Deduction | A SEVEN

What had been a trip of fulfilling nostalgia had quickly spiralled into dread by one single person.

I'd aimed to keep Garren in the living room area but he just gaited past it and barged into my bedroom. So there he was, standing in the centre of my childhood domain silently inspecting every inch while I sat at the bed, uneasy.

"God, this place is depressing." Garren frowned. "Your parents have some tact to ship you out of here, I'll give them that."

"I'm actually very content to grow up here,” I said.

"What I can't figure out is where the bathroom is in this peanut shell." He spun around, eyes scouring. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Me and my parents use the one at the corridor next to the kitchen."

Garren's eyes were wide in disgust. "You share a bathroom?"

"Yes, now could you explain why you're here?"

"I told you not to waste time and you had me waiting for over seventy two hours."

"Oh my god." I groaned. "For the last time, I'm not going to change my mind. How did you even know where I was?"

In the school documents when I'd been admitted, my uncle's hotel address had been written. They only mentioned my parent's bakery along with their numbers. He would've had to known I was planning to visit this week too but how?

"Like I told your folks— research," he replied.

"Well, you've only wasted your precious time by coming all the way out here because I am not joining your cult," I said firmly.

I expected a scowl or a glimmer of annoyance on his expression but it remained nonchalant. It made it hard to try acting stern so he'd go away.

I ended up being the one to break eye contact. "Can you just leave, please?"

"Not until I make you realise how ridiculous you are to try to turn down my offer."

"I didn't try to. I did turn it down, could you actually listen to me?"

"Why are you so against being an Ace?" He had the audacity to ask. "I give you the highest degrees of recognition, I personally come out of my way to see you and you show no appreciation. It's very rude."

"Like you're one to talk,” I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I focused my gaze on the floorboards.

A silence lapsed over us as I persisted avoiding his eyes but I could feel their unnerving weight over me. Watching me intently like even a single hitch in my breathing wouldn't go unnoticed.

"You looked almost offended that I compared you to me,” he started.

"Why?"

I fidgeted in my spot. "You're the last person I'd ever want to be compared to."

"We're similar." He spoke bold and sure, no ounce of uncertainty.

"In what world am I similar to you? I don't have chauffeurs to drive me around, I don't act like I'm better than everyone and I'm not prejudice to anyone who isn't some educated upper class male."

"That's only because you grew up in a dump, trust me,” Garren proclaimed.

I shook my head, sighing. "There is just no getting through to you... You think saying all this will convince me?"

"It should. What other tactic would be effective?"

"How about not being forceful and making it sound like you have my best interest at heart?"

"I do. What other proposition is better than what I'm promising?"

"Try talking and listening to me like I'm a human being and don't intrude on my family visits. God, now my parents think you're my friend."

"Aren't I?"

I pulled a face. "You don't know anything about me besides what you researched in order to find me, which by the way, is stalking."

Garren didn't bat an eye. I, on the other hand, was feeling my heart thump in my chest at letting it all out to the very person I feared, knowing he could destroy me with a lift of the finger.

Never did I imagine this would be how things turned out. If our paths were just inevitable to cross, then I'd go down with no regrets.

Garren slowly took a step forward and I braced myself for maybe screaming, cursing or possibly even things breaking.

Then he spoke. "… Your room is filled with academic books and anything outside of that is before the twenty first century. You spend all your time reading when you're not at school or helping your parents in their rust bucket of a store. You don't mind working because that's only an excuse to not be alone. You're used to talking with older people because you centred most of your childhood around them and the reason you did was because it felt so much easier than people your own age. You couldn't understand more than half of the trivial things your classmates babbled on about. Games, current trends, tv shows— nothing. You felt like you were born in the wrong time. You felt different and that's because you are. Your peers knew it too. A few of them even bullied you for it.

It's not that you couldn't grasp social skills, you didn't see the point in using it. So you stuck to being the outcast and your folks knew you were a loner but never knew what to do to fix it. That's why they're so happy that seemed to change when you started at St. Sinclair. You were around people that shared your intellectual advancement— of course you'd fit right in. There's no other way to explain why your parents wouldn't be vigilant of leaving you with a boy they hardly know. Unless, they're just neglectful which I highly doubt since it must've been costing them every penny to admit you to the academy."

