Surprise Surprise!
I hope everybody is doing well and staying healthy.
I know things are getting boring during quarantine but... Anyways, I've been busy with school work and (oh dear) AP Tests, which are NOT fun. I've been juggling lots of tests and HW so writing was not as frequent as I wished.
Enjoy this chapter!
Breathing hard in the cold night sky, I walked at a fast pace throughout the darkened night campus. A growing concern started to animate across my feelings as I walked. The sky was black and the lamps dimly shined across the brick floors I walked across. I sighed out loud when I came across a couple being engrossed with each other in the public.
I stepped into my complex and fumbled for the keys. I sharply walked across the hallway to my dorm. I opened the door and saw some light being emitted in Emily's room.
What do I do? I can't just approach her and be like, who the hell are you hanging around these days... I thought, pacing around.
I went to the kitchen and rubbed my forehead frustrated. Why am I getting annoyed over this?
I mustered my courage and knocked on her door.
"What?" I heard her call out.
"Uh... ahem, you..." I panicked. What the fuck am I doing?
"You want to have a study session over the weekend?" I asked. I could feel a confused feeling spreading across the air. It was icy cold. It was horrible.
"Why the fuck do you want that?" She asked, giving me a look.
"You know... I'm busy, so I thought I could help you as well..." I said nervously. "It's fine if you don't as well but-"
"Yeah, well I made plans over the weekend so uh..." Emily said.
"Oh... my bad," I said, stepping out of her door way. I shut it.
What the fuck? I... what I am doing? I ruffled my hair and pacing around my room. I have to figure out if she's really being around bad people. Why am I going through such a fuss? Emily probably thinks I'm creepy as fuck now. Wait... since when did I care about how she thinks?
The door to our dorm sounded.
"I'm back," Anna announced, sounding out of breath. I groaned and just lied down on my bed.
"Aiden help me put away groceries please," Anna said.
Say what now? I thought, tossing and turning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anna peering at me from my door.
"What are you doing?" she asked, seemingly unimpressed. I didn't respond and just covered myself with the sheets.
"Hormones now?" Anna asked, tugging the sheets away from me. "Help with the groceries. You're responsible next week,"
"Alright alright," I said, letting my head drop. I slouched into the hallway and mindlessly put away the food that Anna bought into the fridge.
"What the hell is this?" I asked, holding up a package. It had a strange smell. Pokemon food?
"Things for me," Anna said, "put it in the freezer please."
Hm.
My heart lifted slightly when I saw some of my favorite things amongst the bad of groceries that Anna carried home.
"What's your plan tomorrow?" Anna asked, stepping beside me.
"Nothing planned yet," I said, feeling my tongue getting dry. Yeah, like I can say that I wanted a study session with an ex...
"Great," Anna said. "Let's go stationary shopping tomorrow. I'm running out of supplies and since you have nothing else to do, we mind as well head downtown."
"Huh?" I said, staring at her. I already went downtown with Lizelle today. Do I have to go again?
"Did you not hear what I said?" Anna said, poking my chest. "Are you deaf?"
"Partly," I said, sighing. "fine, I'll go with you tomorrow. I have to get something for myself as well."
"Great," Anna said, lips curling upwards. "Did you eat yet?"
"Uh, yeah," I said. Anna peered at me with an unreadable expression.
"You okay?" she asked, in a somewhat worrying manner. "You sound really distressed for some reason."
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little spaced out as usual," I said.
She reached out to feel my forehead. I waited as she leaned in with her forehead to compare her temperature with mine.
"You seem worried about something," Anna said, pulling back.
"Maybe," I said, avoiding her gaze. "I've got a project due to so hm..."
"You do?" Anna asked, sighing. "Urgh fine, go, go. Work, I'll take over."
"You sure?" I asked as she pushed me out of the kitchen. "I can still help for a couple of minutes."
