Read Online The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) by Jess C Scott - Free Book Online Page B

Julius
commented, running a hand through his short blond hair, before
picking some lint off the shoulder of his Hilfiger polo
shirt.
    “ Mister…Perfect?” Leticia
read part of Anya’s scribbles aloud, before realizing this wasn’t
that much good as a distraction either. Not with a name
there.
    Anya swiped the piece of paper and slipped
it into her shorts pocket.
    “ Love letter?” Julius
inquired, with a teasing smile.
    Anya didn’t have to pretend to look awkward.
She answered with a deadpan monosyllabic response, then crossed her
hands over her lap.
    Tension crawled over her skin, as Julius
eyed her. Anya felt like telling him to stop psycho-analyzing her.
She’d never believed in romance. It was escapism. Pure fantasy.
Julius should know—he was the intellectual with the cool-headed
logic.
    “ I didn’t know you wrote
poetry.”
    I don’t remember you being
so chatty, Anya wanted to snap at Julius,
but thought of what Nin would reply. He’d be civil and
polite.
    “ Only when I’m suitably
depressed,” Anya answered, with a slight amount of sarcasm she
thought Nin would appreciate.
    Just then, a scrumptious aroma wafted
in.
    “ Pizza!” Leticia’s voice
rang out. Anya and Julius left the room. Leticia widened her eyes
at Anya when Julius wasn’t looking. Anya had to be more careful
next time. For now, both she and Leticia breathed easy.
    The three of them were seated in front of
the television.
    “ What’s the project on?”
Julius asked, after he’d taken a second bite of the pepperoni pizza
slice.
    Anya was surprised by the unexpected
question. Her mind had been on the piece of paper tucked away
safely in her pocket, half the time.
    “ Tolkien’s
masterpiece?”
    Anya nodded, to show she understood. She
remembered that Julius was a big fan of the accomplished
professor’s work. “I’m writing an essay,” she said, trying to look
convincing, “on mythical creatures.”
    “ Did you mention Legolas?
Arguably Tolkien’s most famous elf.” Julius laughed at whatever was
happening in the mindless reality TV show (about mindless reality
TV shows) that was playing on the TV. Anya wasn’t really paying
attention. Leticia leaned her head against Julius’s
shoulder.
    “ If only they really
existed…” Leticia murmured, drawing a line down Julius’s chest.
Leticia was more comfortable than Anya, with physical displays of
affection. Anya thought maybe that’s what got her all the boys,
since she knew how to work her ample body too. But Anya would have
duct-taped her own mouth shut before hurting her best friend with a
snide remark.
    “ Yeah.” Julius snuggled up
to Leticia. “Hypothetically, they couldn’t have.”
    “ Why not?” Leticia lost
herself in his light, bluish-gray eyes.
    Julius chewed on his food. “Lack of
evidence. No bones, no archaeological finds. Nothing.”
    “ How’s your lithium essay
coming along?” Leticia asked, stroking his hair. She was doing a
fine job shifting the topic of conversation.
    “ Is that a band?” Anya
asked Julius, crossing one leg under the other as she shifted her
seat position, on the sofa.
    “ No…” Julius pushed his
glasses up his nose bridge. “The element, Lithium. Group One
element, alkali metals.”
    Anya remembered the periodic table from
Chemistry 101.
    “ I’m writing about the
history of lithium in psychopharmacological drugs,” Julius
continued, sounding like he’d just discovered a meteorite. Anya was
mentally counting the syllables in the second last word of Julius’s
sentence. “Helps patients from schizophrenics, to bipolar and
borderline disorder, to depression.”
    “ Some kind of miracle
drug.” Leticia thought he’d find a cure for cancer, one
day.
    “ Writing that essay would
make me very, very cranky,” Anya said to Julius.
    He grinned back. “Just another day in the
life of a biochemistry senior.” He twiddled his thumbs, with a
faintly vacant look in his eyes, as he pondered on something.