If she was around later...
Victor swiped his black credit card then signed the receipt. Sang leaned into his shoulder and said something to him in a whisper. Silas couldn’t hear it, but Victor’s face turned red, and he shooed her off.
She was probably saying thank you, but Victor’s reaction was a little weird. They often thanked Victor, but he didn’t get flustered with them.
Silas offered to wait for the food so he could carry it all to the table. As he waited, he kept an eye on Kota and the others while they wandered off to figure out where to sit. Sang started to follow a path toward the carousel. She seemed dazed by it. Maybe it was the lights, or maybe the music or something else. It was a small carousel. While adults could fit on it, it was mostly children riding.
It just struck Silas as odd. Had she not seen one before? They weren’t as common anymore, but maybe she hadn’t been to something like a fair before.
Kota called to her, and getting her attention, he waved toward the outer edge of the food court. Silas understood he wanted to sit in a spot that was further away from anybody else. That was normal for them. Sometimes they wanted to make sure nobody was listening to what they were saying.
Once the food appeared, Silas counted everything to make sure it was all there then took the tray to the table.
Sang was sitting next to Kota. Victor sat in front of Kota. It left Silas to sit across from Sang.
Silas placed the tray on the table and sat down in the seat in front of Sang.
“People are animals when they get hungry,” Silas said. “The guy behind me was demanding a taco.”
Her face brightened quickly, and she laughed. Silas smiled, glad she understood his joke. The others didn’t often get his sense of humor. Or he never said jokes right. He was still working on getting his meaning across in English sometimes, especially when it came to jokes.
He split up the food for everybody, giving them what they’d ordered. After that, everybody got quiet while they were eating. They all must have been hungrier than they were letting on, because they focused on the food. By the time Silas was done with his burgers, Sang had finished her sandwich and was working on the fries.
She didn’t say much. At first, her eyes would lift only whenever anybody would walk by. Most of her attention seemed to be over Silas’s shoulder. People watching.
At least she was comfortable enough with them to zone out. Her natural quietness was fine. Silas usually was the same way.
But he wanted to help build that connection, like Kota. They were still here for her, right?
Victor and Kota were talking about school and other things. So Silas tried to think of what to say.
He just didn’t know what to talk to her about. School? What was the safe topic?
Victor’s voice rose, drawing the attention of Silas and Sang at the same time.
“You can’t be serious,” Victor said to Kota. “Not another physics class. You’ve already taken all of them.”
“Not a particle physics one.” Kota said, a little too calmly compared to Victor’s energized tone.
“Tell me they don’t even offer that class,” Victor said and pushed a palm toward his eye, rubbing it. “It’s so pointless. It’s theoretical. You won’t use it.”
Silas shook his head. Victor didn’t like classes that didn’t give him a new ability of some kind. Still, he shouldn’t be critical of Kota’s choices. He knew better. Kota could take whatever class he wanted. What did it matter if it was useful, as long as he enjoyed it?
He suddenly glanced over at Sang, feeling her eyes on him. When she continued to meet his gaze, he grinned, trying to show this wasn’t serious and to diminish the tension. Victor sometimes sounded harsh, but he just had strong opinions.
Sang smiled back and pointed the open end of her fry box at him.
She was offering them to him? “You don’t want anymore?”
“I’m stuffed." She smiled as she said it.
She was being nice to him. Like with the car, offering him the front seat.
He reached for the carton slowly. Her fingers touched his as he took it.
It was a small move, and it wasn’t anything unusual. However, something stirred up inside of him when they connected. He glimpsed up at her.
Her green eyes seemed to brighten.
He wasn’t sure about the feeling that developed in his stomach. In a way, he was intimidated by her. He didn’t actually understand why.
“Thanks,” he said. He considered what to say to her, wanting to keep her attention. Weren’t they going to be going to the same school this year? “What classes are you going to take?”
She glanced at Kota, hesitating. Maybe because they were a little distracting with their conversation, or maybe she felt intimidated because Kota was talking about taking advanced classes. “There are a few prerequisites,” she said eventually, “aren’t there? I was going to fill up on those.”