"Yeah, I'm the one who's dragging you downtown again. Plus you seem really tired, so I'll take over." Anna said.
"Oh, thanks a lot then," I said, leaving the area. "You should sleep early too,"
"I will. Be up by eight tomorrow. We are taking the bus." She said.
"Cool," I said, retreating back into my room. I flopped down on my bed again.
Maybe I should work right now. I thought, peeking at my computer. I guess so that I can forget about Emily.
I stayed up much through the night until around 1:00 in the morning, so that wasn't great. I managed to complete my workload for Saturday, meaning I could probably take it easy tomorrow. My mind still unconsciously thought about the idea of Emily with somebody else. Even though it is completely petty and illogical, I still found somewhat of discomfort in the idea.
Am I worried for no reason? What am I being so anxious about? Emily? The person that she's with? Hell, I don't give a crap about that druggy. What am I so flustered for? I thought, sinking into my arms. The more I thought about it, the more that I started to question my own objective. I didn't even have one.
Eh whatever, Imma go to sleep. I said, crawling back into my sanction.
"Morning," Anna said, knocking on my door.
"Morning..." I muttered. My eyes drifted to the ceiling. I felt like I was missing something. Something in my mind seemed to be voided...
OH FUCK! I forgot to call Lizelle! I jumped up and grabbed my phone. Lizelle called twice but gave up. Fuck fuck frick shit poop crap.
I tried to call her, but it went straight to voice mail. Ohhhhh noooooooo...
I gave up after calling her five times. I slumped to the floor.
Is this what being blocked feels like? I thought. Anna passed my door to go to the bathroom and saw me in my depressed state.
"Weirdo," she muttered, leaving to go to the bathroom.
I pulled my shit together, ate breakfast, and got some stretches in.
Oh, dude, I smell as like an ass. I thought, taking a quick shower. I came out of the shower drying my hair and throwing on random clothing.
"I'm ready!" I called, getting my empty side bag from my room.
"Give me a couple of minutes!" I heard Anna say.
"Aight," I said, leaving our apartment. "I'm going to wait in the common area." I jogged down the staircase and sat down on the couches. I looked around the common area and realized that I was the only one there. Our building had multiple dorms. There were probably 8 other dorms, so around 24 people residing in the area. The bigger pokemon got a special space on the other side of the campus. I looked through my phone for any messages. It didn't look like anybody sent me anything important. I scrolled through social media and encountered Lizelle's post. It was the one I took of her yesterday. I swiped left to see a picture of both of us. In the picture, I was busy trying to get a waiter's attention while she stuck a tongue out at the camera. My eyes unconsciously glanced at her exposed cleavage. It looked kinda cute I had to admit. Around four-hundred people liked the post. She had many more connections than me. I only had measly four-hundred followers while she had twice (2.5 actually) the amount I did.
"Hey, sorry about the wait," Anna said, tapping my shoulder. I flinched and looked behind me. She had a really cute white skirt that perfectly complimented how she looked.
"Why do braixens always wear skirts?" I asked, getting up. She frowned.
"Because it goes with our fur patterns, duh." She said, sounding slightly upset. "You don't like it?"
"I never said that," I said. "It looks fine."
We went along the path and boarded a bus. I calmly looked outside as we headed downtown. Luckily, today there was good weather. It was cold, but warm at the same time. I'm rather glad I decided to wear a light jacket, rather than a trench coat today. Beside me, Anna was humming along, apparently enjoying herself.
She's still a child after all. I thought, resting my head on my arms while looking glumly outside the window.
When our bus arrived, we left the vehicle.
"Do you know the way?" I asked, following her around.
"Yup! I planned on going to a stationary a couple of streets away. There was something that I really wanted to check out." Anna said. I followed her while looking around. The atmosphere was almost uplifting. It was a little after rush-hour, so there were much fewer people around. Everybody seemed to be much relaxed. I saw a couple of kids with their parents walking around. I watched as a group of kids hung around the streets. I smiled a little at that, since they were trying to act tough and stuff.
