Even though it was a cool autumn day, Sebastian was covered in sweat from head to toe by the time he had arrived at his doorstep. The school day ended at 2:30 p.m. but by the time he walked in through his front door, a rarity in and of itself, it was nearly 3:45. His legs were burning, his breathing was a tad heavier than normal, and his stomach grumbled and growled as the hunger pains intensified.
Why did I do this to myself? Oh yeah… because that annoying girl wouldn’t leave me alone. I know that she’s probably going to ask me to walk home with her again tomorrow but I’m not going to take the long way around again. I’m going to have to bite the bullet if it comes to that even though I don’t want to. There’s no way in hell I’m going to kill myself again for some random transfer girl. Ugh… I smell like a wet sewer rat.
Normally, Sebastian would head straight to his room to do his homework; however, perhaps the only silver lining to this entire ordeal was that he wasn’t assigned any to do today. However, he opted to go take a shower which would eat into his gaming time before dinner, something else that annoyed him even more. So much so that a loud thump could be heard amongst the running water as Sebastian made a fist and pounded the tiled wall.
After he had showered, he grabbed some of his weekend clothes and threw them on. He headed to his room with about an hour left before his mother came home. He decided to get in as much gaming time as he could so he fired up his console. He felt that the best way to get his frustrations out was to play one of his favorite game series: Omega Man. It was a simple side-scrolling action platformer where a blue robot would jump and shoot his way through eight stages, defeating other robots and stealing their powers all so he could face off against a mad scientist hellbent on trying to take over the world.
It was simple fun but it was also pretty challenging. Normally, Sebastian could beat any game in the series blindfolded but this time around, all of the day’s events gnawed and ate away at his mind which caused him to make several mistakes he normally wouldn’t make. Those mistakes led to numerous deaths and he got so angry he gripped his controller tightly and applied tremendous pressure when suddenly...
SNAP
Sebastian looked down and noticed that his controller had broken right in half. If he wasn’t pissed before, seeing his one and only controller in two pieces almost sent him over the edge. He controlled his rage as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. After he calmed down, he let the broken pieces of the controller fall to the ground and a couple of tears escaped from his eyes.
“It never used to be this way…” he muttered to himself as he sat there on the edge of his bed.
He remained there in silence until he heard the front door unlock. He looked over at his clock and realized that an hour had already passed and it was about that time when his mother came home. The last thing Sebastian wanted was to have a dinner table conversation about how his day went. All he wanted was some alone time so he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He immediately grabbed his keys and wallet and headed to the living room. Before his mother could even hang her coat on the rack, he announced that he was heading out.
“Sorry, Mom but I got invited to a friend’s house for dinner so I won’t be eating today.”
“Okay, no problem! I can just make something for myself or do you want me to make something so you can have lunch for school tomorrow?”
“Nah, it’s fine. You can make whatever you want for yourself.”
“Okay. Have fun at your friend’s house and don’t stay out too late.”
“Okay…”
Sebastian grabbed his coat and headed out. While he used the excuse of going to a friend’s house, he was headed to the mall. He figured that he could get some alone time as well as buy a new controller to replace the one he had just broken. As his stomach grumbled, it became a stern reminder that he hadn’t eaten anything in nearly twenty-four hours. He figured that he could just pick something up at the mall’s food court when he got there. As soon as he took a few steps down the sidewalk, he realized that this was an ill-advised plan as his legs were still sore from his lengthy detour.
Once again, he made his bed and now he had to lay in it. He trudged in the direction of the mall which wasn’t that far away from his house. All he had to do was turn left head to the end of his street and cross it to another side street. At the end of that street was the city’s main highway. Once there, the mall was on the left-hand side of the road. It was pretty convenient for whenever Sebastian wanted to get out of the house and being around other people at the mall wasn’t a bother since nobody talked to him outside of a store’s employees.
When he arrived, he immediately headed to a small mom-and-pop gaming shop where he typically bought all of his games. He knew where they stocked the controllers so he wasted no time and headed straight there. As he was checking out, a pair of eyes just happened to catch a glimpse of him standing there at the counter.
It was Delilah.
“Wait. Is that Sebastian? Is he here running that errand for his mom? Who would have thought that I would have run into him here!? I’m so lucky!”
She stood there and waited for Sebastian to leave the store. Once he did, she strolled right up to him. At first, he wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice her approach. It wasn’t until she called out to him that he looked up and noticed her.
“Sebastian! Fancy meeting you here!”
Oh, you have got to be kidding me… this is the worst luck ever!
“Oh! Um… Hey, Delilah. What are you doing here?”
“I got bored so I decided to go for a walk so I could become more familiar with the town. I found the highway and saw that they had a mall here so I wandered in and… well… here I am! What are you doing here? Running that errand for your mom?”
“No, I already finished that. I’m just here to pick up a few things.”
