Tulay frowned and sat down. “He acts like he knows everything.” She said and handed him a plate of pizza. “Please, I don’t think we can drive each other any more crazy than we already are.”
She started to laugh and took a bite of her pizza. “So how are things going for you?”
He gave her a soft 'thank you' as he sat down and got started on his pizza. "Mm, Tule, this is really good," he said with his mouth full and tried not to laugh. He swallowed the bite that was in his mouth and fanned some air at his mouth. "And really hot!" He took a drink of his water and took a deep breath. "But yeah, ehm... things are going well for me. I'm learning a lot from my dad, I just... hope I'll be ready to take over the business once he gets too old to work, you know."
Tulay started to laugh at his pain. “Well I just got it out! Let it cool for a few minutes.” She said and listed to what he had to say about things. “Yeah that is fair. I’m sure you will do great, do not doubt yourself. You get more opportunities than me.” She said softly and took a bite out of her pizza. “I became a mom at sixteen. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
He looked at her as he put his glass down. "Hey... You do too. Volcan is only five years younger than you. He'll be able to live on his own soon enough."
Tulay frowned a little. “ I dropped out of high school. You got to graduate. It’s all because my mom and dad had yo leave me with a kid when I was a kid still.” She said and looked at him. “I know it’s not your fault.”
He reached over the table to hold her hand if she wanted to. "I know your parents didn't mean to leave you like this. And what even is a high school diploma anyway? I'm just being a blacksmith now. I'm not using it. You can do things, be things, without it."
Tulay looked at his hand. She wanted to hold it. She wanted to squeeze it to give her comfort, but she couldn’t. She would probably lean in to kiss him if she did. That couldn’t work. They would never work. He couldn’t find out what she was. She didn’t accept his offering and just took another bite out of her pizza.
“But you could go to college. I can’t go to college.” She whispered and bit her lip. “And I’m glad we are friends. I’m glad that you try to comfort me.”
He nodded a little and pulled his hand back. "I'm not going anywhere, Tule. College has nothing to offer me, and my dad wants me to take over the workshop. We'll stick together, okay?"
Tulay nodded her head and looked at him. “We will stick together, Em.” She said and cracked a smile. “Do you think I was being too hard on Volcan?”
He smiled back and tentatively tried to take a bite of his pizza again. It went a lot better this time. "You were harder than he likes you to be, for sure. But you're his guardian. You gotta do what you gotta do."
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