“So, who's winning the argument?”
Jason smiled with half his mouth without looking up. “She is.”
Dani slipped down to sit beside him, her arm pressed against his. “She usually did.”
“Only when it was important.” With a crimson flash, Jason changed the pencil he was working with. “So, how is Cory doing?”
“Cody,” she corrected him. “Cody decided that he's going into the Marines. He shipped out for basic last week. That sucks on top of him graduating early.” Jason nodded his head in understanding, but kept working on his drawing. “But...” Jason sighed and disappeared the pencil. Dani took a look at the picture before he closed the pad. “It's scary how well you can draw her,” she said quietly.
“But?”
“Oh, well, see there was a problem at the ranch.” Dani threw herself up off the ground, practically dancing. “See, when Cody told me he was leaving, he kind of, uh, punctuated it with a kiss.”
“First time kiss?”
Dani blushed. “That's not the point!”
“Then what is?” Jason asked. The question was heavy with perturbation.
“Well...”
“Dani.” Jason couldn't help but accent it with annoyance.
“I kinda burned down my grandfather's equipment barn.”
Jason cocked an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean you burned it down? How?”
Dani gave him a mischievous smile while raising her hand palm up. “Kinda like this,” she said and a flame sat in her open palm. Within a few moments her hand ignited. And then the flames raced up her arm.
“So your powers came in,” Jason said. “Fire suits you. What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean 'fire suits me'? Are you saying that I'm fiery or something?” The flames went out.
“No,” Jason said. “All things considered, you've got a pretty good temperament. Fire is also used to refer to passion. And that's pretty much you in everything you do.”
“Oh.” Dani smiled at him. “I've got to finish school, and I need to learn what all I can do, but after that, I figured I'd go into the family business with my mom,” she said grinning.
“Yeah,” Jason sighed. “Your mom. I need to go apologize to her.”
Dani's grin faded and she cocked her eyebrow up at him. “For what?”
“My mouth ran faster than my brain.”