“This is Richard,” I mused. “How…unexpected.”
We were all gathered in the main room, light spilling in. We sat in a half circle, staring at a few boards of information, pictures, and new articles, plus Ariadne and I’s architectural plans for the first two levels. Eames was pointing to a picture of a young man, probably about Dom’s age, with black hair and bright blue eyes. I studied him. He didn’t look as if he’d have a lot of money, but you never know. Perhaps it was inherited money, or something along those lines.
Cassie leaned into me from the left, whispering, “He’s pretty good looking!”
“He’s hot,” I agreed loudly. Dom scowled at me from across the room. I returned the face, and stuck my tongue out for good measure. “It’s true.”
Chandler leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. His blue eyes sparkled with some joke, though that was normal for him. He always seemed as though he was going to start laughing at any moment over some little joke he’s told himself or someone else. “I don’t know. I think I’m hotter.”
“Your modesty amazes me,” Arthur commented from the right side of me. He was leaning across to look at Chandler, nearly across my lap. “But perhaps we should focus on the job?”
“You’re just jealous.”
“Hardly.”
“I agree,” Eames claimed, seeing a way to get off the subject of serious things. I couldn’t help but laugh. Dom rolled his eyes at us, but didn’t attempt to stop the conversation. “You’re not very hot, Arthur.”
Arthur sat back in his chair, a scowl on his face. He smoothed back his hair with one hand, and I wondered if I should argue his cause. After all, he was pretty darn attractive. No one else seemed inclined to speak for him, so I made an executive decision. You know. For the good of Arthur. But there was also the bonus of ticking Dom off.
“I think Arthur’s really hot,” I piped up. This earned me a look from Eames, who clearly saw this as a treacherous move. Cassie was looking at me in amazement, and Chandler looked as though he was about to burst out laughing. “He is!”
Cassie started giggling, and I saw her eyes flick to Arthur. I followed them to his face, which was turning steadily pinker and pinker. He rolled his eyes at me and said nothing. I grinned innocently at him, which he ignored. I switched my gaze to Dom, who looked completely irritated. He pursed his lips, giving me a hard look. I widened my eyes, acting innocent.
“What’s wrong, Dom?”
“He wants to be told he’s pretty,” chortled Eames. This sent all of us into hysterics, much to Dom’s displeasure. I felt a twinge of guilt at his obvious discomfort. I leaned forward and smacked Eames stomach. He recoiled, clutching where I’d hit him. “Ouch! What was that for woman?”
“Enough,” I said seriously. He stared at me suspiciously, obviously trying to decide if I was being serious, or just faking it. I raised my eyebrows. “Try me, punk.”
“Yes, let’s get back to business,” Anna said quietly, almost quiet enough that I couldn’t hear her. I sent her a grateful smile. She smiled back, and I was struck by how pretty she was. Her dark hair was neatly coiled into a bun on the back of her head, and she held her slim frame up tall, increasing her height more. She seemed like Arthur’s type. Right there I felt a flicker of annoyance towards the girl, but I dismissed it.
“Anna’s right. I think we’ve annoyed Dom enough as it is.”
“Now you’re considerate,” he commented, though his face was more relaxed when he said this. “Eames, back to business, please.”
“Please, Eames, do this, do that,” Eames muttered quite loudly, but went back anyways. “Alright, alright. So obviously what we’re doing is extremely dangerous. And Dom hasn’t been getting much progress from the newbies in self defense with guns, so he’s decided to partner us up, so that no matter what, we’ll always have someone with us.” Eames patted his pockets for something. “Ah, Dom, do you – “
“Here,” Arthur passed forward a piece of paper. Eames took it and smoothed it out.
“Alright, here we go. Fortunately Chandler is alright with a gun, so we’ve put him with Cassie.”
I waggled my eyebrows at her, and she scowled at me. But still, she couldn’t hold back a smile. Eames ignored us, continuing.
“Anna, you’re with Arthur. Ariadne’s with me, and Alexia, you’re with Dom. Yusef will not be joining us in the dream, and most likely, Richard will hang out with Dom and Alexia, since Dom seems to think he is almighty and can do everything.”
“Maybe I should watch Cassie and Chandler too,” Arthur said. He leaned forward on his knees, arms crossed. “They’re new to this.”
“Chandler can handle himself, and I’m sure Cassie will be fine with him,” Dom said firmly. “Eames, continue.”
The meeting went on with pointless banter. The time spent on talking was somewhat stilted, as we needed Yusef present, and also Richard to finalize the plans. The dream was to take place in two weeks, in this very room. Eames was hard at work getting defense ready, since we’d be faced with much harder things down in Limbo, according to Dom.
I couldn’t help but silently worry about Robert Fischer’s mental health. Surely going this deep into his mind couldn’t be good for him. And it was the second time that Robert would be down in Limbo, since he too would be technically joining us. A fact that everyone seemed to be ignoring.
“Arthur, Arthur, can I talk to you?”
The dark haired man paused, glancing over his shoulder at me with the same brooding expression he wears when he’s deep in thought. I jogged forward, and his face relaxed slightly.
