Loki found me the next day at lunch just before Kameron and I walked into the lunchroom. "Alina," he said hesitantly when he grabbed our attention. "Do you think we could have lunch together?"
I glanced at Kameron, who's eyebrows shot up, then back at Loki. "Don't you want to sit with your friends?"
He shrugged. "We're together all the time. I thought... maybe this was a good chance to get to know each other?" "For you to get to understand me," his eyes said.
I looked at Kameron again, who was beginning to smirk. "Do you mind?"
She widened her hazel eyes at me in delight. "Nope! Have fun!" She skedaddled over to Thor, who was watching us with a grin, and started chattering nonstop to him.
I looked at Loki and shrugged. He chose a secluded table along the wall, sitting so he could see the rest of the cafeteria. I sat across from him, which meant there wasn't really anything else to look at but him, but I didn't want to sit beside him because that would look weird.
"What do you have for lunch?" I asked, dropping my lunch bag on the table and my satchel on the floor.
"Leftover pulled pork, green beans, and a biscuit."
I wrinkled my nose. "Is it all cold?"
"Of course. It's been sitting in my lunch bag for hours." He smiled wryly at me.
"Well, yeah, but—okay, yeah, stupid question. I like food like that to be heated otherwise I won't eat it." I pulled my juice out of my bag first, shaking the small bottle before cracking open the lid.
"Well, what do you have?"
"Peanut butter sandwich, potato chips, Cheetos, water, and Sunny D."
He raised an eyebrow, another smile hinting at the corner of his mouth. "And just why do you have two kinds of chips in your lunch? You don't look like you could eat both."
I chuckled. "You and my cousin both. He doesn't think I eat enough either. But I brought two kinds because we have these little snack-sized bags and I wasn't sure which one I would feel like eating, so I brought them both. Besides, you're one to talk, you're almost as skinny as I am."
"But at least we know I eat healthily."
"My body weight is right where it's supposed to be based on my height."
"I thought ladies didn't like talking about their weight."
"You started this conversation."
We looked at each other and chuckled. "How tall are you anyway?" he asked.
I shrugged lightly. "Like, five-five. Maybe five-six. I haven't really measured myself in a while. What about you?"
"Six foot, two inches."
I raised my eyebrows, popping open my small bag of potato chips. "That's pretty tall. You and Thor are the same height, right?"
His eyes glanced over my shoulder, probably looking at his brother. "He's actually an inch taller than me."
"Oh. Well, he's the older brother, so it makes sense. Kameron is a little taller than me even though she's two years younger. It's really not fair, but for some reason the younger siblings are always taller. Except in this instance, I suppose. You guys don't have any other siblings, do you?"
Loki took a metal fork out of his bag and started picking at his green beans. "Not really. My parents mentioned once that they have a daughter who is older than Thor, but she left before I was adopted, and Thor doesn't really remember her. He said she had black hair like me and didn't like playing with him." He rolled his eyes. "I can't imagine why."
I smiled a little as he dug into his food. "Things are always hard on the first kid. My oldest brother is a bit rough too but he's one of my favorite siblings."
Loki gasped mockingly. "Are you saying that you play favorites, Alina?"
I scoffed. "Noooo... Hey, have I ever told you that you can call me Ali?"
His green eyes were suddenly hopeful. "No."
"Well, you can. I prefer it most of the time anyway. Alina can feel really formal sometimes, you know? Almost everyone else I know calls me Ali."
"All right then. I would offer up a nickname of my own in return, but 'Loki' doesn't exactly come with an array of those." He looked pleased nonetheless.
I laughed a little. "I guess not."
**********
As it turns out, Loki was extremely clingy when he wanted to make friends with someone. I didn't eat lunch with him every day, even though I'm sure he would have preferred that, but he always managed to snag me as his partner at gym even if I had intended to partner with Clint, who would watch and shake his head. I didn't really mind spending time with Loki, in fact, I genuinely enjoyed it, much to the surprise of my friends. He was funny when he wanted to be, intelligent, and always interesting, despite what everyone else thought.
"You shouldn't be spending so much time with him," Natasha told me once after school. "He's not a good influence. No offense, Thor."
The huge blond was walking with us out of the building, Kameron by his side. "Loki really enjoys his time with Alina, and I appreciate that she takes the time to be friends with him." He smiled at me. "You have no idea what it means to him."
"He's really not that bad, Nat," I said after throwing my own smile at Thor. "Besides, I don't think he'll influence me. I'm not that kind of person, I'm pretty stubborn."
She shrugged. "Just be careful." She walked towards Bruce's car. The two of them had been spending more time together than usual lately. Kameron was positive they were going to start dating, and I was beginning to have my suspicions as well.
I glanced at Thor again. "Are you coming over today?" It was Friday, he and Kameron usually spend the evening together, alternating between houses.
He nodded as Kameron spoke up. "We're going to watch How to Train Your Dragon."
"I haven't seen the first one in forever," I said.
"Hey," said Kameron. "Do you want to invite Loki to come over too?"