A cub will still be a cub I guess. I thought while moving my hair out of my eyes. Maybe I should get a haircut sometime soon... I can't see much out of my bangs.
My attention was recollected as Anna tugged at my sleeve. I followed her into a small wooden building. The surrounding area was much more modern, so this small store really stood out.
"Welcome!" a girl at the entrance greeted. Anna smiled and dragged me around towards the back of the isle.
"Look at these!" She said, showing me a bunch of notebooks.
"What's so special about these?" I asked, picking one up.
"It's smooth. Imagine using one of their pens on this surface. It's good for note-taking!" She exclaimed.
"I do everything on my computer..." I said, feeling the surface with the tip of my finger. It was indeed really soft and smooth. Hm, makes me actually want to buy one. Damn their pens are really nice too. I thought as I drew a small stick figure with one of the pens they offered as a demo. I looked around the dingy place. Something seemed surreal about the area, but I couldn't put it into words. The ceiling of the building was dark, and only light lamps hung from the ceiling, illuminating much of the store. It was as though we stepped into a mysterious, yet charming, forest.
A cat figure caught my eye to my right. I walked over and saw a cardboard box. A cat figure was staring back at me. I looked at the instructions, which prompted me to put a quarter on the plate that the cardboard box had. As soon as the weight of the coin registered, the mechanical cat took it's paw and took the coin.
That's cute. I thought, putting another quarter in. Oh dear... there goes a dollar.
"You really like cats huh?" Anna said, suddenly leaning next to me to see what I was so fascinated with. I stepped away and rubbed my neck.
"Yeah, kinda." I thought.
"I thought you hated everything," Anna said, slightly giggling. "I didn't know you liked cats though."
I looked away from embarrassment, "what's so bad about liking cats."
"Nothing," Anna said. "Just nice to see you flustered once in a while."
My expression then morphed into a scowl as I realized that she was poking fun at me.
"Come on, I've already finished with this shop," Anna said.
We left the store and continued to venture around the area. Time passed pretty quickly. Anna seemed to be extremely happy, compared to me who was carrying her stuff while walking into the female departments of clothing stores. I waited a couple of minutes in front of the dressing area because Anna wanted to buy a new coat. A lot of people murmured by the sight of us, but I didn't really mind. She settled with a beige colored overcoat that was specially shortened around her waist. It looked really nice actually because her dress showed under the coat. Things got a little late, so we decided to get a quick bite before we returned home.
"Do you want dessert?" I asked. We were at a Japanese place, and I was actually rather interested in getting some of their mochis.
"I'm good," Anna said, leaning against the wooden walls.
"Can I have this?" I asked, pointing at the menu. I like vanilla a lot. The dude got my order and left. I fumbled a little with the straw with my cup of soda. "What else did you have planned?"
"Hm..." Anna thought. "I hope you don't mind me taking you shopping."
"No, not really," I said, glancing at her. "I already predicted this and did all my work yesterday."
"Okay, I'm glad," she said, fidgeting. "the last place I wanted to go to is the riverside."
"Oh sure," I said, swirling the ice in my drink.
"Yeah, but, I want to go to the Stargazing section-" she started until I gave her a look, "I know its a couples section and don't get any weird ideas, but I need it for my art project."
"You are taking an art elective?" I said, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I am," she said, softly.
"Cool," I said, shrugging. We remained silent for a second.
"You know?" Anna said, slightly annoyed. "You really suck at reading the mood?"
"Hm?" I thought, looking up.
"Do you want to go or what?" She said, glaring at me.
"Check please," I said, calling the guy over. Anna fumed in the corner of my eye. He smiled and he left with my credit card.
"What were you saying?" I said, looking at her tiredly.
"Fuck you," Anna looking away. I cracked a smile.
