Silas couldn’t have claimed to have done any one of the things that Rae mentioned. His youth had it’s own version of thrill-seeking, which usually involved ducking the cops. “For the record, a shark could’ve eaten you on the scuba diving one,” he pointed out jokingly. “But that’s a lot less likely now.” There were other things that would take a chunk out of people if they got the chance. Thankfully for the two of them, they hadn’t seen that many wandering around Pleasantville today.
“Yeah, maybe.” He couldn’t disagree; pregnant women were a liability. “But the kids are a liability too, and the couple of people we’ve got with mental disorders.” He shrugged. If you looked at just about anyone in a certain light they could be considered a risk. “At least you were doing something, even if it wasn’t grabbing supplies, or security detail.” There were plenty of people that didn’t seem to have any desire to lift a finger and contribute. But, it wasn’t enforced either, so he had no room to complain. Everyone got their choice.
Instead of arguing the quip, he smiled and winked. “You keep calling me that, sooner or later I’ll start to believe I’m not so rusty as I think,” he commented. “And to be honest, I don’t want to know what would run you off,” he added, having missed the bashfulness in her voice. He didn’t care how that sounded either; most people wouldn’t want to run their friends off.
He couldn’t help laughing at the jab Rae took at Lucas. Truth was, the kid had his moments, his sister too. But they were Rae’s family, so he kept most of his opinions to himself. “Fine, fine,” he conceded and put his arms up in surrender. He choked on whatever he was going to say next; that had to have been a slip? Rae didn’t mean that the way it had sounded. “I’m not the Ghostbusters,” he told her, and hoped it was a decent save to his initial reaction. “Think they’d be better suited to wrangling beasties out of your bedroom.” Apartment. Whatever. “I don’t believe in any of that anyways.”
“Seriously?” It didn’t surprise him. “I’ve tried to play that thing.” Granted he’d been a little drunk, so the results had been less than stellar. He wondered how it had ended up in the rec room if it had been fixed up for Elliot, but not enough to ask.
He shook his head. “Not unless you’re aiming for kitsch.” He raised his eyebrows when she said she’d go out another day to the boutique. Actually, it’d probably be a good place to look for something Rae. “Nah, we can hit the boutique today, I don’t mind,” he told her. “Not saying I’ll be much help picking things out though.” He wouldn’t know where to start with gifts for any of the other women. Rae probably had that under control anyways.
“So, we’ll grab what we can here, and head for there?”