So a Crusader Walks Into a Tower Ch. 02

Jamie swallowed nervously, "Thought you were gonna let me leave if I still wanted tomorrow?"

She felt Thane's hand begin to play at the hem of her shirt in a way that was already beginning to be familiar and she reached down to still it.

She felt him huff dejectedly, "Do you still want to?"

Jamie pulled away from him entirely and turned to face him, "Yes! I understand what you were saying now, alright? I do. But that doesn't change the fact that you're out here, isolating yourself and hurting anyone who has the misfortune of happening too close."

He frowned and silence hung between them for a moment. Finally he looked away while running a uneasy hand through his hair, "I'll put something together for a late lunch, you can meet me downstairs in a half hour."

Stepping away he gestured for her to return to the desk to look over the books further until then. Once he retreated from the room she slumped down at the desk and tried to focus on what was certainly priceless information in front of her. Part of her felt like she was being needlessly stubborn. After all, with what she'd already learned in just half a day, who knows what she could be capable of in only a few more days, a week even. But a much louder voice was telling her that a week would turn into two and before she knew it she'd be comfortably calling this place home. She couldn't let that happen.

When she eventually walked down to the dinning room she saw that he had set a bowl of tomato soup out as well as a loaf of fresh bread. There were also two unfamiliar cans at either place setting.

She sat down silently and he matched her. As they began to eat she tried to ignore how he watched her. As if he was committing all her mannerisms to memory. She flinched at the noise of him popping open the can.

"Have you ever had it before?" he gestured at the can after taking a sip.

She looked at the lettering printed on the label, "PEPSI" and simply shook her head.

Setting the can back down he continued, "Sorry, we don't have Coke but I could get you a cherry Pepsi instead?"

The expression he had made her sure he has just told a joke she doesn't understand and that he knew she wouldn't understand so instead she picks up the can and opens it like he did. It hisses and fizzes slightly unappetizingly.

"Does it ever bother you?" she asks unprompted and then takes a drink.

With both of their meals half eaten and mostly forgotten he replies, "Does what bother me?"

"Being a man out of time," she says as she sets the sugary drink back down.

He hesitates before answering, "Its not my first time outliving an era."