Do You Even Know What A Friend Is?

Claire didn't understand this guy at all. How could Six say the closest thing he ever had to a friend was her so cavalierly after he had been assigned to kill her?

It wasn't like they really did anything during their time together aside from watch TV and play phone games. And that was only to have something to do other than sit around in horribly awkward silence.

"Do you even know what a friend is?" she blurted, unable to stop herself.

Six blinked at her. "Friends are people you find interesting, aren't they?"

He had such a skewed view of friendship! No wonder he hadn't ever had any. Claire wasn't the most social person herself but she'd had friends in the past and she was on good terms with her coworkers.

She had never been overly close to anyone aside from her mother, who had been her best friend, so she wasn't the best person to teach him. No one else was going to do it though so she had to try.

"Friends are people you spend time with and have fun with," Claire explained. "But once you become close enough, friendship involves trust, loyalty, love, affection, and respect. I've never had any close friends but I've heard about people whose friends are always there for them in a crisis and support each other no matter what."

She felt like she was rambling. Who was she to teach this human weapon about friendship when she didn't know much about it herself? She had never gotten past the 'spend time with and have fun with' phase of friendship.

Ever since her mom died she had basically given up on the concept of real friendship. Whatever friends she did have before it happened weren't close enough to her to offer any real support when her life fell apart.

Six narrowed his eyes at her. "…I didn't understand more than half of what you said."

Claire sighed. Neither had she, honestly. "Don't worry about it. My point is that I was surprised because we don't fit the definition of friends that I know."

"But I do spend time with you and have fun with you."

Ah, she had said that hadn't she? But that was the most basic minimum requirement for friendship! You could spend time with and have fun with acquaintances too. It took more than that to develop an actual friendship.

How could she be expected to consider someone who had been paid to kill her as a friend?! She didn't want to make him angry though either…if she said that they friends, would it increase her chances of survival?

Claire knew Six's reasons for protecting her were flimsy at best. She would say or do anything to make them more solid.

"I only meant that we haven't spent that much time together yet," she said quickly. "We're well on our way to being friends already."

He gave her a grunt of acknowledgement and didn't say anything for a while, returning to his phone to play more Angry Birds. When he did speak, it was to ask an unexpected question. "Those words you said earlier…I only recognized trust. What do they mean?"

Claire had to think for a minute to remember what she said when listing attributes of friendship. Loyalty, affection, respect, and love. He really didn't know any of those words? What kind of education had he received?!

She scrutinized his blank expression closely and realized that they had probably trained him to be emotionless as possible. Words like that were too tied into strong emotions so they probably didn't tell him on purpose.

How come she ended up stuck teaching a grown man what very basic emotional concepts were? She had never explained anything like this before; it was hard to put into words!

"Well, respect is deeply admiring someone for abilities or qualities they have. For example, I respect my supervisor at work because he's a talented pharmacist whose lead is easy to follow," Claire began.

"Loyalty is showing firm and constant support to someone or something. Because I was raised here, I'm loyal to the local sports teams and cheer for them even if they aren't doing so well during a given season.

"If you feel affection for someone, it means you really like them and are fond of them. Love is sort of like a more intense version of affection. I'm sorry I'm not good at explaining things like this. Love isn't an easy thing to define."

Six looked up from his phone with an air of understanding. "Would love be similar to attachment? I noticed you are rather attached to your cat."

Attachment was certainly part of it. Claire supposed that might be the most he was capable of understanding at this point. It was a start, anyway. Someone who had been deprived of any form of affection their entire life would need to take baby steps for such a broad, difficult concept.

"Yes! I love Daisy. Good deduction, Six."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

What sort of question was that? How was she supposed to quantify her love for her cat? Didn't everyone who had pets love them?

"It's a thing that people do? They love their pets. There isn't a specific reason for it; it's just the way things are. Pets are a part of the family and people love their families," Claire said lamely.

Six looked at her funny. "You mentioned before that she was the only family you had left. What happened to the rest of them?"

She wasn't prepared for his bluntness. Normal people didn't ask such potentially painful personal questions; they were able to take a hint and know not to say anything. A dull ache filled her chest at the reminder that she was basically all alone in the world.

"I only ever had a mom. She died when I was sixteen and I was completely alone for a couple years until I adopted Daisy from an animal shelter. Nobody wanted her and I didn't have anybody left so we became each other's family," Claire said quietly, wrapping her arms around her knees as she pulled them to her chest.