CHAPTER 3: CIGARETTES, TEA AND A CHAT

After about 10 minutes of walking, myself and the girl I still didn't know the name of made it back to the central area of Feral Forest, and I led her up to my home, opening the door and walking in. Almost immediately I spotted Joss… Watching TV like he'd told me to stop doing.

"You absolute hypocrite." I called out to him, startling him slightly and making him turn to me.

"Hey, unlike you, I actually went out and did my job today, plus I didn't expect you to be back this soon." He then spotted the girl standing behind me, smirking slightly at the situation. "And who exactly is this?"

"A friend. You told me to go out and make one, so I did. I may or may not have chased her with my axe first though since I thought she was spying on me." That caused him to begin to laugh uncontrollably. "Yes, yes, very funny, now shift it, we're gonna have a private chat."

"Right, right, just make sure you don't kill her again-"

"OUT." He gave one last laugh to himself as he got up and left, leaving me grumbling slightly under my breath. The girl finally let out a laugh.

"Excuse him, he's my wife's dad." I invited her to sit down at the dining table as she had a look around the place.

"Nice little place you've got here, reminds me of my own house." I was listening attentively as I filled the kettle, deciding some tea would be ideal for the conversation. "Yeah, it's a nice place, not mine though, my wife lived here with her dad before I moved in and she had her child." I switched the kettle on and came back over to the table, sitting down across from her.

"I see, I see! I didn't know you were married… or had a child."

"Oh-! The child's not mine biologically, she was from Meg's first marriage. I'm just her step-dad."

"Interesting. How old are you again?"

"25. I know I look old for my age." Just another thing I had to deal with because of my smoking addiction…

"You don't look old for your age! I'm 23, so I can say that with confidence." That made me smirk, man she was good at knowing what to say. I was about to ask her her name, but I was quickly interrupted by the kettle clicking, indicating it was finished boiling. I quickly got up again and grabbed 2 mugs from the cabinet.

"You want tea? Or are you more of a coffee person?"

"I'll take tea, but I'm fine with either." Satisfied, I quickly made up the two cups of tea, putting one down in front of her before putting my own down, going back to my original spot, finally being able to ask the question that had been lingering on my mind since I met her.

"Say, I didn't actually… Catch your name. I don't wanna end up having to start calling you "the girl" like I have been in my head since I met you. So, what is your name?" I heard her laugh again.

"Ok, that's actually kind of funny. You can call me "the girl" if you want, but if you want my actual name… It's Kate. Well, that's my nickname, and all you'll know for now. If you wanna know my real name, you're gonna have to get to know me better." I was already thinking, what the hell could Kate be a nickname for?

"I see… Well, since you won't give me your real name, I guess I'm calling you Kate. So, Kate that-is-your-nickname, what were you doing in the area? I never see new people around here, it's always the same faces, so seeing someone new is actually kind of surprising." I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket, lighting it up and beginning to smoke, ready to hear her talk, but instead she kind of just… Looked at me.

"You smoke?"

"Yeah, I do… Do you not want me to? I'll stop if you want." I went to quickly put it out, but she stopped me.

"No, it's fine! Honestly, I do smoke sometimes myself."

"Oh, I see. You want a hit then?" I held it out to her enthusiastically.

"Oh, no, I'm not supposed to! Smoking is supposed to be horrible for my voice, but also… Sometimes it's alright to be bold." She happily took it from me, taking a drag from it herself. "Man, that felt so good…" She handed it back to me, but I was confused.

"It's horrible for your voice? Why would you be so concerned about your voice?" She took a quick sip of her tea before talking to me.

"I'm a singer. Rock singer to be exact. I have to keep my voice intact, I won't be able to hit those hard notes otherwise!" Wow, she was a rock singer?! That's so cool!

"You're a rock singer? That's amazing! Wait… You don't happen to be… That artist that sold out the arena in the next town over tonight?"

"'Ya got it! That's me. Well, not just me. I'm a part of a band with my 2 best friends. We're playing 2 shows there to wrap up our tour we've just been on for our new album." She took another drink of tea and a drag from my cigarette.

"Oooohhhh, say, what's the name of your band?"

"Paramore. You may have heard of us."

"Paramore… Paramore…" I thought long and hard, trying to think if I'd heard of them somewhere. "I… can't recall off the top of my head. Maybe I have, can you sing a line of a song?" She nodded and sang a couple lines of a song …Yeah, I didn't know them. But wow, her voice was amazing.

"Ok, I don't know the song, but holy shit, your voice is so good! I see why you need to keep it held up by not smoking."

"Haha, thank you! I'm really trying, I don't want my dad's money to end up wasted on all the voice training he put me through to get it to where it is today. Now, since you've asked me a bunch of questions, I think it's time I ask you a bunch of questions."

"What is there to know about me? I'm just a former abdicated king, that's kinda all there is to me."

"Surely that can't be all to you, you've gotta have some interesting characteristics. Like this, why did you abdicate exactly? I've never heard a straight answer, but now I can hear it from the man himself." Welp, here we go. Looks like I'm finally gonna get my chance to explain my side of the story. I looked down at my tea, swirling it around in the cup slightly.

"I… don't know, really, to be honest. I just… Didn't want to be a king. I'm not worthy enough, as my dad puts it. I knew deep down that I just wouldn't be capable of keeping the people of Knothole safe under my rule, and I guess I proved that when I managed to let the people down time and time again. I was in shame, I felt like… No one understood, no one wanted to understand my struggles, so I decided to just… Flee. Flee into the night and never look back, and… to be honest, looking back now… I still don't know if I made the right choice. Don't get me wrong, I like it here a lot. It's a nice community and I've got Meg, Joss and Alexis on my side. I work a nice enough job that earns minimum wage but I just… I don't know. I feel like there's just… A piece of me that's missing, that neither ruling nor living here can fill, but I also don't know what it is that will satisfy me…" I sighed loudly and finished my cigarette, stopping it out in the ashtray next to me before taking a long drink of my tea. Perhaps I'd ranted a bit too much.

"...You seem like a very conflicted person. I get it. Honestly… I see your reasoning. What's the point in being somewhere you don't want to be? That's why I'm always on the move with my band. It's so amazing to experience new places and new faces that know you and love you for what you do."

"Hmph, I wish I could experience that, I bet it's amazing. Thanks for listening and understanding though. Hell, it feels like you're the only person who understands me and I've only known you for half an hour."

"It's cool, I gotcha. Say, this reminds me. I have this to give you." She reached into the little bag she'd had around her shoulder, and pulled out a little piece of paper, passing it to me. I picked it up and looked it over. It was a concert ticket. "-I was supposed to give this to someone else, but they bailed at the last minute, so I thought I shouldn't let it go to waste, if you're down, that is." I continued to stare at it, silent. I'd never actually been to a concert before, so I suppose this was my chance to get the experience.

"I'll… I'll go! I'll go to the concert! This'll be a first for me, so I wanna experience it. Thanks for this."

"It's no problem!" She then began to stand up, finishing off her tea and putting her bag back on. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to head back to my band to do soundchecks before the concert starts. Thanks for the tea… And the cigarette."

"Oh, you're welcome! I'll see you out." I stood up too and opened the door for her, waving her goodbye as she walked down the steps and began to make her way back to the stadium, leaving me to pick the ticket up again, just staring at it and smiling. Was something exciting finally going to happen in my life?