MARVEL: BUYING GODHOOD

Sara POV

I immediately understood what Emily was doing. She’d been looking for a chance to ask Gwen about yesterday, and now that she’d found one, I was curious to see how Gwen would react. Gwen stopped scrolling through the movies and looked toward her. “What do you mean?” Emily shrugged. “Nothing particular. Chris dropped us off first, so I was wondering what you two did afterward.”

Gwen opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped. Her face started turning red, and I immediately looked toward Emily. She’d noticed it too. Whatever had happened after we left, Gwen clearly hadn’t expected us to ask about it. I moved a little closer before asking, “Wait. Did Chris do something?” Gwen shook her head. “No, he didn’t.” She hesitated before quietly adding, “I did.”

That caught our attention immediately. Emily put down the controller and turned toward Gwen properly, while I leaned forward. “What did you do?” Gwen looked between us for a few seconds before finally taking a breath. “I kissed him.” I stared at her for a moment before asking, “Girl, you actually did it?” Emily seemed equally surprised. “You kissed Chris?” Gwen nodded, her face becoming even redder. “Yes. Can you two stop looking at me like that?”

I couldn’t help laughing at her reaction. “What did you expect? You’ve been talking about wanting to date him for so long, and now you’re telling us you kissed him.” I moved closer before adding, “Come on, tell us what happened. Did he kiss you back?” Gwen shook her head. “Not exactly. He tried, but I stopped him.” That surprised me even more. “You stopped him? Why?” Gwen looked slightly pleased with herself before answering, “Because I told him he could do that after giving me an answer.”

Emily immediately understood. “You mean about becoming his girlfriend?” Gwen nodded, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She’d finally managed to kiss the guy she’d liked, only to stop him when he tried to return it. I looked toward Emily before turning back to Gwen. “You really don’t make things easy for him, do you?” Gwen shrugged. “He knows what I want. I’m just waiting for him to decide.”

I shook my head before asking, “So what happened before the kiss?” Gwen hesitated for a moment. “I was upset about something, and we ended up talking about it. He promised to take me on a proper date, just the two of us, and I get to choose everything.” She looked down at her hands before adding, “Then I kissed him.”

For a moment, neither Emily nor I said anything. I had a fairly good idea what she’d been upset about. Yesterday, Chris had bought clothes for all three of us, let us choose his suits, and spent the entire day making sure we enjoyed ourselves. He’d even arranged an entire opera performance because I’d mentioned wanting to see one. I’d noticed Gwen becoming quieter toward the end of the evening, but I hadn’t wanted to think too much about it.

Looking at Emily, I could tell she’d reached a similar conclusion. Neither of us said anything about it, though. Instead, Emily asked, “Have you decided where you want to go?” Gwen shook her head. “Not yet. There are a few places I’ve been thinking about, but I haven’t chosen anything.” I smiled before saying, “Well, wherever you go, I’m sure Chris will make it memorable. After yesterday, I don’t think he’s capable of arranging a normal date.” Gwen seemed pleased by that. “I know. That’s why I’m looking forward to it.”

I was happy for her, but something still didn’t seem right. Even after talking about the kiss and her promised date, Gwen hadn’t completely relaxed. I watched her for a moment before asking, “Then what’s been bothering you today? You were acting strange even before Chris left.”

Gwen looked toward me, and her expression became serious again. “There’s something Chris and I need to tell both of you. We were supposed to talk about it today, but then his meeting came up.” Emily looked at her in confusion. “Tell us what?” Gwen hesitated before answering, “It’s something important, and I’d rather wait until he gets home.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is it about his company?” She shook her head. “No.” Emily asked, “Then is it about the reactor?” Gwen looked between us before answering, “Not exactly. It’s about both of you, but please don’t ask me anything else right now. Chris can explain it much better than I can.”

That made me curious. I couldn’t imagine what Chris needed to tell us that would make Gwen this nervous. We’d only started getting to know him properly yesterday, and everything he’d done so far had been surprisingly generous. “Did we do something wrong?” I asked. Gwen immediately shook her head. “No! Neither of you did anything wrong. It’s nothing like that.”

Emily looked toward me before asking Gwen, “Then why do you look so worried?” Gwen didn’t answer immediately. She looked down at the remote in her hands before finally saying, “Because I don’t know how you’re going to react. That’s all I can tell you for now.”

Her answer only made the situation more confusing, but I could see she wasn’t comfortable discussing it. I eventually nodded. “All right. We’ll wait for Chris.” Emily agreed as well before adding, “Whatever it is, you know you can talk to us, right?” Gwen looked toward her for a moment before nodding. “I know. Thank you.”

With that settled, Gwen returned her attention to the television. We started looking through the available movies again, although I was still thinking about what she’d said. Emily eventually chose a science-fiction movie that involved a scientist developing a new energy source. That reminded her of something, and she suddenly turned toward Gwen.

