Re: [Open - 1-2] Recovery

Li Riley |

Hmmmm, Mr. Lonely was a bit weirded out. I wondered where he was from, actually. He was acting like no one had ever made small talk with him before. Wasn't that a typical American thing? Small talk? I'd been casually talked to in places like this since I was old enough for it not to be creepy. No one ever expected anything of it, and personal things were obviously too much to talk about with strangers. But small talk? That was typical. And apparently, this guy didn't really pick that up.

I just sort of looked at him and smirked, shaking my head a little bit. "Well, hopefully, things will get better soon."

I raised two fingers to get the bar attendant to come over, talking to Arturo at the same time. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Arturo Hernandez |

I shrugged when Li said things would get better. I wanted time to think and be alone and drink, but the woman was speaking to me and I could not just brush her off. What if she was having a bad day? She was just trying to be nice to me, I thought. I did not look at her when she talked, but at her hand as she waved the man who had served me over. She was familiar with these kinds of places. It was clear in the way she acted. She spoke to me without invitation and understood how to get the bar tender's attention and spoke to other men freely.

Uh... originally I am from Mexico. I said, in response to her question. I had found that most people could tell that I was not American-born. I generally thought that it was my heavily accented English that gave it away, although Avery had helped me much with grammar and the custom of the Americans.

I thought about Avery. Maybe she would be willing to help me with my problems. Without Natalia I did not know what I was going to do. Should I return to Mexico? I had become familiar with my life in Index. I knew every part of my small home well. I had friends in my place of work. I had even been through the cold winters that we did not experience in Reynosa.