As he said that, his stomach let out a loud, audible grumble. It wasn’t something he could play off or ignore and it was definitely something that Delilah heard loud and clear.
“Wow, you must be hungry! I was just about to head to the food court and get something to eat. Do you want to join me?”
At this point, Sebastian couldn’t refuse the offer. His stomach was in so much pain that he couldn’t bear it any longer. Plus, he was starting to shake and feel a bit weak so declining the offer to try and escape would only make things worse. Therefore, he caved.
“S-sure, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all! Let’s go eat!”
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They made their way over to the food court, Sebastian’s eyes darted around to see what looked the best. He saw a place that sold pizza “pie” slices. Essentially, it was a standard pizza with a layer of crust on top. The slices were huge and that is exactly what he was looking for to sate his hunger. He figured that Delilah would just go and get whatever she felt like having so he meandered over towards the pizza stand without saying much of anything.
“What can I get for ya?” said the man behind the counter.
“I’ll take 2 meat lovers pie slices.”
“Oh! You don’t have to buy me anything. I’ll pay for my own,” said Delilah from behind him.
Sebastian turned around to see that she was standing right behind him. He realized that she was mistaken and thought that he was buying her lunch. It created an awkward situation that he needed to find a way out of.
“Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding but both slices are for me. I kind of haven’t eaten anything since yesterday so I’m really hungry, haha…”
“OH! I guess that makes sense since your stomach has been growling something fierce. Say… do you want me to pay for yours? It’s only six bucks so it’s no big deal. Plus, consider it a thank you for letting me see your drawing.”
I mean… a free meal doesn’t sound bad right about now but who am I kidding? If I let her pay for it, it’ll give her the idea that I actually care about her. If it weren’t for the fact that I could probably die of starvation at any moment, I wouldn’t even be standing here right now with her. Ugh… annoying stuff like this is why it’s best to never have any friends.
“Ah, that’s kind of you but I’d feel really bad if someone had to pay for my food. Don’t take this the wrong way but I generally don’t like people doing favors for me like that. For some odd reason, I get uncomfortable and feel like a charity case. I know it’s dumb.”
“No! Not at all. I get it.”
“Here ya go, kid. That’ll be $6.30 with tax,” said the guy behind the counter as he handed over two hot slices. Sebastian paid him properly and stepped aside so Delilah could order.
“And what about you, miss?”
“I’ll take one of The Works.”
“Coming right up.”
Sebastian didn’t want to stick around and wait another second. His stomach needed to be filled so he turned and walked away to find the nearest table. He sat down and didn’t care how hot the slices were. He began to tear into them as if it were his first real meal fresh out of prison.
Delilah paid for her slice and turned around, expecting to see Sebastian standing there. When he wasn’t, she scoured the area and saw him sitting alone at one of the tables. She walked over and put her plate down and then looked around as if she were confused about something.
“Didn’t you order two slices? Where are they?”
“I ate them.”
“ALREADY!? That’s insane…”
“I told you I was hungry…”
Now that I’m done, do I just get up and leave? I really don’t want to spend any more time with her than I have to. Actually, I just realized that there’s a restaurant right next door. I could have made another excuse, left, and gone to eat there. I already bought what I came here for so it’s not like I have anything tying me down. If I did, though, it might make a bad impression, and having to deal with it every single day at school could be a bigger hassle than the short-term relief that bailing out would offer. Ugh… why is this so complicated? I guess I’ll just stay and humor her for a bit.
“I guess so. Do you want mine, too?”
“No, I’m good now.”
“So, what kind of errand did you have to run for your mom?”
“Oh, I just had to run to the store and pick up some ingredients for dinner. She tries to plan meals but doesn’t exactly do a good job because she’ll forget to buy stuff all the time. She never makes a grocery list and claims that she can do shopping just by memory. My little trip today says otherwise, though.”
There… a nice little fib of a backstory to cover for the lie. Not like she’s ever going to come over to my house anyway so it doesn’t matter what I tell her.
“Well, it’s good that she has you to help her out. What did you buy at the store?”
“Ah, a new game controller. Mine stopped working.”
And it was all your fault, too. You aggravated the hell out of me. In fact, I should make you pay for it.
“That happened to me with a controller once. I was pretty deep inside of an RPG when it stopped working. I couldn’t even pause the game and I died. I forgot to save so I lost so much progress. I almost wanted to cry.”
Yeah, well, you deserved it.
“That sucks.”
“Say, what are your plans tonight?”
Here it is. She’s probably going to want to hang out or something. Get it through your skull, will you? We. Are. Just. Classmates!
“Probably just sleeping. Today has been tiring.”
“Oh yeah. You had to run that errand and you said you ran all the way to school this morning so you wouldn’t be late. I’d be pretty tired, too.”
