"Honestly, I wish you stopped smoking right before this moment." A frown etched itself on my face. "The flowers were expensive, you know."
"No one asked you to do that," she retorted as I carefully laid down the flowers on the white vase. The same color as her bedsheet.
Ken quickly struck her with a look that made her irritated expression falter.
"Oh, and since you're a fan of Molly, I thought I'd bring you the news that her volleyball team has won the nationals," I added.
"I already know that." Diane sneered. "Also, how insolent of you to call her by that name. You've probably not even been granted the chance to speak a word to her."
"Or if you even were, you'd probably just be her slave who only does her Math homework," she retorted, feeling a bit prideful in her words.
Geez, not even lung cancer can prevent this girl from running her mouth. I'm starting to regret buying these flowers. Probably should have saved it for her funeral.
A chuckle escaped my lips, "Jokes on you, she scores better than me in Math. In fact, she scores better than everyone else in Math. Not even Cassandra herself could defeat her in the subject."
"The worst part is, she's not even trying."
As ever the obnoxious person who only cared about their affairs, Diane looked surprised. I imagined she would be oblivious to anything academic-related, but not to this extent. Especially when it involved the person she idolized the most.
"It took me by surprise too," a voice in the back stated. Slowly turning my gaze to the source allowed me to see that it was Xavier. "Who would have expected the famous bad girl of Celestial North Academy to excel the most in Math, or just anything related to academics? I guess that's a prestigious academy for you."
"There were even rumors that she would have been awarded the best in the country had she not fought with one of her fellow competitors."
Molly had one of the best brains out there. No sarcasm or joke involved. If only she listened to her desires less.
There was a short pause in the conversation before a familiar one decided to step in.
"If I remember correctly," Lucas starts rubbing his chin in an effort to recall something. It's always been one of his unattractive habits. "Vanessa's in the same class as yours, right?" He proceeded to look at me. "Eliza."
"Well, yeah," I answered, unbothered; opposite of Diane who was probably starting to question her life. Having lived differently, there was no way for me to ever know what was running through her head. To many bad girls like her, Molly was a person they looked up to. "A lot of times, I'm grateful that we're classmates. Calculus would have been so much harder without her guidance."
There was nothing else to talk about; the initial objective had already been accomplished. Henceforth, staying would only be a waste of time. If only Molly didn't arrive at the same time as my decided departure.
Don't you just hate it when all you want is to go home and sleep, yet people keep interrupting for no reason?
Yeah, me too.
"Eli!" she cheerfully greeted, ambushing me into a bone-crushing hug. "You look great in all black as always! But don't you have any other color in your wardrobe?"
"No, except if extremely needed."
Molly laughed while releasing the h
ug and proceeded to eye everyone in the room. For a split second, I was able to see her glare toward Diane before it quickly faded away. Must have been updated with current events. After all, it's Molly we're talking about.
"Quite rare of you to spend your Saturdays in any outdoor activity," she remarked, patting my shoulder in a manner that never fails to irritate me. While her presence in my life is greatly appreciated, she just provides me with displeasure.
The comment serving facts caused my breath to turn into a sigh. "To be honest, I wish it wasn't a Saturday."
Molly nodded, fully anticipating my response. "Also, I couldn't greet you personally the other day because of urgent matters. Forgive me, but congratulations on getting full marks on your final defense! You and your group, especially you, were great out there. The PowerPoint left everyone in the room speechless. Heck, even the panelists!"
"You let nothing slip by, though honestly, delivery is the most important."
She speaks the truth, but... "While I agree that is undeniably correct, you can't just straight up abandon your ppt. It's like the face of your paper that you present to your panelists."
The other did not spare a second to laugh right after the last word. "I think all that matters is that you're able to defend your paper. After all, I've never come across a panelist before that has praised the researchers for having pretty visuals."
Gee. I can't say a word against that.
"Anyway," she directs her attention to the people who were silently watching our conversation, "looks like we have quite the crowd today."
"I'm Vanessa. Nice to meet you all," — she introduces herself before having eye contact with a certain someone — "except for you, Diane, of course."
Lucas took the opportunity to greet her first. Ever the extrovert he is. Even so, I bet the brat just wanted to flaunt his teeth. "It's nice to meet you too, Vanessa. I'm Lucas, a good friend of Eliza. This is Ken, Xavier, and Jaxon."
And then they shook hands.
