"I'm sorry sir, but for the seventh time, we do not sell lemonade at this location. Would you like to order something else?" a very annoyed and agitated Arthur drawled out. The customer, however, chose not to acknowledge this information and replied,
"…how rude. To think someone as pathetic and unreliable as you can find work. It's horrific."
Snap.
"Well. At least I can move on with my 'pathetic' life unlike some morons who can't accept that fact that this isn't a superstore."
"Arthur. That's enough. I'm sorry sir, but our shop does not sell lemonade as of yet, please feel free to try anything else on our menu." The store manager turned to Arthur slightly, "…I will need to speak to you in the back, please."
Arthur gulped hard, and took a deep breath before following the manager to his office.
"You do know why you're here, correct?" Arthur stared at the ground for a moment before replying,
"…Yes."
The manager heaved a disappointed sigh, and rubbed his temples before sitting down at his desk and looking Arthur straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, but this has happened way too many times to count. At this point, I'm going to have to let you go."
Arthur lowered his head, "I understand." He immediately threw his apron to the side and ran out of the shop. "This is just fucking great. How the hell am I supposed to pay off this month's rent? Or my own college tuition?" He made his way up the stairs and unlocked the door to his dorm. Unfortunately, Arthur did not have a roommate to share the dormitory fee with, so here he is, stuck by himself. Again.
It was at this point that Arthur decided to take a nap, clear his head, think of happy thoughts; like rainbows, and unicorns, and fairies, maybe even something unrealistic but somewhat amusing, like a flying mint bunny….
"…What am I doing with my life?"
The next day, Arthur got up, and headed towards his first class. That was until he stopped himself on the way there. In front of him, the girl he had been planning to confess to was alone. Looking both ways, he decided to walk up casually, give a friendly smile, and greet her, "Good morning!"
The girl stared up at him for a moment before forcing a polite smile and replying, "Hello, how are you?"
"Well, I'm fine, but…I was wondering…you know…if you happen to be free sometime soo-"
"No thank you."
Arthur felt his heart break a bit, but he quickly regained his posture and felt the need to walk away as soon as he could, "Ahh… well, that's fine. It was nice talking to you! Have a good day!"
When we thought that the girl was out of sight, he walked through the halls until he found himself in front of his homeroom. He checked his watch, "6:30AM. Yes, I am most definitely early." Still feeling a pang of hurt in his chest, he glared down and kicked his homeroom door. All was silent until a small crash was heard emitting from his homeroom. Curious, Arthur slowly turned the knob and swished the door wide open, revealing his two best friends.
No wait, scratch that. Revealing his two best friends. Who were dating each other. Making out, (quite heavily) on his, his, desk.
"What. The. Fuck?"
The trio stared at each other for a brief moment, before the couple broke the silence by laughing nervously.
"Hey! Artie! G'morning!"
Arthur felt his eye twitch.
"…Alfred. Matthew. Get the fuck off my desk."
Matthew, the more timid of the three quickly obeyed and moved to his seat a few desks back, before whimpering a soft, "I'm so sorry!"
Alfred, on the other hand rolled his eyes and followed Matthew to his seat beside him.
"Woah! Someone's a bit touchy this morning! What happened, buddy? Get rejected again?"
"Al! That's rude!"
"Hey! He's the one who very rudely interrupted us!"
"But he's our friend!"
"But I'm your boyfriend."
"Al…"
"Fine, fine, fine. I'm sorry, Artie. There, you happy now?" Alfred pouted.
"Yes, and I love you very much." Matthew beamed happily.
And, like a puppy pumped on adrenaline, Alfred instantly perked up and kissed him quickly on the cheek.
Arthur fake-gagged, "…I can't believe I'm friends with you two."
Giggling, Matthew replied, "but you'd love us unconditionally, right?"
"…unfortunately."
Alfred, feeling a bit left out of the conversation, decided to bring up something to spice the atmosphere a bit. "Oh hey, we're having a new guy transfer to our homeroom."
This caught Arthur's attention (strangely). "In the middle of the semester? Right after exams just finished? Does that not sound somewhat suspicious to you?"
"Well…" Alfred started, "…apparently he's a foreign exchange student from France. He's super rich and his father decided to send him here to improve his management skills."
"Interesting…" Arthur thought to himself. "…another person to make my life look more depressing."
Arthur grabbed his bag.
"Well, I'm leaving for a bit. It's still early for class to start. You two, try not to get caught."
"Will do, Artie!"
Arthur rolled his eyes, and shut the door behind him.
"…"
"…"
"So…"
"Hmm?"
"Shall we continue?" Alfred winked suggestively.
Matthew blinked, "Continue what?"
"Y'know what I'm talking about…"
"…Al…"
"…Mattie…"
"…So can we?"
Matthew sighed.
"Fine. We have an hour left."
"Yeah!" Alfred punched the air in victory.
And in less than half a second, they made their way to Arthur desk, and resumed their previous position.
Arthur walked up the stairs and opened the door to the building's rooftop. He inhaled deeply, and dropped his bag to the side of the door.
Walking to the edge of the roof, he leaned on the bar, and sighed, "…a new student, huh? Must be nice having everything you could ever want in the world…and more…"
He thought back to himself. How he was unaccomplished, not spectacular, lacking in culinary skill.
"I can't do anything right."
He looked down the edge of the bar. He was a good eight levels off the ground. He smirked to himself, and laughed pathetically. "…What a lucky bastard."
He then pushed himself from the bar, and swung one leg over, then the other. He stared blankly at the cold, hard, pavement beneath him.
"Maybe I should end this now. I'm not going anywhere in life. Where's my happy ending? Who would ever love someone like me?" Tears already falling down his face, Arthur let go of the bar. Let himself go. Expecting to fall onto the hard, cold, warm, kind of fleshy… "…since when did concrete smell like cologne?"
He looked up and noticed bright blue eyes staring down at him.
"…You! Are you alright? Je voudrais- Oh! Pardon me! English! I'm in America! What I mean is…! I would not know what to do, if someone as cute as you fell to your impending doom!"
Arthur blinked, as his eyes widened. French? He was French. Great. He fell into the arms of the one with the life he wished he had. But, none the less, he did save him from falling. So it was only proper for a gentleman of his standard to accept the gesture.
"Thanks…that would've hurt."
"Ahh… it is alright! But…how did you fall off this building in the first place? Perhaps you we're in a fight?...Je ne sais pas…"
Casually Arthur replied, "Not at all, I simply wanted to relieve my stress."
"What? Ahh, but I am glad you are safe now, mon ami. Oh! Before I forget, may I have your name?"
Slightly shocked, he answered, "Arthur Kirkland. And who might you be?" Although he had a pretty good idea of who we was already.
All of a sudden, the man pulled out a rose from his bag and handed it to Arthur, "Francis Bonnefoy. It is a pleasure to be sharing your dorm room with you, Arthur."
The both of them stood still for a few moments.
"One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun
Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun."
