✏️ Under One Roof

18. One Friend

He paused, and she could see long words lining up behind his eyes. There was a lot he wanted to share, and he clearly wanted to put the thoughts into some kind of order before he could say them aloud. But just when it seemed he was about to open his mouth:

"This is Moistville University," the tinny voice came from the speaker in the corner again. "We are now stopping at Moistville University. Passengers with bicycles should alight here for Moistville, as the elevators at Moistville Junction are undergoing maintenance. I repeat, passengers requiring step-free access should disembark here for Moistville. This is Moistville University."

The doors slid open as soon as the train was fully stopped, and then the message started to repeat. Ness was already gathering up his bag and checking that he hadn't dropped anything, and whatever that strange moment had been, it had passed now.

Tegan found herself thinking again about how best to deal with Ness as they disembarked. She didn't really want to hurt him, not after everything he had suffered. But he had made her wet herself twice now; maybe three times if a little leak had been his fault too. She couldn't let him think it was okay to keep picking on her, and she absolutely couldn't let him get to know any of her friends and start rumours about her. And that was where a new plan started to form in her mind. She already knew that he hadn't had any friends through most of his high school years, having to be home schooled thanks to unspecified behavioural issues. So he would probably have problems making friends again, maybe driving people away if he hadn't learned to control his temper. So she could try to help him, for some interpretations of "help". She could sabotage his social life, and make sure that the people he talked to would never trust what he said. It felt a little cruel, perhaps, but he'd made her wet the bed. This was nothing in comparison, especially if he was already used to not having people to talk to.

"You looking forward to making new friends at university?" she asked him as they stepped down onto the platform. "I heard you didn't know many people lately, and we're both new to the area, so maybe we should stick together a little longer. Put the pranks behind us. I mean... we're going to be on the train together every day, we should try to make friends. If I help you to integrate into the social side of studies, would that make up for the things I said when I didn't know what happened?"

She offered her hand to shake. Ness hesitated for a second, like he was going to march away angry, but then took her hand.

"I'm not that sure I want to have friends," he said slowly. "I mean, there's a part of me that just thinks... Look, I just want you to understand, right? Yeah, I'm going to push you away. But it's nothing personal, it's not something you need to get even for, or whatever you're thinking of. It's just that I don't need to be surrounded by people who won't be there when I need them. I have no intention of being your friend. I've got my studies, and my books. That's enough. I don't need friends as well. It's not a problem with you at all, it's just me being... You know what I mean there. It's not because of anything you've done, it's just that I don't think I need friends. But we can still be civil. After all, if we're going to be spending months or years of our lives under the same roof, we should at least be comfortable in the same place," Tegan found herself nodding in time with his steady pumping of her hand. His voice was falling back into a regular cadence now, with all the nervousness evaporating, and he sounded a lot more certain about what he was saying.

That was only natural, of course. The things he was saying were so logical, and so natural, that it was impossible to imagine disagreeing with even a word. She just kept on nodding, shaking his hand, and answering any questions he asked. She didn't need to think about those questions too much, they were all about mundane things like how she planned to find friends, and her plans to sabotage his social life. As much as she was thinking about anything at that point, Tegan got the impression that he was somewhat amused as she laid out her schemes. But for the most part she was just listening to him speak, the words a steady monotone so dull that it was hard to remember what he'd said just a few minutes later. It was all common sense anyway, so there wasn't really so much of a reason to think about it.