Come Follow Me...

Lily swallowed. "So, what does that mean for you and James?" She asked nervously, not knowing much about any of this and hating the lack of knowledge.
 
James knocked a cigarette out of it's packet and grasped it in his lips. He raised a lighter and struck a spark, catching the wic. He inhaled and blew the smoke from his nostrils. He only smoked rarely, and it wasn't usually unless he was having a bit of a hard time. "Jesus... I need to calm the fuck down..." he said to himself. He tapped his fingers on his knee absent mindedly as he sat down on the back steps. He looked up, expecting to see the stars but instead got an eyeful of clouds. He took another drag as he looked down at the concrete instead.
 
"It means... well I don't know but as long as he doesn't go in the internet with his computer and buys a new one instead he should be alright. Well no more worse off than he is now. I could go through his computer with, the bios, the efi, all the firmware and make sure everything is alright Everything writable that I can.. I guess thats what I'm doing tomorrow. Staring at code. Wonderful."

He stared up at the ceiling. "If this is Icarus though... it means that they really didn't get all of it and its still out there. And I have the story."
 
"I don't envy you." Lily cracked, trying to cheer both herself and Oscar up. She turned and glanced out the window. "I'm going down to see James." She grabbed her jacket, and headed down to where he was sitting.

"Hey. Bad time." It wasn't a question - she could see him smoking and she knew perfectly well that he only smoked when things were really bad. Lily leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.
 
"Yeah, I'm just having a bit of a hard time dealing with everything right now." He said taking another drag. "It's just that I haven't seen Oscar like that in a long time. And, its also kind of about the break-up with Perrie, too." he said still looking at the concrete. "I'm kinda taking it a bit harder than I would have thought I would have...". He took another drag, exhaled and stubbed it out. "Don't even begin to think I'm getting back with that possessive bitch. It's just the shock of having a blank space there, like flipping your pillow over in winter." he said, looking at Lilly finally. "It's just the shock. Not the wound." he said. "Want one?" he said, offering her the box.
 
Lily shook her head. She had tried a cigarette once before, and had ended up retching from the sheer smell of it. She bit her lip, and shook her head. "I wouldn't expect you to get back with her. I know what you need - someone who understands you, and doesn't whine, or bitch about other people when she is with you.
 
He took another cigarette in his mouth and lit up. "I think what I need is a break from girls and another drink..." he said mournfully. He drew and exhaled. "I'm just not sure about anything anymore." he said, leaning back. "Things have been hard for a while and I just need a damn holiday..." he said, taking another draw.
 
Lily smiled, and produced the bottle of rum that she had brought from the fridge on her way out. "Rum?" She grinned, and handed it to him. "I know what you mean - we should just run away from this place, and not come back for a fortnight. Maybe go to the Carribean."
 
James laughed. He then laughed a little bit more. "Oh, dear..." he said, still chuckling. "You always know how to make me laugh, Pet." he said, wiping a tear of joy. "Thanks, love." he said popping the rubber cork out of the bottle and taking a swig. He passed the bottle back to Lilly.
 
"My humour is the reason you love me so much." Lily grinned, and took a swig herself of the drink. "Seriously though - you do not need to be pining after girls like Perrie, when you have perfectly sensible girls like me right here." She shrugged.
 
"Thanks for the offer, Pet." he said, chuckling and taking another drag. "Oh dear..." he said, looking back up at the sky. "You've really brightened my night up. Thanks." he said smiling. He stood up, his good humour restored. "Be careful what you go saying to poor guys like me. They might just take you up on one of your offers one day and then you'd be in trouble!" he said smiling and taking another drag.
 
"You're hardly poor, and I can take care of myself." Lily retorted with a grin, and stood up. She hauled herself onto the stone wall, and sat there, gazing at James.

"But I'm glad I cheered you up."
 
James took another drag and stubbed the cigarette out. He sat up on the wall next to her. "Were..." he hesitated. "Were you, um, serious about running away to the Carribean?" he asked shyly. He stared at his shoes for a few moments before looking up at her.
 
"Not the literal Caribbean, but yeah, about running away for a bit. Somewhere far enough so we can have some peace and quiet. Maybe Scotland or somewhere like that." Lily tilted her head to the side. "Would you want to?"
 
"I don't know, Lil... You've been a really good friend to me. I guess I'm just scared that I might bugger things up between us if... Well..." he said, looking back at his shoes again. "Even ever since we were in high school together, I've had a crush on you, but I just dont know about taking this any further. I don't want to ruin what we have." he said, still looking at his shoes, his feet swinging back and forth a little bit.
 
Lily's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a moment, trying to process this. James fancied her. James fancied her. James fancied her. James fancied her. She looked at him staring at his shoes, and she blushed as she felt a fluttering in her stomach.

"Since high-school?" She finally managed to whisper.
 
"Oh God, I've gone and done it now..." he said to himself. No turning back now... Idiot... "Yes, actually, Lilly. Highschool. Since year 7 to be exact." he said looking her straight in the eye. "You are an attractive young woman and so I dont really see any reason to not to fancy you." he said, trying his hardest not to blush or look away.
 
Lily didn't reply to that. She just leaned in and sweetly kissed him on the lips. It was brief and tender, and perfect. She knew her cheeks were bright red, but she didn't care.

She pulled back, and softly said, "Why didn't you say anything before, you silly goose?" Her face was glowing, and her smile stretched from ear to ear.
 
Oh sweet sweet Ghandi... She kissed me?! Why did you let her do that?!? There's no getting past the acohol with you, is there? James looked away quickly. and then looked back to Lilly. "I-I..." he stuttered. He took the bottle of rum and had another swig. "I didn't mean for that to happen..." he said blushing vigourously. "I think I should go back inside, its getting cold out here." he said nervously. "You can come inside as well, don't want to catch a cold now, do we?" he said laughing nervously as he stumbled indoors.
 
Oscar didn't knwo or care about what was going on between James and Lilly. With his eyes closed he pretended to be asleep as he thought. If Icarus could think and evolve there was no way to tell what it would think and feel like. Icarus was also a very old program, then mean small files, and that it had to have evolved and changed over time to run on newer hardware. If Oscar was correct then Icarus wasn't on any one machine. He was on all of them. Sneaking into corporate systems and adding himself to the firmware of everything from phones to main boards. He had always thought this but now he saw what it meant. The entire internet was Icarus. Ever server, ever terminal, every device connected to it was one huge program... and over time Icarus might have developed a will of his own...

Icarus had access to everything because he was everything... All Oscar had to do was talk to it... no... talk to him.
 
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