(Keith's POV)
I sat at the table nibbling absentmindedly on a half-eaten burrito. Mall food was never the best anyway and besides, I was already too engrossed with collage papers and textbooks to truly care.
I never really liked people. That much can be said. However, sitting in public spaces- a place where you are just another person amongst hundreds- had always calmed me for whatever dumb, paradoxical reason my mind had conjured up. Yet the even though the whole square was jostling and spilling over the brim with people, everywhere seemed to become almost a silent hum. This happened a lot if I was honest. But, that wasn't a complaint in the slightest. It was nice to be blocked from all the chaos and be sitting right in the centre of it. I guess you could describe it as being in the eye of the storm, (even though the metaphor did seem a little over the top).
Of course, when somebody would shout louder than the rest of the crowd I would look up or at least listen in for a moment. But that was just a basic human reaction to a sense of normality.
See, I am I very analytical person when it comes to other people. I just thought I might include that before we proceeded on, in case you thought this was only for the extra description. My element of curiosity for other people and their motives could almost be talked about as an admiration. And I guess that was what had gotten me my major of psychology. That exact subject paper staring right back at me half written, my fingers tapping my keyboard at least four times a second. Paragraph after paragraph I finished in record time when once the clock struck one p.m in the corner of my laptop screen, I cracked my bones and swung my neck to stare at the tiled ceiling.
And that was when I heard him.
The first noise to stand out to me was a high-pitched scraping of a chair from a few tables along from me. The spine-chilling screech carrying on for at least a few seconds longer than any usual chair-scrape. Mentally, I rolled my eyes.
Next came a loud cough, almost like it was forced: like one that would make your presence noticed. Then came one of those loud shouts I mentioned earlier... but this one actually got me to listen.
Listen, and look up, that is.
And there he was. Such a short and average, almost stereotypical sentence, but the sight was simply so unbelievable that that was all to come to my head in that second.
There he was. A man that looked in his early twenties. A tall, skinny, lanky man. Some part of his heritage must have been Hispanic since everything about this guy was dark, pigmented and tanned. His brown hair was cut short and well-kept, his ears just poking out on each side. His face was long and lean, his complexion (again, well-kept) shiny and glowing; you could practically see the sheer smoothness of it all. Both his chin and nose resembled the same sharp edge- even his eyebrows seemed evenly pointed! Whereas, completely contradicting his other features, his mouth and eyes were soft, round and even. In other words, this man was the definition of handsome, but I let that last thought shy away.
Yet, his good looks weren't the thing to send my thoughts hurtling off of the tracks. It was the fact he had confidently gone and stood up on a chair, arms wide and projecting in the air- in the centre of a busy mall- and yelled into the crowd,
"LANCE IS A USELESS HUMAN BEING!"
But the first thought that came into my mind was,
I seriously hope that this guys name is Lance.
I studied him for what had felt like a long time. I watched as the crowds moved past his as if nothing had happened. I watched as small groups of teens let out laughs and pointed discreetly in his direction which only (for some strange reason made my insides boil). I watched his broad grin falter and those big eyes drop once nobody paid him any attention. I watched him as he brought his arms down to cradle one with the other at his side. I watched him fix his gaze on a specific place in the food hall... and I followed it. It landed on a group of five people window shopping.
One was the tallest, broad-shouldered, extremely muscular with hair dyed black and white. The other was a lot larger, he was black and wore a yellow bandanna across his head. The next was a tall, skinny girl with unnaturally dyed white-hair. The forth almost looked out of place since he was much older looking, a ginger moustache curling from his upper lip. The smallest one, and final one, I examined had short, fawn hair and wore lots of green; their gender not really showing with societal expectational aspects. But despite these differences, each shared something in common. Every single one was looking away ashamed from this man stood in the middle of the mall. They kept averting their gaze away from him, looking like they spoke in whispers to each other before picking up the pace a little and walking away.
I snapped back to the man on the chair whose expression had completely been flattened. Darkened. Saddened. He remained like this for a few moments, except I got the gist that it would have felt like an eternity to him.
After those moments, he snapped his head and gaze around self-consciously fast and stepped down from the chair.
But what happened next was what had truly pulled at my heart...
He was smiling. But I could tell from where I was sat that it wasn't real. It wasn't because he was bad at hiding it- no. His entire being portrayed him as bubbly and joyous. Though the small things like how his back was slightly hunched and how he darted his eyes back and forth whilst picking up the chair gave it away. Plus the fact that what had been his expression before completely rivalled the emotion he shone out now added to the contradiction.
Chair in hand, I watched him walk back through the crowd and noticing that he was going the same way that group of people had slid away down. I again began to realise that he was heading on a route that passed my table.