My lips were parted, eyes fixed in bewilderment at the boy merely inches apart. Hands on either side of me and crouched for our gazes to be levelled. I hadn't even registered his close proximity, too busy trying to figure out how he had somehow managed to pry into my head and pluck all of that out. Could he have been psychic?

"T-That's... how did...?" In my stuttering, I could barely spit out every word.

"I don't need to follow you on Twitter or work on school projects together to 'know you', Stevie. Everything in this place is capable of telling me plenty. Even what's written on your face."

I swallowed, "I wasn't bullied."

Garren wore that insufferable smile, rolling his eyes. "Right, sure. So also adding denial issues to that list. Are you more convinced now?"

As I found myself struggling to answer him, my door swung open. Garren didn't even flinch at the appearance of my mother. Her brows hiked in amusement at our position and I hastily created a larger space between us.

"Am I interrupting something?" She questioned with an impish grin.

"No, mum," I said with a pointed look. This was the last person on the planet to be getting any funny ideas about.

"Alright, well Benji just woke up from his nap. You know how hyper he is at the start and he'll be bouncing off the walls when he sees you're around so I thought he'd fancy you taking him out on a walk." She held up the neon green leash in her hands. "That is, if I'm really not interrupting anything."

"No, mum,” I firmly repeated and took the leash from her.

"Great. I'll go call Benji." Her figure quickly disappeared down the corridor.

"You guys have a dog?" Garren inquired. "I'm surprised you can afford one under these living accommodations. Were they having a sale at the pound?"

I furrowed my brows. "What are you talking about? I don't have a dog."

Now Garren looked quizzical. "But your mother just said..."

His sentence was left unfinished by hurried footsteps and soon a small figure appeared at the door, bearing a row of teeth with a wide smile. "Evie!" beamed Benji.

"Hiya." I beamed before he leaped and locked his little arms around my waist.

**

"So, Benji is a three year old child belonging to one of the shop's regulars, not a dog," Garren said aloud as we exited the bakery.

From his blank face, I wasn’t sure if he was deriving that fact from observing the obvious or seeking verification. Either way, I nodded.

"Why the leash?" Garren questioned.

"He tends to wander off a lot but he loves the outdoors," I explained. Benji had already ran ahead with his little feet to terrorise some nearby pigeons. "Oh, and he sometimes bites things he shouldn't."

"Like what?"

"Um, metal bars, toys and the occasional person."

Garren threw me a look of incredulity before he had an a thoughtful visage. "So, he's basically on the level of a mutt then."

"I guess, yeah."

"Honestly, is there even one patch of pavement not littered with bird droppings or chewing gum?" Garren muttered.

"Not sure. Tell me if you find one," I replied.

It still felt incredibly strange to be walking down my street with the insidious elite of St. Sinclair but I was somehow managing to keep myself in one piece.

As we took a halt by the traffic lights, my eyes trained on the dim bulb, waiting for the green light to switch on, when something on the other side of the road caught my attention.

It was a young lad clad in baggy clothes, face hidden by the black cap he hung low and mouth mask. It wasn’t like the sight was particularly odd— even before the constant flu seasons, most folks still bundled up in layers to ward off the biting cold weather that came all year round.

What caught me was the de ja vu that struck at watching his figure breezily walk along the pavements, bare hands swinging at his sides. When recollection settled in, I was stunned by what logic and memory had formed.

Without thinking, I cursed out loud.

"Oi, language,” Garren said, placing his hands over the ears of a clueless looking Benji. He then noticed my expression because his tone suddenly sounded concerned. "What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."

The lad took a turn and was out of sight which felt for the better because there was clearly something wrong with my eyes. I shook my head. "It's nothing..."

I had to be wrong. That was impossible.

The light beamed green and we crossed the road as I banished the stranger from my mind.

The stroll fell quiet and wasn't a tense or awkward one but I wasn't at a state to call it comfortable. As expected, when we reached the park, Benji kicked into high gear and went racing towards a group of preteens playing footie in a circle. It was a tough feat to keep him in line on the harness, but the boy gradually came to stay put. So he moved to the alternative of using Garren as a climbing frame and tugging at his designer brand scarf which was pretty entertaining to watch. Until Garren threatened to drown Benji in the duck pond so I decided to unbuckle the leash and made the little firecracker promise to behave himself and not to move far away.

He bobbed his head happily, his mop of dreads bouncing as he did so. Then skipped down to the roundabout as I peacefully watched, taking a seat by a bench to rest.

