It’s a bizarre feeling. And an oddly comforting one.
Eventually, Lia moves over to her desk, where she has an electric kettle plugged in. She pours some water into it from the pitcher she also has on her desk, then turns it on before opening a jar of what looks like potpourri and scooping it into two tea strainers.
“Can I help with anything?” I ask, even though she seems to have things under control. It’s nice to see her go through the ritual of making tea from homemade leaves. It reminds me of my mom and all the hours we spent in the kitchen assembling all her different blends.
“I’ve got it.” She nods to the second bed in the room, which she has set up as a kind of couch/daybed thing with a red comforter and a bunch of jewel-toned throw pillows. “Go ahead and sit down.”
I do, wishing I was in yoga pants or joggers instead of this dress so I could sit like a normal person. Lia doesn’t talk much as she makes the tea, and I don’t, either. Kind of hard to know where to take the conversation now that we’ve covered everything from dying languages to dead loved ones.
The silence drags on, and I start to feel uncomfortable. But it doesn’t take long for the teakettle to boil, thankfully, and then Lia’s setting a cup of tea down in front of me. “It’s my own special blend,” she says, holding her cup up to her mouth and blowing softly. “I hope you like it.”
“I’m sure it’s awesome.” I wrap my hands around my cup and nearly shudder with relief at finally being able to warm up my fingers. Even if it tastes terrible, it’s worth it to have a chance at not being cold.
“These cups are beautiful,” I tell her after taking a sip. “Are they Japanese?”
“Yes,” Lia says with a smile. “From my favorite shop back home in Tokyo. My mom sends me a new set every semester. It helps with the homesickness.”
“That’s awesome.” I think of my own mom and the way she always bought me a new tea mug every Christmas. Looks like Lia and I really do have a lot in common.
“So how did the party go? I assume not well, considering you ended up in the library, but did you at least get to meet some people?”
“I did, yeah. They seemed nice enough.”
She laughs. “You’re a really bad liar.”
“Yeah, well, it seemed polite to try.” I take a sip of the tea, which has a really powerful floral taste that I’m not sure I care for. But it’s hot, and that’s enough to have me taking another sip. “I’ve been told that before, though. The bad-liar part, I mean.”
“You should probably work on that. At Katmere, knowing how to lie well is practically Survival 101.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “I guess I’m in serious trouble, then.”
“I guess you are.” There’s no humor in her answer this time, and I realize suddenly that there was none in her original statement, either.
“Wait,” I say, strangely discomfited by that fact. “What do you guys have to lie about that’s so important?”
That’s when Lia looks me straight in the eye and answers, “Everything.”
13
Just
Bite Me
I have no idea how to respond to that. I mean, what am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to think?
“Don’t look so scandalized,” she tells me after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I’m just teasing, Grace.”
“Oh, right.” I laugh along with her, because what else can I do? Still, it doesn’t feel right. Maybe because of how serious she looked when she told me that she lies about everything. Or maybe because I can’t help wondering if that was the truth and these are just lies… Either way, there’s not much else for me to do but shrug and say, “I figured you were just messing with me.”
“I totally was. You should have seen your face.”
“I bet,” I answer with a laugh.
She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and neither do I, until the silence starts to feel awkward. In self-defense, I finally blurt out, “What language were you reading earlier? It sounded so cool.”
Lia looks at me for a second, like she’s debating if she wants to answer or not. Finally, she answers, “Akkadian. It’s the language that evolved from ancient Sumerian.”
“Really? So it’s three thousand years old?”
She looks surprised. “Something like that, yeah.”
“That’s incredible. I’ve always been so impressed with linguists and anthropologists who do that, you know? Like it’s one thing to figure out what the different letters mean and the words they make.” I shake my head in awe. “But to figure out what they sound like? It kind of blows my mind.”