The smile came unbidden. Diplomatic. Elias had never seen Charlie diplomatic, ever. Granted, he had just recently met her acquaintance, but he felt relatively confident that he'd seen her as diplomatic as she would ever be -- which was to say, not at all. "Don't worry, kid," Elias said. "You're my guest when you walk through that door with me -- and my responsibility." It made little sense elsewise. After all, Charlie had already turned the boy out.
Parts of the story didn't make a lot of sense. If the kid had come all the way from New York, why hadn't he saved enough for the return? Was he running from something? And why had Charlie turned him away? She was rough and abrasive, but Elias got the sense that Charlie was also protective of the people she thought of as her own. Why would she... Well. That mystery and others would soon be uncovered, wouldn't they? "What's your name?" he asked the kid.
When his fellow resident piped up, Elias looked back at him and nodded. "Elias Sandoa," he said by way of introduction, extending his hand to him. "203. Sure, come along. Do you know Charlie as well?"