The final day of the week had arrived. Sebastian tossed and turned all night long and didn’t get much sleep. In a rare occurrence, he was jolted awake by the screeching tones of his alarm clock. He slammed the button as hard as he could to silence its incessant wailing.
He dragged himself out of bed and after a quick shower, shambled to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. He opted for a serving of whole oats cereal and a piece of multi-grain toast with a smear of peanut butter. He didn’t exactly deviate from his choice of foods all that often. He figured that if it was serviceable one day, it would be serviceable the next. So as long as he didn’t have to choke it down, he was fine with a routine.
He scoured the fridge for anything that he could use for lunch. Last night, despite not being a vegan, his mother made a vegan lasagna where the soffrito was paired with a passata along with cauliflower and celeriac to form a vegan ragu bolognese. She layered that with sheets of sliced celeriac in place of pasta and topped it with a bechamel sauce and hard Italian vegan cheese. Any veggie lover would probably die for this dish but Sebastian nearly gagged and wanted nothing to do with it ever again.
With that option out the window, he gave up and made the tried-and-true peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He grabbed a sandwich bag and filled it with dill-flavored cashews along with a bottle of water. With that, his lunch was prepared. All that was left to do was to head to school and finish out the week but that was easier said than done.
Even though everything had been routine thus far, Sebastian was hesitant to step out the back door and begin his trek. The way he broke down yesterday still weighed heavily on his mind. The realization of Delilah being a friend to him instilled within him a fear that rattled him to his core. He was afraid that everything that had happened to him in the past would happen again. It was an experience that he didn’t want to go through for the third time in his life.
It was the only thing holding him back. Nothing else about school… not even Bryce, Kayla, and Shiloh… bothered him. It was that inevitable interaction with Delilah, the feigning of pleasantries that he constantly exchanged with her, and the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to stop that gave him pause. Eventually, he realized that he couldn’t just skip school without due cause and figured that since it was Friday, all he had to do was survive this one day and the weekend would be all his to unwind and set things back in order. With a heavy sigh, he passed through the back door and began his journey.
When he arrived at the classroom, Delilah was already there; however, she didn’t look as fresh and bright as she normally did. As Sebastian took his seat, he waited for her to wish him a good morning as she had always done but, instead, he was met with silence.
Hmm… this is odd. Is she not saying good morning because she’s afraid the others might hear her? Only Kayla is here so far so I don’t think it would be too much of an issue but still… I’ll take the peace and quiet so whatever her reason is, it’s good enough for me.
Despite thinking that, he was curious as to why she had remained so quiet. When he glanced at her through his peripheral vision, he soon discovered the reason.
She’s asleep!? I thought she drank cappuccinos and did stretching to give herself energy in the morning. Why would someone like her be asleep if she did all that? More importantly, what reason did she have to skip it today because nobody who drank caffeine would be passed out like this? Hold on a second… why do I even care? This is perfect because I don’t have to hear her ask me a bunch of stupid questions. I can just sit here and stare out the window like I used to.
Sebastian felt a strain come over his eyes from focusing too hard on his peripheral vision. He blinked a couple of times and turned his head away to look out the window. That’s when he noticed that the skies were filling up with light gray clouds… his favorite atmosphere.
Not only do I get to have peace and quiet but it looks like it’s going to be a cold and dreary day. A perfect bookend for my week, if you ask me.
As he took in the “beauty” of an overcast sky, he felt a slight tug on his shirt sleeve. When he looked over, Delilah had woken, her eyes still half shut. He did his best to hide any external signs that he was quite disappointed with this situation; however, he was cursing up a storm on the inside.
“Whatcha looking at?” she asked.
“Nothing in particular. Just staring out the window. Why did you skip your cappuccino this morning?”
“Ah, you caught me sleeping. I guess I made it pretty obvious, haha. I was just up late last night practicing something and I almost overslept. I didn’t have time to make one.”
“What were you practicing?”
“Hmm… something. Not ready to talk about it yet.”
Those words jolted Sebastian as they were the very same words he had said to her yesterday when it came to what happened between himself and Bryce. While it probably wasn’t anything significant, he still couldn’t help but be reminded of that discussion… the very same one that triggered his breakdown. It stunned him so much that he just continued to stare at Delilah without saying a word. She noticed the deadpan stare and took out a small, portable mirror.
“Do I have something on my face?” she remarked as she gave herself the once over. Her words were enough to snap Sebastian out of it and he quickly apologized.
“Ah, sorry. I suddenly just thought of something and I kind of got lost in my head there for a moment. I didn’t mean to stare at you like that.”