"Yeah I'll go with you, I was just messing with you." I laughed. She blushed a heavy shade of red. The waiter came back and we left the restaurant. Anna was kept on berating me about how annoying I was. The sky was quickly darkened because we spent so much time.
We took a quick ride on the bus and arrive towards the lowest part of downtown that was nearby a large lake. We passed by the mall that enclosed the area and made our way up the elevator to the eleventh floor. There, we step out onto the platform where the darkness enveloped the area. I couldn't really see really well in front of me, but several lights illuminated the steps in front of us.
"Where do you want to draw?" I asked, squinting.
"Can we go up there?" Anna asked, pointing up at the slanted, artificial hill. I stepped onto the fake grass and laid our stuff down at the spot. I took the blanket from her bag and spread it over the grass.
"Thanks," Anna said, in a somewhat quiet tone. "You can just sit over here or something."
"Why are you all shy of a sudden?" I asked, sitting right next to her on the blanket. I couldn't tell how she was feeling because of how dark it was. I saw nearby us that a couple of people were making out on the chairs to our far left.
"Oh, you wanna do that?" I asked, pointing at them. She slapped my wrist and growled.
"You're the worst." She said, angrily taking her supplies out.
"I know, you tell me that all the time," I said, sitting a little further away from her. I felt the gentle breeze against my skin and laid down.
"When is your assignment due?" I asked, closing my eyes.
"A week from now," Anna said, organizing her pens. "It's a pen and pencil assignment, but I wanted to draw something from the dark sky."
"Hm... that's nice," I thought. "Looking forward to seeing the end product."
We stayed silent for a second and the only noise that was there were the low murmurs from the other people and the fake trees. With my eyes closed, I felt a sense of calmness wash over me, something that was rare nowadays.
"Hey, what was up with you and Emily?" Anna asked, in a low voice.
"Hm?" I said, out of instinct even though I heard her.
"It's fine if you don't want to talk or anything but-"
"No, it's cool," I said, sighing. "I... hm... the world isn't as nice as it seems, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," Anna said. I glanced saw her focusing on her sketches in the low light from the moonlight.
"I used to date Emily a couple of years ago, starting in middle school. But... if my memory is correct, things went hazy in the middle. Our breakup wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but... it's hard," I started. "There was a problem a major error on my part, but from what I saw, Emily just kinda... hm... got bored with me? So yeah... hm... I kinda regret what I did thinking back now, but things are so tense that I can't really do anything about it." I said, feeling my voice cracking.
"... I'm really sorry if I offended you guys when I first met Emily. Was that why you nudged me from before?" Anna said.
"Yeah..." I said.
"... Are things okay now?" she asked.
"Yeah, for the majority of the part," I said, sitting up. I felt like going to the bathroom, now that the sudden urge of peeing.
"Hey, I kinda need to go the bathroom," I said, getting her attention. "Can you watch my stuff?"
"Yeah sure," Anna said. "Come back quick though, I don't want to be... whatever just come back quick."
"Sure," I said, getting up. I made my way down the elevator to the 10th floor. I walked through the well-lit mall, trying to not make a face. I briefly glanced at the line to the 11th floor, which has begun accumulating.
Hm... good thing we came here early. I thought, taking a sharp right turn to the men's stall. I relieved myself, washed my hands, and dried it using the air blower. Ahh jeez, the calpis I drank was good...
I walked back to the entrance. There was a lot of pokemon around here, I noted. A strange amount of gardevoirs. I merely just shrugged it off, but something caught my eye. A gardevoir with strangely long hair with a human male. My eyes veered back to this human. I recognized this guy.
It was from Tyler. No doubt. His golden earrings and chain dripping from his ripped jeans make him stand out a lot from the general public.
Wait so if Tyler is here... I thought. I got a good look at the gardevoir laughing beside him.
It was Emily. Out of the most inconvenient spot, the last place I expected her to be, the last place I wanted her to be, somehow Emily is there.