Heaven ── TOM HOLLAND

05. The Quest for Friendship

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      In an effort to keep himself away from Orion, Tom had decided it was best to just reach out to Mateo. Though he didn't know nearly as much as Orion seemed to know, he tried his best, showing Tom all the important things of his new home. Thankfully, the boy was much nicer than Orion was, making it much easier to get along with him.

      Tom had enlisted the help of Mateo to revamp his wardrobe, getting sick of the different shades of white clothing that'd been given to him. Mateo had informed him it was that way because white was "the universal color" but Tom had insisted they were just too lazy to find other articles of clothing.

      "So what do you think of Orion?" Mateo asked, gaze lifting from the rack of clothing he'd been examining. It was the question he'd been dying to ask ever since Tom called him in the first place, seeing as Orion never liked to tell him anything involving Tom. He expected a full report of how their lunch went by the time she got home, but all he got was a huff and a girl stomping up the stairs. Though, that pretty much said enough about how their lunch went.

      Tom stopped examining a pair of jeans to look to Mateo, eyebrows raising for a moment, before a chuckle left his lips. "She's a real piece of work," Tom chose his words carefully, not wanting to offend the boy. After all, Mateo was helping him because he wanted to, not because he had to, and insulting his best friend probably wouldn't be the polite thing to do for someone doing you a favor. "She's..."

      "You hate her," Mateo finished for him, a smile playing on his lips as Tom's face fell. The boy hesitated before shrugging, Mateo letting out a laugh. "I don't blame you, she's a total b-word when it comes to you."

      "So it is only me," Tom scoffed, shaking his head at the now known fact. He thought it at their lunch, Orion was a nice girl to everyone but him. She was known for being nice, for being the "perfect angel," that'd been proven when that guy came up to them during lunch. Yet when it came to him, she was probably one of the rudest people he's ever met in his entire life. Dead and alive. "You know, this guy came up to us during lunch, and she wasn't interested. She wanted my help, so I helped her, and now she says I owe her rather than vice versa. How does that make any sense?"

      "She would do that," Mateo mumbled thoughtfully, holding up a patterned button up to examine. "I'll be honest, I think it still has to do with your cause of death. She's definetely not going to get over it that quickly, no matter how much she wants to think she did."

      Tom remained silent, occupying himself with a new rack of clothing. He didn't understand her hostility, well he did because she told him, but he didn't get why it concerned her so much. Her job was to show him the ropes, then be on her way, so why did his cause of death bother her so deeply? She could have easily cut him off after all of this was over and forget about his existence for the rest of her never ending life, yet she chose not to. It wasn't his fault that she was bitter, she made that decision all on her own, and he refused to take the blame for it.

      Tom paused suddenly, Mateo coming to a stop as well. "Why?" He asked simply, Mateo's face going blank. "Why does it bother her so much that I died of suicide? She could have easily helped me then forgot I existed, but she didn't."

      Mateo pursed his lips, looking away from the boy's inquisitive eyes. "It's not my place to say," He spoke quietly, only making the boy more curious. "It's a personal thing, if you want to know, it has to be Orion to tell you."

      Tom sighed, but nodded his head, accepting his friend's answer. By the way Mateo was saying it, it must be a pretty big thing, and Tom wasn't sure he was ready to be burdened with the new information. He could barely handle the girl as she is, knowing one of her deepest, darkest secrets didn't seem like the best option with the way their quest for friendship was going.

      The more he thought about the girl, the more he wished they could be friends. After all, according to everyone else, she was a delight to be around. She sounded like the kind of person Tom would want to be friends, not loathe, but she wasn't making it easy. Every time she opened her mouth, it seemed to spark an argument or a disagreement of some sort, none of their conversations seeming to end on a positive note.

      "C'mon, let's pay for this. I'm getting hungry," Mateo announced, Tom nodding as he trailed behind the boy. This wasn't the first store they visited, Tom had many bags of clothing he'd left in Mateo's car before returning to do more shopping. They'd been spending a good few hours shopping now, and it amazed Tom that Mateo didn't get tired sooner, though the boy was doing just as much shopping as he was. "I'm thinking Mexican, or maybe Italian–"

      "You know Italian makes you gassy," Another voice interjected, and both boys whirled around in an instant. There stood two girls, Kelsey and Orion. While Kelsey wore her usual smirk, her eyes darting between the two boys, Orion wore a frown, eyes narrowed at Tom.

      "It does not!" Mateo argued, the two siblings bickering back and fourth.

      Tom shifted in discomfort under Orion's gaze, eventually asking, "What?" She pointed to the bag in his hand, before crossing her arms, an irritated look taking over her features. "Yes, I went shopping. What about it?"

      "Sorry Orion, I asked that he came shopping with me," Mateo interrupted, a sheepish smile on his face. "I know it's your duty to tend to those things, but it's so nice to finally have a guy around here, you know?" Tom blinked, watching Orion's features softened as she smiled at Mateo, unsure of what just happened.

      Kelsey clapped, bringing the attention to her as she began speaking, "Well, Orion and I just finished shopping. So we're gonna head out, but it was nice running into you guys." Tom found himself biting the inside of his cheek as Kelsey's eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, before her lips curled into a smile. "Hopefully I'll see around more often Tom."

      "Yeah," He breathed, eyes snapping over to Orion when she let out a scoff. She was glaring at him now, making him instantly match her glare.

      "Let's go Kels," She muttered, hooking arms with the girl before dragging her away. The two boys watched as the girls began bickering, too far away to hear what they were arguing about.

      "You are not on Orion's good side," Mateo began, Tom's head snapping to him. "She doesn't like people doing her job for her, which is basically what I just did, and she knows that. And let me tell you, sleeping with my sister is only going to make that worse."