Oliver is a dancer. He's been dancing all his life, and striving towards becoming a professional has always been his focus.
Complications with his transition, skeletons from the past in form of people he knew back from his internet days, and people...
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"You're trying to start dating again?" George asked, and I nodded. fiddling with my phone. I had just set up a dating profile, and I was tweaking my bio. I haven't dated in a while — since high school, and since my paranoia has crippled me into being antisocial online dating seemed like the only way I could really get back into it.
"Is it odd?"
"Odd that what?" George asked, picking at his pasta with his fork. I shrugged, smiling a bit as I looked around us. We were having our break from work, and I had gone out to grab something to eat with George in the mall's cafeteria.
"Odd that I think I might get a good relationship out of a dating website?" I asked, and George paused turning his fork in his food before looking out into the open space thoughtfully.
"I mean, people do start dating from dating websites, so that's possible I guess. I think I'm just surprised because you've mentioned liking someone back in school before," George said, turning to stare straight at me. "Plus, Tinder's more of a hookup site. If you're looking for a relationship maybe try plenty of fish."
"Hookups don't sound that bad," I muttered, looking up from my phone to find George's face bright red. I laughed, watching as he covered his face. "Did I say something wrong? Come on, you're not two," I laughed at him, and he let go of his face before rolling his eyes.
"Also, the person I like doesn't like me back, so that's that I guess," I let out when my laughter died down. For a while, I almost hoped George didn't hear me, but I knew he did. It was awkward because I knew he was going to apologize or say something cheesy about Advik missing a chance with me.
"Well..." George trailed, making me look up at him. "I'm sure he's not that great anyway," he said, and I smiled. It kind of hurt to smile, but I had to. I still liked Advik, but he was dating someone now, and Grace was probably feeding him lies about me, so he'd think I was grosser than I had come off when I had tried to kiss him that evening.
"Thanks," I muttered, and George shrugged before muttering a small 'no problem' under his breath.
We ate in silence, but I soon found myself overthinking things. I started worrying about what Grace might have told Advik even though I'd tried to trick myself into believing that I didn't care anymore.
I still cared. I cared a whole lot, and it made me both sad and angry with myself.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" I blinked, looking up to find George giving me an amused look.
"S-sorry," I stuttered, sitting up on the cafeteria chair.
George shrugged, resting his head on his hand as he kept staring at me with a small smile. "It's alright, it looks like you have a lot on your mind," he said. I nodded, fidgeting with my fingers. I hadn't touched my plate of chips since I got here. They were probably cold now, and our break was about to end.