Hiraeth; A homesickness for a home you can't return to, or that never was.
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"What the fuck?" I mumble.
My eyes are playing with me. Or this has to be a joke. Maybe I'm dreaming?
"Can you pinch me?" I ask River, still looking at the person who just walked through the door.
He does, "Ow!" I guess I'm not dreaming.
"You asked me to." He shrugged.
"Do you know him or something?" Finn asks.
"Yes."
"How?" River asks.
I sigh and turn towards them again. "I knew him from Texas, he's a year older. Our friend group used to be really big and we did a lot of things. Junior year then went to shit, everyone fell apart, he moved without telling us. I just wasn't expecting it to be here." I vaguely explain.
"Do you want to say hi?" River asks.
"No." I reply rather too quickly.
Saying hi unlocks memories, unlocks people, opens up a door for conversation. Something I don't want to do. Especially since it's partly his fault.
"Um, okay." River nods.
Just then, the server comes back over and asks everyone what they want. Considering it's still morning we all get something breakfast related.
"The pancakes here are fucking amazing." Finn says.
"Hell no, the waffles are better." Aspen shoots back.
"I'm going to go with waffles on this one." River speaks up, taking sides with Aspen.
"Well, I don't know but I do love pancakes so I'm going to trust Finn on this." I hope he's not fucking lying.
The only worse thing than bad pancakes is bad syrup. Trust me, I've had that.
Shit tasted like... shit.
"I just realized we're seniors." Aspen randomly says.
"The fuck did you think we were? 1st graders?" I quirk a brow.
Finn chokes on his sprite that he was drinking and River looks the other way.
"No, I mean the fact that we are already seniors feels unreal." He elaborates.
That's true, I didn't think I would make it this far.
"I get what you mean now." Finn nods.
"What do you guys even want to do after Highschool?" What do guys even want to do for a job?
"Psychologist." River says before taking a sip of his drink.
"Comedian or some shit, I haven't thought about it." Finn says. Surprisingly, I'm not surprised.
"Therapist." Aspen says.
"What about you?" River asks me.
"Not sure, haven't put much thought into it." I shrug. I wasn't lying, nothing really interests me and honestly, it's not on my priority list right now because it won't matter.
We keep making small talk until our breakfast comes out. I got the same thing as Finn which was 2 pancakes with two bacon strips or sausage and 1 egg.
Aspen and River got a waffle with bacon and toast.
Everyone starts to dig in and I hope my expectations aren't crushed.
After I have buttered my pancakes and poured syrup on them, I cut them up in sections. Once I'm done I put a bite in my mouth.
Finn wasn't fucking lying, these are good as fuck.
"Holy shit, these are really good."
"I told you." Finn grins. "See, at least she gets it." All he gets in return is eye rolls from Aspen and River.
I can't wink.
"Can you guys wink?" I ask them.
"Yeah, it's easy." Aspen confirms, the other two nodding.
"Well that isn't fair." I mumble. I look like I'm glitching when I try to wink and it is just not attractive.
Although I never need to wink so it doesn't really matter.
"Can you?" River asks me.
"No."
"Try."
"Hell no." I shoot that down immediately. There is no way in hell I'm going to let them see me try to wink.
I might just scare them off.
He shakes his head and goes back to eating. For the rest of breakfast we finish our meals silently, a little small talk here and there.
"How many checks?" The server asks, picking up our plates.
"Can you pay for me, I forgot my wallet today?" Finn asks Aspen.
"Fine." He mumbles.
"Two separate ones." River tells her. Before I can protest and say three, she's already walking away.
"Why did you say two?" I ask him.
"Because Aspen is buying his and Finns, I'm buying yours and mine?" He more or so asks.
"I told you to stop buying for me."
"I don't recall." His ass is lying and it's obvious.
"But you do."
"You're right, I do." He grins.
He has perfect teeth.
"You guys act like an old married couple." Finn speaks up causing us to divert our attention to him.
"No we don't." We both say at the same time.
"Oh for sure." Aspen adds.
"I hate you guys." I shake my head.
The server comes back with two checks and Aspen pays his and River pays ours even after my many protests.
This fucker is stubborn and doesn't listen.
"If you pay for me one more time, I'll cut your balls off." I threaten. It wasn't a good threat but it was the first thing that came to my mind.
"Is that a threat?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Do you feel threatened?"
"Actually yes, yes I do."
"Then that's what it is."
"Oh shit." Finn mumbles in the background.
A few minutes later the server comes back with their change to which they both leave for a tip.
If they didn't tip her I would have just stole their wallets and put all the cash that was in it on the table.
"What are we doing now?" River asks no one in particular.
"I don't know." Finn shrugs.
"Aren't you supposed to be the fun one?" I tease him.
"I am fun, I just... don't know what you really do when you skip."
If I'm being honest, I don't either.
"We'll figure it out, let's go." I tell them. We all get out of the booth and make our way outside.
"Ouu! We should go to a trampoline park!" Finn suggests rather loudly.
We all agree and get back in the cars. The car ride is filled with River's music as I follow behind Aspen.
Around twenty or so minutes later we pull into the trampoline park.
We all exit our cars after we park and make our way inside.
Aspen and Finn are ahead of us, they pay and tell them their shoe size to get the correct size of socks.
"Just the two of you?" He asks us.
"Yes."
"How long?"
"How long did you choose Aspen?" River asks him.
"An hour!" He yells back.
"An hour." I tell the guy.
"$36.78" I shove my card into the card reader before River can.
Loser.
I hear him groan beside me but he doesn't say anything.
"What size?"
"7.5" I say.
"10." River says.
"Okay big foot." I joke.