“I don’t mind if it’s you…” she said under her breath. It was meant to be barely audible but Sebastian heard it loud and clear. He pretended not to notice it though as he didn’t want to make the situation any more awkward than it already was but it didn’t stop him from analyzing what she just said.
So, this confirms my suspicions. No mere friend would mutter something like that. She has a crush on me. That’s fine, though. Crush on me all you want, your feelings are never going to get returned. You’re lucky that we’ve even gone this far. But, now that I know that, I can set myself up to prevent this relationship from going to the next level. The only thing I have to figure out is the execution of it. Thanks for letting me know, idiot.
Before he could ponder about a way to let her know that he wasn’t interested, the morning bell rang. With it being the end of the week, the school decided to make the students earn their weekend. Sebastian had an exam in almost every subject but the nice tradeoff was that he didn’t receive a single homework assignment. That meant a weekend filled with gaming was in store for him and that brought about a smile to his face.
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When the lunch bell rang, Sebastian hesitated for a second as he fully expected Delilah to ask if she could join him. When she didn’t, he looked over at her as if to ask “Well? Do you want to go?” She took notice and slowly shook her head ‘no’ before twitching it in the direction of the trio that caused him so many problems yesterday. She also mouthed the word ‘sorry’ but smiled to let him know that it was okay. He simply smiled back at her and gathered his things. As he left, he made sure to keep a side eye on them to see if they had plans to corner him again. When they stayed put, he breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the storeroom to enjoy his lunch in peace.
The little spot he cleared out was still untouched. He tucked himself away behind the boxes and took out his lunch along with his sketchbook. He put pencil to paper and began sketching a new character but suddenly, he found himself unable to concentrate. Delilah’s actions to leave him be was for his benefit. Coupled with the fact that he clearly heard her say something that strongly hinted at her having feelings for him, it rattled him to the point where drawing something was becoming nearly impossible.
He tried to clear his mind and start over but he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything. Her words today, the events from yesterday, his anger and frustrations, all of it replayed in his head like a highlight reel. His emotions began to flare and he tensed up. Suddenly, his fatigue from the lack of sleep last night began to catch up to him, and a sharp pain developed in his head. He had given himself a stress headache and he didn’t have any aspirin to relieve it.
Even sitting there in the dark was a chore. On top of the headache, a knot formed in his stomach as the thought of her possibly wanting to be his girlfriend made him feel uneasy and slightly nauseous. That same hesitation from this morning that prevented him from leaving for school returned only this time, it was his lack of desire to return to class and sit next to her. Sebastian decided to pack up his things and end his lunch early. He got up and made sure the coast was clear before emerging from the storeroom.
The next place he headed to was the nurse’s office. He explained how he felt and asked if he could lay down and rest. The nurse offered up a bed for him and drew a curtain to give him some privacy. The bed was rather uncomfortable but it beat having to go back to class and sit next to Delilah. Despite the rock-hard nature of the mattress, Sebastian closed his eyes and ended up falling asleep.
When the final bell for lunch rang, Delilah noticed that Sebastian hadn’t come back. Kayla, Bryce, and Shiloh; however, did return and they looked as if they were a little happier than usual. When she noticed this, her mind raced to an inaccurate conclusion. Both worry for Sebastian and anger for them mixed inside of her body but as class had begun, there was nothing that she could do about it. Then again, she wasn’t even entirely sure if her suspicions even happened.
About an hour later, Sebastian woke up from his nap. His headache had vanished thanks to some pills the nurse gave him and his stomach was no longer tied in a knot. While he wished that he could lay there all day, he knew that the nurse wouldn’t allow it. Since he was feeling better, he had to return to class. He let the nurse know his condition improved and thanked her for letting him rest.
He grabbed his things and headed back to class with a note in hand. When he arrived, everyone was in the middle of a test. He handed the note to his teacher who acknowledged it and handed Sebastian a test booklet. He informed him that there was still plenty of time to finish. While Sebastian internally groaned, he simply thanked the teacher and took his seat.
Delilah became distracted by his return. She wanted to know what happened so badly but since they were in the middle of class, and an exam no less, she figured that she could just ask him after school.
Sebastian didn’t finish in time but due to his circumstances, the teacher allowed him an extra couple of minutes. He only had a few questions left anyway which didn’t take him long to answer. Meanwhile, Delilah remained quiet until the final bell and decided to employ the same strategy as yesterday. Rather than asking to walk home with him, she was just going to do it.
When Sebastian left, she did, too. Unlike yesterday, she wasn’t going to try and run to catch up with him. Instead, she walked with him side-by-side through the halls. When they got to the front gate, she opened up the conversation.