“By the way, Gwen, how does Chris study?” Gwen looked confused. “What do you mean?” Emily gestured toward the television. “I mean, how does he learn everything? He’s running a company, and he still managed to redesign an Arc Reactor. Some of the changes he explained this morning were things I’ve never even considered.”

I became interested in the question too. “That’s what I’ve been wondering. Yesterday he spent the entire day with us, and this morning he somehow had time to cook all that food. Does he ever sleep?” Gwen shrugged. “Not as much as he should. Sometimes he works on something all night and only tells me about it after he’s finished.”

Emily considered that before asking, “Do you think he’d show me how he studies? I really want to understand how he learned so much about the reactor.” I nodded. “You should ask him. And if he has a way to make studying easier, tell me too. I’d love to spend less time preparing for exams.”

Gwen looked toward me. “You know he’s busy, right?” I raised an eyebrow. “I know. I’m not asking him to teach me everything.” She didn’t look entirely convinced. “He already has a lot of responsibilities. You can’t expect him to spend all his free time helping you study.”

I stared at her for a moment before glancing toward Emily. She seemed just as surprised by Gwen’s reaction. “Gwen, I was joking,” I said. “And even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t force him to teach me anything.” Gwen looked away for a moment before answering, “I know. I didn’t mean it like that.”

I considered teasing her about being protective of Chris, but after our earlier conversation, I decided against it. Emily apparently reached the same conclusion because she changed the subject slightly. “Well, whether he teaches us anything or not, I still want to see Blueberry again. There’s so much about its design I want to understand.” Gwen nodded. “You can ask him. I’m sure he’ll show you more when he has time.”

We finally started the movie, and for a while, everything seemed normal. Emily kept pointing out things the filmmakers had gotten wrong, while I enjoyed watching the characters make increasingly ridiculous decisions. Gwen joined our conversation occasionally, although she wasn’t paying as much attention as usual.

At one point, one of the characters discovered that an experiment had changed his body. Emily complained about how unrealistic the explanation was, while I thought the idea of suddenly developing abilities sounded pretty interesting. “Imagine waking up one morning and being able to do something impossible,” I said. “That would be amazing.”

Gwen didn’t answer immediately. When I looked toward her, she was watching the screen with a strange expression. “Maybe,” she finally said. “But I don’t think everyone would be happy about it.” I shrugged. “Depends on what you can do, I guess.” Emily agreed, and we returned our attention to the movie. I didn’t think much about Gwen’s answer at the time.

By the time the first movie ended, Chris still hadn’t returned. We chose another one, this time something lighter. It turned out to be entertaining enough that Gwen seemed to forget about whatever was bothering her for a while. She even argued with Emily about what one of the characters should’ve done.

After the second movie ended, I stretched my arms and looked toward Gwen. “When do you think Chris will be back?” She glanced at the time before answering, “I’m not sure. He said he’d return later, but his meeting might’ve taken longer than expected.” Emily nodded. “That’s understandable. He probably has a lot to discuss.”

We decided to watch another movie while waiting. This time, I chose a mystery, and Emily immediately started trying to identify the culprit. Unfortunately, she guessed correctly long before the ending, which made me complain that she’d ruined the entire movie.

Normally, Gwen would’ve joined our argument, but she barely reacted. She was sitting beside us with her phone in her hand, looking at something I couldn’t see. When she noticed me watching, she put it aside and asked, “Should we watch something else?”

I looked at the time. We’d already spent several hours watching movies, and I was starting to get tired. Emily seemed to feel the same way because she suggested taking a break. Gwen hesitated before asking, “Can we watch one more? Chris should be back soon.”

Something about her answer bothered me. It was almost as if she wanted to keep us occupied until Chris returned. I glanced toward Emily, who seemed to notice it too, but neither of us commented. We agreed to watch one more movie.

By the time we were halfway through it, I was barely paying attention anymore. Gwen had become unusually quiet, and I noticed her fingers moving against the edge of the remote. Earlier, she’d seemed nervous whenever we asked about what Chris wanted to tell us. Now that he was taking longer than expected, she looked even less comfortable.

I was beginning to wonder whether we should simply stop the movie and talk to her when she suddenly asked, “Can I ask you two something?” I turned toward her, surprised. “Sure. What is it?” Gwen hesitated before asking, “If someone found out something important about you, something you never knew about yourself, would you want them to tell you?”

I stared at her for a moment. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Emily thought about it before answering, “I’d want to know too. Although I’d probably ask how they found out and whether they had proof.” Gwen nodded slowly, but neither answer seemed to make her feel better.

I was about to ask whether her question had anything to do with what Chris wanted to tell us when she looked toward the door. A moment later, I heard something downstairs. At first, I assumed it was White moving around the house, but then the front door opened, followed by two familiar voices.

Emily paused the movie and turned toward us. “Is that Chris?” Before I could answer, I heard Aunty speaking downstairs, followed by Chris’s voice. Gwen immediately put down the remote and stood up. She looked relieved that he was finally home, although there was still something nervous about her expression. Chris and Aunty had finally returned.