Pervade and Faint

Chapter 26

The empty world
The University had emptied after just ten days, ten long and tedious days. All of the students headed towards their homes. The students from other countries booked their flights a bit earlier and left. The local ones left late.
I also called mom and told her that I would be coming in a few days, even though I didn't know what I was going to do at home.
Staying at the university for the winter vacations would be a complete disaster. Nearly everyone left. Amir also booked a flight.

He talked a lot about that girl. He was worried about her. It flabbergasted me, the way he totally forgot about his mother. That girl invaded his thoughts. My heart writhed in agony and a terrible jealousy when he talked about that girl. And he talked about her the whole time. She was his tenacious desire, and he was mines. He never stopped loving her because she was his first love. And I never stopped loving him because he was my first love. A grotesque sequence.

I went over to his room the night before he was supposed to leave. I left my hair open, with the intention that he would pull a strand or so behind my ear.

He and his roommate Tyrese were planning things out.
"So when are you leaving?" I asked, even though I already knew when he was going to leave. They stopped talking and looked at me. Amir squinted as if he was confronting the sun after a long hour of darkness.
"Oh, hey Cindy", said Amir and smiled.
"Didn't you leave yet?" I asked Tyrese and he shook his head like a child.
"What about you?" asked Amir.
"I'm just waiting for you guys to leave. Then off I go", I said and scooted myself next to Amir.
"I'm leaving tomorrow", he said.
"And he has a shit ton of work to get done", said Tyrese, snorted and laughed profusely. I still didn't find anything funny. I rolled my eyes. That's just a stupid and ingrained habit of boys, to laugh at their own jokes.
On a joke of a gram, they'll laugh a ton.
And they stay happy all the time. It seems like nothing in the world can depress them when they're with each other.
But Amir was different. He wasn't like his stubborn roommates and other guys. I never saw him flirting with girls. As a matter of fact, I never even saw him talk to any girl in the university. He wasn't a loiterer. And with the looks and the body that he had, every woman would expect him to be a boyfriend of the whole girl community. But he was different.

"What work do you have left?" I asked.
"Not much...just", he murmured.
"Come on tell me", I ordered as if I was his mother.
"He has to go to the laundry, get a hair-cut, take a shower", said Tyrese on his behalf.
"And..." said Tyrese and hid his face in a small and toothy grin.
"And", I said, wanting to know what was left.
"Shave his pubic hair", he finished and laughed like a maniac. Tyrese flew off the bed and banged himself hard on the floor. He laughed on his own for like five minutes and tears even ran from his eyes.
"Don't worry about him", said Amir and looked at me.
"Do you really have all those things to do?" I asked.
"Yeah", he confessed and scratched the back of his neck.
"But not the last thing", he said and an innocent smile played on his face. I giggled.
"I can take you", I said and looked at him with hopeful eyes.
"Really?" he said and a shiny beam reflected from his eyes.
"Yeah, tell me when you're ready", I said and stood up.
"I'll be waiting for you in my room", I finished and left to my room.
'I'll be waiting for you in my room. And I know that you will never come, despite the fact that you will come", I thought, but just never said it.
____________

Tyrese and Amir knocked at my door after about ten minutes and we left for the laundry. The laundry was only at ten minute ride. I drove, amending, as well as stretching the ride to fifteen minutes, deliberately.
The three of us perched ourselves on the chairs of the laundry. We rummaged our pockets for quarters. And resultantly, no one had quarters.
Amir gave Tyrese a few dollars and told him to change them into quarters via the machine that was at the very commence of the laundry.

He bought some bubble gum from the vending machine and told Amir that the machine didn't accept his faux few dollars. When Amir demanded his money, Tyrese made a huge bubble with his bubble gum and popped it (he bought bubble gum with Amir's money). And then once again, he laughed like crazy. Stupid.
_____________

When we were done with the laundry, we went to the barbershop because Amir had to get a haircut. There were a few men at the barbershop, getting haircuts. Most of them were getting their beards trimmed into some really intricate styles, due to which we had to wait for a while.

When Amir got his haircut, Tyrese broke anarchy at the barbershop.

"Where is his lollipop?" he asked and began to cry.
"Stop it man", said Amir, embarrassed.
"No no no! lollipop", cried Tyrese. I wanted to smack him on the face. But before I could, he fell on the floor and began to bang it.
"Is he with you?" the barber asked Amir.
"Yes. I'm sorry_"
"Convulsions...he _ um has convulsions sometimes", I added, cleverly.
"Oh, I see. Epilepsy?" asked the barber and Amir nodded, staring at the worm on the floor.
___________

He was literally given a lollipop after a few minutes, for a juvenile pacification, due to which he got up from the floor.

"What the hell was that all about?" yelled Amir when we sat in the car.
"I swear, today is the best day of my life", replied Tyrese and licked his lollipop.
Amir rolled his eyes, shook his head and a smile automatically formed on his lips. I smiled when I saw him smile.
"Want coffee?" I asked.
"I do", said Tyrese from the back. I didn't even want to instigate an argument with him, so I just remained silent.
________

We bought coffee, bagels and half a dozen of donuts. I was taking out my money from my purse, but Amir quickly slid his card and paid for it.
"On me", he said and carried the bags out of the store.
"Wait wait", said Tyrese and we stopped at the counter.
"If we spend more than fifteen bucks, don't we get a free coffee", he said and the whole staff stared at him as if he was crazy.
"Please not this time", said Amir and yanked him out of the shop.
"I WILL BE BACK", yelled Tyrese from the back and the staff stared at us enigmatically. A crazy guy getting pulled out of the shop by an extremely handsome guy, and a lovelorn and broken woman with them.
___________

After breakfast, we packed Amir's clothes in his bag. I thought that it would be better if we packed together. So we did. Amir could have taken two bags. But he had only packed one.

I wiped my hands with my jeans after we were done packing his bag. A few drops of sweat formed on my palm, despite the chilly weather.
"I'm going to take a shower", announced Amir and grabbed a towel. He left the room and the room went from febrile to futile.However, the room didn't fall silent, obviously, because we had a premature in the room. Tyrese.

"You really love him don't you?" he asked as soon as Amir left the room.
"How does your mood change all of a sudden?" I asked, trying to change the topic.
"Do you not think that I'm the saddest man on the earth?" he asked and grinned. I didn't even want to talk with him, but he pulled the conversation.
"What grief could have struck a man like you?" I asked.
He smirked, but there was a vestige of seriousness dissolved in that smile, something hidden behind it.
"You know Charlie Chaplin?" he asked
"Yeah, partially", I answered, trying to get a vivid reminder.
"He made the whole world laugh, just to let you know. A comedian. And you know what he once said?"
"What?" I asked.
"He said that he likes to walk in the rain because it hides his tears"
I raised my eyebrows on that, astonished. More astonished of the fact that Tyrese had said such a thing.

"I'm leaving", I said and walked towards the door.
"It's called love. The more virgin it is, the more it writhes", said Tyrese from the back.
"Yeah", a broken voice said from the inside of the broken me.
"Its love", I said, in which there might be a fall, but no certain withdrawal.