Say The Word

Chapter 43- Ouch, Not My Hair!

  To say that I was chaotic on the road would be an understatement. It is wild how I even got my driver's license; I am unable to even fathom how I ever got it.

The anxiety only slowly seeped into my skin as I stood in front of the counter, half listening to the cashier promoting some model of a phone. My mind unintentionally wandered off to Zander, wondering if he would throw up if he were on the passenger seat in my car half an hour ago. An urge to visit him stirred in me.

"Sir? What would your choice be?" The cashier stared at me, two different models of phones in hand.

Shrugging, I only briefly replied with whatever she thought was best. As I stood there, she continued to chatter on.

I did not buy anything until an hour later.

▪▫▪▫▪

Seeing the coffee shop ever unchanging décor, it made me smile. No matter what happens outside of it, it never seemed to be affected at all. The atmosphere, the same kind of music, the café's standard smell of coffee; everything seemed to have remained as is.

"Are you going in or are you going to just stand there?" was all I heard before my hair was roughly ruffled in the most affectionate way ever.

"Zander..." I mumbled, trying to get out of his death grip. His stubble more prominent compared to the last time I saw him months ago, though he still wore his hair in a bun secured with what I assumed were chopsticks.

He made a sound that was a mixture of shock and disgust when I said I had driven there. "Man, I hope you got better, kid. Personally, I don't know which soul you traumatized to get you that license, but I would not like to know."

A squeaky laugh escaped me as I was dragged into the café. That visit was a breath of fresh air from everything...until he asked what I was doing back home.

"Well," I looked away, unsure if Zander knew El or about her condition. "My best friend is hospitalized. She collapsed a few days ago, got rushed into the ER."

"Jesus, kid, that's... Is she okay? Are you okay?"

Hopefully she would be. And no...? I did not know what to feel anymore. "She's still unconscious."

He sighed, turning away from me, disappearing into the kitchen and appearing behind the counter. "Well, I can't exactly say nor do much, except for I hope she gets better soon. Glad you are back, you want coffee though? An update about...y'know, Cebro to go with it?"

My head jerked up the moment he said their name. An indescribable feeling swirled inside of me. For months, I had tried my best to not think about them, throwing myself into assignments and research and work, focusing every aspect of my life on whatever that was not Ceb. Yet, sometimes at night, when the world is quiet and I would sit at my desk, in front of my stacks of messy notes and research papers, a window of thought would open up for them. I would try my best to close it, but most times I would fail, lingering on their wellbeing a little longer than I should have.

Of course I missed them. Obviously, there was just something that held me back from not thinking about them completely, who knew if it was because of that weird bond that we had or their face so painfully filled with shame when I last saw them in that bright orange prison clothes. Either way, it's as if their entire being had been seared into me, into my mind, into my soul, into my world.

"Yeah, sure." was all I managed to force out. My legs propped up onto the support of the tall wooden chair, body hunched over onto the table

Usually, the soft wordless background song that played in the café seemed louder, without the chatter of the people. With only a patron tending to his latte, only the hum of the coffee machine entertained the music, accompanying it as it fades into another tune.