Chapter 31: Chapter 31: The Sidekick and the Favor (Part 2)

“Alright, you gotta go.” 

Bonnie dragged her feet across the carpet, limbs flailing about in an attempt to impede leaving my room. I tightened my grip around her waist and carried her to the doorframe, where she latched on. I groaned, softly peeling away fingers, and ensuring they stayed that way, before slamming the door shut. It clicked shut, and, with a twist, I locked it. The knob frantically rattled, but my sister left it alone once she discovered I wouldn’t be unlocking it for her.

“Hold on. I wasn’t done talking with Nora!”

I sunk against the door. “Stay out for now! We have finals coming up, and we can’t study with you constantly barging in here.”

This was mortifying. To think my sister was throwing a tantrum like she was two years old instead of her actual age. She was being a total brat.

Thankfully for me, her ‘beloved’ Nora was there to smooth the situation over. “Hey, Bonnie. Why don’t you let us study for half an hour, and then we can all play that card game you were talking about. That sound good?”

There was a pause. “Ok…”

“Bonnie, if”–my mom called her from downstairs, sounding muffled from inside my enclosed room–”you have so much free time, why don’t you help me prep dinner?”

She sighed, and the stairs groaned as she padded down them to make her way to the kitchen. 

I returned to the tiny table where we were studying. “Sorry about all that, but my sister’s taken a liking to you.”

Based on the number of interruptions we’d experience, I’d say it was already a borderline obsession. Whatever Nora had done for her downstairs had built her up into something of an idol in Bonnie’s mind.

It doesn't matter to me. I like Bonnie,” she said, flipping a page in her math book. “And why wouldn’t she? I’m way better than Rika.” 

“I know you guys don’t get along the best, but sometimes you’re way too competitive. Besides, Bonnie hasn’t even met Rika.”

“She hasn’t? I thought she'd come over before.”

“Nope. Rika bought her a stuffed animal once, but that’s the only interaction they’ve had.”

Nora turned a few more pages, tapping her pencil against her lips while she searched for a particular section. I noticed her glancing around my room again, but I refused to comment on it. She kept looking at me, almost as though she expected me to be displeased or something. I could care less, however, having nothing to hide.

Sure, it was a little messy, but I managed to organize all my clothes, games, and books strewn across the floor before she came up. But otherwise, there was nothing of interest in my room. There was my nightstand, and a poster of a popular anime hung proudly displayed on my wall above my bed. A window was opposite that, with a single drape hanging from it. The other one had gotten lost in the shuffle of my mad scramble to pick up my room. On my desk, an old laptop laid beneath a pile of light novels, manga, and a broken phone charger. 

“You’re kind of a nerd.”

I sputtered, dropping my pen onto my papers. “That’s what you came up with?” 

“Or kind of a pervert. Since I’m a guest, I figured it would be nicer to leave it at calling you a nerd.”

Her accusations weren’t exactly fair. From an outsider's perspective, she may have had reason to believe my intentions were impure. I mean, yeah, the poster I had may have displayed a typical fantasy protagonist surrounded by voluptuous women. My collection of literature also had covers befitting of what certain fans expected. But, that wasn’t the reason I enjoyed this particular series. They had unrivaled plots–but not the kind of plot internet trolls laughed themselves silly about. Honest to goodness storyline that would bring me unparalleled joy, laughter, and even tears.

“You shouldn’t knock it before you try it.”

“Give me a book to borrow then,” she said.

“Seriously?”

“Did I stutter? I said let me read one of your books. I’ll give it a chance.”

Rising to my feet, I grabbed a manga from my desk, ensuring it was one where the titular heroine was mostly fully clothed. I was unaware if Nora was much of a reader, so I decided a manga would be best. She seemed like the type who would enjoy comics and would enjoy the drawings.

She accepted the book from me and fanned through the pages. “Looks interesting enough.”

A grin spread across my face. “I know, right? It gets even better in the latest arc where the princess has left the wartorn–”

My enthusiasm waned with a pinch to the shoulder. “Let me at least try to read it before you spoil everything.”

I grimaced. “Got a little too excited…”

Could she blame me, though? It wasn’t often I got to speak with someone about this kind of thing. There were forums and chat rooms dedicated to everything I read, but it wasn’t the same as talking to someone directly across from you. Ethan put up with my ramblings but had no interest in any of the mediums himself. So, if Nora became interested in my hobby, I’d finally have someone to geek out with.

Oh, but that reminded me there was something else I needed to give her. Shuffling over to my closet, I reached up to the top shelf. I felt around blindly until I felt the soft fabric under my fingers. I pulled it down, folding it over my knee. It was the least I could do before returning it to Nora.

