You and Me (Plus Everyone In Between Us)

Big Ole Wad of Cereal

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

I sighed. "You ask that a lot."

He leaned against the corner. "There's a lot of aspects of your life to be nervous about. So are you nervous?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Come on," he nudged me with his elbow. "There has to be something."

I stood wide-eyed at him suddenly.

I'm nervous about the fact that I feel nervous right now.

I leaned next to him on the counter, taking a sip of water. "I don't want to leave," I whispered.

"Hm," he said simply. I turned to stare at him. His face, of course.

"At least you don't have to feel this now," I said, gesturing to my unfathomable feelings. "You get to just be Andre."

"I'm not just Andre," he mumbled, locking eyes to the ground. "Sometimes, I wish I could just be me."

"I get that," I replied. This conversation was getting strange. I glanced behind me. "Aren't you going to eat your cereal?"

"In a bit," he replied. "I'm waiting for it to marinate."

My face twisted into a grimace. "I'm sorry what?"

"I prefer my cereal moist and mushy," he responded, before grabbing it. The cereal had turned soggy and he mixed it with the remaining milk. I stared in strange awe.

"I think you meant tasty," he corrected. "It's good and I will die on that hill."

"Well, I hope you have a nice permanent slumber," I joked.

"Do you wanna try some?"

I grimaced again. He looked at me, trying to convince me with those eyes of his. "Only a little bit."

"I knew you'd do it," Andre said, moving to the cupboard to grab another bowl, pouring Froot Loops in it, and then pouring an influx of milk, creating a fruity mound.

We sat next across from each other on the vast dining table, and Andre began chowing down on his ball. I took a bite of mine, grimacing as it swished through my mouth.

How had I let Andre convince me to eat this?

"So," he began. I looked up at him."What brings you to Finding Solstice?"

"Air Canada," I said, and he chuckled.

"No, I meant like why did you do the show?" he asked, still laughing.

"I really like singing."

"So does everyone in this competition. Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I want to sing. Why else?"

"Hm," he hummed to himself, resting his chin on his folded hands. "You're a tough cookie to crack."

I raised an eyebrow at him. I had been doing that a lot with Andre. "There's not much to reveal any more," I explained. "You heard it all."

"That's the simple version," he scoffed. "The sanitized version of Ezra. We can't tell everything to everyone"

"So why should I tell you?"

He smirked. "Trust me. I won't tell. I won't tell the world you think that I'm pretty."

I sighed into a scoff. "That was a joke!"

I must have said it too loudly because he leaned back stunned like my voice carried the weight of a thousand words.

"Obviously," I said quieter.