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Six stood under the porch overhang with his hands in his pockets, back leaned against the wall. Claire was putting her hair in braids, a towel dumped on the deck chair, clad in a string bikini. Six was of the opinion that girls her age shouldn’t wear those kinds of things in public, but he’d never say it aloud. This was hardly public, anyways, so it didn’t really count.
Claire secured the elastic and tossed her flip-flops off her feet. She bounded over to the stairs and stepped down into the pool.
“The water’s amazing!” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in?”
Six shook his head.
“Do you even own a bathing suit?” She put her hands on her hips and gave him a scolding look. Six smiled, huffing a breath out of his nose, and shook his head again.
“I thought as much,” Claire mumbled.
She splashed down into the water all at once, dunking her head under, and swam half the length of the pool before popping back up. She put her arms on the wall and glared at Six.
“You know it’d be pretty easy to fix that,” she said.
“Fix what?” Six asked through a grin.
“Ugh! You know what I mean.” Claire pushed off the wall and floated in the pool for a while.
It was the perfect day for it, really. Hot sun pouring down from a clear blue sky. The water probably felt amazing.
But that was a luxury Six couldn’t afford.
“What do you do for fun?” Claire was back at the edge. “And don’t tell me you don’t have fun, you’re not a robot! You have to have some kind of hobbies.”
Six shrugged.
“That’s not an answer!” Claire slapped her hands on the pool deck. Six grinned, stifling a laugh.
“What’s it matter what I like?” he asked.
“Because talking to you is boring! Being stuck here is boring! I’m a teenanger, I’m supposed to, like, have friends who can paint my nails and talk about boys, or whatever.”
“Okay.” Six nodded. “I can do that.”
“What? No! I mean—I’m holding you to the nail-painting, actually—but there’s no boys to talk about, anyways, so I need to know what you actually like!”
Claire huffed dramatically. Six tilted his head slightly to the left, but didn’t otherwise answer.
Claire narrowed her eyes.
“No way, are there boys to talk about?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Six said.
“I mean—you like boys? You’re gay?”
Six barely restrained an expression of surprise.
“I never said—”
“You are!”
“I’m not!”
“Oh, that got a reaction. This is where things get interesting.” Claire drummed her hands on the pool deck, giggling like an evil little genius. At least, that’s how Six heard it.
“No, it’s not,” Six said. “I don’t have relationships. End of story.”
“Don’t or can’t?” Claire asked.
“What difference does it make?”
“Oh there’s a difference alright.” Claire ducked down into the pool again and swam over to the steps, where she sat down, turned to face Six. “So. Spill.”
“Spill?” Six shook his head.
“You know… who was your celebrity crush growing up?” Claire asked with this devilish grin. Six shifted his weight between his feet.
“I don’t think I had one.”
“Come on, sure you did. Don’t be shy.”
Six opened his mouth, closed it, and looked away.
“Fine. Surely you had a school crush?” Claire went on. “You have to tell me about it, because I never got to go to normal school, so it’s only fair.”
“A school crush?” Six questioned.
“Yeah, a classmate you fancied. It’s textbook stuff. Even I know that’s how it goes.”
Six hummed.
“I guess…” He caught himself before he started and shook his head.
“No, come on! You have to tell me now!”
“No, I don’t.”
“Please! Please please please!” Claire clasped her hands together and pouted. It was so ridiculous, Six couldn’t help laughing.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, still smiling.
“Fine, yeah. I guess there was a girl I liked.”
“A girl?” Claire sounded surprised. “Okay, what did you like about her?”
“I don’t know. She was just nice to me. I wanted to be her friend.”
Claire gave him a scornful look.
“That’s not a crush!” she said.
Six shrugged.
“Then I guess I never had one.”
“That’s not possible. Stop beating around the bush!”
“I’m not!” Six snapped, a hint of anger slipping out. Claire looked startled, and Six clenched his jaw, guilt burning in his chest.
He stepped back towards the wall. When had he even moved towards her?
“Okay, okay. I get it. You don’t have relationships.”
Six nodded.
“But if you did…?” Claire tapped her fingers on the water’s surface. Dropples sprayed up between her knuckles.
“What?” Six asked. “What if I did?”
“What kind of person would you want to date?”
She sounded sincere this time. Genuinely curious. Not trying to get a rise out of Six or gossip like in the movies she watched. This was the lonely little girl with no friends talking, now. Six owed that girl an honest answer.
“Um. Someone…” He really had to think about it. He never let himself think about this. He never felt that way about someone before prison, and after, he wasn’t allowed to, so he followed the rules.
“Someone gentle,” he said.
“Oh?”
“I deal with plenty of hardasses, and it gets boring.” Six shrugged. “It’d be nice to just feel relaxed around someone.”
“Hm. That makes sense.” Claire nodded slowly. Then, without another word, she went back to swimming.
Six let out a breath. His heart rate was elevated. That was odd. There was no danger, just an awkward conversation.
But it made him wonder. Was he that unusual, to accept the “no relationships” rule so easily? Was it so strange to never find celebrities attractive or crush on his classmates?
Was he more of a robot than he thought?
Claire flopped onto her back, floating in the deep end, and sprayed water out of her mouth. Six laughed and shook his head, that warm feeling spreading in his chest. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he’d let himself get so fond of this kid. Or maybe it happened despite his best efforts against it.
No. Not a robot.
Just Six.