“Everything okay with you? You were late coming back from lunch.”
“I felt sick. Must have had something to do with this vegan lasagna my mother made last night. I went to the nurse’s office to lay down and after a quick nap, I felt better.”
“I didn’t know your mother was vegan.”
“She’s not. She just likes the recipe. Needless to say, that makes one of us.”
“No disrespect to vegans but I’m a meat-eater. I don’t think I could imagine my life without some fried chicken in it, haha. But, I’m glad that you’re feeling better. You should give me the recipe so I know how to recognize and avoid it!”
Despite her little quip, Sebastian didn’t laugh. He wasn’t in a laughing mood with the number of things on his mind. The fact that he didn’t so much as smirk made her wonder if she had said something wrong.
“So, how about all of those exams? I think we only had two classes that didn’t give us one but, at least there’s no homework, right?”
“Yeah. It’ll be nice not to worry about having to do homework over the weekend.”
“How do you think you did on your exams?”
“Fine, I guess. Exams never really bothered me. Things come naturally so I don’t have to do much in the way of studying. I guess you could call it an eidetic memory. It’s like I can see the words on the page whenever I try to recall something.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, don’t look at me and tell me what I’m wearing right now!”
“That’s easy. You’re wearing a black t-shirt with two white outlines of some pistols with roses coming out of their barrels with a banner underneath that has the name of a popular band written in stenciled letters and ripped dark blue jeans. You also decided to wear a navy blue headband in your hair.”
“WOW! That’s amazing considering that you haven’t looked at me much today and… OH! I didn’t mean to make it sound like that! But still… here’s a tough one! What color are my socks?”
“I don’t know. I don’t typically look at people’s ankles.”
“Well, here… I’ll let you cheat this one time.”
She pulled up her pant leg and revealed a pair of plain black socks. He played along and glanced down, taking note of them. She giggled a bit and then tried to guess what color socks he was wearing.
“Well, you make it hard for me to see yours but I’m going to guess white. For some reason, I think of you as a white sock guy! Besides, white socks would go well with your gray sneakers and khaki pants!”
Sebastian pulled up his pant leg and revealed a pair of navy blue socks. Delilah snapped her fingers and pouted over the fact that she guessed wrong.
“Well look at you being all fancy with your unconventional sock color, although, I guess gray and navy blue go well together as do navy blue and khaki. I think you’re more color-coordinated than I’m giving you credit for!”
“Um… thanks?”
“Haha.”
By now, Delilah had broken the ice. There was something else on her mind but she didn’t know how to approach the subject. Now that her nerves were calmed from her little banter session, she decided to take the plunge
“So, um… since we don’t have any homework and you’re going on your trip tomorrow, would you maybe like to come over and hang out at my house today?”
My trip? What in the hell is she talking… Oh, wait. I made up a story about visiting that unholy piece of shit that I loosely refer to as my father just so I could avoid having to spend time with her this weekend. Well, if I’m supposedly going on this so-called trip, then I guess that I supposedly have to pack for it, too, right? It seems like the perfect excuse to drive a dagger of rejection straight through her stupid black-sock-wearing heart.
“I’d love to but I can’t. Sadly, I’m the type of person who, except for homework, puts things off until the last minute so I have a few chores I need to do and pack to get ready. I’d still like to come by one day, though. I’m just sorry that I can’t make it today.”
“Oh! That’s fine! It’s an important trip so you do need to prepare properly for it! I’ll take the raincheck and maybe we can hang out next week or something?”
“I’ll make sure to keep my schedule open.”
“Sweet!”
When they got to Sebastian’s street, they said their goodbyes; however, Delilah stopped and called back out to him.
“Hey! Just so you know, I live over on Circle Drive. 4265, to be exact! I just realized that I never told you that so if you ever want to come over, now you know where I live!”
“Cool, thanks.”
“Have a safe trip! See ya when you get back!”
She turned around with a smile and a bit of pep in her step and headed on her way. Sebastian stood there and watched her leave until she disappeared. He shook his head as if he were dispelling certain thoughts and let out a sigh.
I’ll take a raincheck… great. I just set myself up for a nightmare next week. Why did I tell her that I would love to hang out? That couldn’t be further from the truth! Am I really that desperate? No, I shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t be looking to try my luck with so-called friendship again, and yet, here I am doing just that because I just can’t stop myself. I am a pathetic mess, aren’t I?
Sebastian entered his home, the door closing behind him. All he had to do was stay inside and remain hidden all weekend and his lie would have been perfectly executed. However, what was about to happen was something he wasn’t prepared for.