His answer hit her across the face, although she was sure he didn't mean for it to be that way. She let out a sound that might have been "Oh."
But that was just it, wasn't it? There were so many things that the City had done that she was sure wasn't meant to hurt... but it did. She stared at her tabletop and then pressed her fingertip against the side. Pressed hard.
The question she asked wasn't anything like what she was thinking. But it just came out... and there it was. "Do you ever want to have a friend?"