It Wasn't That Way

Chapter 16

Intellectually, Cake knew he was sulking.

Emotionally, he didn't give a fuck.

It was hard not to be in a funk when he hadn't seen Eiw since he stormed out of the auditorium.

Cake didn't wait for him while he rehearsed with the theater club anymore, and Eiw hadn't asked him back. Eiw stopped spending the night and Cake didn't ask him over. They didn't go to class together in the morning, and they didn't leave together at the end of the day.

It had been a full two weeks since Cake had seen Eiw, and he was going insane.

Day after day, he sat cloistered in his apartment, restraining himself from storming onto Eiw's doorstep and demanding answers as to why they hadn't made up yet.

It was...

Several days of loneliness.

Several nights of fitful sleep.

Hours and hours of parched, burning eyes, reluctant to blink lest they miss the chance to quench themselves with the sight of Eiw.

After suffering for a full week without seeing his best friend, Cake couldn't help but to orchestrate a brief run-in with him.

He got to school a couple of minutes earlier than usual one day and walked the long way around to the Mass Comm building. The long way that took him by the Accounting building.

Eiw and his classmates would be walking onto the path that connected the two faculties in 3...2...1.

And there he was.

Eiw was radiant in the late morning sunshine. He had on a smile so bright that it convinced Cake that he was alone in his longing.

Cake stared so hard that he caught Eiw's eye. He hadn't meant to; it was like his eyes had a mind of their own, and they were drinking their fill.

Eiw looked at him with confusion, and Cake shot him a smile, big enough to scrunch his eyes.

It felt forced, but he wasn't about to just scowl and walk away.

Even if he felt cut to the quick that Eiw didn't want him around as much, he would never treat Eiw with anything other than kindness.

They stopped for a quick hello and goodbye and went their separate ways. Cake had timed this so that they wouldn't be able to linger.

Seeing Eiw even for a moment was supposed to soothe the ache in Cake's heart, but it just made everything so much worse.

Distantly, he knew the way he was acting wasn't fair to Eiw.

But about Cake?

What about his own hurt feelings? What about the way he felt cast to the side in favor of someone else?

Cast aside and so unimportant that Eiw didn't even try to take time out of his day to see him.

Unsuccessfully, Cake tried to contain his feelings and push them down. He tried to soothe himself with the image of Eiw walking past him, but it was crumbs after starvation.

Glumly, Cake ordered himself to be satisfied. He didn't know if he would be getting anything more than glimpses of Eiw in the future anyway, since he didn't want him around like before.

He may as well get used to the way things were going to be from now on.

Eventually, Eiw called Cake the way he promised he would, and Cake's heart thudded when he saw his name on the caller ID late one afternoon.

He wasn't sure what to expect from their phone call, but he hadn't expected their conversation to be quite so short and stilted.

They talked about inane things like the weather and how school was going, and Cake kept waiting for Eiw to say something about what happened. He kept waiting for Eiw to try and make up with him. That's what the Eiw from before would've done.