You of all people - Stosuh

Don't do it, you son of a - Hosuh

"So, what did you want to get?" He asked as both of us walked up to the food court. I had been distracted by the children's marry-go-round as we made our way around the bottom floor of the mall. My mom would always take me there, and that's why it had caught my attention, but now my attention was turned to Stephen's smiling face. He seemed happy, as he was now happily dragging my arm over to the order station of the food court. "I don't know, something simple- like ice cream." I answered as he stared up at the menu. "Well, they have soft-serve cones." He answered, before looking at me and adding: "I don't know maybe we should get like, actual food? Good for your health, good for energy, good for-"

And I couldn't help but smile inside as I pulled the most serious face I could and clasped my hands onto his shoulders. "Fuck it. Let's break the rules, and eat ice cream before lunch.." I breathed out as though it was a suicide mission, Stephen reaching his arms up to clasp my out stretched arms as he whispered back a response, "You absolute mad man."

Both of us stood there for a moment until one of us broke and started cracking up. It didn't matter who, but it felt amazing to be standing next to him at that time, laughing carelessly. I suddenly felt grateful for having told my step-mom about my friend for all of yesterday, and her badgering me to gush about him because I 'loved' him so much. But it was true, it felt nice to have somebody who got my personality humor, not to mention somebody who would play along with it.

I payed, while he ordered with his voice falling into a monotone kind of request. I didn't adress it and handed the money over to the man working the counter. Stephen now seemed bored that nothing was really going on between us, and I watched as he tapped his fingers against his thigh. His eyes were watching the food worker, who was filling up two medium sized cones with half-vanilla-half-chocolate soft serve ice cream. We stood there side-by-side together for an akward 2 minute wait, and soon made our way over to the tables of the food court. He was walking ahead, seeming rushed to eat his ice cream and get it over with, but I couldn't help but look over to the exit. It would probably only be 10 minutes more before our hang out session would come to a close, and I didn't want it to stop. At least not without another spark.

"Wait, don't go over there." I said, making him turn around to look at me. Stephen stared at me as though something was wrong, but I grabbed his free hand with my own and lead him over to a bench near the main exit of the building. "Sit down here and wait for a second." I commanded, his purple contacts staring into my eyes, but when I didn't say anything else he sighed and sat down, giving me a bored look. I went around and sat on the bench that was behind the one he was sitting on. Back to back talking. I took a bite from my ice cream, clearing my throat before starting    the spark up again. "I put the money in the safe." I felt him shift, and could feel his gaze on the back of my neck, his breath catching in confusion. "What?" Stephen asked. "I put the money, in the safe." I tried again, wondering if I hadn't given him enough clues to what I was going on about, but then he asked me: "Good. Where's the safe?"

"Friend of Jane's house, behind the mirror in the wash room."
"It'll be done by Thursday. Don't make this mistake again." He answered, taking an audible bite of his ice cream. We sat in silence before I heard him break into a giggle at and then audible laughing and wheezing. It wasn't a loud snorty kind of laugh, but it was sweet and genuine. It honestly made my heart flutter as I turned my head to the side to look at his hand which was resting near the edge of the bench.

I reached towards his hand and hooked one of my fingers into his, not knowing how he would take it. Yeah, it was really gay, but if he took it the wrong way I would've been able to play it off as though it was a joke or something stupid like that. He didn't do anything, and didn't move either. I didn't know if it was a good thing that he wasn't doing anything, or if I had done the wrong thing by making a subtle move. What if I had? I felt him lean over the bench and I turned my head to look at his.

His eyes said it all. 'What the fuck is wrong with you Hosuh? Never held somebody's hand before?'

I quickly let go of his hand and my excuses gave away into an awkward coughing. I heard him sigh, and a click of his tongue as he said: "So what are you doing after this?" and then an audible bite of his ice cream cone. Wait, he was already to his cone? I looked at my cone to find ice cream dripping down my hand. Fuck! I awkwardly licked it up making a mental note to sanitize later as I thought about what I would be doing after this.

Instead I ignored his question and didn't think on it, instead asking a question myself. "I've been meaning to ask, what happened to your chin?" And he laughed again. "Oh, well it's not a really interesting story. I'll tell you if you want, but then again I could make up a cooler spy story. We're still sitting back to back, aren't we?" and I smiled at that comment. "Fine then. Go on agent Ng, what happened to your face?"

"Well it started on a trip to, Africa? And I had just gotten off the plane to the airport."
"Does Africa even have an airport? Wait, they do. I think. But privately owned?"
"Listen I don't know! You said yes to the cool version of how my chin got fucked."
"Okay, okay. You went to Africa for a trip and got off the plane."
"And we were in this jeep like car in the savannah. In the savannah and.. oh! A lion. A lion started chasing the car!"
"Wait so was this a vacation or like, a mission?"
"That's information I can't disclose."
I smiled. "Okay, so a lion chased after the jeep and then what?"
"He caught up and tackled the jeep over."
"A lion is not that strong!" I scoffed, only to receive a flick in the back of the head. "Ow!"
"Shut up! They're like- 300 or 500 something pounds! They're big!"
"Whatever. So it tackled the Jeep over. Let me guess, the windows broke and the glass shards fucked your pretty face up?" He got up and sat down beside me, which startled me and awkwardly caused me to shove my ice cream cone down my throat, and I started choking- but quickly swallowed it and met his concerned face with a gaze as though nothing happened. "Uh- so- wait- Yeah. My face got scarred by glass." He finished, looking to the side and clearing his throat. "So now I guess it's time for the less dramatic story?"

I nodded and stared at his face, and he blinked silently. "It happened towards the end of middle school. I had just gotten home from school and there was an envelope on the counter for this really high up smart kid school that I had gotten into with a nice golden covering and all of that fancy shit. I ran into the kitchen wearing socks because I had left my shoes at the door. So I slipped on the tile with my socks on and fell onto this broken piece of tile in the kitchen, which cut my face open near the chin." He said, instinctively reaching up to touch the scarred part of his face.

But then he smiled and looked at me. "I wasn't in pain though, I was too happy to even notice the stabbing needles in my face because I got that letter. My parents took me to the emergency room and I got stitches, and then we went out for ice cream!" And he was now happily looking at me after reliving through the past of 8th grade. "So, why are you at our school?" And then his smile fell.

"Well, things happen and I decided not to go." He mumbled, now leaning a little closer to me. This isn't the time to be blushing Hosuh, he needs recognition for crying out loud!  I casted my gaze down to the ground, and thought about it. "Well, it's not something that somebody would easily give up.. so," but the more I thought about it I realized how messy his house was. It usually had dishes in the sink or dust on the counter, and when we used to be friends his house was never like that. His dad never said hello to me anymore and his mother-

"Oh shit." I said out loud, suddenly looking at him. "That was rude, sorry." But he forced a smile and grabbed my hand. "No, it's fine. It was awhile ago anyway. I could transfer next year if I really wanted to. Just, don't think too much into it, okay?" He eased, leaning his head onto my shoulder. "Do you want to talk about something else?" I asked, as though I had not just found out that his mother is dead. "Yeah, we can talk about your grades."

"Ew! No! You're not my dad, that shouldn't concern you!" I acted offended, but his bubbly laugh returned and his eyes light up again.