See You on the Other Side | ✓

28 | Don't Look Like an Idiot

"And she knows she's ever-pleasing. She knows it's always easy to see on you, on me." - Night Moves, Hiding in the Melody

~~~

Wednesday arrived with haste, yet I wasn't dreading the day's existence. I was gonna make the most out of this forced public appearance. Before I could set foot in the venue, I had to deal with the annoying natures of peers. Namely, Brielle was the one to avoid.

It's hard to avoid something that's right next to you. Especially when it won't stop talking about nonsense.

Two days prior, she exchanged her insults for smart remarks. Some of it was rude, but in a joking way. Or at least that's what I thought. I questioned myself on the matter, choosing not to discuss it with Avery. I could see that my aversion for Brielle was an issue for her. Of course, they were friends and she'd hoped that I could at least be amenable with her.

Class started and the teacher began to discuss the role that hair has in forensics. There were distinct differences between human and animal hair, which was going to be demonstrated in a mini-lab involving microscopes.

The school didn't have enough microscopes for everyone to get their own individual one so, I shared it with Brielle and another classmate. Brielle put a sample of human hair on the slide and began to look at it. She drew what she saw on the paper before swapping the sample out with deer hair.

After looking at it, she copied what she saw on the paper. It looked exactly like the features of the first sample.

"Wait, that's not right," I said. I thought Brielle was gonna look at me and say my opinion wasn't warranted, but that's not what she did.

She glanced at the paper again. "I thought so, but I don't know what I did wrong."

I motioned for her to move over and let me see the cross-section. Turns out she was looking at the needle the whole time. I chuckled at her pure confusion.

"What's funny?" she questioned.

"You've been looking at the needle of the microscope, you're not looking at any hair."

She laughed and I realized that that was the first time I heard her do that.

"How do I stop looking at the needle?" She rested her hand on my shoulder. I wanted to brush it off, but I didn't want to be a weirdo to her anymore.

"Have you even taken bio?"

She nodded. "Didn't learn shit though. I should've had you in my class."

Her hand was still on my shoulder. I moved slightly to make it fall off naturally. Suddenly, Brielle's presence made me uncomfortable. I was jumping to conclusions again.

Brielle was at most an acquaintance.

~~~

"Where are my cigarettes?" My grandma yelled into the air. Her hands disappeared into her purse as she attempted to find her beloved carton.

"God, we're already late and you've decided to stress over cigarettes?"

She groaned, her green eyes filled with irritation. "I don't need your judgment, Adrian. Especially not now. Save it for when I actually find my cigarettes."

She stormed upstairs as fast as she could. I got up from my chair and began to search for what she wanted. All I wanted was to quicken the process. I wanted to see Avery and I'd be damned if my grandma's nicotine addiction was disrupting that.

When she came back down with them in her hand, she had already parted her lips, prepared to let cancer have it's way with her.

"Can you at least not smoke in the car?" I asked of her. She gave me the side eye that reminded me that I was just a kid. A kid that was old enough to vote and think freely, yet I was still trapped because of guardianship.

"Like I didn't pay for the car," she retorted, the cig dangling from her lips. She laughed at the end like it was a joke; like what I asked of her was comedic. "I know you like her, but I'm not changing for nobody."

Why'd she even have to start smoking anyway?

"Let's just get in the car," I mumbled, annoyance riddled throughout my tone. I was aware that she was my grandma and I wasn't supposed to let her know how I felt, but I couldn't hide it anymore.

I was surprised when she didn't say anything about what I said. She definitely heard me.

After she removed the single one from her lips, she sat her smokes down on the table. Her hand swirled around in her bag before she pulled out a cheap lighter. She put the yellow-colored nuisance beside the carton. I looked down at both of the items before I looked at her in awe.

What was she doing?

"You were the one who wanted to get in the car so, why aren't you in it?" She asked.

I couldn't hide the grin that creeped onto my face. For the first time, I could change my grandma's mind about something. And it wasn't just anything, it was a bad habit.

I entered the car, adjusting to the fact that I wasn't in the driver's seat for once. My grandma was driving, and she was known to not let her age hinder her on the roads. She drove fast and without regard for other cars most of the time. It was a costly defect, but that was her problem, not mine.

The drive to Avery's house felt slow, yet quick. Slow in the way that I anticipated seeing her, quick in the way that I wasn't ready at the same time. She might've had a preconception about my family that I hadn't considered yet.

Wait, nevermind. She probably thought my family was full of murderous people. Nothing to worry about there.

My hand grazed the handle, hesitant to leave the car. I finally left, wanting to get this conversation with her dad over with. As I walked up the porch steps, my suit suddenly became uncomfortable. My throat felt dry and scratchy. Damn you cold weather.

I rang the doorbell, adjusting my jacket. I saw her dad soon. He was lean, but I knew he wasn't anything to mess with. He had a couple inches on me and I thought I was tall. Or at least, barely tall.

As soon as I saw him, my thoughts became as useless as busy work.

"Hello," he greeted. He seemed nice enough.

What the fuck do I say?

I should probably say hi.

Why am I spending so much time on this?

Oh God, he probably thinks I don't know English.

"Um, hi. Is Avery ready?" I managed to finally say. As he went and called her down, I wanted to collapse right there on the steps.

When I saw her, my eyes were drawn to what she was wearing. She was wearing a black dress, as promised, that was loose around his legs, but tight around her waist. The dress didn't look extraordinary, yet she made it look like it was expensive.

I'd realized that I'd been staring for too long when she said something about it.

"Do I look good?" She questioned.

Whatever you do, just don't say sexy.

Or at least not in front of him.

"You look amazing," I complimented. I could tell that Avery took what I said to heart. Her brown eyes softened.

"Thanks," she grinned.

"Sir, she'll be home at 10:30." I turned around, prepared to lose that lump in my throat.

"Oh, I bet she'll be." He patted me on the back on the way out, almost like I was a son. Even though I'd only seen him for all of two seconds, I felt like I wasn't supposed to be scared of him.

Weird.

A/N

Oh my God this was a little bit longer than it was supposed to be. But I'm sure you guys don't mind that.