“Oh hardly, it’s not like that behavior has changed over the years,” Mia huffs.
“Dinner!” Gloria shouts unnecessarily loud. It doesn’t escape my notice that hardly any time has passed since Ares last asked if it was ready.
Instead of eating in the kitchen like we’ve been doing lately, Ares carries his plate to the dining room with Mia following behind him. I wait until Dante has his plate piled high instead of going with them. Mia is already seated to Ares’s right, so I take the seat on his left. I don’t really want to be directly across from her during the whole meal, but I’m not letting her cow me, either.
Dante takes the seat next to me, digging in as soon as he sits down. I pick at my full plate, noticing Mia has a much smaller portion, and she didn’t even take any bread when Gloria offered. I took two pieces.
The first few minutes are painfully awkward. None of us really knows what to say to each other with the new group dynamic. Mia has come down a few times while we were all eating, but it’s usually later in the evening so she doesn’t eat with us, and then there’s Ollie. Ollie is always so good at distracting her with an easy conversation, he always knows how to lighten the atmosphere, even with her around. I wish he were here right now.
Dante leans over and orders, “Eat.” His mouth is still half full of bread, making the demand a little mumbled. I take a bite to appease him. He sticks his fork in my plate of noodles and twirls up a bunch of spaghetti, lifting it to my lips for me. Narrowing my eyes at him, I open my mouth and accept the bite.
Ares clears his throat, drawing my attention to him. I look over, expecting him to reprimand either Dante or myself, but instead I find him staring at me with a curious expression on his face I can’t decipher. Reaching over without thought, I swipe my finger across his forehead, pushing away a few messy tendrils of hair that have dared to fall across his brow. Ares's eyes close on a long blink before he opens them back up, his pupils larger than they were moments ago.
Movement from across the table draws my gaze. Mia has her napkin at her lips blotting her mouth, but her eyes are volleying back and forth between Ares and me. I realize my mistake instantly. Well, I can’t call it a mistake, I wanted to touch Ares, so I did, but I probably should have waited until she was gone to give into the temptation.
“How long have you and Dante been…” Mia pauses, looking for the right words I suppose.
“Friends?” I supply when she doesn’t finish. “Not that long.” I look over at Dante, then question, “But it doesn’t feel that way, does it?”
Dante switches his fork to this left hand and wraps his arm over the back of my chair. “Sometimes it feels like you’ve always been with us,” he answers, still shoveling food in his mouth. Dante has an appetite. He usually eats twice as much as the others. Now that I’ve seen him in his shifted form, it’s easy to understand why.
Mia makes a slight scoffing sound. “Ah, to be young,” she dismisses us and focuses on Ares. “I got an email from Randell this afternoon, he’s ready to show you the new prototype.” Ares gives his full attention to Mia. “He mentioned he would be in the lab late tonight. I know you’ve been eager to hear from him, I can set up a video conference when we finish up here.”
Ares’s lips twist and his head tilts. “It can wait,” he finally answers, after giving the idea some thought.
“But…” Mia looks over at our side of the table, then back at Ares. “It’s Friday.” Her voice holds an edge of disbelief.
Ares picks up a short glass filled with water, his eyes not focused on anything. “I know, Mia.” Ares's voice is soft, consoling almost. The atmosphere shifts, and I suddenly feel like I’m intruding on a private moment. I lean my side closer to Dante, but my eyes are glued to Ares and Mia.
She reaches out her hand, laying it on top of Ares’s. He pulls his hand free the moment hers settles, picking up his fork again and pretending like it didn’t happen. Mia tugs her fist back slowly, dropping it to her lap.
The tension in the room doubles. I can’t think of anything to say to save my life, apparently neither can Dante nor Ares, because the only sounds are the clank of silverware against porcelain and the whirr of the heating system somewhere deep in the house. Mia seems to have finally given up on small talk. Her eyes are a bit glassy as they dart around the room. She can’t manage to keep them off of Ares for long though, because her stare always returns to him.
I swirl my fork in my noodles, picking up a bite if for nothing other than to have something to do. The food that I know should be delicious tastes like sawdust in my mouth. But within minutes, my plate is mostly clean. I push it away, leaving one piece of bread untouched. Dante snags it from my plate immediately, using it to sop up some of the red sauce on his plate. “I’m going to grab some more, you need anything?” he asks, already half standing.
I plead with my eyes for him not to go, not to leave me alone with Ares and Mia. “I can get it for you,” I offer a bit too eagerly.
Dante pats my shoulder, barely looking in my direction. “I got it. Ares, you want anything? Mia?”
“No, thank you,” Mia replies demurely, her lips pursed in my direction. “Dante, you should let Laura get it for you. Girls like doing stuff for our guys.” Mia sits back in her chair acting like she’s being helpful, but I can hear the note of sarcasm in her tone. She either thinks she’s embarrassing me by saying I like him, or trying to get rid of me.
“Laura, stay, Dante, I’m good,” Ares answers, his voice level.
Dante’s steps falter like he might have changed his mind about leaving the room. “You sure?” Dante looks between the three of us, his eyes falling lastly on his brother. Taking a deep breath, he continues out the doorway.
“Mia.” Ares's voice is low he looks over in her direction. Her eyes jump to meet his, but she looks away instantly. When she doesn’t respond he starts again, “Mia, there’s something I need to tell you—”
“Right now? You need to tell me with her here?” she interrupts.
“I do. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you, but Laura, she’s—”
“Don’t say it!” Mia pleads, her eyes wide with a sheen of tears already visible on her lower lashes. I drop my head. I shouldn’t be here for this.
“But it’s true. I should have told you sooner, Laura is our Synergist,” Ares rushes out before she can interrupt again.
“But it’s been years. You said you might never find… the person,” she stammers. I know Mia isn’t like them, she doesn’t have any abilities, no identifier marking her as a Synergist. I also know she and Ares have known each other for a long time, apparently through high school, and she’s been working with him for years. I don’t know what kind of personal relationship they’ve had. When I first met her, I assumed that they were together, but over the last few weeks Ares has never let on that was the case. It’s plain to see she wanted to be with him, but I don’t know if they were ever together in that sense.
She knows all about them though, about their abilities and the way an Infinity works. Hell, she probably knows way more than I do.