Pieces [Wattpad's Editor's Choice]

14: tAsTe-bUdDiEs

We ended up skipping anatomy since the first half went down the toilet (ha-ha). Plus, Isaac was with us. Why bother attending anatomy when you had a pro in your trio? We just had to be back in time for Stats.

Isaac needed to finish telling me about his ex and I needed to finish telling him about what happened while me and him were separated, so eating sushi at a restaurant not far from campus provided that opportunity for us. Isaac drove. Arrow spent a good half hour before ordering asking the workers about the history of sushi and all the different types he could try. I took pictures because God, was my boyfriend beautiful: gray eyes dilating with curiosity, his neck arching as he took in the menu on the wall, his muscles taught beneath his white t-shirt I had Luna buy for him this morning, his brown hair wild and tangled like a tumbleweed-a beautiful disaster.

We ended up ordering the whole menu. No exaggeration there. Isaac offered to pay half, but I waved him away because it just looked cooler to be able to say "no worries, I got this" and whip out a fat stack of cash from nowhere like in the movies. (Disclaimer: there was no fat stack of cash; there wasn't even a card full of double-digits; my credit card took the brunt of the impact along with fifty-two cents I found at the bottom of my backpack.)

Luckily, I had a couple hundred in savings from when I worked at 1) a pizza place freshman year and 2) a café my second and third year. The café was the best place I worked at, the pizza place by far the worst place I worked at, easily. (I took this semester off to ensure I did well and finished strong.) I'd just pull the money from savings to pay off my credit card later. I probably should've been saving my money, but I was already broke with college fees so digging myself in greater debt couldn't really hurt, right? If I somehow became famous from my scientific accomplishments without directly giving Arrow away, then I'd be a millionaire this time next year. Plus, this was a time of celebration. I FOUND THE KEY TO LIFE. I FOUND LOVE. Why not pretend I was rich for a day?

"So...Arrow," Isaac said as he leaned across the table and dipped some sushi in wasabi, "what inspired you to choose that for a name?"

"I didn't." Arrow steadily eyed his sushi between two perfectly handled chopsticks, balancing it as if he'd only ever eaten with chopsticks his whole life. I sadly stabbed mine with a fork. "Frannie did. It's pretty creative, huh?"

Isaac met my eyes. "Why Arrow? Why not...I don't know...Zombie? Or Frankenstein?" He held his arms out to mimic a zombie and stuck his tongue out, making growling/groaning noises. "Or...Mr. Cupid? I liked that one."

"Zombie is too basic and overused. Unfortunately, the author of The Fifth Wave got to it first. And I didn't read Frankenstein, but even I know that that's the name of the scientist, not the monster. The monster is referred to as demon, creature, wretch, devil, ogre. That would be an utter insult." I patted Arrow's shoulder. He smiled shyly at me.

Isaac looked between us, his expression somewhere between confusion and disgust.

"Mr. Cupid is just...eh. Sounds like someone who would wear neon-striped ties and settle disputes between married couples as a job, only to return to his own lonesome home at the end of each depressing day where he harbors a ton of rats in the basement and cyberstalks his ex-lovers on an outdated dinosaur called a computer." I popped another piece of sushi in my mouth.

"I feel like you're indirectly describing your own life and masking it behind metaphors," Isaac commented.

My mouth fell open. "You know what? I didn't invite you to sit with us. How does it feel third-wheeling, Isaac Marks?"

"Feels great, actually. I don't have to pretend I'm interested in the conversation. I'm drama- and stress-free. I didn't even have to pay. Life's good."