Bittersweet | ON HOLD

| chapter four |

Noria smirked. "Bad boy, my ass. This guy likes pop music."

Adam straightened. "What's wrong with pop music? And how do you know?"

"He was vibing to Motive last time we met," Noria rebutted.

Shraddha laughed and elbowed Noria playfully. "As if you don't scream Ariana Grande's music after every breakup."

Noria gave her a glare, before pointing to her math worksheet. "These are all wrong, by the way."

Shraddha smiled sarcastically. "Thanks, Noria! You're so cute when you help," she said, gritting the last two words out. 

Adam watched the whole interaction silently, wondering if Shraddha and Noria dated, although Adam couldn't pinpoint the reason why he even cared. They seemed to complete each other, their conversations flowing easily. Maybe that's just how two people who were good friends talked to each other. God, Adam was so deprived of social interaction. 

"Shut up, Shraddha, this is why you don't have a girlfriend."

Shraddha pretended to be shocked. "Is it because I"m brown?"

Noria squinted his eyes, slapping the table. "You did not just call me the N-word," he shouted, his eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint. 

Adam interrupted their banter with his heart pounding in his chest. "Wait, girlfriend?"

Both of their heads turned on Adam as if just remembering he was sitting across from them. For a moment, they just stared at him, and Adam suspected he had said something wrong, but then Shraddha had burst out laughing. 

"I like boobs, love them even," she nodded solemnly. A strange feeling washed over Adam, almost like relief.  

"Oh, okay," he managed, looking at the table. "I thought, -" he shook his head. "Never mind."

Noria smiled. "You thought we were dating? We get that a lot," he said, and Shraddha frowned.

"Sadly."

Noria turned his attention to Adam, and Adam felt self-conscious, his skin burning up. Adam didn't know this heady feeling he got. He didn't know why it happened.

"Why, Adam, you had a little crush on Shraddha here? Or were you jealous I was taken?" He smiled, leaning forward as if challenging Adam.

"Shut up fuckface. I was just curious," he spat out, hoping the meaner he sounded, the more he could avoid what Noria had just said. Jealous? What would Adam be jealous about?   He pushed away his plate and stood up.  "I'm finished eating. Thanks for coming."

"He just called you a fuckface," Shraddha repeated, her mouth full of french fries.

Noria stood up, nervously laughing, searching Adam's face for a clue. He could feel him searching. Adam knew that was harsh, harsh for a normal conversation. After all, Noria was just joking, but Adam didn't like the way he felt when Noria looked at him when he said those words. He didn't like how when Noria said it, it sounded like a possibility.

"Adam, it was just a joke. I didn't know you were homophobic," Noria muttered, his eyes losing light. 

Adam felt his face burn in embarrassment. "I'm not homophobic," he said under his breath. "I don't care who you like."

Noria raised an eyebrow. "Then?"

Shraddha watched both boys, sipping on her milkshake, bemused with the argument heating up.

Adam scowled. "I don't care who you like, but that doesn't mean you could just call me gay," he said, crossing his arms across his chest. He didn't like this conversation or the way the word gay sounded his in mouth, like a foreign shape on his tongue. Not one bit.

Noria smirked. "I never called you gay though."

"You just asked if I was jealous," Adam pointed out, exasperated. 

Noria shrugged. "It was a question, not an accusation," he scoffed. "Plus, it was a joke. Didn't know you were such a hardass."

Adam felt slightly offended. "I am not a hardass."

Noria tilted his head. "Really? Prove it."

Adam had a bad feeling about where this was about to go. "What do you mean?"

"Come to the carnival with us."

Adam blinked. A carnival. He hadn't been one since his mother had passed away.

"Got you," Shraddha whistled, her lips turning up. Noria leaned on the table and ran a hand through his curly hair, bouncing in Noria's slender finger's wake.  Adam watched, slightly entranced with the way Noria's hair maintained its shape, and how his rings seemed to be made for his fingers.

"So?" Noria asked, his eyes searching Adam's face.

Adam turned this thought over in head. The carnival was a good place to hide for the night. His father wouldn't bother searching through a huge crowd, much less expecting Adam to be at a carnival. Protection. He needed that right now. Even if it meant spending time with a boy he was starting to dislike.

"I'm in."