It was pretty sensible, but also sounded kind of boring. He wasn’t quite sure what grade she was in. And while there were prerequisites, even a poor school like Ashley Waters had a few choices, didn’t it?
“You should take something you like,” Silas said. “It can’t be all work. Unless you’re like Kota.” He jerked his head in Kota’s direction and then stuffed his mouth with some of the fries.
She laughed softly and shrugged. “I don’t really know yet. I only glanced at the catalog; some of the more interesting things, I can’t take yet.”
He liked her laugh. Silas leaned forward a little bit. “Like what—”
“Oh my God,” Victor said, his voice rising. He narrowed his eyes at Kota. “Okay, I’m done. Sang, are you finished? I can’t talk to him.”
Kota looked puzzled. “You were asking...”
“I’m not asking anymore!” Victor waved his hands around in the air. “You win. We’re good. Let’s just do something else.”
Good going guys, Silas thought. Get into a fight over classes with Sang around.
Silas forced a grin, looking right at Sang. This was normal for them, but they had said to go easy on her. Not the time to get into an argument.
But she didn’t seem concerned at all. She grinned back. She kept her sense of humor.
Victor must have sensed he was getting heated as he lowered his tone when he spoke next. “I’m headed to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back.”
He stood, pushed the chair aside, picked up his bag and walked off.
Kota collected his food wrappers and piled them onto the tray then picked up after Victor as well. “I’ll be right back,” Kota said. “Maybe I should go apologize.” He left the tray, but stood up and followed Victor where he had disappeared down a hallway.
“Good luck,” Silas said. He wasn’t worried about them. Victor wasn’t really upset. He just had an opinion, and when Kota didn’t share it, neither one backed off. Sometimes it was just better not to talk about it. They weren’t wrong, they just had different perspectives.
Silas stood up and took the tray that Kota had loaded with trash. He added his own empty food wrappers to it, then Sang’s. “I’ll get rid of this. Wait here.”
She smiled, shaking her head as he walked away.
Silas scanned the food court. The first trashcan he walked up to was already overflowing. He was tempted to leave his tray with trash on top, but it seemed really rude. There was no reason to be that lazy.
Besides, Sang could be watching him. What kind of impression would he make leaving trash?
He walked off with the tray, looking for another. He didn’t find any until he was on the other side of the carousel, and even then, there was a small line waiting for a turn. Were these the only bins in the food court?
As he waited, he glanced through the carousel, trying to find Sang. With it moving, and kids on it, he couldn’t really see through it. Lights were flashing in his eyes.
Silas loaded his trash into the bin and was just leaving his tray when he noticed an old l
ady behind him juggling her purse and her own trash in her hands.
Two food wrappers and some napkins fell to the floor.
Silas moved quickly, not thinking too much about it. Just picked up the trash for her so she didn’t have to bend over, then stuffed them into the bin.
“Thank you,” she said.
“No problem.” He was about to walk away when the woman turned to him again.
“It’s so nice when people help other people.” Her thin, wrinkled lips moved slow as she said each word. “So nice...”
“Sure...” Silas eased a step backward, not wanting to get caught up in conversation.
He turned away and circled the carousel, heading back toward the table. On the other side, he stopped. The tables toward the edge of the food court were now empty.
He turned around, scanning the area. Did she go to look at the carousel?
There was no sign of her. Maybe she went to the bathroom.
He sat down at the table, but kept looking around, unsure if he should head to the bathroom, or stay in case Sang returned.
Echoes of what he said to Kota earlier about her running off when they weren’t around came back to him. She could have done that now. This time, she didn’t have a phone on her. It was just as believable she went to the bathroom, but Kota seemed concerned about her before, enough to check on her while she was waiting.
He couldn’t just wander off to search for her. He took out his cell phone and kept his eyes out, looking around for her or for any sign of Kota or Victor. When Kota and Victor came back, if she wasn’t back, one of them could stay and the others could look for her.
Eventually, Victor emerged from the hallway, his eyes blazing and his face tight. He had Sang behind him, tugging her by the hand.
Sang’s eyes were wide, fear apparent in her pale, shaking body.
Silas stood instantly, taking a step toward them. “Where’s Kota?”
“In the hallway. He’s got it. We’re leaving.”