Strawberry Blonde

十一

" Okay just because you won in that Terminator game doesn't mean you get bragging rights now !" I said stuffing a curly fry into my mouth.

" Yes it does ! We had a deal whoever wins the last game takes all or nothing." He smiled putting down his pink shake.

" I demand a rematch it was rigged ! You've been coming here for the past few years."

" So what ? You beat me in almost half the games in here."

" Good point." I said sipping my shake.

" It's your turn to ask the question." He said handing me back my phone.

After we finished playing games and cashing our tickets together to get a magic eight ball, we sat in the food area and shared curly fries while asking each other quiz questions on my phone.

" Okay, so if you had a choice to end world hunger or know the secrets of the universe which would you choose ?" I asked sipping my shake.

" Easy, secrets of the universe and then use it to end world hunger it's a two in one deal." He said stuffing a fry in his mouth.

I slid the phone to him as he scrolled and stopped on a random question.
" Ooo this ones good, what do you think would be the biggest hinderance about yourself that would stop you from achieving ?"

" Achieving what?" I asked.

" I don't know, just says achieving." He said tossing another fry in his mouth.

" Probably being a Black male, I feel like I'll always have a stereotype follow me wherever I go." I said taking my phone back and scrolling.

" You're Black ?" He asked surprised.

" What did you think I was !?"

" Zesty White."

I deadpanned as he started laughing.

" I joke ! I joke ! Duh man of course I knew. Well I did think you were mixed at first."

" Yeah people assume that a lot but that's a story for never." I said scrolling.
" Speaking of assumptions the question is, What is one assumption about you that everyone has and that's totally wrong."

His face changed from joy to a sullen look.

" It's not really an assumption about me, it's more about my brother."

It completely left my mind that there was a rumor going around that his bro is a bloodthirsty murderer.

" It's just that, yes he has a criminal past but it's nothing major and it was actually pretty justified for what should of been done. How simple spray paint vandalism got twisted into murder is beyond me." He said sipping his drink aggressively.

" What happened ?" I asked leaning forward in my side of the booth.

" It was when we first moved here. He was starting a new job and accidentally banged into somebody's mother's car and she flipped out. Flipped out so much so that she found his criminal record online and then edited it to make it look like he was some homicidal maniac.
And of course everyone in that town being connected and a bunch of crooks, the police didn't do anything about it and let him suffer from a whole town believing he was some psycho."

I felt enraged and also sad that someone would do such a thing and that someone would have to endure that for years.

" He use to stay in the house for months on end and was extremely depressed. The town eventually 'stopped caring' and when the rumors died down he was finally able to leave. But as they say, once somethings out there it stays out there so till this day he's still getting slack on something that never happened."

I wanted to hold his hand and tell him everything was fine but I had to hide my urge and just empathize with his story.

" People really are just so hateful sometimes Laurence. I'm sorry your brother had to go through something like that." I said twirling my straw.

" Yeah..." he sighed letting out his frustration.
" It's getting kinda late maybe we should be getting home ?"

I nodded my head finishing the remnants of my drink.
" Yeah sure, it's been a long day. Thanks for trusting me enough to bring me here."

" Mi casa es su casa." He said while sliding out the booth.

We both walked to the front of the arcade where rain poured violently into the street.

" Okay so walking is out of the question, should I call my brother ?"