The Broken Soundtrack

Track 19: Tired Eyes

I couldn't think of anything to help Laken. I knew nothing about him. And even if I did, I was sure he would just ice me out with his glare. Maybe I should just give up. Why am I even wasting my time thinking about it?

Shaking my head, I dipped my spoon in my cup of banana split ice cream, allowing the cold to numb my mouth. The warm air swooshed in when a student entered the store, so I took another spoon of my dessert. Frangipani was a bit far from our building, but I didn't mind coming if the ice cream was this tasty.

I had a few hours to kill before my taekwondo lesson, so I texted Zander to meet me here. He was always late every time I called him. If I wasn't too considerate, I would've fled already.

Sticking the spoon into the cup, I flipped my phone from the table and called Zander's number. His voicemail answered me twice, so I figured he must still be in another class.

I put my phone down again, my eyes wandering around the small store. The green and yellow scheme on the walls made it look like a convenience store, instead of an ice cream parlour. When the girl on the corner tore her eyes off of her laptop, glancing at me, I immediately snapped my head on the other direction. Sitting here alone made me more uncomfortable than sitting with more people inside a library.

As I shot another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth, the door swung open with Zander walking in with dark shades over his eyes. Sporting his signature white shirt, he waved a hand as he approached my table. "Hey, sorry I got held up," he explained, taking the seat across me.

I flashed him a smile, waving it off. "That's all right. What flavour do you want?"

"Mint chocolate," he answered without hesitation.

"I'll get you one," I said, proceeding to the counter.

After paying for Zander's ice cream, I went back to our table and noticed that he still had the shades on. It was bothering me, but I didn't want to question his look.

"Thanks," he said as I set the cup in front of him.

I couldn't see his eyes, so that made me feel a bit intimidated. "Uh... is it too bright outside?" I asked, checking to see if he just forgot to take it off or something.

He nodded. "Yeah. It is."

But I wasn't convinced. I felt like something was off with the way he wasn't even touching his favourite ice cream. "Are you... all right though?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Anyway, so you're going to your taekwondo thing later again?" He asked, switching the topic.

I nodded, my thoughts swerving back to Laken. "Do you happen to know what he's majoring in?"

"Who?"

"Laken."

"He's your boyfriend. You should know these things," he pointed out.

I couldn't believe he was still pressing that he was my boyfriend. Sighing, I glared at him through the dark lens over his eyes. "Zander, I wouldn't be asking if I know and for the last time, he's not my boyfriend."

He just shrugged, completely ignoring my point. "Right. So why are you asking again?"

"I just... he's struggling on a subject and I want to help him." I didn't want to explain it to him, but I figured if I just came clean, then it would save me from more explaining in the future.

Tapping his fingers on the table, he kept his face directly at me. I couldn't tell if he was glaring or squinting at me, but I was sure he was doing either of those two. "I may look like a stalker, but I don't know everything about everyone. Why don't you ask his bestfriends?"