During the rest of Debra and Dariela’s stay, Lydia enjoyed her time with her mother. She saw little of Dariela from that point on, until the last day when she went to the game room. Aidan and Dariela were hanging out in there, playing pool with Jando and Donny. Aidan was beating them easily, even showing off as he knocked two balls into opposite pockets. Donny shook his head, sniffing and twirling his metal cast, jostling the water around inside the outer shell. The inside was perfectly molded to slip onto his nose, matching every bump and ridge. He suddenly sneezed, blocking his nose in time with the metal cast, and a jet stream of bubbles shot to the top of the water like it was boiling. Even though he stopped the lasers, everyone jumped out of the way regardless. “How do you keep scoring?” Donny asked, taking a deep breath from the water, cooling off his nostrils.
Aidan grinned and rubbed the tip of his cue with more chalk. “Pool is all about approaching things from the right angle.”
“Is that how you also won her over?” Jando asked, nodding at Dariela. “Approaching from the right angle?”
“Please,” Dariela said, pecking Aidan’s lips. “I practically had to ask him out.”
Jando snickered. “That sounds like Seagull.”
Lydia chewed her lip and approached them. Time to accelerate the arms race. The group greeted her and she turned to Jando. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure. Let us finish this game first, real quick,” he said. He set up a shot to knock one of his balls in and missed.
Dariela and Debra would be leaving in a few hours. She didn’t have time for this. Lydia picked up one end of the pool table, tipping all the remaining balls into the far pockets. She dropped it and pretended not to notice the stares. “That’s game.”
“Guess so.” Jando handed his cue to Donny and followed Lydia out of the game room and down the hall. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to ask you something.” Lydia closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to sound sincere, then put on a cute grin. “Are you still going to come by some night? We could watch a movie or something.”
Jando’s eyes popped out of his head. Then a cool smile crept up his face. “Sure. How about this weekend?” Lydia nodded and he returned to the game room, head held high like a king and a smug expression painted on as he looked down at the others. Lydia kept a close eye on the game room from the window and reveled in Dariela and Aidan’s taking the news. Dariela didn’t know what to say, and Aidan collapsed in a chair. Delighted, Lydia hummed a tune and disappeared before they noticed she was there.
* * *
Rogues of Overwatch Page 28