"Eli, you didn't tell me you had such a handsome friend!" That's because I don't have one.
I sighed. "Molly, you ought to be more on the lookout for fake news."
Lucas looked visibly confused. "How so? We walk home together more often these days."
"That's because your soccer practice location is near the academy." That's right, there's no meaning in it.
"Oh, what's this?" Nonetheless, it looks like someone has different ideas. So much so that they took me into a nearby corner to whisper, "Do you happen to like this guy?"
Before I could even deny anything, she starts speaking again. "Oooh, you don't have to worry about that. I'll be your wing woman."
"Molly, no. There's nothing between us."
"Really? Not even oxygen?"
"You know that's not the point."
"But you don't just randomly walk home with anyone. This guy gotta be something." She just wouldn't let up.
"You're AroAce, right?" she asks as if trying to clarify something at the back of her memory. "Can't you just un-AroAce yourself for this guy who's literally an Angel? I mean, he's gorgeous, has manners, a soccer prodigy since he was seven, and is the son of a multi-millionaire. There's gotta be some exceptions."
My head shook with a frown. "No, it doesn't work like that." In the first place, how did she even arrive to that conclusion?
"I see." Having finally understood, she redirected her gaze toward the boy she just called an angel. "Are you single?"
I also see where this is going. My years of experience reading manga, watching anime, and writing fiction have allowed me to be three parallel universes ahead.
"Yes." Hold up. What about his girlfriend? Did they break up recently?
"Then date me!" Molly, chill. Someone needs to put a stopper on this kid. Otherwise, she's unstoppable.
Before Lucas could reply to that proposal, a no came out of my mouth.
God, did I sound like a jealous childhood friend from a random shounen manga.
Naturally, this piqued all the others' attention and had their curious gazes pinned on me — with a very particular one belonging to Molly. "I thought you didn't like him?"
Of course, with everything set up like this, it would only be normal for them to assume so.
I shook my head. "That's not it. You shouldn't date your ex's friend."
Even as an aro, it was well-known to me that you shouldn't be exercising such a foolish action — unless you highly disregard morals. In which case, you're a waste of oxygen.
She looked stunned for a moment before asking, "Say what now? Did I hear that correctly, ex's friend?"
Perhaps pinpointing the name of the specific person would help her memory. "Kyleson." But then again, if she didn't change lovers like clothes, maybe she wouldn't have such a hard time. "He's friends with that guy."
"Wait, really? I didn't know." Certainly, because you only dated the guy for like a week and immediately replaced him within days.
You've always been like that. You always chase after the love of someone, and once you get bored, you throw them away.
Perchance, this could be a reflection of your childhood.
***
"That was quick to become awkward, Molly."
"Well, that's only bound to happen, Eli," she says as a matter of fact, completely ignoring that the said scenario could have been avoided had she made better life choices.
In the first place, what did she even come there for?
"Oh, that's right." Molly claps her hand once and the sound echoes through the hallways of the hospital. "I nearly forgot. Since you're here anyway, how about a date with me?"
My foot took a step back of its own accord as she leaned forward. "No, my next destination will be my apartment."
However, Molly dismissed my rejection. "Come on, if you've got some time to spare for her, why not with me?"
Should I tell her?
"There's this incredibly cool bad boy that's starring in this movie called A Heart That Beats for You. He's soooo hot and he drives a motorcycle!"
Geez, allos. Creatures that are way harder to interpret than calculus itself. It makes me wonder what they find so entertaining in the same plot over and over again. The only difference it makes is the set of actors.
"How do you know that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
To which she replied, "I watched the trailer! From that alone, it can be determined that the movie would be fire!"
Another sigh for today. "You've already heard my answer." There was no point in my being accompanying this girl to a movie not of my taste. Cinemas are great; only if the material they are projecting lives up to their praise.
In an effort to leave, I turned my heels away from her direction. And she responded by blocking my path. "Hold on, hold on."
"That's not all!" she excitedly announces. "It does give off romance vibes. BUT! But, there's a twist."
"And what would that be?" At this point, I don't think anything would convince me against spending the rest of my Saturday in the comfort of my home.
"They're fighting against dinosaurs! There's lots of gore, horror, and blood. The best part is, the show doesn't censor anything!"
Q: You all ever know of a Molly who makes plans and executes them on the same day? I know a lot, to be honest 😂.
Author's Notes commented inline here ➵