You can’t know.
You can’t know.
She couldn’t know. And she would have to live with that.
There were some things that even walking on water couldn’t fix.
Nadia wiped the rain off her visor. “I’m good.” She walked back through the sliding doors, tracking the wet in behind her. She popped off her helmet and shook out her hair—it always frizzed in the rain. She took a deep breath, trying to shake out the renewed sense of loss, too.
“You know you’re, like, a stone-cold weirdo, right?” asked Tai, as they took the elevator back to G.I.R.L.
“Oh, yes,” Nadia said agreeably.
“So, you going to tell me what’s going on, or we just going to pretend like this soggy interlude never happened?” Tai asked.
“I’ll tell you while I change. C’mon.”
Nadia stepped into her room and Tai wheeled up next to Nadia’s desk, poking through one of the open boxes on the floor as Nadia ditched her dripping suit for her favorite orange cropped hoodie and red sweats. Orange and red was Nadia’s favorite color combination, and no amount of color wheel chatter from Janet could sway her. They were the colors of speed and heat and motion and doing, and that’s what Nadia was all about.
Besides which, clashing was definitely in now. So, Nadia figured, it worked.
“I had no idea it was raining outside,” Nadia said by way of explanation. “I’ve been in here all day and I was too heads-down worrying about Like Minds to ever think to stop and look out a window.”
“If you’re thinking this is making sense yet—”
“I’m getting there!” Nadia said hurriedly. “Janet got me something for my birthday. Say hi, VERA.”
Taina rolled back a few feet as the shower of pixels, now a familiar and welcome sight to Nadia, sprang to life on the desk next to her.
“Hello, Nadia,” VERA’s Neptune-like form responded.
“Tai,” Nadia gestured. “Meet VERA.”
“Nadia,” Taina responded warily, “why is there a hologram that looks like Sailor Blue Man Group on your desk?”
“Hello, Tai. If you’d like a rundown of my primary functions—”
“Shut it, blue.” Taina commanded. VERA snapped her mouth shut and fell silent. Tai turned back to Nadia. “What’s going on?”
Nadia perched on the edge of the bed, excited to explain. “Janet got me this for my name day and I completely forgot about it but then I remembered and it’s already changing my life. It’s a virtual assistant!”
“Like F.R.I.D.A.Y.”
“Yes, except Mr. Stark didn’t have to build me this from scratch,” Nadia continued. “It’s mass-market.”
“And you need this because…?” Tai raised an eyebrow.
Nadia let out a breath. She could feel a creeping frustration coming on. Tai could never just be excited that you were excited; she needed to be convinced that you were excited for a good reason. Nadia found that very trying sometimes. But it was part of what she loved about Tai, in the end.
“VERA takes on all my different projects and schedules and keeps me on track,” Nadia explained with what she thought was great patience. “She reminds me to take my medication, too, no matter where I am. Even if I’m in the Crystal Lab. She—”
Taina held up he
r hand to stop Nadia before she could continue. “When were you in the Crystal Lab?” Tai knew how dangerous time dilation could be for Nadia. It was a lab rule that Nadia had to tell someone when she was going in, just in case she lost track of time and needed a nudge to come out again.
“It was when I found my mother’s journal. I panicked. But it was all right, and I got myself back on track afterward.” Nadia grabbed Tai’s hand and put it back in her friend’s lap. “I’ve been in a few times since, but I’ve told VERA every time and she kept me on schedule. And I gave VERA Maria’s list and she processed all the items and she was the one who told me it was raining so I could check another thing off my list.”
Tai didn’t say anything. She just held her hand out, silently.