Friendzoned

Thirty-Seven: I stare dumbfounded

I stare dumbfounded

***Madison***

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to beat the boss, and my team mates are such idiots. They don't know how to take care of themselves. Ugh!" I ranted to Joseph.

As we were having our coffees and lattes, we somehow stumbled upon the subject of video games.

Joseph doesn't play them, but he is a fan of them.

Joseph gives me a small and hearty laugh in response to my rambling.

"I never thought I'd actually hear someone complain about a team mate that's in the game. Like, usually gamers complain about their team mates that aren't playing well in real life. But you're complaining about an in game team mate. That's hilarious!"

"Yeah well, you lived to hear someone actually complain about that. Congratulations." I drawled sarcastically.

He laughed once more, hitting his leg with his hand again and again. Kind of like when someone laughs too hard, their insides start to hurt and they just hit whatever with their hand.

I always wondered why people do that when they laugh too hard.

I guess I'll never know. It will always be a mystery.

"Okay, moving on from the topic of video games for now. What's your favourite tv show? Or...do you even watch television?" Joseph asked with a chuckle.

"Hey! I don't mindlessly play video games all day long. I eat and watch television thank you very much." I folded my arms and pouted.

"Okay okay! That's good. I never said it was bad if you really didn't watch tv at all."

"You can be so...so...cryptic sometimes." I mumbled. "Anyway, I don't really have a favourite tv show, I like them all. They all mainly have something to do with mystery and drama though."

"Awesome! The same goes for me actually. I like them all too." Joseph smiled warmly.

This went on and on for ages, we both lost track of time. Soon, the setting sun came upon us and it was time for us to go home.

After our little chat and get together, I feel like I really know who Joseph is. What he likes, his favourite colour, all that stuff.

Joseph paid for both our fees and we walked out of the cafe together.

Since my house was close by, he volunteered to walk me home. "It's getting late, you shouldn't walk back home all alone. I'm coming with you."

"Oh my, how gentleman like of you. It would be cruel of me if I didn't accept this offer." I stated dramatically.

As we walked, our footsteps were aligned and the satisfying crunching sounds of our feet against twigs rang clear in our ears.

"Hey Madison." Joseph spoke suddenly.

"What's up genius?"

"About...the video thing. What are we going to do about it?" He sighed, the once comfortable atmosphere was replaced with an awkward one.

"I guess, we should try to put it down first of all. Report it maybe. And after that, find out who did it." I replied, thinking hard on what was the best way to solve this complication.

"Is that all we're gonna do? What about the people who will...stare and judge us?" Joseph asked, his breath hitching slightly.

I looked at Joseph, his expression worried.

As Joseph stares at me expectingly, I realise that all this time, I've just been worried and concerned about how I felt. I never really considered how Joseph was feeling.