"Ey, Rick!"
Jack sat next to me on my bed. It was 9:00. I had woken up early, to see if I could get extra rations.
"So, Mr. Man, I saw you and the missus talking last night, and well, I'm just dying to hear about it!"
"Ruby, she told me about her childhood. How she got here." Jack's expression changed to a look of empathy.
"Oh, well, sorry. Y'know, its always hard. I got off easy, cuz Mary found me when we were both three, and she raised me, but I'm guessing Ruby wasn't so lucky?"
I sighed. "It's not how horrible her life is. Its that I misjudged her so badly. She's looking for companionship, but she doesn't know it."
"Yeah, what you gonna do? You can't just act nice to hear and fix all her problems."
"I know that, Jack, but she needs me. She needs someone who thinks about her, and cares about her, and..." I trailed off.
"Oh, boy this is rich." Jack slapped his knee and laughed. "You've fallen for her, haven't you?"
"I, well, yeah. I guess I do love her. At least, I want to. And I want her to love me, too."
..........
I had been thinking about what had happened the night before. I didn't know what to think, really. I really liked Rick, but I was worried that he was developing... Feelings for me.
(Is that bad?) A voice said inside of me.
"Yes, it is. I suck at relationships. And being social."
(Then try it out with Rick. I'm certain that he'll fall for you if you give him time.)
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
I thought about my future. If I was going to spend my days in a jail, it would be nice to have some company. Who knew? Maybe I really could fall in love. Maybe me and Rick could even have...
I went back to work. I didn't have time to think about things like that. It just couldn't happen.