"How did you figure out all those things about me? Did you learn that from a psych class or something?" I inquired.

"I don't need to waste time in such an asinine subject for that," Garren stated. "It's all in observation. For average people, it's beyond understanding so it wows them. Like some magic trick."

"Magic tricks are cool though."

He threw me a once over, then sighed. "You've spent way too much time around simpletons. It's pitiful. Look, you can do it too. You did it before."

I paused. Before? When had I ever done that?

"Read anybody around us,” he ordered.

I surveyed the scenery of folks chatting, talking, jogging or picnicking. "... Can you do it on someone first?"

Garren lifted a brow but nevertheless proceeded to do so. I'd point at an individual I'd recognise around the block and he performed a quick deduction on them, then he'd query on my take on his answer and instruct me to supply my own additional analysis. We continued the pattern vice versa on a few people and admittedly, I enjoyed it. It was like a game.

Then right as I was on to pick another candidate, a loud cry caught our attention. "Oi! What d'ya think you're doing?! Get off!"

I'd gotten so engrossed in analysing, that I hadn't noticed when Benji had strayed from the playground apparatus and moved on to nibbling a bystander. I quickly hurried to the scene to rescue the bystander who was accompanied by a brunette. She seemed ambivalent on what to do against a toddler gnawing at her friend's ankle.

I gently held Benji by the shoulders. "Benj hun, we don't bite people now stop."

He heeded my words and didn't put up a fight when I hoisted him up in my arms. "I'm so sorry about that,” I apologised, my eyes set on securing the tiny menace back on the leash.

"Stevie Poser?"

My entire body froze. At just hearing that name, snippets of my early public school days rushed through my brain. The leers, snickers and snide voices, incessantly crawling in my ears.

'You think you’re all that? Bloody poser.’

I tuned it out before it could spiral, taking in the young lad's facial features. The identity soon sank in. "Oh, Kieran. Hi."

"Bloody hell, it really is you." He grinned, sizing me up. “Stevie, this is Bridgett.”

Although his friend seemed seemed more interested in Garren by her coy stare.

“Bridgett, this is Stevie; an old classmate of mine but we go way back. Grew up on the same street and everything. She always had her head in a book, sitting at the corner like some sort of hermit." The sound of Kieran's chuckle was just as stomach churning as memory served. “Visiting your folks after you skipped town on 'em to that posh whatchamacallit preppy school?”

I wore on a smile. “It’s St. Sinclair and I'd really love to stay and catch up but I should probably be getting back to the store—”

“What’s the hurry?” interjected the voice of the last person I needed to be here bearing witness to this. Granted, I'd be an idiot to think he would stay quiet if he wasn’t the centre of attention.

When Garren snuck a glance, I knew he knew I desperately was begging him to stop but whatever he was after, my discomfort didn’t matter. He stepped forward, extending a hand to Kieran.

My insides squirmed when they shook hands and those grey eyes subtly peered to Bridgett who’s cheeks reddened.

“Garren Adler, a friend from school,” he calmly proclaimed.

“Oh, yeah? Didn’t think you lot would be caught dead around these places. Poser shown you around? Though, I don’t reckon she’d be the best tour guide. Spent basically every single day in the school library or her house. Me and some of the other kids thought she was allergic to the outside.”

I forced myself to chuckle along to the joke with everyone else.  When the noise left Garren’s lips, it was the most blatantly fake sound I ever heard. It was crazy loud, mouth hanging wide and even Benji was regarding him oddly.

Kieran didn’t seem to know what to make of it, much less his friend.

After an eon, Garren was done, wiping away invisible tears. “I didn’t really come for sightseeing though. It was more of curiosity. Stevie hardly ever talks about her hometown.”

“Oh, that’s just like her,” Keiran said and I frantically tried to think of a way to get the hell out of here before it got worse. “Surprised she even let you see what a shithole she comes from, she couldn’t have been happier when she got out. It took downsizing her own folks' bakery and her Nan’s pension.”

I studied the grass, chomping my lips tight enough to taste the tang of blood. It served to ease the relenting fear to meet whatever expression lay on Garren’s face.

“Really?” His tone gave nothing away. “That’s quite a big sacrifice to make. James and Anne did strike me as the type to do anything for their daughter’s happiness.”

