I'd like to dedicate this chapter to a very good friend of mine, Phae. She helped me with most of the planning of this chapter, and for that, thank you Phae. :) You're hella rad. (this chapter contains talk about self harm scars fyi)
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I couldn't concentrate on the game Michael and I were in the middle of playing, all I could think about was how he apparently 'had me all figured out.'
"Ally!" He shouted, "There's a red behind you, look out!"
"Oh." was all I could say before swinging my character around and shooting the red opponent in the face.
What did that even mean? he'd met me today, how could he know a single proper thing about me? I sunk into the couch and felt the warm fabric touch my skin in a comforting way.
I quickly paused the game and ignored his whines, "What did you mean when you said you had me all figured out?" I asked.
His expression dropped slightly, "Did you pause the game just to ask me that?"
I fiddled with the controller nervously, "Um, yeah."
He opened his mouth to speak, but there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it." I mumbled, and stood up.
"Use my pizza card it expires soon!" He yelled.
"Okay!" I replied over my shoulder, and picked up our wallets from a counter top in the lounge.
I pulled back the front door and was faced with a man, a few years older than me holding two pizza boxes and a bag with a bottle of mountain dew. He had ginger hair and acne covering his face and wore a red pizza hut uniform.
I gave him a weak smile as he handed the light boxes to me. As soon as the boxes were in my arms the smell of the freshly made food lingered in the air. I could smell the bacon and barbecue sauce, which left me feeling hungrier than before.
"That's $14.20 thank you."
"Oh." I said, "My friend's got a membership card and he's due a free pizza, is it alright if I use that to pay for one of them?"
He nodded and pulled out a mini notebook from his pocket and scribbled down a few things.
I looked around outside awkwardly whilst he made notes, and noticed how fast the sun was setting in this part of Australia. It was no later than 6pm and the sky was already a wonderful shade of dark blue. There was an unusual chill in the air, and there was dew covering the grass, which was a rare occasion for this time of year.
I looked back at the delivery guy just as he threw his notebook and pen back in his pocket.
"So the total is now $7. I'll also need to take the membership card for disposal purposes."
I gave him an understanding nod and balanced the food in one arm whilst pulling out Michael's wallet with my free hand. I accidentally dropped it on the ground and a few things spilled out at the guys feet.
He bent down and picked up Michael's credit card, ID and his condom, which was awfully embarrassing.
He picked up Michael's ID card and scanned it for a few seconds before giving me a strange look.
"This guy looks familiar."
"He lives in the area, you've probably delivered to him a few times."
He shook his head slowly, "No, i'd remember. This is different, I've seen him in the paper or something but I can't remember what for."
I shrugged, and heard light footsteps behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Michael approaching fast.