“What is it?”
“What are we going to do with Robert when we get in there?”
He pursed his lips in a puzzled frown. “Well, I suppose he’ll just hang about. The defense isn’t going to hurt him, so we don’t need to protect him. However…we do need to get the idea in his head.”
“Which is…?”
“To buy out another large company – we don’t know the name yet. Evidently it’s owned by Richard Prince, but the company is doing badly. If Robert buys it, it’ll put Richard in a good place. I think that the idea planting is just a ploy to get into the dream world, though.”
“Hm,” I continued walking in the direction that Arthur had been heading. He kept up with me easily, long legs much longer than mine. “It seems a little sketchy to me.”
“This whole job is sketchy,” he pointed out dryly. I rolled my eyes.
“Wow, thank you. I didn’t know that.”
“You don’t know a lot.”
“Neither do you.”
“So tell me something I don’t know,” he said. I looked forward. I didn’t know what he meant, or even if he was being serious. Of course, Arthur was always serious, so it was most likely that he actually did want me to say something he didn’t know.
“Like what?”
“Something about you. You came in here, and we brought you in, but we really don’t know anything about you. Why France?”
I thought about my answer before I responded, taking my time. “France… why not France? It’s pretty. I like the people well enough – though I hate the language, and I can’t speak it for my life, but why not? It was a good place to learn architecture.”
“A good, generic answer, congratulations.”
I sent him a scathing glare, which he smiled at. “Well, it’s true. You just gave me an answer that told me nothing about you.”
“That told you about me.”
“Only what I already know.”
“I’m a complicated person, I guess,” I dimpled, fluttering my eyelashes. “What about you, wise guy? You haven’t told me anything about you.”
“I don’t talk about me.”
“There you go, I don’t talk about myself either. So you really can’t complain.”
We kept walking in silence until we reached the end of the hallway and Arthur turned to me. “When I was young, I was in a car crash. I was in the back with my younger sister. My mom died. Soon after, my dad died too. Probably of sadness. After that, my sister and I were moved to my aunt’s until I was eighteen, and I moved out and took care of her as her legal guardian.”
“Wow,” I whispered. I didn’t know what to say to that. He had taken a risk and opened up. Shouldn’t I do the same for him? But no – I couldn’t. My past was locked away, and not coming back anytime soon. “I’m so sorry, Arthur. That’s a horrible thing to happen.”
“It was sad,” he said simply, no self pity. “But I’m okay now. Obviously.”
I gave a nervous laugh. “I feel like I should be spilling all my secrets to you now. Was that a trick?”
“Just using a little bit of psychology,” he admitted with a low chuckle. “Did it work?”
“I’ll let you know,” I allowed myself to laugh. We stopped at the end of the hallway when a door to our left swung open, revealing Dom, frowning and stressed. I tried to hold back a groan. Cranky and frowning seemed to be a constant state for Dom, and one that very few could pull him out of. I proceeded carefully. “Hello, Dom.”
“What are you two working on?” He asked. I resisted the urge to snap something back at him when I saw the dark circles under his eyes, and the stress lines crossing his forehead. So, I bit back my comments and tried to smile.
“Just discussing Richard is all, Dom. Do you need us elsewhere?”
He knew I was lying, I could tell. “Yes. Arthur, could you go help Eames gather information? After that I’ll need you to do some work with Richard. He gets in late tonight to start working on the job.”
“No problem,” Arthur replied. His face was back to the smooth, controlled mask he kept it in. He left us in the hall immediately, knowing better than to push Dom when he was stressed. I thought it was best to do the same.
“What do you need from me, Dom?”
“Just take a walk with me.”
He started walking, and I followed, as he probably expected. I didn’t know why he had me going for a walk with him, but it was best not to argue. We walked out of the building, and into the crowded streets. I trailed just behind him until we reached a slightly less crowded area, and a bridge overlooking the beautiful river. I couldn’t help but smile at the scene, and the adorable buildings lining the river.
“This place is so cute,” I commented. Dom glanced at me out of the corners of his eyes, a slight smile playing at his lips.
“Cute?”
“Adorable, charming, beautiful,” I drawled. “Take your pick.”
I could see the smile in his blue-grey eyes, and felt a small swell of pride. I’d made Dom happy – that was something not many people could say. “So, why are we taking a walk, huh? I thought there was a lot to do.”
“There is,” he answered, averting his eyes. “But I was stressed and needed to get out.”
“And I’m here because…?”
He shrugged, still staring out at the river. I watched his face carefully, even noting how the wind tousled his blonde hair around his face, pulling it out of its strict hairstyle. It made him look better. “I guess…I feel better when you’re around. Maybe it’s because you’re not worried about anything, and that carries over.”
“I’m worried about a lot of things,” I said. “I just choose not to show it.”
“It’s a good skill to have.”
“Shall I teach you how to have fun?” I laughed, only half joking. Which was why when he replied, “Yes,” I about had a heart attack. But he was completely serious. I was going to teach Dom Cobb how to have fun.