The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Six

Thomas and I strolled through the streets, weaving through crowds of other people and ducking past carts of food and salesmen trying to get us to buy something. It was rather late in the day, and we were heading out to find something to eat for dinner. We had spent the whole day out in the city, just wondering around and exploring.

"Okay, so, if you could have any animal in the world as your pet, what would you have?"

Thomas didn't even pause to think through the question. "A bear."

"A bear?" I repeated, looking up at him in surprise. "Really? Aren't you like, really fond of birds?"

"Oh, I love birds, but birds weren't meant to be kept in cages. They're wild, free. And bears are fucking awesome, man. Like, have you ever seen a bear?"

I laughed. "No, and I hope I never have to unless it's a safe distance away from me and confined to a giant enclosure. Have you ever seen a bear?"

"We don't have bears where I come from and that's so sad because bears are the coolest animals in the entire world," Thomas said with a completely straight face. "Like, think about it. A giant, furry creature that can stand on its back paws and kill things for you? It's like... like a giant dog!"

"Bears are the scariest animals on the planet because they could easily rip your throat out, so no. They are not like a giant dog."

"Yeah, but I bet there are nice bears or something."

I rolled my eyes while smiling. "Sure. Nice bears. Sounds realistic."

Thomas paused for a second so a car could pass by before he crossed the street. "Yeah, it does sound realistic. I want a bear. Anyway, what about you? What pet would you have?"

"Lion, easily."

I expected him to argue about how a lion was considerably more dangerous and aggressive than a bear, but he didn't say anything. Instead, his posture straightened as if he was surprised by what I had said.

I decided to switch to different point of discussion, one that had nothing to do with lions, and he went back to normal in a matter of seconds.

"Does pizza sound good?"

"Are you really hungry?"

"Starving. What, you're not?"

Thomas shrugged. "Whatever works for you is fine with me."

I grabbed his arm and pulled him through the people rushing along, not stopping for anything in the world.

A gust of wind hit my face and I was instantly reminded of the cold weather that came with New York. I paused for a second and took a deep breath. I'm not going to lie, the thought of being cold has started to become less appealing recently. "Think it's gonna snow soon?"

"I hope so! I love snow," Thomas responded. "I don't see much natural snow where I'm from."

I led him into the pizza place. The cold, chilling breeze was welcomingly replaced by a warm atmosphere. We were seated at a table not far from the door.

"Do you believe in aliens?"

Thomas considered this for a moment. "Well," he said slowly, "it depends on what you mean by aliens."

"Organisms from another world."

"Then yes, I do believe in aliens. In fact, I'm almost positive you've met an alien or two today."

"You sound so confident about something that hasn't ever been proven to exist," I responded before giving our drink orders to the waitress.

Thomas leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, thinking about what he was about to say next. "Yeah, why not? What's so special about Earth that can't be recreated or found anywhere else?"