Pythagoras' Theorem (Part Two)

My frustrations didn't subside into the next day. They only seemed to compound at lunch. I was barely able to enjoy the burger I was chewing on, partially because I was still annoyed at Laura.

Julian smirked at the raincloud over my head, "Still mad about the thing with the clone," He asked, knowing full well what my problem was.

"Yes," I droned in between bites of my food, "Also, shut up," Julian, Santo, and even Eddie got a few laughs.

In addition to my own personal issues, my mood was partially because out of the corner of my eye I could see Cessily giving me some look a few degrees shy of a stink eye. It hadn't been the only day I'd noticed. It had been like that for a few days now. It just so happened that on this day, I was pissed off enough in general to make a thing out of it.

"...What?" I barked, without even turning my head in her direction.

Everyone at the table perked up when I said it, which was what I wanted. Cessily was the only one who responded, confirming some semblance of guilt, "Nothing," She feigned innocence.

I sighed and set my sandwich aside, "No, seriously, what?" I asked, this time turning to face her fully, "I'm not dumb, Cess. You've been giving me some kind of look for the last few days when you think I'm not paying attention. I just figured you would have said something by now."

"Oh, so you notice when I'm looking at you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I'm not picking sides."

I didn't even pretend to know what that meant, and that made me angry. And yet, there was nothing I could do. If someone wasn't keen on talking, I couldn't make them.

No longer feeling hungry, I stood, tray in hand to throw my stuff out and leave, "Okay, I'm only going to say this one more time. One. More. Time," I emphasized obnoxiously, before getting to my point, "If I don't know what I did wrong, not telling me about it isn't going to help me fix it."

With that, I went to leave, only for a metallic hand on my arm to stop me, "Bel, don't go," I turned around, giving Cessily a chance to speak her piece, "It's just... you seriously can't see it?"

I raised an eyebrow before sitting back down in my seat, "I am a bonafide space cowboy, an aficionado of superhero combat, a gangster of love-."

Julian, tired of hearing me talk myself up, cut me off there, "Is there a point to this listing of your many virtues?"

"Aw, why'd you stop him?" Eddie asked from where he sat next to Cessily, "I wanted to see how many he could come up with before he ran out of steam."

I looked at Julian with a bored expression, "Yeah, there are lots of things I suck and blow at. I'm not omniscient, for one," With that, I turned back to Cessily, "I'm not asking anyone to tell me what to do to fix my problems, but goddamn, what am I supposed to do when I don't even know what the problem is?" I made a note to look Sooraya's way to apologize, "I'm sorry for the profanity."

Santo chuckled, "Don't apologize, Marcher. Sooraya hears worse than that every day from the rest of us. You say worse than that to the rest of us."

He had a good point. Still, something felt wrong about being the usual scoundrel I was around Sooraya, "Yeah, but I respect her. I feel bad being 'me' around good people who are actually nice to me."

Through the eyes of her niqab, it seemed like Sooraya was smiling, "Your consideration is very much appreciated, Bellamy."

I put my hand over my heart and nodded, "Thank you. It's very hard not to run amok as much as I'd like," I was only half-joking. Being a decent person was hard.

Cessily took offense and jabbed me in the arm with a metal finger. It was like getting poked with a ball-point pen, "Hey, I'm nice to you."

I rubbed at the brand-new red spot on my bicep from where I got poked, "You're usually nice to me. But you're hiding something right now and begrudging me for it, so spill."

"It's... not my place to tell," She said sheepishly, turning her eyes away from me.

I was stunned. I felt my mouth fall open before I regained my composure and schooled my expression into what I liked to call the 'disappointed dad', "So you won't tell me what I did, or who I did it to, but you're still mad at me?"

Cessily laughed in a way that if I didn't know any better sounded nervous, "Hey, what can I say?"

All of that stuff I just talked about, for starters.

Eddie, knowing full well where his bread would be buttered for the foreseeable future, sided with Cessily on this one, "Yeah, girls are complicated, Bel."

Oh, so that was all it took to lose my hype man? Honestly, I should have seen it coming, "You shut your traitorous mouth, I'm tending to some business here," I said, pointing at Eddie before turning back to a stunned Cessily, "Now, what do I have to give you to get what I want to know?"

Before Cessily could say anything, Eddie slid between the two of us, almost protectively, "Let me handle this," He told her before putting on his game face to deal with me, "She won't come off of those details without you paying in full for our next date."

Sooraya seemed more amazed by this than I was. Again, I should have seen it coming, "Are... you extorting your team leader?" She asked.

"Absolutely, I am," Eddie replied with no shame, "So, boss, what do you think about those terms?"

I was ready to wheel and deal with a counteroffer, but Cessily put a stop to all of our deal-making, "Eddie, no," She rebuked him, before addressing me, "I really can't tell you, Bel. It's not about me."

Of course, it wasn't. I didn't need her to tell me that, "Duh. It's a Laura thing," Cessily seemed surprised that I knew that, "What. I told you, I'm not dumb. I don't remember doing anything to you, and you only start giving me that look whenever my issues with her come up."

"I still can't tell you what's going on."

Okay, fine. Enough being patient and nice, "I guess we're doing this the hard way," I pulled out my phone and found my A.I. friend's number, giving him a quick call, "Saberwolf, where's Laura? I know you know," I dared him to say otherwise, not that he knew that.

"I was not aware that it was a secret," He said over the line, "She is in the forest, at the southern shore of Breakstone Lake. 1.1 miles away from your current location."

The ease of that communication put me in a more chipper mood, "Killer. Thanks, buddy! Catch you later."

Before I could get out of there, Cessily again went to stop me, this time getting in front of me entirely, "Bel, you can't just confront her about it!"

"Why the fuck not? Sorry," I quickly apologized to Sooraya again, before continuing my tirade, "This is how I deal with my problems – by facing them head on and making them go away, or learning to accept them."

"That's not how she deals with her problems."

Oh, I'd noticed. The thing was, Laura tried not to deal with problems that she couldn't liquidate. She ran from them. If the solution required more tact or introspection than anything a person raised from birth to be a living weapon was trained to deal with, she wasn't able to handle it, and it didn't look like she was interested in learning how to, even with help.

I'd given her time. I'd given her space. I'd been calm, I'd been cool. I'd tried to ignore it, and granted, with the future son coming back in time to kill me, it hadn't been that difficult. But now, I had nothing life-threatening to occupy the bulk of my thinking, giving me plenty of time to stew over this. That would not stand.

I gently took Cessily by the shoulders, and guided her out of my direct path. Granted, a more dramatic thing to do than simply going around her, but I was a theatrical guy, "Cessily, stop enabling," I said, finally going to leave for good.

Her reaction was amazing. Her brain couldn't process what I'd said fast enough. It wasn't until I'd taken a few steps that I heard anyone say anything else, "Way to be an asshole, Marcher!"

"Yes, I'm an asshole! Sorry," I said, pausing momentarily again for dropping a hard curse in front of Sooraya, "But I get things done, and I'm gonna get this done too! Because that's what I do!"

"-Except for when you make things worse."

"-Except for when I make things worse! Thank you, Julian!" I said in parting as I went to get rid of my tray. As I left, I tried to ignore the fact that I'd given the cafeteria a free performance to entertain them with for a few seconds.