Parted from the chair at a table just a few metres in front of my own and as the thought that he was following that group of people (I inferred could only be his 'friends') I physically felt a fiery pang of anger fester in my stomach.
"Hey, it's Lance right?"
For a brief quarter of a second, I genuinely had to stop myself from looking around to see who had said that. But my mouth was open and my throat was alive. Also, the man was staring at me in shock. Never a great sign.
Dammit, Keith! What have you done?
"Erm... y-yeah. I- err... how- how did you know my name?" When the guy spoke his voice was higher than I had imagined such a strapping guy to sound like.
"You kinda announced it over there. That was a really brave stunt to pull, man."
The man- Lance- caved in on himself in some kind of anxious paranoia.
"You- err- you noticed that?"
"Well, yeah. Kinda hard not to notice." I let out a warm chuckle with an even softer smile and saw something genuine twitch on him too.
Lance didn't add to my comment for five, long, awkward seconds, suddenly becoming interested in his right jacket sleeve.
"Do you want a drink?" Once more, I wondered who had said that.
Goddammit, Keith! What the hell?!
"A... a what?"
I couldn't hold back a teasing chuckle, "you know," I continued, "a drink? A beverage? A coffee, coke or something? It just seems like your friends are kinda..." I thought about my choice of words for a few beats, "... doing their own thing at the minute... So I just think you could use some company."
Lance looked utterly dumbfounded, his eyes wider than any saucer I'd seen. His jaw twitched like e wanted to say something but couldn't and for a moment I wondered if I had overstepped my boundaries.
"Y-you look really busy... I wouldn't want to distract you from your work."
I blew out a breath in an attempt at a laugh, "I'm way over schedule and this paper isn't in for another week. Only five thousand more words and it'll be finished besides, I could use I break anyway!"
And it seems like you could too, is what I wanted to add.
His lips took up an instant grin, eyes lighting up like a child on Christmas and my chest only blossomed with warmth.
"I'd love to, thank you."
I saved my assignment and packed up my work stuff into my backpack to make room for this guy to take a seat, remembering the one stone-cold burrito only briefly, scrunching up my nose at the grease dripping on the wrapper.
I switched the gaze back to Lance although... he had his face plastered with a smirk and the genetical talent of one eyebrow raised. My own furrowed in confusion when I realised he was staring at the soggy burrito.
"You having a staring contest or something?" I smiled lightly.
He made a low hum, "if we're going to get a drink, then I'm going to get you a better burrito."
I rolled my eyes with a laugh on my lips, "you seriously don't have to do that. I'm not that hungry, really. But thanks anywa-"
"Nope, nope. Nopetty, nope, nope." He threw his arms in the air wildly, "I am proud to be a Hispanic man, I simply cannot let you subject yourself to such fake American prototypes." He poked and sneered at the burrito like it was a bowl of worms.
"Yep. I just can't do it." He added as a final statement.
"Alright, fine!" I brought my hands up to surrender, the grin not faltering from my cheeks.
Lance brightened up so much more that it was hard to even remember this was the same downhearted man who stood, panicking on a chair literally only minutes before.
It was true, I had no clue who this guy was. All I knew was that he was called Lance, was of Hispanic heritage, and seemed like an all rounded, genuine guy who didn't seem to think that he was worth much. Yet, despite me having no clue who he was, I wanted to punch the five kids who had done this to him.
As I stood from the table and swung my bag over my shoulders, I took this man in for who he was. I ran through everything that had just happened, his appearance once more and felt a flower bloom in my chest. Not for that reason. But that the fact that I had helped somebody in a way it seemed no one else would, it made me warm inside.
Lance was rambling on about something to do with food and places to eat as if we had known each other for years- like all this was normal. And who knew, someday it could well be...
"I'm Keith by the way."
Again, with the random outbursts, Keith? Really?
I had blurted the fact once we had completely exited that area of the mall and he looked a little taken back but smiled kindly, eyes even softer. "Kogane? Yeah, I saw your notebooks."
This time it was me who was shocked.
Wow, this guy was more analytical than he looks...
"I'm McClain. Just thought I should point that one out."
"Yeah...", my eyes still wide and wonder-filled, "th-thanks."
His cheeks closed his eyes with a wide grin and he continued on, leaving me a little behind in the dust, my expression in true awe.
Something told me, this wouldn't be the last time we'd ever do this.
Author's Note: So I got this prompt off of a prompt on Tumblr but changed it a little so it wasn't too angsty (so unlike me I know xD) I loved writing this and was so inspired to do so! I was out with my friend shopping yesterday so the sounds of public sounds filled me to the brim!
So yeah, leave what you thought since I don't usually do this kind of thing! And I'll be with you all again soon!
-L.E-Rae _x_