Cocoa Under The Sky

Chapter 1: Cold Feet

Soft music reverberates within cool blue walls along with the sound of a repeated caress against a smooth surface. Jude's eyes concentrate on the dark colors on his computer screen as he works on his next digital piece.

The boy's eyes are squinted, lips slightly parted as he gets lost in his work. The light beeping of a text notification goes unnoticed. He wrinkles his nose as he presses his stylus harder than necessary on his tablet and a white splatter appears on his computer screen. With an annoyed click of his tongue, he moves the mouse over the undo button. Before he can tap the screen, however, an image of a dark, curly-haired girl appears on his screen and is accompanied by Skype's ringtone.

The male stares at the icon and debates his choices, teeth grazing over the tip of his tongue as he makes a quick list of pros and cons. Even as the cons outweigh the pros, he finds himself tapping the green option to accept the call.

"You bet-"

A high-pitched screech interrupts the girl as both teens wince in pain. Reaching for his left ear, Jude lowers the volume of his hearing aid before taking it off. He rubs at the back of his ear with an irritated expression and moves his jaw around.

Once again he hears the Skype tone come back on, but much more muffled this time around. He answers his cousin's call once more, watching as her glaring live image replaces his artwork.

He returns her glare with one of his own, 'Not my fault you decided to yell as a greeting, Auri.' He signs fluently to her.

'Not my fault your new hearing aids don't fit.' Auri signs back.

The teen rolls his eyes and greets his cousin, 'What's up?'

The girl had her curls up in a pineapple bun and what seemed to be a loose bandana over them to keep them in place. As odd as it seemed, he didn't find the look surprising since she was always going on about protecting them. It was something she kept berating when it came to his own dark curls. He also didn't find her next words surprising.

'Why are you home?'

Jude made a glance for the time at the sight of her sign. It was ten before ten at night, and the boy was in his pajamas, his toes comfortably playing with the fur of a settling pup underneath his desk — one whom he walked early at the regular and proper time.

'I live here.' He settled for as an answer, and as he stared at his cousin, he could tell the girl wanted to strangle him. He shrugged as a sheepish smile came to his lips.

'Don't give me that, Cabrera! Why are you ditching the guy?'

Jude was baffled by the comment. 'Why wouldn't I? I've only seen him once,' his hands moved rapidly, 'I don't even know what he looks like.'

'And so what?' She responded, leaving the male at a loss for words.

He leaned in his chair and let his brain digest the fact his cousin wasn't joking. He brought his hands together in front of him before pointing them at his her, "You're crazy."

Now it was Auri's turn to roll her eyes, 'Come on Jude, live a little, how long are you going to hide in your room?'

'Forever.' He responded with no shame and a proud smile, even having the gall to sit up straight as he said it.

The boy hated going out; when he did go out, it was with close friends or for a lonesome adventure with his dog. He was the type of guy not afraid to say he was going to die alone with Aludra as his companion curled up on the other half of his bed. He didn't understand why people were so bothered by that. Some humans like the company and others just prefer to have it at a minimum. He was the latter and didn't think that was bad; to each his own.