"I'm uhh..." As they all stood there looking to me expectantly, all I could do was stand there, my mouth hung open as I was left trailing off my sentence.
"Twenty." I squeaked out in a high pitch, this left Kiki, Sadie, and Lars all in slight shock, this had been pretty evident by the look on their faces as each of there brows lifted slightly.
"Your actually twenty?" Lars asked with a unbelieving stare, his arms crossed as he stood there looking to me as if I was lying. This left me scratching my neck, feeling a little off put from his disbelief.
"Yeah...I'm twenty." I said bluntly, eyes wandering to the side.
"But you're so tall..." This was something I had heard a lot.
"And dangly..." This one was a first.
Looking down to my body, my arms both hanging to my sides, as I began to feel self aware they both crept up to my shoulders holding me in shared anxiety.
"Ohh ease up Lars." Called out Kiki, this left me snapping my head up as Kiki stood there with her hands held against her waist, this caused Lars to be taken back as he began to look to both her and I.
"W-what, its true!" He stammered.
"He not that much older then either of us, he's only three years older then me!"
As Lars stood there with an exaggerated look, both his hands motioning to me, Kiki looked to both him and then me as she gave a small smirk as Lars exaggerated look changed to one of worry.
"Well you should be the one to talk." She said confidently, this caused Lars to reel back.
"Your looking pretty dangly yourself."
"W-what!" He shrieked, this caused Sadie, who before this point had been silent, to let out a light chuckle.
"She gots a point Lars." Sadie said agreeing with Kiki.
As Lars stood there stammering, trying to find the right words he was left looking to both Sadie and Kiki before letting out a defeated grunt before making his way back to the Big Donut.
As I stood there looking to both Kiki and Sadie all either of them could do was look to each other and laugh. Sadie then looked to me with a smile and walked to me with an apologetic look.
"Sorry about Lars, he can be kind of a jerk." Sadie said.
"I-its alright..." I said feeling a sense of guilt on my end, looking over to where Lars was as he just made it to the front of the donut shop still looking upset at what just happened, I looked back to Sadie worryingly.
"It's just that, dangly, was just a new thing people have called me." With this Sadie held a shocked look.
"What do you mean 'new thing'?" Kiki questioned as she stood there sharing the same shocked face as Sadie.
"Well, umm..." I quietly trailed off.
"It's just that I uhh, have several 'nicknames' that people gave me." And with a look of worry both girls gave me, I began to feel more aware of my situation.
"So your saying people call you names?" Kiki looked to me upset, she stood there with a face that caused me to lean back.
"S-sometimes..." my voiced trailed off shaking, looking to Sadie as she looked to me with worry instead.
"That's just not nice, it's flat out rude!" Looking to her as she began to fume up, I looked to Sadie with a pleading stare, she caught my look and began to look to Kiki as she hoped to calm her down.
"Uhh, I think we should calm down just a bit. Some of us aren't exactly comfortable right now..." From this Kiki looked to her as Sadie stood there twirling her fingers, while unknown to me she briefly motioned to me, Kiki caught this and finally looked to me clearly.
Standing there one could easily see both my unease and misery. Unease from causing the sudden reveal of my teasings, and misery from causing everyone around me to feel distressed.
"I-I'm..." Kiki trailed, leaving her sentence briefly unfinished.
"Matthew...I'm sorry that I kinda, lost it." Looking apologetically to me, her tense face easing to a soft look, as I stood there feeling more at ease too.
"It's ok...I'm ok, really." I softly said, looking to her as I let out a small smile she followed suit as she smiled along with me.
"Thanks." I said happily.
"No prob."
As the three of us stood there neither of us noticed Sadie, standing in place fiddling with her fingers looking quite antsy.
"So we're all good then?" She quickly asked, looking to her she looked like she was on the verge of running on the spot.
"Uhh, yeah, for the most part." I said quizzically.
"That's good, sorry but I actually need to get back to work." She motioned past me, looking back to the Big Donut I saw a group of people make their way to the front of the Donut, realizing her situation I snapped my head back to look to her worried.
"I'm so sorry for keeping you!" I shouted, Sadie began to inch forward slowly from a walk to a full on sprint.
"No, it's okay uhh, see you later Matthew!" Sadie quickly said as she began to run as fast as her short legs would let her.
"Yeah, bye!" I responded loudly, I was caught by surprise when Kiki suddenly spoke up.
"She seems to have the right idea." Turning around I noticed her slowly walking backwards.
"I should head back to Fishstew, pretty sure theirs some deliveries for me to make." And then without hesitation she turned around into a swift jog, looking back to me briefly smirking.
"If you ever wanna just call for takeout, Kay!" She cheered out.
"S-sure thing!" I called out as I quickly became the only one left standing along the boardwalk, looking around I quickly felt a little out of place standing alone, as an awkward feeling began to rise up I quickly decided to just head back home.
As I walked through the city back home, I found myself taking my time, taking in the city and my thoughts.
As the sun was growing nearer to the horizon it's light began to dim, and with a bright flash streetlights lit up.
Noticing the change in lighting I felt like now would be a good time to head home. Taking a quick stroll back to my office I made eye contact with it and blew a soft sigh of relief, but one thing caught my attention.
Standing under a flickering light stood a strange figure, its body seeming disproportioned to a normal person, whether it was from the flashing light or my sight alone I couldn't help but stop in place, unsure of what to do.
"H-hello?" I called out surprised by the sudden motion as it looked to me, as soon as it looked to me it immediately ran away making its way into an alley.
Looking to where it ran off too, I quickly took the chance as I quickly sprinted to the front of my home, quickly opening the door I ran right in and closed the door behind me swiftly locking it.
As I made my way back to my bed I couldn't help but feel unease from what happened, and sadly it took me too long to fall asleep that night.