"That sounds crazy. You can't lose information in Amethi's datapool. One askping will find you anything."
"That's because it's still small. Earth's datapool breakdown was inevitable. There's too much data to be indexed in a single source, and the more the index is distributed the weaker the metalinks become. They're talking about giving it official subdivisions. Except, if you don't know where all the original data is stored, how are you going to rearrange it?"
"No wonder I couldn't get an answer."
"If you like, I can send a message to a friend I know. She can load an askping for the show."
Lawrence tumbled off the settee. He wound up kneeling in front of Roselyn, who was regarding him with intrigued amusement. "You can get the rest of the episodes for me?"
"We can find out if they exist, yes. Entertainment is still mainstream. Unless it's over a century old, of course. Even then, it's pretty easy."
"Please." He clamped his hands on her knees. "I would be eternally grateful, and I will sign that in blood."
"Humm." She pondered the notion for a moment, eyes unfocused on the ceiling. "There is one thing I'd like."
"It's yours."
She took hold of his hand and licked his fingers one by one, ending with a kiss at each tip. Then she began to move him slowly across her body until the place he touched made her gasp. "That," she murmured huskily. "I like that."
Every day for a week Roselyn went back to the Newton family estate after school. Sometimes they drove on the trike, but often they'd walk through the 'tweendome tunnels. It wasn't until the third day she was introduced to Lawrence's mother and brothers and sisters. He worried about the meeting a lot more than she did, wincing every time his mother was "nice" or asked a personal question; glaring at his siblings when they shouted a crass comment. Roselyn sailed through it with a grace he envied as much as he admired.
After that initial encounter was over, he wasn't obliged to bring her into the house every time, although it was made very clear she was to come to a meal whenever she was visiting. And it would be lovely to meet her mother for lunch one day. Soon.
"Parents," she sighed when Lawrence glumly relayed this latest development. "They never book themselves into the nursing home. They just stay home and embarrass their children."
He glanced up from licking her navel. "You know what'll happen, don't you? My mum will start introducing your mum to eligible men."
Roselyn shifted around. They'd put a blanket on the settee now; the leather used to stick to her bare skin. "I doubt it."
He heard the tension in her voice. "Sorry. You don't talk much about him."
"No." She let out a long breath. "I don't. There's not much to say. He was a great father, I loved him lots. Then one day he was gone, and everything I thought was my world went with him. And just when I thought my life was going to be completely shitty from then on, I came here." She pinched a roll of flesh around his waist, which made him squirm. "And there you were waiting for me."
"Something else we've got in common. My life was pretty shitty, too, until I met you. I don't mean it was as bad as you losing your father, no way. Mine was all self-inflicted, most of it, I guess. Easier to bring that to an end."
"Well, I'm going to inflict some more suffering on you."
"What?"
"Lawrence, I can't keep coming back here after school."
"Why not?" he asked, shocked. "Don't you like this?"
Her grin was dangerous as she clambered on top of him. "Oh yes, to be sure, I like this. Way too much, in case you hadn't noticed. Two weeks with you, and I've turned into a complete slut." She pushed her breasts toward his face.
"Me too." He licked her nipples, urgent for the taste of them. Even after all this time he was still amazed at what she let him do. His own bravery in suggesting things was surprising, too. It was as if neither of them owned a single inhibition between them.
Roselyn lifted herself out of his immediate reach. "I've got to start doing some serious homestudy. Amethi's schools are ultra-fast-tracked compared to dear old Ireland's. If I'm not careful, I'm going to wind up the biggest dunce this planet has ever seen."
"You won't."
"Lawrence! I will. I'm serious now, I have got to get my homestudy done."
"Do it here," he said simply. "There's datapool access. You've got your bracelet pearl with you. No problem." His hand went up ready to fondle her breast.
Roselyn sat back, hands on hips, to stare down at him. "You know what'll happen if I come here to do it. You'll start cuddling up and then we'll wind up fucking, and I'll never get anything done. Do you want me to be a total idiot?"
"Of course not. But—" He couldn't bear the idea of not seeing her outside school. "I won't get fresh with you until you've finished your coursework. Promise. Just, please, come back here in the afternoons. Please?"
"Cross your heart and hope to die?"
His finger drew a cross on his chest. "Absolutely."
"Okay then."
"Great!"
"But, we go to the house first. Do our homestudy there."
"Ow, what?"
"That's the deal. We work together in the lounge or somewhere. That way neither of us can lapse."
"Oh hell. All right"
"And afterward"—she leaned down again, taunting— "afterward, we can come back down here, and I'll show you how grateful I am."
"Will you?"
Her tongue licked around the outside of his lips at the same time he could feel her nipples brushing against his chest. The provocation was a beautiful torment.
"Oh yes," she whispered.
"How grateful is that, exactly?"
"So grateful, I won't be able to talk, my mouth will be too busy."