Cut Star Dust

TWO

"Can I help you?" This question had been disassembled, reassembled, twisted, torn, broken, glued back together, pinned up, rearranged, and bolded an impossible number of times in Anthony's head. It was a cataclysmic inquiry- the opening statement of a film and the start of the rising action to this here novel. It might have been completely unavoidable (he would have had to run into the questioner sometime throughout the school year), but he knew he was only asked on that specific day at that specific time for two reasons.
Liam Lancaster and Todd Gonzalez.
How incredulous is it, that the thought of these two boys fail to make Anthony's blood boil? Even as he watched them fire away their fallacies and fantasies in court, he had managed to sit back and do what he does best: breathe. Nice and calm. Maybe if he was a different person he would have shoved his fist straight down their throats, but he wasn't and he understood. They were watching out for their own necks and he couldn't blame them for trying their damned best to survive. Or 'survive', at least. Though before shit hit the fan (and these boys got demoted from friends back to roommates again), Anthony quite liked them because they fascinated him.

For one, they were completely alien. Liam had been rich since day one: a silver, golden, and diamond spoon thrusted- handle deep- up his ass. His parents saw a five hundred bill as chum change and he didn't have to worry about possibly getting evicted by the end of any month. It completely blew Anthony's brains since the root of all his problems, he believed, was the lack of money while the root of all Liam's was the abundance of. Had no cash? That sucked. Had all the cash? That also sucked. There was no winner and that was a new concept to grapple. Todd, on the other hand, amused Anthony for other reasons. In having been raised in a strict Catholic home and as an only child, Todd didn't fear death. And it wasn't because he believed in Jesus. In fact, he was so repelled by the idea of Jesus and God that he gave up on religion and adopted a truly modern philosophy: YOLO. He did what he wanted, whenever he wanted, and didn't give a single penny of thought on the matter. Despite how his parents were paying the University in full and probably did not want their son to be expelled at any time, Todd had gotten completely trashed and bashed the first week in at a 'welcome get together'. Anthony remembers it crystal clear- he was the one who had to clean up the vomit on the dorm room floor at 4 AM when he didn't even go to the damned get together in the first place. The three of them were primary colors. Mixable, pleasant when mixed, but in the end completely different from one another alone.

What was annoying however, was how lazy the two were.

"Yo, can you make a pit stop at 7-Eleven for some instant noodles? We ran out," Todd yawned into the receiver as Anthony kicked a pebble down the street as he walked. This was a week into their first semester at Preston University and Anthony had almost little to no information on either of his roommates yet.
"Isn't it just a five-ish minute walk from the dorm?"
"Yeah, but you're out anyway because of your interview, so you could just swing by there before coming up." Thing was, from where Anthony was standing, it was a twenty minute bus ride plus a five minute walk. He didn't see a problem with Todd doing it himself- he probably wasn't doing much anyway since it was a Sunday. Liam was off doing whatever rich people did on Sundays, and even though he did have the money to buy a bajillion instant noodle packs, he would rather ask Anthony to buy 'em anyway.
"Okay yeah sure, no problem. Anything else?"
"Li would probably like some sour worms."
"Aiite, got it."

And that was how he ended up in those linoleum aisles, surrounded by sinful yet delicious junk food, with the questioner who asked the dooming question. He already had two packs of five of the insta noodles in hand and three bags of sour worms, so he didn't really have an excuse for lingering as long as he did. When thinking about it now, he still doesn't know just why he stayed. Maybe he liked the aircon to beat the summer heat. Maybe he liked how everything was exactly where it should be. Maybe it was the-

"Can I help you?" Shit, she was pretty.
"Um, you alright?" A second question and Anthony was done for. The moment he opened his mouth to answer her, tiny stutters wormed their way into his words and suddenly, "Yeah, sorry I just blanked out for a second," became, "Y-Y-Yeah, sorry I- I just- just blanked out for a second." She squinted at him, a small laugh ready to reveal itself from behind her teeth. She was an unoriginal beauty. The one from all those cult classics and romantic plots. Her hair came down to the tops of her shoulders, the waves they made framing her sun-kissed face. The corners of her eyes were at just the right spot; they capped all her secrets. That mouth, which was so curious, was so kissable. The nose- perfectly adorable. And that voice... That voice could say 'dick to a cheese grater' and still get any boy hard.
"Let me ring those up for you." And the name printed in black on her tag fit her the way a skin tight dress would.

Winona.

From then on, Anthony was a fucked man.