FRICTION

Ch. 17: En Route

-Eric-

After getting no reply from Mason despite my spamming, I'd briefly contemplated just heading back home. I figured I'd maybe pick up some pizza from the campus cafeteria and call it a day.

But that was before Wyatt suggested another place a few blocks away: a nearby dive bar that had pretty decent wings. I openly frowned at the suggestion, yet he insisted that they were good enough for him to bring it up in the first place. Wasn't that good enough?

And yeah, that kind of made sense.

Somehow, I found myself trailing down the street after Wyatt, following closely behind as he animatedly reminisced on the brutal way our former professor had refused to curve the final last year. I glanced down at my phone every so often, expecting a reply, but all I got was a low battery warning.

Ah, great.

"I was so ready to curb stomp him," he mentioned while guiding us towards a filthy, ominous alley, cringing at the sudden stench. We paused as he reconsidered. "I usually head down this way, but it isn't nearly as appealing when sober."

I shrugged while glancing around the surprisingly unfamiliar surroundings, nudging him forward. We'd only been walking for a bit, so why the hell couldn't I recognized the streets anymore?

"Have we been walking that long?"

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "You don't venture out very far, huh?"

I scoffed in disagreement. I did, though it was usually by getting a ride from a friend or borrowing Mason's car.

"So, want to go around?" Wyatt asked while pointing at the alley once more.

I glared down the darkening path. It was certainly not the most pleasant of smells, but it beat having to walk around the block. Besides, it was only a matter of time until Mason remembered I existed and started blowing up my phone. So, we should probably hurry up.

"Nah."

"Nah?" Wyatt glanced back at me, grinning mischievously before bursting into a run, hastily signaling for me to follow. "Hurry up! Before you get jumped!"

"H-hey, wait!" My eyes widened as I stumbled into a run down the empty alley, nearly tripping on one of the toppled trash bags in my attempt to keep up. There were quite a few questionable puddles, but they were small enough to avoid. "Dude!"

As for Wyatt, he only slowed down once we reached the other side and escaped into the brightness of the afternoon sun, bursting into laughter as he paced along the sidewalk, waiting impatiently for me to catch up.

I came to an unsteady halt beside him, shooting a weary expression for good measure. "Bro."

"There you are," he teased, patting my back. "You good?"

"I almost fell," I complained while taking a shaky breath, straightening up right before getting dragged to the left by the arm, further away from campus. There were a few people walking around, but nobody paid us any mind.

Wyatt just continued ahead as if this wasn't concerningly convoluted, glancing back at me with a sudden scowl on his face, easily falling back into his rant. "He didn't even reply to my e-mail! To this day, I never got a response!"

I nodded in agreement while trying to even out my breathing, suppressing a snort as he glanced around, momentarily lost before nodding his head in realization and pulling me towards the pedestrian crossing.