Gio had heard her whisper, but he didn’t comment on it. Hearing her agree it didn’t seem abnormal was almost like a punch in the stomach. It made his theory seem that much more real. If Amelia had argued with him, saying it was totally abnormal and that everyone with powers were freaks, Gio would have felt better – on a subconscious level, perhaps, but still. If it wasn’t abnormal, it was normal … and if it was normal….
Amelia poked his hand before taking it, and Gio couldn’t help but laugh. What she said afterward also was funny, even as he pictured himself crumpled on the floor of Amelia’s living room with thick tendrils of gray smoke rising from his body. If it had been an image that he found the least bit based in reality he would have been scared, but his mind was still trained to think of such things as if it were some kind of cartoon – an impossibility. But hadn’t he just said these powers weren’t abnormal?
Clearly, it was going to take a while for Gio to get completely used to the idea.
“You’re not shocking me now,” he pointed out, holding onto Amelia’s hand. It felt kind of weird to be sitting at a table holding hands with a girl (even if said girl was one of his oldest friends), but he quickly brushed away those thoughts. Not right now, hormones. Not right now.
Just to make sure he wouldn’t get distracted again, Gio pulled his hand gently away and set it back on his chopsticks, determined to finish up his ramen entirely. “Now that you know about it, you’ll have to work on controlling it,” he suggested, with his mouth full again. “That’s what all the cool kids are doing.”