I eyed her suspiciously. "I'm not inviting Loki over to our house on a date."
She huffed. "It doesn't have to be a date. Why don't we just have him over since he's Thor's brother?" She glanced at her boyfriend. "Will you ask him?"
Thor looked at me. "Only if it's all right with Alina."
I shrugged dismissively. "I don't really care. As long as he doesn't think I'm having him over on a date."
"Then yes, I will ask him." Thor took out his phone and called his brother, glancing around the parking lot. "Oh, he's right there." I followed his gaze and saw Loki sitting on his motorcycle, tapping away on his phone. I could tell when Thor's call went through, because he stopped typing and let it ring for a moment before picking up. "One second," Thor said, beginning to walk towards his brother. "We're coming to you."
Loki looked up and raised an eyebrow as he saw the three of us walking towards him. "What an intimidating sight," he drawled when we were close enough. "I assume the three of you require me for something?"
"I'm going over to Kameron's house, and she thought you might like to come," said Thor. "We're going to watch How to Train Your Dragon tonight."
"Is that so?" Loki glanced at me.
I scratched my cheek. "I've got to be down there to supervise anyway. The kids will probably come down too. It might be nice to have some mature company." I narrowed my eyes at Kameron.
She scoffed. "As if you are any more mature than me when we watch cartoons."
"Whatever." I turned to Loki again. "Are you coming?"
"Is it all right with you?" he asked hesitantly.
I nodded. "I wouldn't have let them ask if it wasn't."
"Then I would be delighted. When are we starting?"
"Thor's coming over now, but you can drop by whenever."
I thought I saw a smile touch the edge of his lips, but he didn't let it break through.
"I'll follow you then."
When we got home, we grabbed some snacks from the pantry before heading down to the basement. Caledonia and Jase weren't usually allowed to watch movies until after supper, but Mom made an exception for today. She wasn't in the kitchen or basement when we came in, so I didn't get the chance to introduce her to Loki. My little siblings were very interested though.
"Is that your motorcycle?" Jase asked Loki with wide eyes when we came into the kitchen to get snacks.
He glanced at me, then back at my little brother. "Yes."
"Cool!"
"Jase," I said. "This is Loki. Loki, this is my little brother, Jase. He's the baby of the family." I smiled at the freckled boy.
Jase frowned at me. "I'm not a baby!" He looked at Loki. "I'm nine years old."
Loki glanced at me again, seemingly at a loss. I shook my head. "It's all right, you don't have to say anything to him. He'll just keep talking anyway—the little chatter box." I wrinkled my nose at the younger boy.
"Ali, do you want a zebra cake?" Kameron called from the pantry.
"Yes, please!" I said.
"Loki?"
"No, thank you."
Jase scampered over to the blond. "Can I have one?"
She shooed him away as she stepped out. "Go ask Mom." He bolted. "You guys ready?"
We both nodded and followed her to the basement. It was a large space with two curved couches facing a big TV in one corner, the rest of the area dominated by a small gymnastic mat and lots of stuffed animals. The walls were brown, and the carpet was a weird swampy green, but I always thought it felt pretty cozy.
While everyone sat down, I grabbed some blankets and tossed them onto the couches if anyone got cold. There was lots of space, but all four of us ended up on one couch. Kameron and Thor squished on the smaller section that was divided by a cupholder, while Loki and I kept some distance between us on the curved area. I wrapped myself in a blanket as the movie started, letting the familiar sounds of How to Train Your Dragon relax me while nibbling on a Zebra Cake. I had only watched it at least ten times.
Since we had seen it so many times, Kameron and I kept up a little bit of chatter throughout the movie. We always talked through movies we've seen before—noting things we hadn't noticed the previous times; coming up with theories; discussing the musical score; and sometimes we even forgot about the movie and started talking about something else.
Loki kept looking at us, so I consciously made an effort to talk a little less. I sometimes forgot that other people preferred to watch movies in silence.
"Ahh, I love that movie," Kameron sighed when it was over. We sat in silence for a moment. "Let's go eat." Kameron hopped up, shoving off Thor as leverage and started upstairs to find dinner. We all followed her, settling on waffles for supper.
After the meal, we talked in the kitchen for the next few hours until Kameron mentioned that she wanted to be getting to bed soon. She gave Thor a long hug before walking him to the door. Loki and I drifted behind them.
"Well, thanks for coming," I told Loki as Kameron and Thor hugged again.
"Thank you for allowing me to come over," he replied with the smallest of smiles. "Perhaps next time Thor and I can host movie night with the four of us."
"Maybe," I said lightly. Sounds like a double date to me. I specifically said this was not a double date. Well, I said I wouldn't invite Loki over on a date. Will he expect to come over every Friday now? I doubt it. That might be kind of weird. Unless we started dating, it would make it easy to slip into a double date routine. But we're not dating. We probably won't. Right? "Drive careful on that motorcycle, all right? Have Thor text me when you guys get home." Why do I sound like such a mom?
He actually smiled this time. "Of course. Good night, Ali."
"Night, Loki."
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