The Boy To Her Right by Oregano

"What's wrong with you?"

The question was delivered so lazily, so boredly, that it didn't really sound like he cared about her answer at all. She squinted her eyes up at him, screwing her mouth at the same time. He towered over her, his hands in his pockets once again. The truth was, she had been sitting on the sidewalk for quite a while now, and the bones in her backside were starting to pound with pain. Her legs had long ago fallen asleep, and she was pretty sure that her face was flushed from the exposure to the elements.

When she didn't answer, he rolled his eyes and sighed. She continued to stare at him, or to be more exact, squint at him. He twisted his own mouth in thought for a moment, but finally gave in and sat down beside her. He stretched his legs out in front of himself, hoping that maybe an innocent passerby could trip on them.

She slapped his arm, "Don't do that. People might get hurt."

He wrinkled his nose in reply, and waved a hand, "Ah, no they won't."

It was her turn to roll her eyes. She crossed her arms and studied her surroundings, ignoring the boy to her right, who was, in turn, studying her. Not willing to take the scrutiny anymore, she whipped her face at him angrily, "If you're going to sit there, will you at least stop looking at me? It's creepy."

She was only greeted with a smirk, a nod, and a small turn of the head. After a moment, he spoke again, in that lazy tone, "Cranky. In the process of doing something weird. Alone. Kind of bitter. Have a fight with your boyfriend?"

Her lip twitched more at the accuracy of his question than the invasiveness of it. She turned her head away once again, unwilling to look at the very rude boy to her right.

"That's answer enough."

The statement was like a pin to a balloon. Angry, she looked at him square in the eye. "You know, I don't like it when you're like this. Every time something goes wrong with him and me, you pop up out of nowhere and say something annoying. Normal people would try to be nice and say something to comfort me, maybe offer me food, but you; you just have to be a prick about this. You get that little gleam in your eye, like my misery is some kind of sick entertainment to you. And I don't like it, at all. So I would appreciate it if you just either keep quiet, or leave me alone."

To her surprise, she found him smiling at her. A full display of his teeth, a big curve of the edges of his lips. It startled her how much nicer he looked when he smiled like that. There was so mischief, no cockiness, and just all-out friendliness. Like a Care Bear. However, it disappeared as he hauled himself up to stand.

"All right, I'll leave."

She was squinting at him once again, but now, he was staring down at her with a blank look. "So it really isn't physically possible for you to just silently keep me company?"

"Do you want my company?" It was a baiting question, the shiny pink hook dangling in front of her face. And she knew that.

Taking on an uninterested expression, she carefully swept her head away from his face and offered him a dainty shrug. "It's a free country."

Again, he rolled his eyes at her, but with a slight feeling of amusement settling in his features. He bent down once again, and fell on the space to her right. He planted his hands behind his head and proceeded to lay on the ground fully, relaxed and silent.

"So…," she started, out of the blue.

"Shut up. You said you wanted silence, and I'm giving it to you. Why would you ruin that?" he asked from his position, his eyes closed in rest. He didn't even bother looking at her when he said that.

And so she kept quiet. She gathered her knees up in front of her and hugged them, pouting all the while. He always did this, bait her and then stick it to her later on. She glared at the boy to her right, wishing that he had never said anything in the first place.

Hmph.