Re: Cass & Alex: the (bad) diner
"I've known bullies," Alex informed Cass. "I don' think most of 'em are...what you said." He didn't know the word particularly well, heard it or read it once or twice, but he wasn't particularly well-educated, and "malevolent" hadn't made it into his daily vocabulary. He knew it meant some kind of bad, though. "I think it's like...they don' get enough love or somethin' so they turn to hate instead. Take it out on the people they don't think'll fight back. They're...well, they're lonely that way. Like this place. Maybe it jus' wants the attention."
Oh. "So you mean it like as a way of tryin' to show others they're good people, I gotcha," he said, brushing his hair out of his eyes, until it inevitably would fall back down to obscure his vision once more, ultimately making the gesture useless. But in a way it was a symbol that he was at least trying to keep eye contact and trying to live up to his resolve that he wouldn't hide any longer. "I'unno, I think sometimes it's the people who really believe who are the worst," he admitted. "'Cause they do or say terrible things and then point to the Bible like God says so right here, so it's okay if I'm awful."