The Recluse of Ocado Cove

Chapter 4

Now that I didn't have to hide Sally from my mom, and that he had the ma– prosthetic I made him to hide his scars, I finally took him into the village, on my old bike. I was surprised it was still in a good enough condition to be usable.

He sat behind me; sometimes I would turn my head and see him admiring the landscape around us. There were a lot of pine trees in the cove and, at this time of the year, the grass was of a joyful bright green. Today, the sky was vibrant blue, with a few clouds here and there. His hair was also blue and, since he had washed it, the brightness of it was even more impressive. The sun reflected against every shadow and every wave. Blue waves. Just like the river.

Now every time I look at the river I will be reminded of him. Great.

I looked back in front of me. I couldn't keep feeling that way. Him and I were... acquaintances. We talked because he stayed at my house. And he stayed at my house because I rescued him from the island and he needed care. With the amount of people going on the river, someone would have ended up finding him, at some point in time. That someone just happened to be me.

I couldn't help but feel really lucky it happened to be me, though.

Trying to get my mind elsewhere, I stopped the bike at the town's ice cream shop. We had a beautiful view of the river from the top of the hill we were on. I parked the bike against one of the wooden tables next to the shop. Sally jumped to sit on the table instead of the seats. I stayed standing up, watching the view. He turned to look as well.

"It's a nice place." he stated.

"Totally."

It was silent for a moment, but I strangely didn't mind. It felt comfortable. Maybe we were a little more than just acquaintances. Just a little more. Like... friends.

Yeah, friends.

Simple friends.

Buddies.

"I still can't believe your mom thought I was your boyfriend." Sally chuckled.

I hated the way my heart jumped at the mention of the word. When I felt him look at me, I laughed with him. It came out weirder than I had expected. Like I was about to choke or some shit.

"Yeah man." I added to my play-pretend. "That was one of the dumbest things my mom's ever said."

"Because there's many of 'em ?" he snorted, his eyes almost sparkling in the sun.

I smiled, staring at the boats on the river. They looked like they were flying.

"Think it's a tie with the time she thought I was watching porn and gave me a whole fuckin' speech about safe sex."

He raised an eyebrow. "Were you, though ?"

I turned to him. "Dude, I was playing on my gear-boy."

We both exploded in laughter, the kind that felt like it would never end.

"What she said though..." I said while we calmed down. "It doesn't make anything weird between us... Right ?"

Sally was looking at the river, a smile still cornering his mouth. "Right."

"Cool. I'll go buy you an icicle."

—

I walked out of the shop a little less than fifteen minutes later. I went back to the table Sally was sitting on.

"Here you go," I said, handing him the icicle. "Orange and cream. You can never go wrong with that."

He took it, but didn't open the packaging.