“Sorry, it’s been awhile since you gave it to me, but I kept forgetting to bring it to school. I washed it though. No worries.” 

Her gaze wavered between the scarf and me, settling on me in the end. “You can keep it.”

“You don’t want it back?”

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“I have a bunch of others at home, so you can hold onto it.”

I sat back down on my cushion, throwing the scarf around my neck. “If you’re sure. Thanks then.”

“You’re going to wear it now?” 

Shrugging my shoulders, I wrapped it tighter around my neck. “I’m a little cold.”

Nora snorted in response, but otherwise fell silent, refocusing on the school work in front of her. She had the right idea, as I had already burned about half of our time on pointless distractions. While not pointless, nothing that would prove helpful on our finals tomorrow either. I had a good start, blasting through some complex equations in math and managing to figure out how to balance the trickier chemical reactions. Soon enough I found my mind drifting, returning to its default state of contemplating Rika. They were weird thoughts I wouldn’t have the courage to mention aloud. Along the lines of how long her eyelashes were, or how cute she looked when she got upset and her nose scrunched up.

My phone buzzed, snapping me back to reality. A glance at the name told me Rika had texted me. It felt I had willed it into existence. That was ridiculous, however, so I quit being an idiot and read her message.

Rika: I’m feeling much better. Thanks for asking! How is your study session with Nora going? Doing anything naughty? ;)

How did she know about that? I messaged her back as much, content to disregard the entire last part of the text. My phone informed me that she read it, yet there was no typing on her end. I sighed, placing my phone back on the table. It wasn’t even that surprising that even when she was sick she enjoyed messing with me.

That side of hers was super cute too though. And this was getting to be a little much. I seriously needed to talk to Ethan once Nora went home.

“You’re not getting much done.”

“I got distracted,” I replied. “I’m also confused about what we’re supposed to figure out from these lab results.”

The girl scooted over next to me. While Nora looked through the problem, her arm brushed against mine, coming to rest next to it. I fought the urge to pull away, realizing this kind of casual contact meant nothing to her. She wasn’t going to freak out and hate me or whatever I had imagined back then. That being the case, I relaxed into her, enjoying the shared body heat in my otherwise chilly room.

“D-don’t lean on me…” She shifted away from me. “You’re too heavy.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Nora shook her head. “You didn’t. I just didn’t expect it. That’s all. So, don’t you start getting all mopey and weird about it.”

I chuckled. “I won’t. I learned my lesson at the fair.”

“Damn straight. Now, check out this graph, and I’ll explain about the solvent. It was kind of tricky when the teacher explained it.”

It was nice having Nora be my personal tutor. Her explanations were easy to understand, and her voice was soothing and relaxing to listen to whenever she was calm like this. It was difficult to study the same textbook with such a distance between us, so we gravitated to the same position as before. Neither of us mentioned it, and Nora leaned her weight on me instead, her shoulder resting against my chest. Sadly, all good things come to an end eventually.

Bonnie flung the door open. My poor wall bore the brunt of the damage, losing some paint chips in the assault. 

“Crap, don’t tell mom about this.” My sister casually swept some of the paint chips into the hallway with her foot. “Anyway, it’s been thirty minutes, so break it up! It’s time to play Ichi.”

Nora shrugged her shoulders, moving to the other side of the table once more. “We did promise her.”

Taking that as an affirmative, Bonnie slammed the deck of cards onto the table with no regard for any of our study materials. The cards were dealt out until we each had seven in our hands. 

“Since I’m feeling generous today, I’ll let one of you love-birds go first,” Bonnie said.

“You’re talking about us?” I asked.

“Duh. You two were all over each other.”

Nora came to our defense. “I was just explaining the results of a lab to him.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m eleven. Not stupid.”

I played an orange eight in an attempt to change the topic of our conversation to the game. It worked, and Bonnie played a blue eight atop the other one. Nora added a skip card to the growing pile, smirking in my direction.

“Now I remember why I hate this game.”

“A lover’s spat already?”

I poked at Bonnie, resigning myself to her teasing. It didn’t matter to me, and Nora didn’t seem to mind it either, so I let it be. After all, it wasn’t her who I was pining after. Don’t get me wrong. Nora was great, but she couldn’t hold a candle to Rika in my eyes. That had less to do with her and more to do with how big of a crush I had though.

Shaking my head, I acted upset when I was once again skipped, drawing some laughter from them. This was neither the time nor the place to be worried about all that. I had a game to lose terribly at the moment.

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