Fall

Chapter 3

Its been two weeks since the party.
I've decided to lock myself in my room for the entire time, with fear of embarrassment if I ever showed my face.
I haven't talked to Kimmie since the party either. I have ignored every phone call, every text message, and every facebook message she has sent me. She was the last person I wanted to talk to right now, but she was also the only person I wanted to talk to.
Actually, that's a lie.
There was another person that I wanted to talk to: Alex. Ever since the super long lecture he gave me, I haven't been able to get his words out of my mind. But, like with Kimmie, I've been ignoring him as well. He found me on facebook, and now he refuses to leave me alone. He claims he "needs to know if I'm okay or not" which is complete and utter bullshit considering the fact that he was the one that walked away from me at the beach.

My phone buzzed next to me.
Alex: Brynna?
I looked at the message for a long while, deciding on whether or not to reply.
Me: What do you want?
Alex: Just checking in on you. You've been ignoring me?
Me: Yeah.
Alex: Why lol
Me: because maybe I don't want to talk to you? did you ever think of that?
Alex: hmm. that thought definitely did not pop into my head.
Me: well it should have.
Alex: too bad it didn't.
Me: whys that?
Alex: because it would have made me want to talk to you even more than I already do.
Me: ew stop.
Alex: stop what? wanting to see if you're okay? sorry i'm trying to be a good friend? lol
Me: we're not friends. nor will we ever be friends.
Alex: We'll see about that.
Me: What makes you sound so sure.
Alex: I'm not.
Me: Then why say it? lol
Alex: because.
Me: because why?
Alex: just because.
Me: K.
Alex: Okay :)

I purposely read his message, but did not respond. I was tired of talking to him, although it did feel good to talk to someone other than my mother.
After I threw on some clothes and did my hair, deciding that I looked decent enough to walk out in public, I walked down the stairs and almost got out the door when I heard my mom call my name.
"What?" I called from the front door.
"Wha.. What are ya doin?" She asked me, confused.
"Going out?" I replied, being short.
"You are!?" She sounded happy.
"Yes, mom."
"Cool! Um, well have fun!" She walked over to me, hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. "Yeah, cool. Have fun, honey."
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Bye mom." I said as I shut the door behind me. I think she was just happy that I was actually getting out of the house for once.

I drove around for a while, just listening to music, not focusing on where I was going. Finally, after hearing a comercial on the radio for a new restaurant down by the mall, I decided to go try it out.

"Are you ready? Or are we waiting on someone?" The hostess asked me.
"Oh, um, no. It's just me. Thank you." I replied.
"Oh, okay. Well right this way." She lead me to a table towards the back of the restaurant.
"Thank you." I replied.
"Your waitress will be Sam. She should be with you momentarily." The hostess, who's name turned out to be Hana, smiled at me while she left a single menu on the table.
"Thanks."

As I looked over the menu, I oddly sensed a presence standing at the end of my table. I looked up to see who I least expected. His arms were folded, his pen and paper still in hand, a giant smirk on his face.
"Well, if it isn't Ms. Brynna Marie." His deep voice spoke. I groaned, rolling my eyes.
"I'm gonna ask if I can sit in a different section." I started scooting out of my booth when he stepped in front of me.
"Come on, Brynna. It's not a big deal. I'm just your waiter." Alex spoke.
"What happened to Sam? Hana said she would be my waitress."
"Oh, she left early. They called me in to pick up her shift." I looked at him with confusion on my face. Of course that would happen to me. What a coincidence. "Anyways, can I get you something to drink?" He asked me.
"Yeah, whatever. I'll take a strawberry lemonade."
"Okay." He scribbled in his little notebook. "I'll be out with that shortly." With a simple nodd of my head, he walked away.

Two minutes later, he returned with my drink. I sipped it, ignoring his presence.
"I don't even get a thank you?" He asked me, a geeky, huge smile plastered on his face.
"Thanks." I responded shortly.
"You're very welcome." He responded. "Do you know what you want to eat?" He asked.
"Um, I don't know. I've never been here." I spoke softly, as if I was only talking to myself. I was surprised to see him take a seat across the table from me.
"Well what do you like?" He asked me. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Is this some sort of trick to get to know me?" I asked him.
"I don't know. Is it working?" He winked at me, that same sarcastic smirk on his face.
"No, it's not working. Thank you very much. I'll just take the... Creamy Pasta Alfredo." I held out the menu, right in front of his face.
"Okay. I'll be out with that shortly." He smiled at me while he got up from his seat. I sighed and rolled my eyes as he walked away.

