Chapter 20
"What's your favorite color?" Gardenia asked me as we sat on the love seat in my living room. We were both eating leftovers from last night's dinner, and my mum was currently at work.
"Don't really have one, to be fair. I like blue, and red, and orange is cool, I guess. What about you?"
"Purple," she answered, taking a bite of the microwaved food.
"Really? I never would have guessed that," I responded truthfully, assuming she'd pick black or something of the like.
"It's not a color I like to wear, or whatever. But it's pretty to look at. Also, I really like some shades of blue. Like how how the sky looks on a sunny day, when it's cloudless."
"Unlike today," I stated, glancing out the window to see grey clouds. It was rainy and gloomy today, reminding me of what the weather was like back home.
"I kind of like days like today. It makes you appreciate the good days, you know? Plus, it's kind of an excuse to stay in and be lazy."
"Who says you need an excuse to stay in and be lazy?"
"I don't know. Nobody, I guess. It just feels more socially acceptable on days like these."
She set her empty bowl on the floor in front of the couch, and brought her legs up in a criss cross position, facing me.
"You eat so slow," she stated, and I nodded, because I was always the last to finish my dinner. I wasn't sure why it took me so long to eat, it just always has and probably always will.
"Maybe you just eat fast, you pig," I answered, taking another bite. She smiled, even though I had just called her a pig. Jokingly, of course, but still.
"When's your birthday?" She asked, changing the subject.
"It was the first of February," I answered with my mouth full.
"And you're 21?" She asked, and I nodded, taking another bite. I was trying to eat faster, so we could go do something. I wasn't really sure what, at this point, but I figured the sooner I ate, the faster I'd find out.
"I didn't know you on your 21st birthday. What'd you do?" She asked me, and I shrugged.
"Had dinner with my mum, and then went out with some of my old mates. Nothing that great, really," I responded.
"Tell me about your friends," she requested, and so I did.
"There were only a few, and I didn't really like any of them. I just tolerated them. But uh, there was Olly, who was a right git. He was the worst of them, and I would have never hung out with him if it weren't for the others wanting to. He was funny, sure, but a proper dickhead. Tom was alright, but he was massive into drugs. He got hooked when he was young, and wasn't able to quit. Addicting, and all that. He never tried to make any of us try them, but he was always high out of his mind. And then William was probably the most normal, apart from smoking pot. He was always nice and avoided trouble, unlike the other two. He's the one who introduced me to Tom and Olly, and I only really stuck around for him."
She nodded, absorbing all of the information. "What about girls? You didn't have any female friends?"
I shook my head, "Not really. I did in school, but none that I kept in touch with afterwards. My mum's friend has a daughter, so I guess you could count her. We hung out more when we were little, and I would see her on occasions when she'd come over with her mum. But it's not like we're actively friends, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah. What about, what about girlfriends?" She bit her lip after she asked the question, clearly nervous. It was cute.
"Well, I had flings here and there, growing up, but nothing serious, until I was sixteen. I was in love with her, or I thought I was, at least. But looking back on it, I don't think I was. I think I was just infatuated with the idea of it. With the idea of her. She was older, and mature, and had more experience than me, which I thought was cool at the time. Now I realize how weird and wrong it was. She was 29 and I was 16, so a thirteen year difference. I didn't think much of it, but again, I realize now that she was taking advantage of me. She was cheating on her husband with me, which I didn't know about. And I thought she loved me, but she never did. She only talked to me when her husband was on business trips, but she told me it was because she didn't want to get in trouble with the law. She told me all these stories about how as soon as I turned eighteen we could get married, and be together and be happy. It was all just bullshit to string me along. Anyways, her husband found out one day and instead of blaming her, he blamed me. She cut me off, just like that. Told me to stop contacting her and that I never meant anything to her, and as far as I know, she's happily with her husband again. It hurt at first. I was naive and I thought I was in love, and so I was devastated. But now I'm glad for it."
