, she jumped off a building. Sure it was in the Danger Room, but she was still probably at least 20 feet off the ground. What if her grappling hook didn't work?"
Evan shrugged with his hands. "Then she would have fallen and broken a leg or something. Either way, it's not like she would have died or anything."
"Still, I've never seen her jump off a building before… It seemed kinda reckless, even for her."
"She's a showoff and wants attention on her constantly. Come on, dude - you see her at dinner. She reaches past people to get food, talks over everyone - She's annoying -"
Listening to Evan, Anna felt a strange sense of validation. Because she was forced to be the girl's roommate, she thought she was the only one cursed to endure Kitty's loudmouth ramblings, constant changing of subjects in conversations, and lack of any boundary or human decency. "Not to mention she's a spaz and moody as hell."
"Dude, right!" Evan turned to look at Anna. "Like whats' with that morning cold shoulder? She acts like she doesn't even know us at the bus stop."
"Yeah. That 'I need my coffee in the morning,'" Anna air quoted, "excuse she gave me that one time is such bull. I know for a fact that we have coffee in this house otherwise the adults and Jean wouldn't be able to function."
"I've seen her drink coffee in the morning at the bus stop." Evan rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV. "She just wants a convenient excuse for acting like a jerk."
Anna looked down at Kurt, whose blob of blue hair was being uncharacteristically quiet. "No counterargument, good Samaritan?"
Kurt gave a hollow chuckle and shrugged. "Pretty sure if I had one, you guys wouldn't want to hear it anyway."
Anna felt an icy stab dig deeper into her abdomine than any level 30 Basilisk ever could. She gently flipped the monster book closed and stared at its glossy back cover. From the sounds of Evan's next few words, he was feeling the bite of Kurt's words just as much if not more. "Uh - so Anna… think you wanna character for the game or something?"
"Yeah… was thinking about it. A lot of options, you know?"
"Yeah."
"I looked at the Barbarian class in the book you lent me. It looks fun."
"I thought you might like that class. The books' not a loner, by the way, you can keep it."
Anna felt a subtle warmth ever so slightly de-fang the sting she still felt in her stomach. "Really?"
"Yeah, man. I bought it for you."
Anna couldn't stop the smile that spread across her cheeks. She was only thankful the boys were facing the other way. "Oh - uh, thanks."
"Course. A player needs a handbook."
"Speaking of, we still on for Wednesday?"
"Well… uh-" She could see Evan's cheeks begin to color. "Kurt and I sorta can't."
Kurt looked back at her, his face alight with a goofy smile. "Ev and I have a date!"
Anna's eyes went wide. "Real shit?"
"Hell yeah, dude!" Kurt's cheeks dimpled. "We're going to Basil's pizza downtown then might swing by the arcade." He elbowed Evan who rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, that's awesome you guys! Hope you have a good time."
"Sorry, it ended up on what was supposed to be your first game day, man." Evan sucked his lower lip. "It was… well - the only day my Aunt could drive us." He mumbled.
"It's cool. There will be other game days." Anna looked out the attic window whose view overlooked the tree line and the ocean beyond. The rays of the sun behind the mansion somehow highlighted every single crashing wave beyond the cliff. Down below, she could just see Jean's bright red hair bobbing toward the trees.
"Dude! Seriously, again!" Anna looked back to see a vein throbbing in Evan's head while Kurt smiled fondly at the screen. "I know you see the health scores! Leave the pizza for me, man!"
Kurt smiled. "Sorry man, next time for sure."