In Another Universe

Wednesday 12:14 Just Give Me A Reason

Charlie had decided to avoid the cafeteria, yesterday's trip to that place had been stressful enough. He had to sit at the end on a table already occupied by another group of people. He could have tried to sit down with his friends but he had pushed away going to eat so much that they were already gone when he arrived. And as a new guy, he never tried to make other friends. Three people were already so much to deal with. But to be honest, he never thought he would need other friends. They had gotten along since he arrived at the beginning of the year. They had been friends for a while but were adorably pumped about welcoming a new member to their group, which really helped Charlie's homesickness. Until now, every time he missed Australia, he thought at least I have them.

And now he was sitting alone on a bench in the courtyard, aimlessly scrolling through his Instagram to pretend to be busy, earphones in, a half-eaten sandwich in one hand.

Once again hiding in his hood, pretending that no one else existed, he was surprised to feel someone sitting next to him. After all, the didn't own the bench so anyone could sit next to him but he would have appreciated to be left alone. It's not like it was the only bench.

He glanced to his right quickly to check who it was and Isaac's smile appeared in his vision. Had it been a week ago, he would have smiled too, genuinely, but after all that happened in the recent days, he didn't want to smile, he really didn't feel like it. He looked at Isaac's tired blue eyes, which his smile was trying to brighten up without much success. He noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and wondered whether they were new or had always been there, and just maybe under some makeup. Now he just waited for him to say a word.

"Eating outside? In this weather?" Isaac ended up saying, which made Charlie look at the sky and shrug.

"Guess I made a choice and stood by it."

Isaac's smile seemed to take a toll and he looked at his hands. Charlie almost felt the courage to ask him about the kiss he witnessed at the party, and what kind of games he was playing. Almost. But he realised that it would be hard to formulate a question about this without giving away his feelings. So he just stared at him. Before their kiss and the day following it, he had thought that they might be able to be just friends, but after... he didn't think this was still possible.

"How about you finish your sandwich and we go to the library like last time?" Isaac proposed.

"Are you s- Okay, I'd rather not."

He stood up and walked away, not looking back at what he imagined was Isaac's confused and probably sad face. He didn't have the energy to pretend not to be upset and hurt. And in a way, this was his way to tell to Isaac that he couldn't just continue to his games or whatever it was he was doing and think there wouldn't be any consequences.