Two Pillows

The Candy Man Can

*time skip to when finals are over*

Lotte's POV

Well finals are over and now there's nothing to do. Everyone started packing for their summer and stuff, but there's still like a month and a half left. They've given us a lot of days off recently. In fact one of those days is today! I'm in town right now, so I can avoid sucy. We haven't spoken. It still hurts.
Anyway, I head to the bookstore to browse. I don't really expect to see anything I like, but I'll check it out. As I'm walking to the bookstore though, someone calls out to me. "Hey Lotte!" It's frank.
"Hey Lotte, didn't really expect to see around here!"
"O-oh? Yeah. Haha. I'm just going to the bookstore."
"Oh? Anything in mind you're going to get?"
"No, not really. I'm honestly just killing time haha."
"Mind if I join you?"
"Uh... sure?"
It's silence until we get there. It's a nice little bookshop. Family owned, then again those are the kind of stores I like. They feel like a home away from home of sorts.
I open the door and me and frank walk in, the place smells kinda like the hardware section at a tool shop. It's nice and relaxing, and there's an old woman by the counter. The shelves are stocked, but not all the way to the top. Maybe she doesn't have a latter? I guess frank went off to another section because he's gone. I walk off to the fantasy isle and browse the titles. Nothing seems interesting, at least to me. I go to the handguides, nothing. I give up on trying to find something interesting and look for frank. I'm searching in every isle and I find him in the romance section. I didn't really expect that but whatever. I tap him on the shoulder and whisper his name. "Frank"
"Hmm? Oh Lotte! Yeah what's up?"
He's hiding the book he's holding behind his back and looking around for a route of escape. "What book are you looking at?"
"NothIng!"
I look at him intently and he sighs and holds out the book he was reading. I've never read it before, it was a gay romance novel. I take it from him and find out that it's about some guy in college who falls in love with the school jock.
At first I'm confused, wondering why frank would want this book. Usually it's just heterosexual girls who read this, and he doesn't have any sisters old enough to read this. Then it clicks. He's buying it for himself. "Frank?"
He doesn't respond. I guess he's embarrassed.
"Are you buying this for yourself?"
He mumbles something incoherent. "What? Can you repeat that?"
"yes" he sighs out.
I start giggling which then leads to a full out laugh. I calm down and realize that I'm in a quiet store. "So?" I ask.
"So? So what?" He asks as if nothing major was just revealed about his personality.
"So what are you?"
"Uhh... not straight?"
"Shhhh!" The lady at the desk interrupts us.
We apologize and put the book back on the shelf. I grab his wrist and drag him into a nearby alley where nobody is in earshot. "Answer the question." I deadpanned.
"I did what do you mean!"
"'Not straight' isn't really an answer."
"Well what are you! I have a right to know!"
"I'm pan dipshit. Everyone knows this." I deadpan again. I'm honestly kind of annoyed that he's not telling me.
"Woah Lotte you can curse?"
"Yes. Now stop changing the subject and answer the question!"
"I don't really want to."
I sigh and let it go. It's obvious he's still not that comfortable with me yet. "Then who do you like?"
"Uhhh..."
"Is it Andrew?"
He stays silent for a few seconds before nodding. Aww new ship.
"Alright I told you who I like, now who do you like!"
Sucy "No one."
"Are you sure?"
No "Yes."
We start to head back to where we met. Then i catch a glimpse of her. Sucy. I feel a pang in my heart as I avoid eye contact and run away. Frank is still near me though and runs after me, and grabs my wrist. I turn around. "Hey Lotte? What's wrong?"
He loosens his grip, but he is still holding onto me. "Nothing."
"Lotte I know when your lying about something. Tell me."
I look up at him. He looks worried. Is he worried about me? Should I be worried about myself too? I'm not really though. I'll get over it right? Eventually. He looks back at the crowd to see is he can spot anyone we might know. "Is it sucy?"
I guess he spotted her. "It is" he sighed. I guess for once my silence meant something.
"What happened?"
"She rejected me is all." I try to chuckle a little but it cracks. He notices this and let's go of my wrist. He then looks around, and gives me a hug. Jesus what is us with all these hugs. Though I'm not really complaining, I kind of like it.
As soon as it started however, he let go. "So do you still like her?"
I nod, not really wanting to hear my broken voice. "I'm guessing it ruined your friendship?"
I nod again. God he's good at guessing games. "Do you know why she rejected you?"
I shake my head. She never did clarify that, so I came to the obvious conclusion that she was afraid to say it was me, because that might ruin our relationship further. I still wanna ask her out again. Even though I'll definitely get rejected again. But things could be different. I keep think of the possible things she could say. I realized I spaced out and that frank had left. I was just standing there like an idiot. I turn around and head to a sweets shop. That's also another thing I wanted to do today. Get something so I could say thank you to Barbra for helping me through the situation. I enter and there's a little bell at the door. It's surprisingly empty, and was very old fashioned. It had faded red and white paint. Well at least I assume what was white since it was now faded and had a slight red tint to it. The shelves were stocked with chocolate, and such. There was a display of lollipop arrangements, and a few gingerbread houses and kits for them scattered around. There was a wall that was dedicated to making your own bag of candy that you would weigh for a price. And in one corner there was a table for two, and a little section of the counter up front was a bunch of pastries and cake. Behind that counter stood a tall, young, man in a bartender outfit, which I would guess was from the 1920s. I went up and purchased a few chocolate bars and one small lollipop arrangement. I went up and paid for my items, the man was very chipper about it too. I wonder if he just opened the shop. I take a mental note of the place so I can show the others sometime. Maybe me and sucy can come here on a date, there was a table and chairs in the corner after all. One can dream though right?

A/N: hey would you look at that I did something right for a change. Anyway I realized as I was finishing this that it was all from Lotte's perspective. Though it's easier for me to write from her POV because I guess I can relate to her better. I'll try and even it out with the next chapter being all sucy but I'm not sure. Stay cool skaterz😎