Flowers

19

"Our teacher gave us specific areas to read through very well, it's not a lot," I was telling Michael about the history test as he unlocked his door, "I've already studied a bit."

"Mhm," he nodded along, but the doubt of him even listening to me was slowly settling in.

"Also, knowing each step of Queen Victoria's teenage years was advised," I tested to see if he had listened to a word I had said.

Once again, he nodded along, humming to himself with his back turned to me. He stepped inside his dim apartment and I followed.

"Michael! You're not even listening to me!" I folded my arms over my chest and stopped in my tracks by the entrance, the door left open behind me.

"Huh?" He glanced back after dropping his keys absentmindedly on a nearby counter. He turned around to study me.

I huffed, "you said you'd help me study."

"Never said that," he clarified, voice trailing off at the end as his focus shifted to something behind me.

Without thinking too much I glanced back. My eyes landed on a middle aged man standing right behind me, his beard long and unkept, eyes droopy and a smile unveiling a long line of missing teeth.

My immediate reaction at the sight was to scream and scramble away from him as fast as I could. I ran right into Michael, who yet again seemed completely unfazed.

"Damn, got fine lungs on you, missy," the man in the hallway wheezed out a laugh, before he began coughing.

Completely shocked and slightly terrified, I subconsciously moved to stand a little behind Michael, from where I could peek at the man.

He had a beanie pulled down on his head, but straight greyish-brown hair peeked out. He had simple yet dirty clothes on, and seemed to have a few dirt stains on his face as well. The teeth he did have didn't look so nice either.

After he stopped coughing he just stood there, eyes moving between Michael and me.

"I ain't gonna bite you, lovey," he then grinned at me, but I gave him a glare in return.

"What's up, Troy?" Michael asked, sounding quite bored and tired.

"Ah, see—" he began and took a step inside the apartment. I grabbed the back of Michael's shirt and tugged at it a few times, panicking a little.

"Might wanna stay where you were. She's not too into you," Michael cut him off and nodded back at me discreetly, chuckling to himself.

"Alright, alright," the man laughed and returned to stand outside the apartment, "y'know what'm here for, Michael."

"Sweetness, bring me an apple from the kitchen," Michael glanced back at me.

I was still so incredibly confused and frightened of the man, but shook my head to myself and began making my way away from the two and to the kitchen, muttering a small 'okay' underneath my breath.

On some level it was sweet that Michael wanted to give an apple to the homeless man. But then again it was completely unnecessary for the man to come to Michael's apartment to get food as if he does it all the time.

Just before I entered the kitchen in the small apartment, I heard Michael's voice.

"You got the money for it, though?"

My brows furrowed. Surely he wasn't selling Troy an apple, was he?

Without thinking too much about it I grabbed an apple and began making my way back to the living room, where the front door also was.