Electi (discontinued)

Capitulum 8

Quinn was glad to be in his house again. It was a Saturday and his father was, as usual, absent. He had the house to himself, but nothing to do though. Only to read all those books Marvin had given and make reports. And apparently, he was supposed to understand some certain types of geek gibberish.

Great.

He was hard at it all day and hardly noticed when time had passed. His nose was still in some giant book when Connie called. She requested a video call and he scampered to arrange his hair.

"Hey," she greeted cheerfully. "How goes it?"

"Everything's good."

"Were you studying?" She asked, squinting into her phone as she surveyed his surroundings.

"Yeah. Just a little something something, you know." He'd realised belatedly, he couldn't tell his friends the whole truth. They were still unaware of what had happened to him.

She chuckled. "I swear, you're a geek in your own right."

He scrunched up his  straight nose. "Gee, thanks Con." She laughed a little.

"Anyways I called to ask if you wanted to go on a walk with me. Probably grab something to eat. I know you haven't had anything today; it shows. Whaddya say?"

"Well obviously you'd ask me first, so—"

"Don't get cocky. I asked Barry, he said he couldn't make it, Abby's out with her parents, the gang's basically busy. So yeah, you."

He slapped his hand over his heart. "I'm low-key hurt you thought of me last." She had no idea how painfully honest those words were.

She laughed again, confirming that fact. "Aw, come on. Get dressed and come over."

"Yeah, I'll just take a quick shower and head right over," he promised, turning in his swivel chair.

"You're a life saver. Anything to get out of this mortuary."

He laughed and hung up. This was exactly what he wanted. Finally, some alone time with her. Anything to distract him from the unnecessary homework that'd been inflicted on him.

He got out of the shower. Picking his clothes, he lifted a bright coloured T-shirt and a dark one. Which would she like? He wasn't entirely sure, but he picked the bright one.

Cologne? No. She wouldn't care how he smelt. I mean, he wouldn't smell awful, but he didn't need something extra to prove himself, did he? He wore the cologne.

He needed a jacket because it was going to be colder than most nights. When he walked to her house, he saw the exact same people he'd seen on his walk to school and in the exact same order. Sure they were clothed differently, but it was still as creepy as possible.

He got to Constance's door and knocked with a little more force than necessary. She opened up and smiled brightly. "No need to break the door down."

"Sorry, I just. . . Nerves," he pronounced on a laugh.

She punched his arm. "Quinn. It's me. Constance."

He studied her with half lidded eyes. "Oh believe me, I know," he replied huskily. She gave him a suspicious look. To cover for his tactlessness, he coughed. Real smooth. "Um, let's go?"

"Yeah," she replied, already locking her front door. "Nice shirt," she commented without turning around. He looked down his shirt where his shirt peeked through his half zipped jacket. Score. Trying not to do a brief happy dance, he tugged insistently on her sleeve until they were walking down the street to the diner she'd picked for them.