PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XLIV. Ravioli and Heart Palpitations

"I punched him."

Sammy gasped, "Eva!"

"It's my fault!"

"It was an accident!" They yelled at the same time.

Yaz chuckled, entering the conversation. "Hey Eva, I'm going on a run. Care to join?"

"Really?" Eva grinned. "I'd love to! Give me like—" she held up her hand, her fingers spread apart, "five minutes!"

"You got it."

Yaz walked around the table and took a seat on the other side of the bench Kenji sat on.

Eva went back to rubbing the now-dried blood off Kenji's face, doing her best to be soft with it. She didn't want to hurt his pretty little face with his pretty little features.

She looked away from him to Yaz, who was staring at her and smirking.

What? she mouthed.

Later, Yaz mouthed back.

Eva turned back to Kenji. "You're fine, Kenj. Try not to walk into my fist in the future."

"What if I want you cleaning my face again? You do it so soft, like a little sloth."

"Did you just call me slow?"

"No, sloths are cute," he defended.

Yaz asked with a grin, "Did you just call Eva cute?"

"M-maybe?"

"Oh please," Eva said, brushing it off. "We already know I'm hot."

"Your words, not mine," Kenji said.

"Actually, I remember this one time at Rutherford in the library—"

Kenji sprung to his feet and slapped his hand over Eva's mouth. "I don't know what you're about to say, but don't say it."

Eva licked his hand, causing him to pull it away and glare at her. "What, scared I'll give Yaz and Sammy incriminating evidence that I'm the hottest person you've met?"

"What happens in Rutherford stays in Rutherford."

"Okay, Mr. VIP." Eva mouthed gibberish at Yaz, and Kenji gasped, slapping his hand over her mouth again. Eva giggled in response.

~~~

Yaz tore through the jungle like a woman on a mission, but she also seemed so carefree with it, seeing as they weren't being chased by dinosaurs. Eva didn't have to put up much of a fight to match her pace; years of running cross country, running in lacrosse, and running from hungry dinosaurs put her into pretty good shape.

Yaz slowed down slightly and looked over her shoulder to Eva. Although, Eva was focused on the ground, her mind flooded with old memories of her and Kenji: all those nights spent locked away in the library, either due to research projects or studying together, accidentally passing out, and waking up locked inside; Mrs. Doche pairing Kenji and Eva together for every chemistry project they ever had; that time Eva nailed Kenji in the head with a fig bar at lunch, then had to pretend she didn't mean to throw that, watching as chaos engulfed the lunch room as a battle royale food fight began. She would never tell him she started that one, of course. She was sure getting hit by a flying fig bar, then engulfed into a huge food fight isn't the way anyone wants their day to go.

Eva was so lost in her own mind, she hadn't realized both her and Yaz had stopped running, until Yaz was snapping her fingers in front of her face to get her attention.

"Huh? Uh.... uh huh?" Eva didn't know what Yaz said, but hoped it wasn't a question.

"What's on your mind?" Yaz asked. "You're more spacey than usual."