A Shot in the Dark - Train Heartnet

Chapter #13

“Oh, do you find this funny?” She asked as she started to climb out of the cart. There was a bunch of squished fruit on her arm and she violently shook it trying to shake it off. She wasn’t paying attention and slipped on some juice on the ground causing her to fall backwards. She waved her arms around wildly trying to get her balance back but lost it altogether and fell back into the cart.

That was it. You blurted out your wild laughter, leaning forwards and hugging your gut. She looked up at you without amusement. You continued to laugh though not caring.

“My god, that was hilarious! I am so sorry!” You laughed through you desperate attempts to breathe. After a moment, she started to giggle slightly before she full on laughed along with you. The vendor watched you both like you were crazy people.

“You are going to have to pay for that.” The man said and you nodded pulling out some cash from your wallet after freeing Falene from the cart. The vendor counted it out eyeing you curiously by the amount of cash you were carrying. You turned away from him nonchalantly. That look was nothing new. After your laughter finally started to fade, Falene straightened out her clothes and coughed once.

“Well, come on then.” She said returning to Cat’s Eye. “We have places to go.” She still had a small smirk on her face as she walked by you and you smiled in response. She was finally coming around. This was the first moment you had had with her that made you feel like she didn’t hate having you around. It made you think that she might actually call you her friend some day.

A Few Days Later

You sat down in front of Falene as she cleaned her gun and watched her intently. She glanced at you through hooded eyes seeming to know you had something you wanted to say. You had recently read a new book that was about a guy and girl falling in love. The female protagonist has a strong resemblance to Falene in the beginning with both personality and physical appearance. It made you wonder how she would be in that situation and it had been on your mind for the past hour. You couldn’t picture her in love with someone.

She looked back to her gun and remained silent not feeling any need to pull it out of you. If you decided you wanted to talk about it you would do just that. She had learnt that you weren't shy over her time as your mentor.

"I have something I'd like to ask you." You said abruptly. She looked back to you calmly meeting your determined eyes. She wore an expression that said ‘how exhausting’.

"I have a feeling you aren't giving me an option." She said returning her gaze to her gun as she cleaned out the barrel. You leaned forwards your eyes boring through her with a quizzical stare.

"Have you ever been in love?"

"No." She responded immediately. You sat back unsatisfied.

"Really?" You asked watching her unhappily. She kept her eyes on her gun as she started sliding the now clean pieces back together. "Never?"

"Never." She repeated loading it and pointing it to the side examining the gun for any imperfections.

"Has anyone ever been in love with you?" You asked leaning onto your elbows. She shook her head and took aim.

“Not that I’m aware of.” She said and pulled the trigger back nicking a flower vase about 3 inches off from where she was aiming. "Calibration is still off." She said mostly to herself and started adjusting it again. You kept your eyes on her still mulling over this knew information. She risked a glance in your direction catching your unhappy expression. "What?" She asked curiously.