To See Me as You Do

Chp. 16: I Like You Too.

But I guess this is better.

"It's not hilarious, you dumbasses. This is horrible." Donovan rebuttals exhaustedly, "As much as I love my sweet, darling niece, I can't stand it anymore!! I can't get away from listening to damn nursery rhymes!!!"

Throwing his hands into the air, he continues whining, "I wake up in the morning, nursery rhymes. I come home from school, nursery rhymes. I go to bed, nursery rhymes. All day, throughout the day. All night, throughout the night. For days on end."

"Sounds like a blast," Zachary says sarcastically, smirking at Donovan.

"LIKE HELL IT IS." Donovan frowns.

"Quit complaining." I bluntly state, and he shoots me a glare, "Or better yet. Get over it."

"Well, excuse me!!! I helped you when Peanut had a My Little Mermaid obsession!!! You came to me all whiny and shit too!!! Talking about how you can't get away from it."

"That was different."

"No, it wasn't!!! It's the same thing!!!!"

"I think we're here, guys." Elias chimes in, gathering our attention.

We all stop in front of a small section of the mall with a 'Philocalist' sign on it. I also see another sign saying that the shop was closed down for maintenance for the time being. So, in other words, it's locked.

Donovan walks up to the door, peeking through the glass, "Huh. Guess they're not here yet."

Shrugging, he shoves his hand into his jeans pocket and pulls out his phone, "Let me text Skips and see where they are."

I nod at that and find myself just staring at the shop for a lingering moment. After a little while of me just staring, memories of the day Marianne and I met replay in my head. I cringe at the thought, my jaw tightening as I reminisce on the memories.

Fuck.

I'm such an ass.

I roll my eyes, hating that that's how she and I met. I have no one to blame other than myself for my actions. I wish I could change it.

Have us meet a different way...

I frown, recalling everything in vivid detail. My brows furrow in frustration as I squeeze my lips into a flat line.

I hate myself.

"Skippy said that they will be here soon, and we should just hang out until they get here." Donovan suddenly states, pulling me from my thoughts.

I shift my attention back to him as he sighs, shoving his phone back into his pocket, "Late as always..."

"Guess we'll just have to entertain ourselves until then," Zachary replies, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes. I suppose so." Elias says, thoughtfully, "What you guys wanna talk about??"

We all stand in silence for a few minutes, before Donovan suddenly grins mischievously.

I know that look...

He's planning on doing some dumb shit...

Instantly, he turns to face me, a smug look on his face. I shift my attention toward him, feeling his eyes boring into the side of my head.

Alright. Suddenly I'm very fucking irritated.

He and I remain staring at one another in silence, and he wiggles his brows at me. Looking him up and down, I grimace, "The hell are you staring at??"