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As Nate strolled out, headed for the pub downstairs, Parker spoke from where she’d perched herself on the kitchen counter. “You know, Sophie would have really liked this job.”
Sophie threw up both hands, looking at the boys for assistance only to watch them slink out of the room, familiar expressions of bemusement on their faces. Hardison was even waving his hands in the classic, ‘Dude, I am not even gonna try,’ gesture that was so often associated with things the little blond thief said. Sophie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the more pressing matter. “Parker, for the last time. I’m not dead.”
“Oh. Right.” Parker didn’t sound reassured, kicking the heels of her Converse against the counter and continuing to pick through the bowl of Chex Mix. Sophie lifted herself off the couch and took several measured steps forward. Bagel chips smacked against her toes and legs gently.
“Parker. Really. I’m not dead. I - would you stop doing that?” Sophie shielded her face with her hands and moved more quickly, reaching out and snatching the bowl of Chex Mix away. Parker frowned down at her empty hands. “Parker.”
The girl blinked up at her through her bangs. “Yeah?”
“Why do you keep saying I’m dead?”
“Not you. Sophie.” Parker picked a few pretzels out of the bowl in Sophie’s suddenly numb hands, as Sophie tried to process what Parker was saying. Had she overheard the conversation with Nate, in the cemetery? She hadn’t even had her comm in at the time, but maybe Nate... “I don’t know how you do it,” Parker continued mildly, carefully biting the middle section out of a pretzel and holding the remaining piece up to the bridge of her nose, like a tiny pair of glasses. “Have so many. I only have Annie.”
“Alice,” Sophie corrected automatically, sliding the bowl of Chex Mix onto the counter and leaning her hip against it.
“Right.” Parker ate her pretzel glasses. “I try, with her. But she only has that one friend, and her job is really boring. And she’s still a vegetarian,” she added, wrinkling her nose.
“Parker, you know you can -”
“I mean, I’m trying to be like you, like with Nate, but -”
“What?” Sophie blinked, squinting at Parker’s face.
The blond calmly folded her legs up underneath her, hands wrapped around the toes of her shoes, flexing her ankles out like a ballerina, perfectly en pointe. “The way you are with Nate.”
“You mean, with Hardison.” Parker rocked back and forth at the name, minutely, and Sophie held her breath, unsure but suddenly afraid she understood. “Parker, do you really even like Hardison?”
Parker’s lips quirked downwards, frowning as her long fingers picked gently at her shoelaces. “He’s not like you, you know,” she said finally, pursing her lips. Her shoulders swayed away from Sophie, a slight blush creeping across her cheekbones. “He’s honest. And he looks at me.”
“Parker, I look at you.” Sophie turned, her hip rolling along the counter. The move brought her centimeters closer, just close enough that she could feel the heat of Parker’s leg through her black trousers. “I look at you,” she repeated, firmly.
“No. Sophie looks at me. Or Katherine. Or Charlotte.” Parker smiled a little bit, genuinely despite the blush that kept gently rolling across her face. “It’s like when I’m lifting a watch or something, you know? I’m right there on your shoulder but... you don’t really see what I’m doing at all. That’s when I - that’s when everything is okay.”
Sophie reached out to touch Parker’s shoulder but the girl flinched. It wasn’t an obvious movement, and as Sophie pulled her hand back she wondered if anyone else would have caught it; if Hardison would have caught it. She licked her lips and tried to assimilate the massive amount of information Parker had just allowed her. What she realized, in that split second, is that she had no idea what to do. What she would do. So she took a deep breath, and asked. “So now that I’ve killed Sophie... who do you think I am?”
“I don’t know yet.” Parker grinned, chin tipping upwards. “Sophie was pretty fun, though, right?”
Sophie laughed and reached across Parker to grab a handful of Chex Mix. “She was, yeah?” she agreed mildly, pretending that she had not noticed the way that Parker stiffened, or the fact that her ribs were now pressed gently against Parker’s knee. She crunched down hard on a bagel chip and did not look in Parker’s direction.
After a few seconds, another bagel chip plinked gently into her cupped palm. Sophie felt the corners of her lips curve up in an involuntary smile, and snuck a glance over at Parker’s face, just in time to meet her eyes. Parker smiled back at her, blushing again.