"Zeven!" Mae called from the other room, "I need you." Zeven looked at the two of them in the room, clearly reluctant to leave.
Chris was still leaning on the wall, exhaling deeply as she called out to him. "It's fine Zeven. My shoulder's injured and he won't fight back, I think it's safe to leave us here for one minute."
Zeven looked first at Chris and then at Brennan, trying to gauge the situation. It was true that neither of them looked like they posed a threat to the other. In his absence, they probably wouldn't even speak to each other. Deciding that it was okay to leave them for a minute he began to walk towards Mae's room. He called out over his shoulder before disappearing from sight. "We will be able to hear everything from Mae's room."
"Not if we're quiet." Chris rebutted. Zeven paused and rethought his decision to leave them alone for any time. But when he heard Brennan laugh under his breath he resumed his trek to Mae's room.
Once he was out of sight, Brennan lifted his head from the chair. "If you are actually wanting to talk, we'll have to move closer or Zeven will actually hear us."
Chris considered it for a minute. There was a lot she wanted to say, but there were no words to say it with, instead she settled for, "None of this was my idea." Brennan looked tired as he sighed, "Don't worry, I am well aware whose idea this was."
"Is he always like this?"
"No. Sometimes he's worse. I have so many stories."
Chris almost felt like they were back at the base camp talking and making jokes, and that made the pain inside her worse. She didn't move, but Brennan did. Slowly closing the gap between them, he moved to the wall beside her. Close enough that a whisper could reach her, giving them a sense of privacy from prying ears.
"Chris I-" "Mae's sweet." She didn't want to hear what he had to say.
Brennan looked up at the ceiling. She may not have wanted to talk about it, but he did.
"I never told him anything you said in confidence. You don't have to believe me, but it's the truth."
"At this point, I don't really care what you did and did not say."
"Also, you should know that Zeven never told me that you were a girl either. I don't think he knew. Me finding that out was an honest mistake."
There was no emotion in her voice as she responded, "You handled the surprise well."
"Even with all that has happened, I wouldn't wish it away-"
"It really doesn't matter. What happened happened and nothing can change that. Stick by the decisions you made, your lack of conviction is insulting."
She shut down the conversation. Both of them leaned back into the wall. Brennan's knees bent slightly putting his line of sight at the same level of Chris.
Chris shifted uncomfortably, her face remaining blank but her right arm reached around to her left shoulder.
"Would you like me to rub your shoulder."
"I don't want you to touch me." She pulled away from the wall as she spoke, trying to put some distance between them again. Brennan didn't follow, giving her the space she wanted, but he didn't let the conversation stop. "This is something we need to discuss I understand that you hate me-"
"Unfortunately I can't hate you, which is the worst part." Chris was pissed, she flung her good arm out to the side as she spoke in a low hiss. "When I look at you I see all the other times we spent together as well and that makes the pain almost worse in a way. I'm sure that if I could just find a way to forget about those good moments I could be rid of you. But at the same time, I don't want to lose those precious memories. You are," Chris stopped herself, "were my first and only friend."