Different || A Stanley Barber x Reader Story

Chapter 3: The Weird Guy

"Thank God we're away from that asshole," I say, as soon as we're outside.

"I know, right. I have no idea what she sees in him. Other than his looks, and he's not even that good looking," she says.

"Exactly! Now, um, where are we going?"

"You wanna come to my place? I could really use someone to talk to."

"Sure."

"Then let's go."

*Time skip*

"So, here's the deal. Today, I almost convinced myself that I made Bradley Lewis' nose bleed. With my mind. Right... Mostly, I just need to chill out more. I am not losing my first and only very best friend ever. I'm happy for Dina, and if dating Bradley Dickhead Lewis makes her happy, then I guess I'm ok with it."

"Well maybe you are, but I'm fucking not," I say, and Syd laughs.

"Thank God, me neither, I just didn't want to sound like a shitty best friend."

"You're not a shitty best friend. And for the nose bleed thing, that would be so cool if you actually did. You could be, like, a superhero! Super Syd to the rescue, giving every asshole in Pennsylvania endless nosebleeds!" Syd laughs again, but her laugh is interrupted by a guy calling after her.

"Oh, hey, Syd!" he calls, making me and Syd look over to the house we were walking past. The guy who called her seems to be wearing a yellow cardigan, and I don't even know how to describe the rest of his outfit.

"Hey," Syd replies as the guy comes towards us.

"Oh, my leg fell asleep. One sec," he says once he's in front of us. I look down to see him shaking his leg, and doing all sorts of weird shit, and realise something. 

"Where are your shoes?" I ask.

"Shoes. Who needs 'em?" he replies. Then he sticks out his hand in front of me. "Stanley Barber, at your service, but please, call me Stan." I look at his hand and then shake it.

"Y/N Y/S/N."

"Can I walk with you?" he asks me and Syd. Syd and I look between each other. 

"Sure," we say at the same time. We start walking in an awkward silence. 

"Uh... so, Bloodwitch, am I right?" he asks, trying to break the silence. An excited smile comes to my face.

"What?" Syd asks.

"Bloodwitch are the best rock 'n' roll band ever!" I fangirl. I then realise what just happened and start blushing. "I mean... they're alright... I'm just gonna shut up now."

"Maybe I should give them a listen then. But that's the worst name for a band ever."

"Nah, it's perfect," Stan defends, glancing at me a bit, so I look at the floor as I carry on walking.

"I bet they sound like shit. At least a bit, anyway," Syd adds, sending me a supportive half-smile.

"Well, I mean, I have-- I have 'em on vinyl... limited edition, gatefold and stuff, if you wanna... come over, and we can listen sometime." Oh, so he has a crush on Syd. Of course he does.

"Oh," Syd says.

"You can come too, Y/N," he adds. "We can get high." Um... no thank you. I've never been high before, and I don't plan on ever getting high.

"Yeah, maybe," Syd responds, and then looks to me.

"I dunno..." I answer quietly.

"I mean, you don't have to. I was just-- I was just, you know... We-- You know, we live so close, and we've never really hug out before, y'know, Syd? And you're new here, right?" I nod silently. "Then think of it as a welcome party of sorts." I nod again, but it leaves an awkward silence.

"I guess you're right. About the hanging out thing," Syd says, and Stan nods slightly. "But, yeah. Uh, maybe we should."

"Yeah," he says, making finger guns. "Cool. Uh... Let me know." He starts backing away, putting his sunglasses on. Then, he turns back towards us, and says, "What a world we live in, girls," and then claps and sort of dances away. Syd and I continue walking, when he calls after us again, and runs towards us. "Oh, Y/N!" I turn back around, not saying anything. "Can I get your number? For Bloodwitch related purposes, obviously."

"Um, I guess," I mumble, pulling my phone out of my pocket, unlocking it, and giving it to him.

"Thank you." He takes my phone and puts his number into it, putting my number into his phone afterwards, handing my phone back once he's done. "Until next time, ladies." He then dances away again, and Syd and I actually finish our trek to her house.

"So what's his deal?" I ask, once he's out of earshot, and Syd sighs.

"That was Stanley Barber. He's my neighbour. Where I feel shitty about basically everything about myself, Stan is the master of zero fucks. He's kinda... weird."

"I could tell: he wasn't wearing any shoes."

"Yeah..."

"Do you like him? Platonically, I mean."

Syd thinks for a minute. "I dunno. The weirdness kind of overpowers any opinion of him I may have."

"Makes sense."

"What about you? What are your first impressions?"

"Well, he's cute, and got good music taste. But, he's a stoner, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. And like you said, it's kinda overpowered by the weirdness right now."

"You think he's cute?"

"I guess, yeah. But I don't get why he was wearing sunglasses? Like, it's not sunny?"

"Fashion, Y/N, fashion," Syd responds, laughing. "Anyway, we're here. Welcome to my place. Mi casa su casa." She opens the door, allowing me to go in, before following me in and closing the door behind her.

"Sydney! Is that you?" a woman calls out, presumably Syd's mom.

"Nope, it's an axe murderer. Good thing you asked," Syd responds sarcastically, making me smile. She starts walking further into the house, so I follow her.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"I got a friend over, by the way," she says as we get to the kitchen, and I see an older woman, who looks over and sees me, so I smile politely. She smiles back, but it seems forced.

"Syd, can I talk to you for a minute? I'm sorry to steal her from you," the woman says. Syd walks over to her.

"I'll be back in a minute, Y/N."

"No worries. I'l just do some homework while I wait, if you don't mind?"

"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out." And she's off. 

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Told you Stan would be in this chapter. I would have the entire home hang out scene in this chapter, but I ant to stick to consistent lengths of chapters
- dontjudgemepeeps