It didn't take long for my food to come out, which I was happy about because I was absolutely starving. But when it arrived, I was completely confused as to why there were two dishes on the tray.
Alex took a seat across from me once again after he put the tray away.
"Hey there." He said and just started eating his food, like sitting across from me wasn't a big deal. I just stared at him as he shoved his food into his mouth. After about a minute and a half of just watching him scarf down his spaghetti, he finally noticed I was staring at him.
"Stop staring at me and eat your food, Brynna." He winked at me, once again. Rolling my eyes, I picked up my fork and started twirling a noodle around it. The way he ate was disturbing and it bothered me so badly, so I just sat there and watched him to make him uncomfortable. Maybe that would make him want to leave.
"Brynna. I can feel your satanic stare digging into my face. And I would really appreciate it if you could stop because I only have 15 minutes to eat all this food before I have to get back to work." He started giggling as he took a sip of his water. I shook my head and just quietly ate my food while he shoveled his down his throat.
Completely mesmerized by the fact that he finished his meal with 6 minutes to spare, we just kind of sat there, staring at each other. Him, watching me eat.
"Why do you not want me to sit with you?" He asked me. But instead of answering, I just kept eating.
"Oh, so it's gonna be like that?" He sat back, and crossed his arms over his chest and watched me with his eyes narrowed.
"You have five minutes. If there's something you wanna say to me, you better say it now." I picked up my drink and took a quick sip as he leaned his arms on the table, still keeping a close eye on me.
"Okay." He said. "Why have you suddenly come out of hiding? Why have you been ignoring me? Why haven't you replied to Kimmie?"
"Woah, woah, woah. Chill out dude. One question at a time." I told him.
"Sorry, I only have four minutes left." He giggled a little bit and I rolled my eyes.
"I haven't been "in hiding". I've just been at home because I haven't been feeling totally well lately. Doctor says its the flu." I said, raising my eyebrows. I pretended to cough, keeping my eyes on him to see his reaction. He didn't seem moved by it at all. "I've been ignoring you because we are not friends. I do not have to talk to you every minute of every day. Kimmie and I, on the other hand, are friends. And I have not been ignoring her either..."
"All of that is bullshit."
"How do you know that?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Because I do."
"Yeah but how?" I asked him.
"Because it's not hard to tell when you're lying or not." He said, a smirk on his face.
"But you don't even know me! How can it be that easy for you to tell when I'm lying or not?" I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my seat, waiting for his reply.
"You see, I've been around a lot of people like you in my time."
"What does that even mean?" I asked him, shaking my head.
"It means... That you lie about how you feel to get people to leave you alone. You lie about how you feel so that people won't ever want to help you cause that'll make you feel like a burden towards them. You don't want people to ever really care about you because you're afraid of getting hurt. Which isn't unreasonable, it's just hard for people who want to be apart of your life because they'll spend all their time trying to be someone you want in your life, but they'll never be good enough for you. And that's all because of some guy who broke your heart and no offense, but I think that's pretty pathetic if you ask me."
"Why is it that every single time were together, you always seem to attack me in one way or another?" I asked him, offended that he always says something about my behavior towards other people.
"I'm not judging you, Brynna. Im telling you how I see it."
"Okay, just because you word it differently, doesn't mean it's not judging. Because we aren't friends, you therefore know nothing about me. You may think you do, but you don't. And because you think you do, you are judging me. No matter what. And I mean, you'd think that you, out of everyone, wouldn't judge a book by their cover. But isn't that exactly what you're doing with me?" I leaned forward onto the table and waited for his response. But instead of replying, he just sighed, shook his head and took his plate and water and walked away from the table.
His presence is definitely not what I wanted in that moment. But now that he's gone... Maybe it is.