I swirled my spoon around in my coffee with my right hand and propped up my chin with the other. The feeling of the cheap cafeteria table against my bare elbow made me uncomfortable and cold, yet I didn't complain. I stayed quiet and reserved, kept to myself, unlike all the others in the cafeteria, whose voices all seemed to drown out with a blur after a couple minutes of insanity. I stared down at the bubbly cream swirls in my coffee as my spoon went round and round... round and round... if I hadn't felt so sharp and angry, the twirling motion of the spoon through the hot black liquid could've lulled me into a hypnotic state.
I had a throbbing headache.
All afternoon; the whinging of other students, the class bells ding-a-linging every thirty frickin' minutes, angsty hormonal teenage boys hooting and whistling as Stacey Morgan strutted past with her golden locks flowing behind her, the vibration of my phone as I ignored Cassidy's desperate texts, and just the very thought of having to spend another night at the house alone like a neglected puppy dog, with my mom out and about with God knows who, God knows where.
It was the first time that I was stuck in a situation where I wanted the Joker to come find me. I wanted him to torment me, I wanted him to call me stupid names and piss me off and force feed me food I'd only been recently persuaded to start eating again. God, now I wanted him to... touch me.
I buried my forehead in my hands and released a shaken sigh. Bit by bit, breath by breath, I was going crazy. All I wanted was a little bit of adventure and excitement in my boringly average life, and even then I was getting all depressed about it. I wanted difference- and how different could it get when you had a psychopath visiting you nearly every day to press his hand on your thigh and make out with you against your mom's sofa? When had anybody but me ever had that? Never. Because I was going absolutely nuts.
I grizzled miserably to myself and finally decided to grab my things and go, leaving my cold coffee behind. I slung my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my portfolio from by my feet, and eventually left the grey cafeteria only to make it outside to the grey campus of my college, sat under the grey greyness of a sky that threatened to rain. I held my phone and dialled the number of the only person I'd really wanted to speak to at that time- and it wasn't hard to guess who that person was. I trailed slow, long laps around the college premises as I waited to get through to the other end of the line, eagerly awaiting the husky and dark voice of the insane asylum escapee.
I shyly bit my nails and scuffed my sneakers against the concrete of the empty car park, ignoring the rowdy group of jocks that smoked there with their girlfriends.
The phone line clicked. "Hello-oo?"
"Joker?" I mused, but hushed my voice in case anybody around me was nosily figuring out who I was speaking to.
A chuckle came from the other end. "The one and only. Why'd ya call, toots?" The Joker's voice teased me and I could only imagine how wide his grin was.
I had to stop my own smile from appearing. I had to carry on acting miserable so I had an excuse for wanting his company. "Could I... have a lift? From school?" I asked, quirking my lips as I strolled by the curb of the parking spaces. The smell of distant cigarette smoke from the boys nearby invaded my senses and I looked over to them; six muscular ape-like teenagers, eyeing me like I was meat. Despite having a very busty little brunette by his side, one jock winked at me and licked his slimy fish-lips. I shuddered. It was only ever attractive when the Joker licked his lips at me, and even then it still somewhat haunted me.
Joker hummed from the other end of the phone. "Why can't you catch a, uh, a bus?"
I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. I hugged my free arm to my stomach warmly. "I want... I want company," I freely said, not caring much how he responded to my neediness. "Besides, you're not... busy right now, are you?"
