She looked between their hands. “Mainly dark blue. There’s a tiny bit of white specks. Lighter blue and black are there too. I sometimes test the colors on my wrist but i tried not to do that this time.” She explained. “You could see them you know?”
"I know," Lotus responded their words clipped. They put heir hands more towards their body and fervently looked at the table, "I'm, I'm just not ready ok?"
Cat nodded. “Ok just let me know if you change your mind,” she said looking up at her. She tried to sound nonchalant. Like she didn’t really want her to look into her eyes right now and hold her hand. Cat closed her eyes for a second but then opened them again.
“I will,” Lotus responded their body slumped a little. They felt bad for being so defensive, but otherwise Cat would push them further. They weren’t in the mood for a sensory overload today and based off of everything Myrah and Cat had said that definitely would happen if suddenly she could see in color.
Cat nodded her smile slightly strained. “So um why didn’t you want to find your soulmate,” she asked after a moment of hesitation. She looked down at the table.
Lotus froze a moment and took a breath. Their mind reeled whether, to tell the truth, or a lie to Cat and in its reeling, they ended up getting caught on their words, "It's, it's, it's complicated okay?"
Cat nodded. “Ok if you want to talk about it I’m here though,” she said. Looking back down at the table. Tapping it slightly.
"Thank you," Lotus let out a sigh of relief. There was too much emotional baggage that came with that question and it never failed to start the overload. They could see the lights flare slightly, but took a breath hoping to be able to stay a little longer, "What about your favorite color?"
“Dark blue. It’s why I still use the marker even if it’s slightly broken,” She admits. She looked up from the table and at Lotus. Her finger still tapped but it was soft and didn’t make much sound.
Lotus could hear the tapping clearly even if it was still soft. They gave a nod, "It's a good color."
“Yeah…” she trailed off going silent again. She didn’t even realize that her finger was tapping and her leg bounced slightly.
Lotus went quiet hoping Cat would come up with some other topic of conversation. They had nothing in their head as most of it was being put towards calming down.
“Umm what do you do for fun?” She asked looking up. Her question sounded stupid to her but she did want to know. Lotus new that she drew but Cat didn’t know anything.
"I, uh, program games and other stuff. Like a lot," Lotus started becoming a bit more relaxed, "Actually a lot is a lie. I spend 90% of my free time programming. The other 10% is sleeping, eating, and playing video games."
Cat nodded. "That sounds really cool. What type of games do you grogram and play?" She asked sitting at the edge of her chair. She smiled wide actually interested.
Lotus looked up slightly to see Cat's smile. They gained a smile of their own, "Personally I like to play and program strategy games, but I also love to play role-playing games and mmorpgs. I would love at some point to make an rpg, but I'm not there yet. It's just me working on everything and I'm building funds to make myself a company after college."
Cat smiled. "I don't know what any of those acronyms are," She said laughing slightly. "Do you know what college you're going too?" Cat didn't have any plans for after high school. She didn't even know if she was actually going to finish high school.
"I'm hoping to go to MIT. Ya know, Massachusetts' Institue of Technology" Lotus admitted with a shrug and a sigh, "I've applied and all that, but I'm worried they aren't going to accept me. There a probably hundreds of students out there that are way better than me."
"I bet you'll get in. You seem really smart. I'd love to see or even play a game that you made," She said smiling. Her tapping had completely stopped and she was leaning on the table.
Lotus gave her a slight side smile. They reached for where their bag usually was only for it not to be there, "Yeah, I might. Oh hey maybe you can… Um, I left my laptop at home. Sorry."
"That's ok maybe next time," She said folding her hands. "Does your sister go to our school?"
"No," Lotus shook their head lightly, "She's going to an art school in the city. It doesn't stop her from dropping in every once and while."
Cat nodded. "I can see that," She laughed. "I tried getting into a school like that. It was a boarding school. I won a scholarship but they declined my application." Her hand started tapping again.
"How does a school give you a scholarship, but then deny your application?" Lotus asked in slight worry and disbelief.
background checks that's why she thought but just shugged. "My art was good enough but my grades where trash." that wasn't entirely true. she had mainly As and Bs then. Her grades didn't start dropping until after she was declined.
"Oh," Lotus responded a little soft. They hadn't been expecting that, "Well I could maybe help?"
Cat shrugged. "thanks but its too late now. We only have like a semester left," She said. She turns 18 even sooner.
"Yeah, but there's always times to turn grades around," Lotus responded to Cat. They knew their birthday was coming up quickly, like a few days quickly. Lord they would be 18 soon.
Cat shrugged, "Maybe." She said. "You're wicked smart though so I guess if anyone could help me it would be you." Her smile had fallen slightly but now it's back and growing
Lotus gave her a smile. They looked back up at Cat, but never met her eyes, "I'm not wicked or not super smart. I'm just smart. But yeah I could help you. What time works best?"