"Okay, kid," I sighed melodramatically to his childish beam.
His light eyes followed my slim fingers as I etched my grey lead harshly into the thin paper, tracing out a clean upside-down U-curve, "Just think of it like this: if you throw a ball to your jock friend, it will go up and come back down. Like this reflected parabola."
As practiced, I expertly marked crosses like a pirate on a treasure map over where the smooth curve slashes across the poorly-sketched arms of the axes. The graph was an intricate work of a massacre at all the right places.
"How do you know that?" He countered.
"Because I believe something called gravity exists."
"And what if gravity doesn't exist? What if earth was really just flat?" Faint dimples were engrained into his youthful face as he challenged me, his orbs a daring host towards me as the wise-o-wise tutor.
"Then your jock friend wouldn't catch it because the ball won't come down. And I wouldn't have anything to teach your dumb ass about curves." I interjected in a grave, matter-of-fact tone, "By the way, the earth isn't flat; it's donut-shaped."
I watched a laugh spill from the boy who caught my wink. Papers shuffled as he drew his worksheets across the table towards us. The pencil grumbled in anguish, much like little Connie, as I circled questions extensively for him to complete in the next half-hour. His muscles melted, his frame wilted onto the table as the child realised I harvested all the hardest questions off the page.
"Oh my god, man, you can't be serious!"
"Oh, but I very much am." I simpered, dumping the heap in front of him.
"If I told you you're my favourite senior, can I skip the bottom half?"
"Not today, buddy."
A cacophony of disheartened groans oozed out of the child next to me. It was immediately mopped up by an angry glare from a librarian who has had enough.
My sleep-yearning eyes wandered along the shelves of books that encased our tables in the middle. Brows crumpled, I found my gaze sharpening on a familiar looking sweater.
Unconsciously sifting through some Grisham novels and an out-of-place medical journal, I also located a misplaced Levi loitering behind a shelf with some creased pages.
"Looks like you're his favourite senior." Connie chimed in beside me like a back-up singer, "You know, he's been there for over an hour acting like he's interested in Slow Knitting."
"Shut up and do your work."
As if I didn't already know.
_____________________________
"When the hell did you get a tutoring job?"
The question was casually posed as we watched Connie march across the road to a brunette girl in a ponytail on his stubby little legs. I mentally compared them to the male standing next to me in the breeze, summoning a sly smirk which I quickly hid.
"Since I don't have a $5000 allowance and someone kind of smashed my guitar up and set it on fire, I have to put up with kids now."
Stripes glided beneath my feet as I bounced across the road. The setting sun stretched out our murky shadows as we interweaved among the dispersing pedestrians at the intersection like chemicals in a bloodstream. Being swallowed alive by overhead shadows, I unconsciously reached for the short-stack's elbow, keeping him close.
At the first sight of glistening glaze off donuts behind an overhyped storefront, I was immediately placed in a trance. His wrist was restricted in my grip as I dragged him to the curb. We were Hansel and Gretel before the Witch's house ... except, I don't think I used the right analogy here.
Bonnie and Clyde?
Nah, that implies we're romantically-involved criminals.
Not even close.
"You hungry?" I asked for the sake of asking.
"No-" He began.
"Of course you are. Let's go."
He rolled his eyes. Obviously.
The numbers on the menu prices were unironically inflated.
Fuck, it was like buying food infused with the tears of Jesus the saviour. These donuts better purify my sins and cleanse my soul.
I didn't even like donuts that much. I lived months on instant noodles to save up.
Yet, I somehow ordered an entire box tonight.
Something picked away, deep inside me, exposing the fact that if Levi weren't here with me, I would be content with more instant ramen. I ignored the gnawing feeling.
"Alright," I grinned mischievously at the boy seated across the table from me, "Take this."
I swear to God, the moment I presented the treat in front of him, it was as if all the light in the overpriced food-chain was redirected onto its renowned glaze. I could practically see my face in it.
"I don't want it." Levi mumbled.
For dramatic effect, now all the lights have dimmed, and the donut has lost its charm, its shine, its glory.
Thanks, short stack. Thanks for ruining this for me.
The boy scrutinised me sulking, endured my melodramatic heartbreak as I clutched my chest in pain, before rolling his beady eyes to no end and nipped it out of my cold hand. Careful, I wanted to tell him, your eyeballs might come loose from the rolling.
The dough laid there in his grasp, baking under his intense gaze. He swallowed.
"Oi, I didn't bring anything with me." He warned.
"I don't want your money." I laughed, "I want your absolute, unquestioning loyalty."
Again, that signature disgusted look Levi gives me when I do shit like this, like shamelessly quoting House of Cards, or like every other time Hanji opens her mouth.
"A donut is a cheap price for that."
"Donuts are the only currency I work with." I observed intently as he gently pried away a smudge of sugar with his thumb. His paper-thin lips parted, his sharp incisors seared away the sweetness. The insides of the bread shredded, the table littered with crumbs.
He didn't care about the mess he was making. Not right now.
A warm feeling settled with me as I watched him eat.
Must be the overpriced donuts.
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[A/N]:
It has been so long since I've written something! No time for fun :(
God I need to control my fluff/cheese -and I totally didn't realise the donut-theme throughout this chapter until I reread it hahahah <3 <3
Heads up -uploading more soon (within a day/ or two?? -NO PROMISES THOUGH) because I miss writing so much and I don't know what my life has come to.
Kinda dedicated this chap to the kind soul who's made WP less lonely ((WP updates driving me crazy -where is the community I grew up with??? :())
Like, vote, comment, leave your thoughts bc I love reading your input.
"pls LiKe & lEaVe a cOmMeNt BeLoW. DoN't fOrGet tO sMaSh tH@t lIkE bUtToN I uPlOAd eVeRy MoN, WeD, FrI" haha
So much love.
AttackOnFeels out.