Of Shields & Trees [BxB]

10 | Ace of Spades

"Rado, it's your turn!" The boy on my right nudged me with his elbow.

"Oh! Right!" I scanned the cards in front of me and played an eight. "Spades," I announced the change of suit and tried to collect my thoughts. I've never been so jealous of Alejo. But me and Georgi were closer, right? His parents were as shitty as mine, if not worse. We were both lacking in the emotional department, needing time to open up to people. Both of us were rather persistent in our will to survive. And... I knew close to nothing else about him.

"What's your favourite food?" I asked the first thing that came to mind, gazing at Georgi's breath-taking profile.

"That's easy! Daniel's cheesecake!" Stoyan answered. Well, he was sitting right next to Georgi so I might as well have been looking at him.

"Nah, his French fries are better!" Purple Sweatshirt Boy said, shoving a few of them in his mouth. Which reminded me that in a few seconds there wouldn't be any left, so I got some as well. Yes, they were tasty, seasoned with black pepper and paprika, but nothing compared to my BLT sandwich. Fuck, I missed bacon! I always buttered the bread before spreading mayo over it, and added extra strips of bacon. I had to microwave it though, since we didn't have an oven, and it never got as crispy as one of those yummy photos on the internet. One day I will cook my bacon in a real oven and it will be just perfect!

Note to self: When I finally start living on my own, get an oven! Here's something else to add to my Coming-of-age Plan!

"Rado!" The boy on my right nudged me again.

"Oh, sorry." I was just about to play a three of spades when the cafeteria doors opened and a fully awake Mr. Ignatov scanned the area with his middle-aged vision.

"Again?! How many times should I tell you boys not to raid the kitchen?!" He spoke, half-mad, half-totally-done-with-this-shit. "In your beds, NOW!" He tried chewing our heads off as if we were little kids. Did he forget he was talking to a bunch of teenagers with no parental supervision?

"But my cheesecake is still in the oven!" Daniel whined, a few steps away from our table with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in hand.

"Cheesecake?" Mr. Ignatov's soulless brown eyes brightened with what I can only describe as gluttony. He had a beer belly for a reason. "I can be bribed with cheesecake!"

Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm not giving you all of it again!"

"Half!"

"Deal," Daniel agreed way too easily. "But it's not ready yet," he sighed. "Take a seat!"

And the night guard did take a seat, merely a table away from us, with a creepy content smile on his clean-shaven face.

Daniel sighed again and walked towards us, shaking his annoyingly perfect locks of greasy black hair. No, it wasn't greasy. It was smooth and shiny, damn him! My dark brown mess of a nest couldn't even compare.

He placed the orange juice in front of Georgi and it even had a slice of orange on the edge of the glass and a fucking cherry floating around! Ugh!

"Here you go!" Daniel singsonged, all rainbows and sunshine.

"Thanks." Georgi half-smiled, half-smirked at him.

"Do not worry! We made two cheesecakes so there will be enough for everyone!"

"Good to know," Georgi answered.

"Yeah, at least he didn't kick us out and ate all of it by himself," the boy on my right grumbled.

"The guy is getting soft," Georgi noted before taking a sip of his juice.

I wasn't jealous. Not at all. About the juice, I mean. Not the way Daniel was eyeing Georgi as he drank.

"Perfection!" My friend uttered his approval.

"I'm glad you like it!" Daniel beamed at him and stared for a tad bit too long before swishing around with a happy grin on his annoyingly perfect face. I mean how could a teenage boy not have a single pimple? That's just NOT possible!

I absentmindedly touched the one that was residing on my chin, just to make sure that it was still there. Yep, it was here all right, the pesky little thing!

"Georgi!" I almost whined. "You didn't tell me what your favourite food is!" If I came out as clingy, I didn't care. Ok, I did care. Maybe I should tone it down a bit.

"Hm, I like pumpkins," he replied, taking another sip of his drink. A lonely drop escaped his lips and I felt the urge to lick it off. What the fuck was wrong with me?

The boy on my right nudged me again and I focused my attention on the game, not even bothering to say I'm sorry this time. "We had sweet pumpkin with walnuts at Ms. Buchvarova's house," I said as I placed a card on the pile in front of me.

"You can't do that!" Stoyan was fast to correct me.

"What?" I turned my eyes to him, totally not getting what the fuck he was talking about.

"You have a four of diamonds. You can either play another diamond, a four, or an eight," Stoyan explained.

"Oh," I uttered still looking dumbly at the card in front of me. Yeah, it was an Ace of spades, no doubt about it. Totally not a match however you look at it.

I took it back and drew a five of diamonds. That would do.

"So Ms. Buchvarova's pumpkin was cut into small cubes and slow roasted in sugar syrup, then sprinkled with toasted buttered walnuts." I personally found it a little bit sweeter for my taste but I'm sure Georgi would've loved it. "You would've loved it!"

"Sounds yummy," he said, placing an eight of hearts over my five. "Hearts."

"Ha! Take that!" Stoyan cleared his last card on the deck and raised his hands in the air as if expecting standing ovations.

No one cheered. Literally. No one.

"Good job," Georgi praised him in a neutral tone. It was a game of luck after all. Absolutely no skills required whatsoever. And I'm not saying this simply because I still had zero points.

Purple Sweatshirt Boy started calculating the score and Georgi took the chance to rise from his seat. "Now that I no longer have to tip-toe around Ignatov, I'm going to visit the toilet."

"TMI," Luke commented.

"I'll come with!" I bounced to my feet as well, like one of those clowns that jump out of a toy box.

We walked together towards the bathroom, me slightly trailing behind.

"Georgi, do you have like a facebook, or twitter, or... you know... To keep in touch."

"Nah," he answered, barely glancing in my direction. "But you could always write me a letter! Maxim's mother used to send him letters until... well, she stopped. But he was immensely happy every time he received one." Pause. "I've always wanted someone to write me a letter." He uttered the last sentence with barely concealed hope seeping through his defences. But I saw it. It was there. He liked me too. He wanted us to keep being friends even after I leave the social home.

"Ok, I'll write!" I beamed at him, feeling like a high-school girl with a crush. And I was so not a girl. Or had a crush on my best friend. I think.

We used the urinals and I had to actually refrain myself from sneaking a peak. I was never interested what anyone was packing before... But Georgi wasn't just anyone.

Ok, maybe I did have a tiny little crush. But I was sure it would pass. It had to! I so did not want to ruin our friendship before it has even started.

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A/N: Someone was hungry while writing this chapter and it shows 🤤

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