He was late. Again. What was his problem with always being late?
The pit in my stomach began to pool deeper as the amount of people grew copiously. They hustled in and out of stores, barely paying attention to their surroundings, which I could understand. The day had improved from the previous week, the sunshine finally making its appearance from behind the despondent clouds.
I opened my phone for what felt like the 30th time, and quietly scoffed when I saw the fifteen desperate messages sent from George, ranging from being in a panic to reassurance of I will be there as fast as you can blink. I resorted to occupy the remaining time by counting the people who passed by me before I saw his familiar face. I added them up to a total of 25 before my ears perked up at a familiar voice.
"I was sleeping! I'm so sorry!" I spun to my right to be met with a frazzled George. Sure enough, he looked like he had just woken up. His hair was tousled and stuck up on one side, his eyes hung low and his composure sunk downwards. I was thankful he had at least changed into a black coat overthrowing a large beige sweater and joggers—I certainly didn't feel like dealing with dragging him around in pajama pants.
"You know, we could have rescheduled," I suggested, seeing that his fatigue still clung to him. He shook his head hurriedly and attempted to pat down his disheveled hair.
"No no, this is completely my fault, I'm sorry," he exhaled. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
Guilt began to pool in my stomach, and it was my turn to shake my head frantically. "George, there's no need to-"
"Really, I'm sorry. I'll- I'll pay for our food, seriously," When I attempted to open my mouth again, he reached forward to hover his pointer finger inches from my mouth, silencing me. "And you can't say no, because this is my gift to you."
I let a sigh escape my lungs as I relaxed my shoulders, defeated. "Fine. Just- don't apologize again."
"Noted," George finally laughed, his eyes brightening up from their banal state present just a couple minutes ago. He shoved his hands in his jacket and scanned the area, his eyes darting back and forth between each notable landmark. "What are you thinking?"
I shrugged, pursing my lips as I followed his line of vision. "Not sure, I don't mind." I hummed the melody looping in my head like an endless cycle as I thought about the options displayed in front of us.
"You okay?" The capricious question caught me slightly off guard, and I glanced up at him in surprise.
"Yes? Why?"
"Nothing. You just look more exhausted than I am," he joked lightly, and I allowed myself to genuinely laugh at his mockery.
"Shut up."
George raised a brow, but said nothing more as he continued to delve deeper into his thoughts. "We can go to the bakery," he suggested, and right on cue, my stomach began to cry out with growls as the emptiness took over my senses. I frowned up at him trying to hold back a snicker, but my smile quickly blossomed once again when he began to strode in the direction of the bakery. "I'll get you a pastry, my treat."
•••
The sun harshly beat down on us as we roamed the streets, conversing on something I couldn't even recall why it was brought up in the first place.
"The thing is, people take lies too far, and that's when it gets controversial," George had shrugged his jacket off a long time ago, and by now I could tell a pool of sweat had collected in his sweater by his breathing as he trudged alongside me. "Imagine just, nobody lies. Everyone has to say the truth. How awful would the world be then?"
My lips curled and my brows scrunched, trying to process the validity of the statement. "Okay sure, yeah, I mean I feel like the good could outweigh the bad, though."
George's laugh dripped with sarcasm as he adjusted the jacket swung over his shoulder. "How so?"
"Some people are afraid to speak up against such a large group due to conformity, and what if someone has a revolutionary idea that could change the world? If they didn't say it due to their fear of being judged, the world basically gets stripped of another thing it could have been."
"That's looking at it broadly, though. I don't know what kind of humans populate the Earth more, good or bad, but really. Just think about all the people you didn't like in high school, or something, but you were still nice to them. Imagine how every mutual relationship you had would just, break off, if you told them only the absolute truth about how you feel about them," he explained quite patiently. I noticed his hands made a specific motion every time his main point was brought up, as if it were trying to say more than words couldn't.
I squeezed my fists tightly as I attempted to formulate a pragmatic counter argument, but eventually decided against it and released the tension in my hands. "Okay, well, that's true, but-"
"Just give me the win this time," complained George, cleverly sticking out his foot in attempt to make me stumble. My meticulous eye caught his foot before I could trip, and I ended up stepping on his shoe, causing him to cry out and retreat quickly.
"Fine yeah, whatever," I mumbled, kicking a loose pebble from a crack in the cement as George cheered to himself quietly like a small child. We continued to linger around the path until it curved around and pushed us to the same place we started.
"We're getting our steps in today, that's quite convenient," he pointed out as he shook his wrist to check his watch.
"Good point," I answered aimlessly, my attention focused on wiping the growing sweat pooling on my brow. To my dismay, George seemed to notice and find great amusement in my suffering.
"You're sweating."
"Yeah, I didn't notice."
"We can go to my place?" he suggested as if he were trying to make up for his mockery he pushed onto me three seconds ago.
Brushing my hair out of my face, I slightly frowned. "I mean, if you want? If you're okay with it?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he replied nonchalantly and took my quick silence as a yes. "Alright, let's go, it's not that far from here."
We chattered aimlessly as we quickly approached the house that I noticed was walking distance from Ria's. At some points, I caught myself getting lost in George's porcelain skin and features, only to mentally slap myself out of them.
"This is where you live?" I asked in shock once I stepped into the house through the door George had pushed open.
"Uh, where did you expect I live?" he responded with another question as he shut the door behind me. I took a second to admire the smooth marble floor and the dark walls that casted a modern aura in the kitchen. A large sliding door took up space on the wall across from the dining table, and the space opened up to a large room with a TV across from a leather couch.
"Now I understand why you never leave your house," I mumbled, inching deeper into the house to discover a flight of stairs that led to the second floor. "Your place is so nice!"
George chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. He'd thrown his jacket on the kitchen island, which had a few other groceries scattered on top messily. "Thanks, I guess. I'll show you my setup, Dream said he'd call cause he wants to practice PVP for Manhunt."
"How long do you think it'd take for him to notice if I took over?" I joked, eliciting a laugh from the Brit as he scaled the stairs with me trailing behind him. "I mean, it's not like you're that good, I could easily-"
"Hey, don't be rude," he complained as he pushed open the nearest door, revealing a large bedroom with a queen bed pushed against one wall with a large desk against the other. George quickly raced over to his monitor when I heard the familiar ring from Discord, and he accepted the call while turning his volume up so the both of us could hear.
"George!" Dream's voice echoed on the closed walls of George's room. "How'd it go? Don't tell me you embarrassed yourself again. Was she mad at you for being late? Did you get her that croissant you said she likes? Did you ask her out yet?"
I froze in my steps, and so did George. Dream must have taken George's silence as nothing serious, and only chuckled. "Come on George, don't tell me you chickened out. I'm telling you, just do it. I mean, I'm 99.9% sure she likes you-"
"Dream?" I couldn't tell if my voice had made it out, but judging from Dream's suffocating silence, I could tell it had. George's face had flushed over, and I hoped mine wasn't heating up either as I felt my heart rate quicken. Dream took a staggering breath on the other end, and his evident embarrassment unfortunately only added onto mine.
"Oh, fuck."
***
a/n
for the sake of this story pretend george lives alone thanks and i'm also extremely sorry for this shitty chapter
also this was supposed to be a shorter story so it will be coming to a close "soon" :,)