R&R - talking at the beach
“She is, and I am,” he agreed with a smile, the eyelid twitching indicating she was only too well aware of their conversation. “After all, she does tell me every other day!” he said a little more loudly, the eyelid now lifting and an eye turning toward him, disappearing again as the lid lowered back down.
He laughed and looked back around at Rachel. “So… have you been for a fly with us yet?” he asked hearing even in his own head how strange that sounded.
Rachel shook her head. “Not on Saphira, no.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I’d really like to, though.” She nodded.
“I think we can arrange that,” he told her, smiling. He leaned back and propped his arms behind him, fingers and hands burying in the sand, still warm to the touch from the sun. “So was it with Jake on Banshee, or Neytiri on Seze?” he asked, glancing up at the sky briefly.
“Yes.” She nodded, smiling. “Mostly with Jake, though. But sometimes Neytiri would take me up. She didn’t like the harness that Jake made for me so I wouldn’t fall off. Jake didn’t really like it either but he likes death threats from his brother even less so…..” She laughed. “Do you remember when I made that paper mache ikran? Took me weeks to get it just right.” She smiled fondly, then it turned into a frown. “And then Grant ‘accidentally’ sat on it.” She shook her head.
Richie laughed softly, nodding. “Yeah, and you got into trouble because you wailed on him for it. Never did understand that, but then I never had brothers and sisters like you,” he sighed. “Just me, and Jarvis, and eventually Ana.” He couldn’t help wondering about Ana, even now.
“But Grant was just one of the other kids, not my brother.” She chuckled. “I think he was mad at me because I didn’t like him.” She made a face. “Or something like that. Or maybe he was just being a dick.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“It was because you didn’t like him, and he was just trying to get your attention,” Richie told her, remembering the event, and just how much she had yelled at him. “I think you cured him that day though,” he added with a grin.
“I seem to be very good at making men not like me.” She reached one hand down and started to draw circles in the sand. “I think by the time we were ten all of the boys on the island were afraid of me.”
“Not all of us, no,” he replied, shaking his head, but knowing that in most cases it was true. “But then you were better at climbing trees and running, and hunting stuff than most of them too, so they were jealous. Plus having an aunt and uncle like Jake and Neytiri, with ikran? Every kid was jealous!” he added, knowing he had been, because having ikran? That was almost as good as his dream of having a dragon.
Rachel chuckled. “I did have a pretty awesome life.” She nodded. “And I’m a better shot than most of the guys, too. Thanks to Clint. And there’s my rocker side.” She laughed, having been horrible at the guitar lessons. “But at least I had you.” She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder for just a second before sitting back up. “And George. George is a very good listener.”