Re: Loitering: Cat C & Reece E
"Duh," she echoed. Duh, because she did want to see him. Whatever happened between them? She did love him. Oh, that wasn't to say it was a healthy kind of thing, or, even, that it was a thing that would ever work, but she did want to see him and unapologetically. She was just that kind of girl. Unhealthy? Risk? Sure, and why not?
And she wasn't a fool. She knew this version of her was more intimidating than the boy or the young girl had been. This was closer to her, to the real her, and the real her had always frightened him. But, you know, she was who she was, and she was tired of being something else, so, here she was. "I'm organic. They had a few dozen ready to go, all emptied but alive, and I destroyed the others. Let them rest. I kept mine, my original, and that's somewhere safe, you know, just in case. So, you know, should I die? Just download me into me." Which was, possibly, the least sexy thing she'd ever said in her life.
"You can call me 'Cat,' Reece. All my friends do." Not a lie. "I was going to pretend to be Lev once I got here, but then I remembered that I was tired of pretending.
And, right, off she went. By the time she was weaving her way back through the crowd, the performer was performing, and she slipped a $20 to one of her old regulars at the bar, asking him to come get her next door if anything went wrong. Then, with a tip of her head, one indicating Reece should follow, she walked outside, up the adjacent stairs, and into her place, where she sat on the sofa. She kept the door open for him.