𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐘, stanley barber

ii. SOMEBODY ELSE.

SINCERITY IS SCARY, STANLEY BARBER
( ii. somebody else )

"WHAT ARE WE LISTENING TO TODAY, my dear Violet Sky?" Stanley mocked as he lowered his sunglasses and flashed me a smile as he did every morning. I scoffed at him, climbing into the front seat of his car and removing my headphones from my ears, plugging my phone into the aux cable. I'm surprised his car even had an aux cable, being as old as it was, but soon, my playlist choice for this morning was reverberating through Stanley Barber's ancient tin can of a car. "More of The 1975." He grinned at me, brown eyes glistening. "Wouldn't expect anything different from my favourite English girl." I rolled my eyes, fastening my seatbelt tightly (a force of habit after driving round with Stanley for quite a while now and knowing what a disaster that could be) before answering him. "For the last time, Stan, this has nothing to do with the fact that I used to live in England. I haven't been there since I was literally seven years old. And another point, I'm your favourite girl full stop, no need to bring ethnicity into this." I mocked, and Stan laughed, watching as I took the sunglasses from his head and placed them over my own eyes. "Touché, my dear Violet, touché."

"I haven't heard this one before." Stanley gestured towards the dashboard which displayed in rustic digital letters the title of the song. "It's a good one, I think you'll like it." I answered simply, resisting the impulse to sing along to the painfully accurate lyrics. "So I heard you found somebody else, and at first, I thought it was a lie." Me and Stan sat in silence, enjoying the music as I tugged at the frayed edges of my ripped jeans, when abruptly, and nowhere near the school, Stan came to a stop. "Hey, Syd!" Stanley called out of his window, and I felt my stomach lurch at the thought. "Hey?" Sydney questioned as Stanley began the slow and painful process of rolling down his window. The boy just sat, grinning at Syd and bopping his head to the music as the window creaked and groaned until it was low enough for Sydney to talk to us. "Hey!" Stanley grinned again, and I rolled my eyes, greeting the redhead myself with a small, "Hi." "Hey," Syd repeated once again, shouldering her backpack. "You goin' to school?" Stanley asked and I scoffed because, wow, I thought I was bad at flirting. "Yep," Syd nodded, seeming as though she wanted to be anywhere but this conversation. "Yup," Stan said again, clearly panicking. "Yeah, me too." He grinned, and for a moment, Syd's eyes met mine with a look that said 'what do I do now?' I didn't answer it. Instead, Syd and Stanley just looked at each other, nodding awkwardly for what seemed like an eternity of awkward before I let out a small cough. Stan righted himself, before gesturing to the seat beside him in his car; the one I was sat in. Simoultaneously, both me and Sydney raised an eyebrow at Stanley, as if to say 'uh, Stan, that seats taken.' "Oh, yeah." He said smally before attempting to gesture towards the backseat with his head, but only successfully managing to smack his head against the headrest, leaving him wincing in pain. "Would you like a ride, Syd?" I asked, not so eager to watch my best friend crash and burn, even if I did wish that his feelings for Sydney weren't a thing. After glancing around in a moment of panic, Syd nodded, before throwing her backpack into the backseat and clambering in after it. "What band is this?" Syd asked as my music continued to play. "The 1975. Something Vi likes." Stan answered, and Syd nodded with a small smile. "Pretty cool."