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“Do you know of any good tattoo parlors?”
***
SMASH.
I sat up from my bed, pointing the gun directly in the face of… “Goddamn it, Helen! I could have killed you!”
“Don’t worry, I’m used to it,” she said, standing at the edge of my bed wearing a skin-tight leather Amazonian Wonder Woman costume, complete with gladiator sandals, armbands, gloves, and even the damn crown tucked under dark-brown curls. “I know! I look amazing! I would have killed it at Fall Con this year!”
Without a word to her as she sat down next to me, I flic
ked my fingers, glancing over to the digits that hovered over my beside table. I stared and stared before turning looking back to her.
“Helen… It’s two in morning,” I whispered.
“And it’s seven in the morning in London,” she went on as if she did not see the problem here, taking her time to unzip her sandals and one by one take of her costume accessories. “Fall Con, starts at ten. All week I’ve been stuck in business meetings listening to old farts try to explain to me, to me, of all people, Helen B. Callahan,”
“B?” I paused as my brain slowly began to wake up. “You don’t have a middle name…”
“Rub it in, why don’t you,” she pulled off her armbands and tossing them on the floor. “The B stands for badass. Helen Badass Callahan.”
“If you have to tell people you’re a badass, the chances are you aren’t as badass as you might think.”
“Man, you’re cranky.” She pouted, tossing her shin guards next.
“I should be! It’s two in the morning!”
“Was it the same dream you were having? You looked sad.”
“Get out.”
“Where was I?” she went on. “Right, me, the genius computer scientist and programmer not genius in the ‘oh, I’m being facetious type genius,’ but real ‘I have certification genius,’ with cyber security of public-key cryptosystems. One of them had the nerve to bring up the RSA algorithm! RSA? That came out in 1977, our parents weren’t even alive! Grandma was probably just learning how to use a fork then!”
“You do realize I still have a gun in my hand, Helen, right?” I said it as if I were begging her, pleading for her to go to London or the moon, or anywhere else that was not my damn bedroom at two in the fucking morning.
“Yeah about that…” She grabbed the gun and quickly took it apart, putting it on my bedside table before getting up… Naked with the exception of her black short spandex shorts which were more like underwear. She looked amazing; every part of her was toned, her brown skin was flawless, not a single freckle or mismatched tone in sight. She walked…no, skipped into my closet. Grabbing my phone, I turned off all the lights she’d turned on.
“HEY!”
“Go to your own room!” Geez. The only person who could ever get away with this was Helen. My certificated genius, fast-talking, nauseatingly beautiful, computer nerd, comic, manga, anime, all things Netflix loving cousin, Helen. If your last name was Callahan, you were not normal. However, the least normal among us all was Helen. Because we were so close in age, and grew up surrounded by boys, we grew up as close as sisters. She was weird not because she was both a beauty and the geek but because she was like sunshine. Nothing really darkened her mood…and she had plenty to be depressed about. But nope, she went on as if she hardly noticed any of the negativity; it was fucking weird.
“Your bed is more comfortable,” she yawned as she lifted my sheets up and hopped right in next to me.
“We have the same type of bed! Ah! You’re cold, Helen!” I yelled, trying to kick her away.
But she curled up right beside me. “It’s your fault!”
“How? How in the hell is me trying to sleep in my own damn bed the reason you are—”
“You killed Tobias,” she whispered, and I went still… It was like I’d forgotten and then remembered all over again. I stared up at the wooden canopy of my bed. “I’ve been gone for only a month… I was supposed to just pop back into the city to say hi, yes I’m still alive if anyone was wondering before leaving again. I’d even gotten all dressed up, when I got word from Wyatt about what happened… I gave up Fall Con for you, Dona, you should feel honored.”
Trying not to smile, I rolled to my side to face her, her big brown eyes staring directly into mine as she smiled back.
“Helen, I’m…”
“You killed Tobias.”
I sighed; “Yes, I did.”
