Untitled; It doesn't need a name to be famous.

Chapter 3 - The Third Wheel

"Yo, baby! Over here!"

"There he is!" Satsuki nearly knocks me back as she points across the street at Calueb. We walk across the street after the light turned red. Well, I should say I walked, she ran. 

"Damn it Retro, quit going so fast! Slow down, bitch!"

"Grow longer legs!" I shout behind me. I start jogging and hear her scream and breath heavy. I meet Calueb at the side of the road to laugh with him. "You know what?" he wheezes, coughing between breaths. "I ain't even mad, though!"

"Why are you so fast?!" Satsuki attempts to regain her breath and fell into Calueb's arms. "You guys are SO mean!" Calueb chuckles as he sweeps her into a deep hug, and she in turn kisses him hard. This public display of affection went on for about a minute. I lightly tap Calueb on the shoulder and gesture to the entrance of the mall. 

"Oh yeah, sorry Ret, I forgot, you're lonely as fuck." I let out a forced chuckle and walk behind them with a sour smile. "Shut up."

Calueb slows down his pace to match Satsuki as he turns to me. "You know what? You're my new project! I'mma get you a man!"

"You really don't have to do that." I interrupt him as we let Satsuki lead us to her favorite mall stores.

"I know," he agrees, being yanked back into the clothes hangers, knocking down the dresses hanging. "That's what makes me so nice." We walk out of Journey's and found ourselves entering Hot Topic. Next was a small store that was Satsuki's favorite, Memories Made. "You need a nigga that'll treat you right!" I choke on my saliva as I enter another laughing fit. 

I dance around the clothes displays, carefully placing back articles of clothing that caught my eye. "Alright, I'll bite. You wanna hook me up with a nigga, what kind?"

He nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders, acting like he was thinking hard. "You know, not flaky..."

"Like Sidarthi!" Satsuki interjects.

"Or too soft..."

"Like Calvin!" She slams the door of the fitting room before I could throw a flying projectile at her. 

"And he's gotta treat you like how you need to be treated, like Nick." Damn, he's right. I want to meet his gaze, but I can't. If anyone knows me, it was Calueb and Satsuki. It's not my fault I tell them everything, they're my homies! 

"Okay, you know why I actually need to get in a relationship? To get away from you two fools!" Calueb throws his head back in laughter and gets hit with pairs of jeans thrown at him, as well. "Sidarthi was flaky, I'll give you that. Calvin, he had some personal problems and  you could tell he wasn't ready, but  I definitely wasn't. And Nick..." I trail off. It's funny, only I could guilt-trip myself like this, only I could make myself turn from happy to depressed in an instant. I start to pull at the ends of my hair but my hands pull away and reach for my sketchbook. Calueb grabs my shoulder and pulls me in tight for a hug, which of course, was ruined my Satsuki's  bear hug.

We make our way over to the food court and find a not-so-crowded place to sit. Even though it was Wednesday, it was still pretty packed with college students, us being a few of them. Calueb got up to get some food for us while we stayed to go through her clothes. 

"Oh, this one's cute! You should draw one of your characters in this!" I nod and pull out my sketchbook and rummage through my bag for my pencil case. I hesitate to pull it out, stopping to feel the smooth fabric in my hand. My leg starts to throb again, but this time, it was really painful, so much that I let out a slight cry. 

"Hey," Satsuki gets up and sat next to me to massage my leg. "Shush, hey, hey, hey, it's alright. Look, I'm sorry for what Calueb's dumb ass said. It's alright if you wanna let it out..." I shake my head and place it on her shoulder. 

"Nah, you right, it's fine. I'll be alright by myself."

"No, it's not okay! You know I don't usually say this, but he's right. You do need a man to keep you occupied! You can be depressed forever, what happened was not your fault." She places her hand on my cheek and wipes away my tears. Oh, if only I could believe her. Instead of drawing anything, or add something to previous sketches, I just flip through the pages and listen to her make unnecessarily extra comments about what I had drawn. Like she doesn't do this all the time, but she's the only one I've shown all my sketchbooks to, the only person I've told about my all concepts. Satsuki is the friend I've had who's been fair to my dream because I've shown her all my wishes. She's always tried to become that mother that I could confide in, and I always blame myself for making her work so hard to make me happy. 

Calueb comes back sometime later with our platters of food and we dig in. I dunno what it was about my sandwich, but it's was lookin' kinda nasty, so I put it to the side. 

"So, when's your showing, again?" Calueb asks, popping a fry in his mouth. 

"Oh, this Friday starting at, like, 6 or somethin'. But, they're doing it in alphabetical order, by first names. So mine won't get shown later, definitely."

Calueb nodded and threw away his trash. "Well, I'm askin' cause I'm not gonna be there. I got to go to work. But you'll record the whole thing, right?"

"She can send you the video to you, yah dummy." Satsuki laughs as she also got up kiss Calueb. It was cute, she had to do a little jump to reach his height. "And don't worry you Retro, Dane and I will be there to cheer you on!"

I smile as I pack up my things. "Thanks, I've never felt so safe." I joke and rise from my seat as well. Satsuki kicks my shin and uses Calueb's shoulders to hitch a ride. 

"So, which one of you losers is gonna drive me home?"