"I don't think I've met Lorne, either," Beauty said, but her mind wasn't focusing on the new name. Oh dear goodness, Fred was just a friend. It took a good amount of effort not to ask Fred intruding questions like, 'Has he ever mentioned anyone who might be patient enough for him?' and "Do you know if he's interested in that sort of thing?' and 'I don't suppose you and he have ever talked about him seeing anyone, have you?' No, Beauty said none of those things. She just blindly opened one of the laptops in front of her and fiddled with the touchpad.
"I don't think I could break into computer systems or networks. I'm not really sure what those are. But as long as I can read books on it and Google things, then it's good enough for me. There's so much to learn about... well, about everything, really."
She was relaxing -- in fact, she was far more relaxed around Fred than she'd been when they first met. Beauty hadn't said hello to Fred at the opera house, but that was because it would have been so, so awkward. Now, though.... Now, things were different.
"Were you coming in for a tablet, yourself?" she asked, closing the laptop she was playing with and moving on to a glossy black one. This one had keys with blue backlighting that Beauty found entrancing.