Just a cliché

[12] The good flavours

"a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind"

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"I can't do this anymore." Sterling looks at me, his eyes pleading for a study break.

"Ok, let's go get a snack from the vending machine then," I propose.

The frustration washes off his face and he stands up pulling my chair out from under the table, dragging me on it.

He moves to stand in front of me and raises his arms out, motioning me to put my hands in his.

I grab onto him and he lifts me up, "Thanks, darling." 

We walk side by side to the holy grail of snacks.

"What do you want?" The boy beside me asks as he stares through the glass.

"Sour patch kids!"

He puts some change into the slot and we watch as two packages of sour patch kids fall.

We wonder back to our table and open the packages of sugary goodness.

"How are you doing?" He looks at me genuinely.

"I'm okay," I answer, more honestly than usual. "What about you, darling?"

"I'm pretty good, Laney"

I want to be weirded out by our friendliness and sincerity, but it's nice.

But then I think it hits the two of us.

We're not bickering right now.

We burst out laughing, quickly realizing we're in the library but the more we try and stop, the worse it gets.

Our laughter dies down when Sterling looks down at the desks and a look of horror coats his face.

"Sweetheart?" he starts.

"Mhmm?"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"What?" 

"Are you done with those?" he refers to my sour patch kids.

"Yeah I am." I shrug my shoulders.

He looks down at my pile of green, red, and blue sour patch kids, "Why did you only eat the orange and yellow ones?"

"Oh, they're the only ones I like."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't know what you could possibly mean," I retort, loving the fact that we're back to bantering like normal.

"Hypocrite!" I yell at him.

"What?" he tries to act as clueless as I did just a second ago.

"You seem to be hiding something from me."