“Thanks, Blake,” I said as he sat the food down in front of me, the smell filling my nose.
We hadn’t known where exactly to go, so in the end we decided to just hang out at the mall for a while. There was a ton of stuff to do, at least I hoped so. The arcade was the first thing on my list, after finding something to eat. Even after I had offered to pay for my own, Blake had still paid for all the food.
Picking up a French fry, I dipped it in ketchup before taking a bite. Cheeseburger and french fries, one of my favorites. The fact that it was relatively inexpensive and easy to find made it a lot easier to find than the other things I liked so much. “So, Riley,” started Blake, and I looked over at him. “I was wondering, after your party did you wanna maybe, go out to a movie or something?” asked Blake.
A movie? The thought had never crossed my mind. Swallowing my bite of food, I took a drink of my Pepsi and looked at him. The way he was talking was odd. He seemed much less confident than he usually was, and it was actually starting to bother me. The more I thought about it, the more bad scenarios my mind came up with for the reason. “Well, I’m not sure what I’m doing afterwards yet, so I can’t say right now. But I’ll let you know later, ok?” I replied, taking a bite of my burger.
He just gave a small nod and started eating. Just like always, I was done fire. It seemed no matter how late I started with eating, everyone else always finished after me. My parents used to always tell me I needed to slow down and actually taste my food before I choked. I never listened. It was just a habit of mine that I could never seem to break.
Leaning back in the chair, I looked around the room, and stopped. There, right at the corner of one of the gift shops, stood that figure again. The same one I had seen in my bedroom the night before. Blinking a few times I tried to get it to go away, but it always remained. My heart was starting to beat faster and faster, readying my body for its fight or flight response. Then, I felt something touch my shoulder, and a voice whisper ‘Boo’ in my ear.
Even though it was a simple thing, the fact that my eyes had been fixed on that, figure on the other side made it so much worse. Letting out a small, startled scream I jumped, and ended up falling off the chair and on my back. That was quickly followed by laughter, that sounded very familiar. Opening my eyes I found Xavier standing there, laughing so hard his face was starting to turn red. I just shot him a glare as I laid there, not bothering to get up at the moment. “Not funny,” I growled.
“I know,” he replied, trying to stop laughing long enough to talk. “It was hilarious!”
A few moments later he had managed to stop laughing enough to actually do something, and held a hand out to me. Taking it, I pulled myself up and glared at Xavier before my eyes drifted to where the figure had been before. It was gone. Then I remembered Blake was here, and was probably wondering what in the world was going on. Looking over at him, I found a look of both confusion and annoyance on his face. “Oh, I almost forgot. Xavier, this is Blake. Blake, Xavier,” I said with a smile, my eyes falling on Xavier.
He was the same as he always was. Though, I guess I couldn’t really say that seeing as I had only met him yesterday. Still, it felt like I had known him all my life. Looking back over at Blake, I was confused. He looked ever more unhappy now than before. Why was he so annoyed and harsh towards Xavier. Just as I was about to say something my eyes caught sight of Xavier’s expression, whose nearly matched Blake. It made me a bit uncomfortable, and like I had missed something important. “Um, guys?” I said, but they seemed to ignore me.
I shifted from foot to foot, trying to figure out what to do. Maybe they knew each other and didn’t get along. That was the only reason I could think of at the moment, and when one of them finally spoke I almost jumped. Again. But it was far from what I had expected to be said. “Why are you hanging around with someone like him?” asked Xavier.
All I could do was stare at him for a minute. I had never heard that tone come from him, and it seemed out of place. It was the kind of tone you would use with someone who had just stabbed you in the back and thought it was ok. Something told me today wasn’t going to be a good day at all. “Huh, what do you mean? We’re friends. What’s wrong with that?” I asked, irritation leaking into my voice.
“It’s because he’s jealous, isn’t it, Xavier?” said Blake, a smirk on his face as he stood up. “You always have been.”
What the hell was going on? I had never seen Blake act this way either. It was like they were both completely different people, and all I could do was stand there and stare as Blake walked around the corner and stood beside me. “Get away from her,” Xavier growled, his hands clenching into fists.
I swear I could feel Blake’s smirk get bigger, even without looking at him. The look on Xavier’s face was actually starting to scare me. It was like he wanted to rip Blake to pieces, for what reason I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. This was much worse than two guys who simply didn’t get along, worse than anything I had ever heard of. “And why should I? It’s not like you own her,” replied Blake.
At those words I could see the fire in Xavier’s eyes intensify, and I wanted to run. Every nerve in my body was telling me that’s what I needed to do. This was a dangerous situation, and I needed to get as far from it as possible before I got dragged farther into it. But my mind just wouldn’t listen, it wasn’t giving the right signals to run. Instead, it was keeping me planted firmly in place, just watching what was going on.
What happened next surprised all of us, especially me. It had been quite for a few seconds, and then Xavier had ran right towards us, faster than I thought possible. With the small space I didn’t think there was any chance someone could get out of the way, and Blake didn’t. But, it wasn’t hit, either.
Xavier and Blake just stared at me, Xavier’s fist caught in my hand, my head down a bit and my face emotionless. Everything was quite, the entire food court had fallen silent, their eyes on us. “Riley?” said Blake, his voice almost a whisper.
That was all it took to shake me from whatever state I had fallen into. When I looked at what had happened, my eyes went wide and I took a step back, letting my arm drop back by my side. What I had just done wasn’t possible, at least not for me. I had been in fights before and it was hard enough dodging a punch, let alone catch it like it was nothing.
My eyes darted back and forth between Blake and Xavier for a moment. Then, I turned and ran. I didn’t know why I was running. The only thing I did know was that something wasn’t right at all, and I needed to figure out what it was. For some odd reason as I ran I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, dripping onto the tile floor.
Then I was outside, away from the staring eyes of everyone, especially Xavier and Blake.