Thankfully, she’s almost done eating. She would be done by now if she would just shut up and stop talking. Once she’s done, I’ll try and ditch her so I can go back… wait… I can’t go back home. I told my mom I was going to a friend’s house for dinner! This means I have to stall for time. If I stay here and shop, I just know she’s going to want to tag along. I could just leave and go to the park but since she lives close, she might want to walk back together. Maybe I can do both? If we walk back, I’ll just take my shortcut and once I’m out of sight I can…
“Say, do you want to do some shopping once we’re done here?”
No. But… it will solve the time-killing problem. Wait, why am I even entertaining this!? The goal is to get out of here, not stick by her but… I kind of need new pencils and I’m already here. NO! I can buy those anytime! What the hell is wrong with me?
“Sebastian?”
“Oh, sorry. I was kind of thinking if I needed anything else while I was here and I kind of spaced out. Yeah, we can look around if you want to.”
Ugh…
“Awesome!”
Delilah finished her slice and they headed off. Sebastian poked his head into a couple of stores and pretended to look around for something. While he could use pencils, he never said out loud what he was looking for. The fact that he had bounced between a couple of stores made Delilah wonder just what it was that he needed. Suddenly, she began to tense up a bit as tiny beads of sweat formed on her brow. Her lip quivered ever so slightly as her heart rate bumped up by a couple of extra beats per minute.
Suddenly, her voice changed from normal-sounding to a bit more meek and timid and she blurted out a question that even Sebastian didn’t expect to hear.
“S-so… are you looking for a gift for your girlfriend?”
WHAT!? What kind of girl just blurts out a stupid question like… wait a minute. No… don’t tell me this girl has been talking to me all this time because she has a crush on me… Girl, if that’s the case, you’re barking up the wrong tree. There is a less than zero percent chance I will ever date you or anyone else, for that matter. Should I just tell her yes and be done with it? But… then she’ll start asking questions and I can’t fabricate a girlfriend out of thin air.
Besides, everyone at school knows I’m single. If she goes around asking, she’ll know I’m lying right away so I can’t really deflect this. I have to answer with the truth which means I’m going to be opening up my personal Pandora’s Box.
“S-Sorry…” muttered Delilah after the awkward silence passed. She realized that she may have crossed a line by asking that question; however, for some reason, the pain in her voice when she said that jolted Sebastian. While he would love nothing more than to not have to bother with her ever again, just hearing that slight catch in her voice tugged at his heartstrings… but he couldn’t understand why. Despite that, he turned to see her looking away with a dejected expression.
“It’s fine. I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m just browsing stuff to see if anything catches my interest. Truth be told, I could use some more graphite pencils for drawing.”
Why did I cave? No… more importantly, why did the sound of her voice just now hurt my heart like that? I don’t have any romantic attachment to her whatsoever but… is this a sign that the old me is still alive inside somewhere? The fact that I’m constantly nice to her rather than telling her what I really think should have been my first clue but… still… I swore that I would never get close to another human being for the rest of my life after what happened to me so why? Why now?
“Because I still want to…” he muttered under his breath before he caught himself.
“Did you say something?”
“Never mind, I was just muttering something to myself. I was just going through my head as to what pencils I need or if it would be better just to buy another full set and have some spares.”
“Oh! I think you should just buy another full set. It might be more money but having something and not needing it is way better than needing something and not having it.”
Better than needing something and not having it, huh?
“I guess you’re right. I think there’s an arts and crafts store a few doors down. Mind if we stop there? Sorry for dragging you around, you don’t have to keep coming if I’m boring you.”
“I don’t mind at all! I’m just happy to be able to spend some time with someone here in this town. Moving away from all of your friends isn’t easy… especially when not a single one of them even… no, never mind that. Let’s just say that I’m happy you let me tag along and I’ll leave it at that.”
What was she about to say? No… why do I even care? Because I…. NO! Don’t even think that! Not after all this time… don’t you DARE even think that, Sebastian!
Sebastian quickly snapped himself out of it and they visited the arts and crafts store. He ended up buying a full set as she suggested; however, when they got to the counter, Delilah bumped in front of him and handed the teller the cash to pay for the pencils. Sebastian was shocked that she did that but opted not to say anything in front of the clerk. However, when they left the store, he had to know.
“Why?”
“I just wanted to thank you for hanging out with me… that’s all.”
“You could have just said ‘thank you.’ Besides, you kind of already did when you said you were happy to hang out with me.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think it was enough. Besides, I wanted to do that as a way to maybe butter up to you for a question I’d like to ask. Would you… I don’t know… maybe be open to being my friend?”
Sebastian tensed up. He realized that being polite led him straight into this situation. He had nobody to blame but himself and now, the one thing he never wanted again in his life was being offered up. Suddenly, his stomach began to cramp and he felt sick. With that feeling of uneasiness, he had no idea how to even answer that question.