How we meet

Chapter 5

You disappeared into the woods once more. The canopy of leaves, something that made you feel at home. Winter was still a long way out but you had hopes of staying just outside the city. You wanted to look around, hopefully, some old abandoned building could serve as your temporary home or permanent if it was manageable.
So you wandered around through the dense foliage. Pushing branches out of your way, stepping over roots and plants. It was bright out when you wandered into the trees. A dazzling blue sky that you thought could have been a painting.
The blue had come to mix with the reds of sunset. A deep wisteria color had started to take over the sky. The change had made the green leaves look more yellow. It makes you tired just to think about the walk back into the city. So you decide to continue walking. Through the vines. Across the grass. In between the trees. You find a small humble clearing, and choose to rest there.
You and Venipede fall asleep together under the violet sky. You don't mind the cool night air. So you sleep together in a small sleeping bag. It's a pleasant sleep, one filled with sweet dreams. Not that you remember them.
When the morning sun wakes you with its warm rays; you find yourself drooling at the smell of freshly cooked food. You don't notice it at first, too tired to even register that it wasn't a dream. You weakly grab for Venipede spooked awake when you don't feel him resting beside you.
You see a man sitting next to a small fire, neatly and safely set up. He waves at you when you awake, apologizing to you.
"Sorry, I stumbled upon you a bit ago." he had long hair, tied into a low ponytail, "The Venipede was gathering food so I thought I'd make something for the both of you." He gestured to your companion, who was sitting on a stump next to you.
"Do you like pancakes?" the man asked.
You didn't recognize each other. Neither of you knew that you had met twice before. Call it stupidity, or coincidence. One thing is for sure, both of you didn't know how to talk.
You both just sat there, quite watching each other through the corner of your eye when you thought the other wasn't looking. The silence was loud, it was deafening. Awkward glances seemed to echo between the two of you. Green hair, grey eyes. You tried to think of things to say but you were just too scared of him. You took in every detail: his hat was white and black, a baseball cap, green athletic shoes, tan pants, and a simple white shirt. Did he even have a bag?
You had no way of knowing how to even talk to him. You've never talked to anyone. The fear of failure. The fear of being weird. It was debilitating. So you sat there awkward and in silence.
    You focused more on the food than you did him. You poked and prodded the pancakes. It looked good, it looked appetizing. You wanted to eat it you really did but you didn't know how to eat around other people. God it sounded stupid. It sounded pathetic.
    You took a bite only after the man turned away. Something about eating while people watched just felt wrong. Perhaps it was the years of not being around people you knew but it was nice. You both ate in silence. Venipede kept you calm and grounded.