Fate and Choices

Eight: Bill

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I stood in my place, looking at the guy with white hair with his hands holding Raven's waist. I felt my face burning, but it was an unpleasant feel of heat.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" the guy asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said as they pulled away.

"Hey... have we met somewhere before?" he asked.

I quickly went forward and pushed Raven's shoulders gently.

"Hey, mate. Thanks so much for your help," I said, "Rave, we need to get going,"

"N-now?" she asked, a little bit confused, "wait-"

Come on, read the situation here! I thought, trying to suppress my annoyance.

"Hey, hey. What's the rush, mate?" the guy asked, "you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," I said and looked at that guy, "sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, but I'm in a rush since... we're in for a tight schedule and we really need to go eat right now,"

"Really? Oh, then just eat right here," that guy said and pointed to the shop behind him, "it's a restaurant, has some music and billiard too. I work part-time here as a waiter and I can assure you that the food taste great,"

"Umm, thank you for your offer, but..." I said.

Suddenly, I felt my chest tightening once again, as if an invisible hand was clenching my chest and crumpling my lungs like a paper ball.

"I... think I want to take a look around first," I continued, gritting my teeth.

Tch... not now, I thought.

"Gabe... d-didn't you say you're hungry?" Raven asked.

What?! Rave, for real?! I thought, read the damn room!

"Okay, then," said the guy, "table for two,"

Then he looked at Raven and winked.

"My name's Bill, by the way," he said.

My jaw dropped open as I saw that. Bill smiled as if he had done absolutely nothing wrong and gestured us to come with him. I clenched my fists really hard; my nails almost went through my skin. My eyes were locked onto the restaurant with a fire lit inside them.

"Gabe..." Raven suddenly said in my left ear, "something's not right... you really need to sit down..."

H-huh? I thought and turned around.

To my surprise, what met my gaze was her concerned face. Both of her peridot-like eyes were locked onto mine, peering deep into my soul.

"You get tired really quickly these past few days..." she said, "is something wrong?"

Rave... you were... just trying to get me to sit down and rest... I thought.

"I'm fine," I quickly said, "we shouldn't stop here-"

"Don't push yourself too hard..." she said, "if something happened to you, I'll..."

Silence fell. The girl hung her head, though I could still see her downcast eyes. Her small, pale hands made their way to my left sleeve, tugging at it gently.

Raven... I thought and sighed, I can't say no to you like that... to be fair, I'm her literal life support now... if I faint, then something bad will happen to her too... 

"Okay. Let's take a break," I said and mustered a smile, "thanks for your concern,"

Well, I'll be there anyway... surely this Bill isn't that dense to flirt around with me there, right? I thought.