I had no idea what I was doing. I stood silently to the side of the door observing as he stepped out coming to join me."What аге we doing?" I asked looking away from him in order to exchange it for a view of the bustling street, a far less mind scrambling view.
"We're hanging out." He said matter of a fact, making it seem as if this was normal and not completely random. I contemplated the situation judging if it was best to go inside or hang out with my bestie.
"Okay, then! Come on!"
In this world we only had so much time so why not spend it how you wanted?
I skipped down the street passing the tall luxurious buildings of the block. Everything on this side of the city was expensive but if you walked for a bit there was this old little arcade nestled between exaggerated buildings that although looked slightly scary with it's crumbling paint and blinking sign was actually... well also scary inside but once you got over it you found how charming it's old school games and elderly owners were.
"Where are you going?" Alaric just a step behind me, questioned, his long legs quickly removing the distance between us, stepped next to me on the side closest to the street.
"You mean where are we going," I corrected because if not for him I wouldn't be walking down this street so now he had to come whether he wanted to or not.
Unless he didn't want to... "Or do you not want to come with me?" I asked second-guessing as I did with almost everything in life and pausing my skipping to turn towards him. I was still in my uniform, which now that I thought of it I felt strange even if the only true giveaway that I was wearing a uniform was a waist apron. If he'd changed his mind on hanging out I could easily go back into the restaurant unless they really fired me despite Alaric's reassurance.
"Where are we going?" He amended slightly emphasizing the word 'we' as I had though not as dramatic. I stared for a beat assuring myself he really wasn't leaving and turned back down the street accepting his response. I liked it when he said we; it almost cemented our friendship.
"It's a surprise." I sang as he once again came next to me. The day was still bright and busy the sun as glowing as ever my all-black outfit causing the sun to feel all the more powerful and beads of sweat to build up on my hairline and sweat to begin building in my armpits and back.
After about a million miles all the heat and skipping was catching up "I'm, I'm..." I held a finger up stopping and resting my hands on my knees to breathe "Need a second." I finally got out completely out of breath and loudly breathing, I had basically been full-on sprinting.
"It was one block." Alaric looked stunned at me before quickly replacing his expression with bored indifference.
"So?." I said defensively, "Don't judge me." I pointed at him with narrowed eyes as I righted myself to a standing position to give him the full effect of my glare.
Alaric looked completely unphased, from my glare to the beating sun. It was impressive, the sun part, my glare I was sure looked more tired than mad. It had to be a good 100 degrees and he was in a full long-sleeved button-up with black slacks looking as if he'd freshly just gotten ready.
I had never seen him out in the daylight before and for a second I had a hitch in my breath, this time having nothing to do with my heavy exercise.
Here, with the sun reflecting on his eyes, the guy looked mythical; his eyes looking all the more metallic silver, his hair a completely potent black a stark deference from his light skin. I stared at him for a solid minute, eyes traveling across his strong clearly fit body moving from his fancy shoes to the tip of his hair.
We looked off. Like he belonged in some movie and I on some ratty couch watching from afar.
When I returned my attention to his face he was staring at me with curiosity a bit of a calculative look with the tilt of his head. He'd caught me staring. My face twisted into a dubious clumsy grin embarrassment thick in my complexion.
"You had something on you." He tilted his head to the opposite side, his eyes darkening "It's gone now," He stared silently making me shift with discomfort.
I lasted all of a second before I broke "okay, fine!" I threw my hands up " you had nothing and I was staring. But that was the last time. I promise. I'm still getting used to how unnaturally good looking you are but I won't stare anymore. "
I turned away from him and continued down the sidewalk trying to get a bit of distance from my source of embarrassment. It was no use though, he easily kept pace with me so I just gave up and went to the much slower pace that my tired self was prone to, Alaric wordlessly following.
After about less then a minute later, I had forgotten about my embarrassment and immediately began talking "You know, I really love wind. I hadn't thought much about it till now. Hadn't really given it the appreciation it deserves, but from now on I will. Will you?" I turned my head up to look at him. For a while he didn't respond, he was looking down the street taking everything in, measuring, adjusting.
When I thought he wasn't gonna comment he moved his sharp eyes towards mine "Okay, I'll appreciate it." He said slowly, taking his time to pronounce each syllable of each word.
"We'll appreciate everything. We can't let one thing go with less appreciation of the others, doesn't seem fair." He nodded his head, truly appearing as if he were considering it and committing to it.
For the rest of what should have been a ten minuet walk, that we took double the amount of time on, I was talking away pointing at whatever I thought was interesting and having him look at it, take it in, and nod his head not necessarily in agreement but acknowledgment that he was paying attention.
"Here it is!" We stopped in front of the small building I didn't get to visit often but loved either way. "What do you think?" I asked him turning to look at him. I was completely jumping with anticipation, excited to go inside. "Come on." I was completely refilled with energy and rushed to go inside quickly getting stopped with a hand pulling at my shirt.
Stumbling back, I came knocking into Alaric's chest. Bending my head completely back to get a look at him I pouted at him "Let's go in."
"No," His jaw touching his chest to order to look at me, how doesn't he have a double chin doing that? "it doesn't look safe for you." I laughed.
"I've been here dozens of times." I stepped away from him grabbing the sleeve of his shirt "It's not in the best condition but it's great."
We stepped through the door that belonged to a house rather then an arcade. Little Nate's, the arcade, was over filled with games in every possible corner of the smallish room, the smell of old carpet and pizza wafting through the air. There was only about five people playing, three adult males playing on the same variation of a fighting game, glued to the screen, and two teen boys playing on the motorcycle game shifting from side to side to avoid obstacles or others on the game.
Not realizing I was still holding onto his sleeve, I quickly let go and motioned for him to follow me to the front counter where there the older man, Mr. Nate, was observing the players with curiosity watching to see who would win. Before disturbing him I quickly fished through my pocket pulling out the remaining twenty dollars I had.
"What are you doing?" Alaric asked with a confused face.
"What do you mean?" I asked glancing between him and Mr.Nate as I slid the twenty across the counter, "Mr. Nate." I called to get his attention.
"Hi, can I get a pizza and the rest of the cash in coins?" I asked when he'd turn to look at me with an easy smile.
"Emalia, sweetheart, you've come to visit." He smiled as I returned the genuine smile back "Yes, Mr.Nate I will always come by."
he reached for the cash only to get intercepted by Alaric's huge hand holding a hundred in his hand.
"We'll pay with that." He called retreating the twenty and placing it in front of me.
"No, here." I quickly moved to try and replace the currency but was a second too slow from Mr.Nate's surprisingly quick hands.
"Yes, sir." Mr. Nate smiled and winked at me opening the register.
I wasn't going to stop Mr.Nate from accepting the cash, after all the business was small and the money I was offering was significantly less then what he was giving. "I'll pay next time." I murmured to Alaric.
"Tomorrow?" He asked looking at Mr.Nate as he pulled out the rolls that amounted to a little less then ninety dollars.
"No." Alaric slowly shifted his head towards me the closest thing to a frown in the shape of a scowl on his face. I smiled at him "Tomorrow." I confirmed
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Word count- 1609
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