The Spare

WANTED

I don't know how you do what you do.

Cause everything that don't make sense about me

Make sense when I'm with you.

Like everything that's green

I need you.

I put aside the math and the logic of it.

Because, I wanna make you feel wanted.

-Wanted, Hunter Hayes

Affection. I have longed it for so long. It's a nice feeling. His touch. It feels like I'm the most important person in his world. I've never felt so wanted. I used to feel sorry for my self. I used to think that I was so weak, because I have never known love, or friendship. I see my family every single day, smiling. Happy. Contented. But, I was always not a apart of that picture. I was always just the spare.

I looked up at the menu board in front. I start to shake. I wrap my arms around me. I shake even more. Cold. It's not the good kind of cold. It's the cold the frightens the shit out of you. Wet. Licking you from the inside. Luke drops an arm around my shoulder. The cold goes away. The shiver stops. I look at him. He's smiling. I mirror him. But if felt more like a grimace than a smile. His smile widens. "What's your food fetish?" He asks. I take the time to process his question in my brain. He sees the crease in between my brows. "Mine is filling my cheese burger with gravy and fries and dipping it in chocolate sundae." The appropriate grimace shows in my face. "It's actually pretty good." He says in defense.

It was our turn to order. The cashier greets us with a good morning. Luke places his orders while I wait on the side. He hands the cashier a card and she swipes it through the machine. Luke takes his card back and the cashier tells us to wait on the side while an attendant assembles Luke's order. Luke carries the tray of food toward a small booth by the glass wall. I slide into the couch opposite side him and he does the same after placing the tray on the table. I look at the tray of food and find he ordered two of each: cheese burger, large fries, chocolate sundae, and large coke. I plaster my eyes at Luke. "Can you finish all of that?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "Nope. You're going to help me." He hands me one of the burgers and begins placing food in front of us both. He tears open his own burger and places the top bun on the wrapper upside down. He starts to place half of the large fries on the other half with the meat. Happy with his work, he pours gravy over it before placing back the top bun. He looks at me and grins. Dipping his fry filled burger on the chocolate sundae, he then takes a huge bite out of it. "That's utterly disgusting." He chews. It takes him a while before he finally swallows. "Come on. Don't be such a princess." I flinch. "This is how one should enjoy a Jollimeal." I begin to relax. "Messy?" I ask him with a matching grin. He raises both eyebrows. "Delectably well matched." That's what he calls mushing his food together. Match making. I realize I've been staring at him far too long. Blood rushes to my head and I start to look away. I peel off the wrapper on my own burger and start to eat.

"How old are you?" I found myself asking him a while later. "I'm 18. You." "I just turned sixteen." I wanted to add "yesterday" but decided it was for the better. "So Tyn, do you have any plans for today?" Actually, I did. I had plans of drinking myself into oblivion but my schedule just cleared up. "No." He takes out his phone and fidgets with it. I stare at him and took a bite from my burger. A click. A shutter sound from his phone. He took a photo of me while taking an ungracious bite on my burger. "Well. You're sneakier than Swiper the Fox." I joke. "That's a pretty good metaphor." "Thanks?" I answer or rather asked. "I'm not good with metaphors, but that's okay." I look at him curiously. "Why is that?" There is that smile again. "I have nothing to compare you with anyways." I tear my eyes away from him before flushing the color of my early morning Manhattan.

"You don't take compliments well, do you?" I sip my drink. "I don't really receive so many compliments." He takes a drink too. "Well, Tyn. You better start getting used to it. Because looking at you now. I have so many good things to say already. I can probably educe a lot more as the day goes by." I raise a perfectly arched eyebrow. "You haven't even asked me if I wanted to spend the day with you." He gave me one of those sideway grins. "Would you like to spend this entire useless day with me?" I shrug. "Might as well, I guess. I've got nothing to do anyway."

He started to dig in his food a little faster. "We better hurry if we're to make the most of today." He tells me in between scoops of his sundae. I suppress a building laugh inside and ate my food with the same fervor and speed. When the last coke has been sipped and the last fry eaten, Luke stood. He went out of his side of the booth and offered a hand to me. "Let me show you how to forget. The Luke way." I close my eyes, take his hand and when I look at his eyes I answer. "Okay."