"Shut up."
The guy hands us our socks and we go to find the other two. Surprisingly, they are both patiently waiting for us on the bench.
Me and River share a cubby, somehow both of our shoes fit. I put on my grippy socks as he does the same.
"What should we do first?" Aspen asks.
A grin take over my face, "Dodgeball." Everyone else grins and we taking off running towards the dodgeball area.
There is already a game in session so we have to sit to the side and wait. It's mostly older kids playing, since school is still going for others.
Makes the competition that much better.
After a good 5 minutes, a new game starts and we all go in. River and Aspen go on the other team leaving me with Finn.
This is not fair.
The guy watching the whole thing blows his whistle and we all start running towards the balls.
In the few seconds that we have had the balls, a few people have already got hit. Me and Finn move to the back and I thought we were doing a team thing but I know where we stand when he pulls me in front of him as a human shield.
"I know you are not using me as a human shield, get your ass out here." I tell him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him next to me.
I think we picked the wrong side when I realize there is still a shit ton of people standing and jumping around on the other side than ours.
"We have to start getting people out."
"No shit Sherlock." I deadpan.
"Can you aim?" He asks.
"Yes."
We split up as we go to opposite ends and start throwing balls to get people out. I can see River and Aspen whispering to each other and that makes me more paranoid.
I swear to god if they double team me.
I look over at Finn and he's just throwing balls at random people. Thankfully his aim is good because he is actually getting people out.
I look back over at River and Aspen and they both throw their balls at me at the same time.
My eyes widen and the only thing I can think to do is jump and open my legs so they don't hit me there either. Although I don't know if it will work because I'm not flexible.
Although I am lucky when I dodge both of the balls.
"Holy shit!" I can't believe I just did that.
"Did you see that?!" I ask looking over at Finn.
I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. Before I can face forward again a ball hits me right in the fucking nose.
My nose is sensitive.
I bend over and hold my nose. This shit hurts.
"What the fuck is your issue, face shots aren't aloud dumbass." I hear River say in a tone I have never heard before.
"What? She should have been paying attention." The random person replies.
I wouldn't have been that mad if it was River or Aspen but since it was some rando, I'm pissed.
The ref or whatever stated before the game, no face shots.
I pull my hand away from my nose and already see some blood. By now the ref already blew the whistle and now everyone's just standing around.
"What the fuck was that for?" I face the random fuck that threw the ball at me.
"Like I just said, should have been paying attention." Two can play at that game.
"Alright," I wipe my nose and walk towards him. "Look over there." I point to the left.
I didn't think he was that stupid but I was proved wrong when he actually looks in the direction I pointed to.
I waste no time in bring my hand up and punching him in the fucking nose.
He takes a few involuntary steps back on impact and holds his nose. "What the fuck was that for?" He asks holding his nose while looking at me.
I give a cheeky smile, "Should have been paying attention." I shrug.
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We got kicked out.
Although I'm not sure why when that little shit is the one that started it. I guess we're both even because we both left with a bloody nose.
"Well what now since miss violence over here got us kicked out?" Finn asks, gesturing to me.
"Y'all saw my epic dodge right?" If not then all that happened for nothing and that is dumb.
"Yes we saw it." Aspen says.
"Okay good."
"Let's face it, we suck at skipping." River says.
He's not wrong.
"I don't know about you losers, but I'm going home and going back to bed." Finn declares.
"How ya gonna get there?" Aspen asks.
"You're my chauffeur so get in the car bitch." Finn replies.
I chuckle under my breath at their banter and look over to River. "What do you wanna do?" I ask him.
"Come back to my house?"
"Sure." I shrug.
We all decided on going our separate ways, kind of.
Aspen takes Finn home and goes home while I drive us to River's house.
We eventually pull into his driveway, I'm assuming both of his parents are at work since there are no cars here but his.
"I'm hungry, are you hungry?" He asks as we step into his house.
"No thanks."
"Okay." He heads towards the kitchen and I follow him.
We talk about random shit while he makes a sandwich, and once he's done I follow him up to his room.
"You know what we could do?"
"What?" He asks setting his sandwich on his desk.
"Go get applications from the grocery store." All I get in response is a groan.
I don't get why he hates that place so much, maybe he's not filling out his application correctly.
"Fine," He gives in, "After I finish my sandwich."
"Deal." I nod.
"I think working at the grocery store would be fun." I mean it shouldn't be that hard, it's only a grocery store.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Yeah." I chuckle. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You're too optimistic today." He shakes his head.
I roll my eyes, "You're just mad because I want to work at the grocery store."
"Exactly."
I shake my head and he sets his empty plate to the side.
He tells me he's going to use the restroom before we leave again so I just sit and admire his room.
Something catches my eye in the corner of the room although I can't see what it is. The closer to it I get, the more I realize what it is.
A pill?
It's not my business what he's doing or why he's taking those but curiosity gets the best of me so I google the pill.
It's better than putting him on the spot, right?
After a few google searches I find out it's medication for Schizophrenia.
Holy shit.
I walk over to the bed and sit back down, placing the pill in my pocket.
I'm not going to flat out asks him. That's his business and if he feels comfortable telling me himself, he will.
In no way shape or form will I ask him about it until he says something himself.
A few seconds later he walks back into the room and grabs everything he needs and we head to my car again.
If River is right and we both get turned down this time,
I'm committing arson.
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a/n: not edited.
i am going on vacation for the next ten or so days so please don't expect an update for a bit.
i wanted to get this out before i left y'all hanging.
also later in the story, you will know her back story and everything so right now just please bear with me.
anyway how do we feel about the guy at the diner😟.