Pessimist

3 - Apartment

"Are we going to our usual hang out tree?"

I had followed Dean out the door, trailing behind him like a lost puppy as he slowed down his steps for me to keep up. We had just finished our tutorial which was coincidently, the last class of the day for the both of us and so I decided to ask Dean for help because I was confused on the material we were just taught.

Originally, I thought we were going to sit by our usual tree but I guess Dean has other plans.

"Dean..." I called out, huffing out a breath of annoyance for his long strides.

For someone who didn't talk much, he sure loved clothes. His outfits were perfectly cordial and went with any day or season. Like before, his hands were once again decked out with silver rings and he supported black high top converse. I guess it was his way of expressing himself.

"You said you moved here alone, right?" Dean spoke up, we were now walking side by side to God knows where.

"Yeah, why?" I turned to look up at him startled once he was already staring down at me, articulated and controlled like he was piecing something together already. There wasn't much to figure out, to be quite honest. He was overanalyzing everything.

"And you said you needed a fresh start, is that correct?" The deep sound of his voice made me zero in on his neck, black peeking out from under his shirt.

"Is that a tattoo?"

He sighed. "Answer the question, troublemaker."

"Troublemaker?" I raised my eyebrows and he shot me a look making me groan, admitting defeat. He was no fun, seriously. "Okay, fine. Will you promise to answer mine?"

He hesitated for a few seconds before complying, nodding his head. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets, we walked along the sidewalk leading out of the busy city and into a quiet neighborhood. People rushed around us like a frenzy, but at this moment it was only us.

"Yeah, I came here for a fresh start. I thought it was the perfect idea, you know? Last year of university, getting my own place, collecting a degree that wasn't confined due to the limited jobs in the area."

"What's wrong with where you lived before?"

The real question was, what wasn't wrong?

"It was a small town. Not many mainstream things were there so not many choices of careers to choose from. I was stuck between a grocery store manager and a diner. Also, it was...nevermind." I trailed off.

From the corner of my eye I could feel Dean's curiosity grow. I remained my focus on the people around us, the amount growing less and less the more we walked away from the general city area.

"It was...?" He pushed.

"Suffocating." I admitted. "Everyone knew everyone, and if you did something minor it was considered juvenile and the whole town would be informed in a few hours. It felt like I was constantly walking around eggshells. And, people believed that because they knew or grew up with each other, that they couldn't have possibly done horrible things."

"What kind of horrible things?"

I forced a laugh, "Oh you know, the usual arguments, petty theft, vandalism. It's whatever, I'm just glad I'm out."

"Why didn't your parents move with you here?" The way he said it was more of a statement than a question, like he already knew the answer but just wanted me to confirm. "Or parent, I mean."

"Enough about me," I waved off. "You're asking questions like we're gonna fuck later. Did you always live here?"

"I guess you could say that." Dean dismissed my previous response. "I moved here when I was ten, lived with my parents all of high school and the first two years of college before I moved out."