Something struck my chest at that, eyes gravitating back to see the most breathtakingly sincere expression that I didn’t think the dark haired devil was capable of. Right before his eyes grew even darker as he added, “And that’s why you bullied her? Because you didn’t feel as loved by your own parents?”

I'd never seen someone's face fall as fast as Kieran's did at that moment. "The fuck did you just say?"

“It’s perfectly understandable. Seeing someone who was stuck in the same dump as you, who couldn’t even make friends, receive more recognition and devotion than you ever did must’ve made you feel so worthless. It took the edge off to put her down, didn’t it? But the truth of the matter is that all you are is just—"

I clamped my hand over the twat's mouth before he could shamelessly say anymore to escalate Kieran's flaring nostrils to bulging veins. "Don’t mind him, he's just been hooked on these psych classes we're taking. It wasn’t anything personal. We'll just be on our way. Sorry again about Benji."

"Evie, that boy's face is turning red." Benji pointed.

"Don't make it worse," I whispered to him. I flashed Kieran a nervous smile and oh boy, he really was going red. "Anyways, nice seeing you again. Bye."

I used my free hand to grab Garren and haul the two troublemakers towards the exit of the park, glancing every few steps to see if Kieran was still looking out for blood. He was.

"Why are we going, Evie?" Benji frowned. "Is it 'cause I was bad?"

"No, Benji. You weren't the one who was bad." I threw Garren a look.

"What? Me?" He looked genuinely surprised by that. "Was I supposed to stand there and watch you put on that pathetic show of saving face?”

I flinched, halting in my steps. “I wasn’t trying to save anything. Everything Kieran said was true.” I kept my eyes on my shoes, ignoring how stale and thick the air felt, like I could choke on it at any second. “I was too scared to leave my room because I knew I wouldn’t fit in and I ruined my parent's business and go on about how it’s all to give them a better life but I let my Nan throw away her retirement.”

I hadn’t intended to blurt it all out, but I couldn’t stand the thoughts going through my head that were beginning to think I cared what Garren thought of me. That I felt even remotely embarrassed of just how much of a letdown I was.

“I’m only at St. Sinclair because it was the furthest place I could get away from this town. I don’t care about anything else so please, leave.”

Garren’s gaze held that unyielding intensity in them, threatening me to let out the tears stinging out the corner of my eyes. Then, there came a small tug at my blouse. I set my misty eyes on Benji, lips in a small pout.

It was the kind he'd make when nervous. I'd been so careless to get carried away like that and even if the toddler couldn’t make sense of what was going on, he could tell it wasn’t pleasant.

“Evie, don’t be sad. I won’t be bad again,” he whimpered.

I lightly nudged his pudgy face with my own. “I said I'm not mad at you, Benji. I'm just tired.”

“Then let me carry him.”

I stole a glance to the boy beside, hands outstretched with an urging nod.

“That’s fine, I—”

I couldn’t get another word of protest in with Benji evidently enthusiastic on the offer with the way he literally tried to leap out of my arms and over to Garren.

I knew it was the height thing— the taller, the better. Benji of course would never turn his heart to someone other than me but the twat wore this triumphant look as Benji happily propped on, irking me to no end.

I gave up trying to get rid of him. At least to quench the hunger forming in my stomach and took a detour to stop by a chipper for some nice, greasy fast food to fill up on.

Garren refused to as so much walk into the vicinity, fearing he would contract some kind of plague or something. So, he stayed camped a few metres outside with Benji while I went in to take our orders.

When I came out to meet them at the street bench, Benji was already fast asleep and as I handed Garren his share, he took one whiff then shook his head. I refrained the urge to shove it down his throat and grumpily munched on my bag of salted chips.

“I think I've offended you.”

It was so sudden when he spoke and the sheer revelation in his voice, had me choking. After dislodging my throat, I gave him a once over. “You think?”

“I don’t see my parents more than a few times a year— it’s not like they're distant or anything. It works for us. If I grew up so close to expose myself to such unhygienic cohabitation as sharing a bathroom, I'd probably find it hard to suddenly be at such a distance. Barging in on that, I understand why you wouldn’t feel so happy to hear me out.”

My brows knitted. Wait… was he trying to apologise? “It’s whatever. I'm already over it.”

“… Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

I could’ve sworn something like tension was leaving his shoulders when he slightly leaned back. “I’m not usually persistent like this. I just didn’t think it would be so difficult to get my point across.”

