It was the weekend. You always left on the weekends. You were never at home for longer than you had to be. You slipped out the window in your bedroom, pulling it shut before you headed down to the library.

You loved the library. It was always quiet, and the smell of books - old and new alike - had a wonderful calming effect on you. No-one whispered things about you at the library, and no-one had the time to stare at you like you were the main attraction in the House of Freaks.

Movement caught your eye. Blonde hair seemed to be coming closer to you. You poured your attention back into your book, trying to ignore him. He probably wasn't even there to see you. If you didn't blend into the background, you'd be an intrusion on his every day life.

"Hey, [NAME]."

The book fell to the floor with a noise that wasn't quite a splat, but it wasn't quite a thud, either. Shaking, you looked up at him.

"I-I...Sanji? I mean, I...hello. Sanji."

He bent down to give your book back to you.

"Sorry about that. I gave you quite a scare, huh? I'm sorry I made you lose your place."

You cautiously took the book back from him.

"It's...okay."

He smiled at you. "You doing anything this weekend?"

You froze. Was he making plans? Plans to hang out with you? Plans to keep you out of the house?

"Just...staying up at the library...really..."

"Well, you think you'd want to take a walk with me?"

You hesitated, studying his face as though you'd find the answer you were looking for there. Truthfully, you didn't have a reason not to walk with him. You really wanted to, and no-one at your house would really even notice if you were gone the whole weekend.

So what was holding you back?

"Yes..." you answered him uncertainly, standing up to push the book into its proper place.

He smiled at you, and he went to hold the door open for you when you went to the front of the library. You pulled your coat tighter around yourself as you stared out into the streets. It was beginning to snow, from what you saw.

"It's starting to really cool down around here," Sanji remarked, letting the door fall shut behind him. "I wonder if we'll have any blizzards this year. We had one last year, remember that?"

You looked up at him, trying to remember. You didn't remember a whole lot. Your focus was on moving forward from day to day, and that didn't really include any memory saving.

"Yeah," you lied anyway.

He chuckled, lighting a cigarette. "Our car was stuck in the driveway for a week. We could hardly get anywhere. The snow piled up so much eventually that our door couldn't open more than just a crack."

You found yourself smiling. It wasn't so much that the story amused you, you knew, but the manner in which Sanji was telling it to you. You felt truly close to him, something foreign in your virtually friendless life.

"Hey!" he exclaimed suddenly. "You're smiling! I can't believe I got you to smile."

You jumped a little, looking back down at the ground. Was it really that big a deal? you wanted to ask. It was such an ordinary special.

"So, ah," he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, "I was in town 'cause I was going to go up to this party. I wanted to bring you along."

You stopped, considering. You'd never, ever set foot in a party before, and you certainly never planned to. Looking at Sanji, you entertained the idea for a moment. The fact of the matter was, you were terribly lonely and had nowhere else to go that weekend. On the other hand, you weren't at all sure you could handle the looks. The whispers.

"I..."

You looked up at him. He said nothing, only waited patiently for your answer, practically melting you with his inquisitive, blue-eyed gaze.

"I-I guess so," you decided hesitantly. Nothing was holding you from leaving if you wanted to, right?

"That's awesome, [NAME]," he replied, his face once more giving way to a childish grin as he grabbed your hand. "C'mon."

Subconsciously, you squeezed his hand tightly as you followed him along the sidewalk.

"We're going to Vivi's place," he clarified.

You knew Vivi. She was a nice girl, from what you could tell. Looking at you seemed to make her sad, so she ignored you as often as possible. Knowing the party was in her house, however, made you feel more at ease with the whole idea. Nice girl was no exaggeration. Vivi was completely straight-edge and everyone knew her as a daddy's girl. She'd never have anything obscene at her party, not that that would be a huge concern of yours. Alcohol and the like was never a big deal to you, but you weren't sure you wanted to delve into the crowd like that yet.

"You two would be great friends," Sanji continued, sounding a little weird about telling you to talk to someone else. "You're both so quiet."

You didn't want to talk to her, you thought as you unconsciously moved closer to Sanji. You didn't want him to think you were done with him. You didn't want him to leave.