Musical Sketches ✔️

17| Oranges

Past Mark's POV

I watched Micheal storm into the dorm. His uniform was all wrinkled and his hair was a mess. What the hell happened to him?

He locked the door behind him and our eyes met. We looked at each other for a few seconds, but he didn't say anything. His gaze softened and he tried the door knob. It was locked, so it didn't open. He sighed a breath of relief and began to take off his blazer. I quickly looked away, "What the hell are you undressing for?"

"What?" He laughed, "Undressing? Mark, I'm just taking off my blazer."

"Well, why'd you lock the door?" I asked.

"Look at me."

I turned my head to face him. His arms were all bruised up with minor cuts surrounding them.

"Who did this to you? I'll kill them."

"I trust you a lot, so I figured I'd show you. But, I don't really know who did it."

"What did they look like?"

Nervously, he laughed, "Well, maybe I do know one of them."

"Well, who was it?"

We looked into each other's eyes for a few moments before he said, "He probably didn't even mean it."

"How could someone not mean this?"

"Alexander Dalton," he smiled, "I recognized him among the other people."

"How many people were there?"

"About four, I think," he replied.

I pulled him into a hug and it took him a few seconds to hug me back. "Is something wrong?"

"You know what I really want right now?" He asked. I tilted my head to the side and he said, "I really want an orange."

"Doesn't the cafeteria have oranges?"

"I'm scared to leave the dorm. Can you get it for me? Pretty please?"

I groaned, "Fine. Just give me a second."

He let go of the hug and I opened the door. There was no one in the hallways. There was only a teacher on hall duty. The teacher eyed me for a second, but didn't say anything.

When I finally found the cafeteria, I pressed the orange button on the fruit dispenser. To get a fruit, I would have to put a quarter into it and voila! I'd have the fruit that I selected. Sort of like a vending machine, but smaller.

The orange smelled nice. It smelled like Micheal since he was always wearing the same orange scented cologne. Even when he wasn't in the dorm, the smell of oranges lingered in the air. The day I stopped smelling that scent would probably never come, at least I hoped. I wanted to be with him forever.

I took the elevator upstairs and Micheal greeted me with a smile. "Yay, you got my orange!"

He took it from me and sat down on my bed. Carefully, he peeled it. "Why do you like oranges so much?" I asked, "Is there a specific reason or do you just like the taste of them?"

"I'm surprised you haven't realised yet," he said, shaking his head.

"Realised what?" I asked.

"Mark, what flavour chapstick do you wear?"

"Orange, why?" I responded, confused as to what that had to do with the topic.

"There you go."

Suddenly, I felt stupid, "I can't believe I didn't realise that sooner."