"That we're alike?" Somehow, I managed to say it without vomiting.

Garren nodded. “Even if my words don’t convince you, what about Michael’s? He said it himself; we're a match.”

“He was referring to my solution to your cipher, Garren.”

“It’s the same thing.”

I held in a scoff. Maybe if his point wasn't so ludicrous, I'd have an easier time digesting it but we were about the furthest thing apart from each other. I'd been driven to suspect it all to be a cruel prank but to go the extent of following me out here seemed a bit too much. Right?

I peeked to find Garren with his posture slouched back, head tilted up to the grey skies and I couldn't help but think of how perfectly they reflected off his gaze. How even when sat outside some meager fish and chips shop, it didn't damper the regal air he carried. There was just no way he wouldn't go unnoticed, even if he dressed or talked like everyone else in this town.

I may have just been a big fish in a small, shallow pond but Garren Adler seemed like a different being entirely. If he had grown up in my background, he would've been a flower that blossomed in a desert.

At once, those dark eyes fell on me and I flushed in mortification of being caught staring. I quickly turned my eyes elsewhere, only to hear him say, "Don't."

"What?" I asked, wondering if I heard him right.

His hands seized my chin, forcing me to face him again. That powerful gaze veered any restraint to pull away when he inched closer, "Don't go running off into your head to list baseless differences between us and decide on your own my point isn't accurate."

God, how was I supposed to think it over when he would just read my mind like that? It wasn't fair at all. "Isn't it my decision to make?"

"It is," he concurred. "And that's why it matters that you take a good look at who you are. Who you really are, Stevie."

My breath hitched, my voice almost unrecognisable as I asked, "And who am I really? According to you?"

"The person some might not even meet once in their lifetime."

"Don't tell me you're going to say soulmates or something."

Garren let out a laugh. "God, no. Soulmates are an invention of the human mind, derived from people's selfish desires to shield their own shortcomings and self-loathing under the guise of binding themselves to another person. To 'become whole' or nonsense like that." When his finger brushed my own, a shiver coursed through me. "What we have isn't to complete each other. It's the ease to indulge in everything we refrain from even telling ourselves we want. It's freedom."

"Freedom," I echoed back.

“You can understand me once you choose to accept that part of me in you, Stevie. Maybe that doesn’t seem to make sense when we've just met but we can just spend time to sort that out, if it’ll help. What’s the harm in trying?”

I fidgeted in my seat, overcome with this odd chill by the way his stormy eyes regarded me. It wasn’t the usual fear or disgust, it was something unlike anything I felt towards anybody before.

“I… guess I could try it. But as just club associates first,” I hastily added. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Garren’s stare was probing. "So... does this mean you're reconsidering my proposal now?"

What should've been a no brainer response didn't surface. "I... that's—"

There came the sudden noise of moaning and we noticed the little fella curled beside us was starting to wake up. Before Benji could start chewing on Garren’s scarf in his sluggish state, I fed him his kid's meal and managed to coerce Garren to try a piece of his own share, then ate the rest.

Once done, Garren decided to call it a day and after a few taps on his phone, that shiny Benz from outside the bakery made its speedy appearance along the side of the road. I accepted the lift home, even when it was just a five minute ride and once dropped off in front of the entry way, I waved goodbye along with Benji as the car descended down the road.

**

As soon as I stepped in, within the span of the chime going off, I was surrounded by the employees.

"Stevie! Where's that posh bloke you were with?" Phil questioned.

"He left."

A chorus of groans fell and even if they were perhaps just a little excited to meet a supposed 'friend', it felt like there was something more. "What's the fuss for?" I asked.

"This." John raised the old Daytime Scopes magazine issue that featured Garren on the cover.

"I knew the boy looked familiar," started Greg. "I wanted to get a picture with him and post it. Would've made great publicity for the store."

The rest shared concurring murmurs at it.

"Oh, sorry," I apologised.

"No worries, love." Billie patted my shoulder. "We're proud of you anyway. Mingling with the big stars— soon your face is gonna be on one of these eh?"

"Yeah, right." I spoke coyly but I genuinely didn't believe there would ever come a day such as that because Garren Adler was extraordinary, no matter how you looked at it.

His words from earlier rang through my mind. If what we gave each other was freedom, then what could a guy like him possibly be denying himself of?