To No One

Ch.3 - Second Guesses

<B - The following days after that meeting went by slower than I expected. And on top of that, I had to deal with "white-haired boy" being a constant nuisance now. It was strange that this guy reminded me so much of "Him", to be honest. It was like "He" had reincarnated into Arthur just to haunt me once again. They even shared the same personality: calm, kind to a fault and stupid, simple minded humor. When I think about it, I don't even know if "He" and I had anything in common. That might explain why I didn't feel anything around him, but that's is not what you're here for.

During one particular day Arthur approached me with an eager expression embedded in his face. Whatever he had in mind was bound to be a horrible idea.>

A - Hey, Beth. Do you have a minute to talk?

B - You are going to talk to me regardless, so yeah.

A - Perfect. You see, I wanted to invite you to for a little walk tomorrow.

B - Are you asking me out or something?

<B - Arthur began to laugh in answer to my question. At first I thought he was doing sarcastically for the sake of the joke, but I guess he just found it funny. A shame, really.>

A - Not really, I just felt like wanted to go somewhere with you. That's what friends do, right?

B - Sure...

A - So, what do you say? Do you want to?

<B - I let out a long sigh as I considered what to do. If I said yes, I would have been at his mercy for an entire day, and with reasonable chances, at least in my mind, that he might be lying and want to find a knife a new home in my stomach. If I said no, he would have continued to pester me for days until I lost my patience and agreed to go with him. Needless to say, I chose the less obvious option.>

B - Fine. I don't have anything to do tomorrow, anyway.

A - Okay, so I'll guess I will see you on the park's plaza at twelve. Bye!

<B - As quickly as he appeared, he vanished faster than an arctic fox in winter. "What did I just agree to?" I wondered to myself as I made my way back home.>

(...)

<B - I was making my way to the plaza, like I regrettably agreed to, while thinking what he could possibly have in mind. Not that I was worried about it, but I didn't want to wake up in an alley without one of my kidneys. If I did, however, I would rather lose both. When I reached the plaza I could see Arthur already waiting at the fountain. How long had he been there?>

A - Hey there, Beth.

B - Early much?

A - I've only been here for a few minutes, anyway.

B - Whatever. So, where did you wanted to go?

A - Actually...

<B - Arthur stared into the sky as he scratched the back of his head. It took him two minutes to decide himself.>

A - Wanna go to a cafe? I'll invite if you want to.

B - Are you sure you aren't trying to have a date with me?

A - I can assure you, you are not my type.

<B - Somehow, that seemingly hurtful comment felt like a compliment to me. I mean, I didn't want anything to do with this individual. Not in that way.>

B - Let's just go already.

A - Great! I know of a place not too far from here.

<B - I started to walk behind with Arthur. There was really nothing worth noting besides one thing. He must've figured out that I would feel uncomfortable if we walked at the same pace, since he didn't slow down to my walking speed. At least that's what I supposed, given that he did turn his look towards me from time to time with a sheepish smile engraved on his face.