Hopeless Romantic

9. Rituals

"Aw shoot! I forgot my lunch today!"
Oscar always had a sandwich or two in his backpack for lunch and his mother made sure he always had one whenever he left for school, which made this situation quite shocking for all of us.
By all of us I mean the group of friends that had formed over the months and sat together to have lunch.
"Don't worry man, we'll buy you lunch today", Nash said as he closed up his locker.
"Yeah man, we got you", added Yade.
They didn't buy him lunch.
They had forgotten about it and gone for their baseball practice session instead.
As all hope was diminishing and Oscar could feel himself ascend to death, Rio stepped in.
"Hey you ready?"
"For what", replied Oscar.
"We were going to buy you lunch?", said Rio
"Wait really? It's been half an hour I thought you guys forgot."
"Naw, I'm hungry too now, so might as well" Rio said this with a grin.
This was one of those moments you see on television, where a young hero is saved by another older hero, and to whom he starts looking up to with admiration and respect.
They headed to a grocery store near Rio's house, it was a snack lounge as well as the conventional everyday buy store.
Oscar looked around the store while Rio fetched their food. There were all kinds of things in the store. An aisle for Washing products for clothes and a separate aisle for washing humans. After walking roaming around for almost 5 minutes, he found the aisle he was looking for, the chocolate section. He then saw facing him a selection of dozens of chocolates of all the popular brands. Carefully examining every rack, he found the one. He then proceeded to look in his wallet if he had enough to pay for it, 95 cents. He found a one-dollar coin that he kept for emergencies hidden inside and decided to buy the bar of chocolate. When he returned back, he saw Rio waiting for him at the table.
"Where did you go, I was starting to think you got lost in there"
"I was looking for this", he pulled out the chocolate revealing it to her.
"Woah, I love this one! wait a minute, how did you pay for this?"
"I had just enough to get it hehe"
"So, you had money to feed yourself"
"Not really but yeah, I guess'
"Whatever just sit and eat now"
Rio had gotten both of them a small sized pizza. It clearly wasn't enough for the both of them. "Hot! Why did I get these toppings, they're too spicy"
"See that's why I got this" Oscar pointed at the chocolate.
"As if you knew this was going to happen"
"I didn't, but it's nice it ended up being needed"
A hungry Oscar gobbled up three slices within minutes, not leaving a single crumb.
"I guess you were really hungry"
"Yea the last time I had food was lunch yesterday"
"Why didn't you say so before, I would've gotten more"
"Its fine, this is more than enough"
"Okay"
He looked out of the window; the sun had started to set beyond the hills they were surrounded by.
A ray of orange light gradually melted on the table they were seated on. He glanced at her, and saw her brown hair and complexion were perfectly blending to create the most spectacular shade of beauty he would've ever seen.
Her eyes were a lustrous dark brown, it reminded him of the coffee he loved to have every day, the one he needed every morning, evening and before he went to bed. She was like coffee, somewhat bitter, somewhat sweet, but combining those with her attributes, she was the perfect blend.
"I maybe the luckiest guy alive right now"
"What?"
"Nothing" Oscar realized he had actually spoken out what he intended to keep in his thoughts.
"I meant this Pizza is delicious, I'm glad we had it" Oscar tried to cover it up.
"It's not really the best pizza I've had but it does the job"
"Where did you have the best pizza in town"
"I'd say Hobbes pizza would be the best I've had"
"Let's go there"
"What now?"
"Not now obviously, sometime later"
"Yea later definitely, because I'm broke right now"
"Aw you bought me this even though you are- "
"Shut up and eat I was hungry as well"
"Okay sure" Oscar smiled
They started their walk back home after they were done. He pulled out the chocolate bar, tore it open, broke a piece and offered it to her. "Thank you for feeding me"
"No problem, just don't forget to carry your lunch next time"
"Aye sir" he saluted
It was a silent walk, they both put on their ipods and listened to their own music. Her home arrived first. "Well, this is me"
"Yeah, I'll take a bus from here"
"Cool"
"Bye then, see you tomorrow"
She waved at him and walked up her driveway and disappeared into her house.
He then walked for some time until he reached the next bus stop. He didn't have to wait long, hopped in a bus that took him straight home. He was now busy in his thoughts, his mind tuned out the music and started
replaying the entire evening, her orange glazed face came across the replay, he smiled to himself.

"This was fun" Oscar talking to me.
"Yes, it sure looked like it"
"She's my savior"
"Don't idolize people" I snapped back at him "Too late" he smiled.
"It's like-" he continued
"When I'm with her my life takes a break time goes on but wish it didn't
she makes every second of my day
feel like all of it will be worth something,
She doesn't know the effect she has on me, it doesn't sound a big of a deal, but it is
A human caged was freed by her will."

"Damn what was that?" I couldn't make sense of why he suddenly burst out a poem but I understood what he meant.
"I don't really know but I should've written that down somewhere."
"Don't worry I did"
"Where"
"In my head, it's all in here"
"Oh yeah you're a man-computer"
"I just remember the interesting things"
"Works for me"