“It’s in the genetics, I swear it.” There were just certain things about the Stone siblings that seemed to be the same across the board. “Think I’ve probably spent my fair share of time on Leah’s bad side too.” Most days he liked Leah, even if warm and cuddly weren’t synonymous with her, she wasn’t bad. It probably helped that not a hell of a lot ruffled him. “Probably deserved to be there.”
Silas laughed at the face Rae made. “Not all the blame. You can share it with Leah and Bea,” he retorted. “I’d make sure that Brandon knew you weren’t the sole person responsible.” He didn’t know why the hell Brandon had such a dislike for Rae, but he wasn’t going to make it worse on purpose. “Immature and something he should probably let go.” There had been a short, internal debate on whether or not to ask Rae what it was even based on, but he didn’t want to dredge something up; if he really wanted to know he could ask Brandon later. Even if he started something with him. It was no secret between the two of them that they stood on opposite sides when it came to liking or disliking Rae. Most of the time Silas left the subject alone, just to keep the peace between them.
“I don’t know if I’d change anything ‘bout the past, honestly,” he countered. “Everyone needs those bright spots of stupid or fun things they did before, you know, to get through the rest of this.” Even with his colored past he still had memories he could draw on that were good. He could kind of see where Rae was coming from though, with her statement, he just didn’t fully agree.
He shrugged, quirking up one corner of his mouth. “Gotta get my entertainment somewhere, and throwing explosives at the zombies only lasts so long.” He laughed outright at her next statement, quickly quieting himself before he drew attention. “Thinking like that got me in trouble more than once. But, I can’t say I disagree.”
“You lost me,” he admitted. The Aladdin thing sounded like something he’d either heard about or seen, but it wasn’t ringing any bells beyond sounding vaguely familiar. “But yeah, I heard ‘bout all that.” He chewed on his bottom lip. “Still sounds like Romeo and Juliet to me. ‘Cause they’re no good for each other but they can’t stay away from each other.” He’d watched out for Brandon as long as his friend would let him. He’d probably say things that Brandon didn’t want to hear too, but just ‘cause it could start something didn’t mean he was going to keep his mouth shut.
It didn’t seem to matter, that was the thing. No one kicked any one of them off security ‘cause of the things that were in those records. “Yep. Posted in the rec room,” he replied. He still kind of wondered the point of that, probably to get people to stop trusting that he and Brandon and Mike could make good decisions, but it didn’t matter now, it hadn’t worked. “You sound like one of those inspirational speakers,” he told her not unkindly. “It ain’t like I’m defining myself by my past, but all of that plays a part in who I am right now. All that sh-stuff played a part in the man you see here.” He laughed to himself, surprised by how philosophical he was getting with this.
“We’ve all started over in this mess, but if I forget all of that, it’s like forgetting all the things that made me who I am.” He scrubbed a hand over his face then turned towards Rae. “Good or bad, that stuff made me the ‘good guy’ sitting here.” He didn’t know if he was as good as Rae thought he was, but it was something to live up to.
“I don’t want to see ‘em win either. This world was ours first,” he agreed somberly.