Jessica Thompson as That Girl

VIII. Babe

My eyes lurked upward as the pencil slipped from my hand. The mouth was slightly gaped open by his sudden declaration, unable to reply correctly. Todd sat there, shuffling back and forth, shaky fingers rushing through his hair.

He puffed his cheeks, eyes wandering from the book towards me and back to the book. Once again, there was this weird thump thump inside my chest.

I didn't respond to his sudden weird declaration. Instead, I released a fake cough and read the first question to our assigned homework. Todd followed my lead and didn't continue the strange topic any longer.

The whole evening consisted of merely talking about the homework and nothing else. Once in a while, Todd's phone would give off a buzzing sound. He would take a quick glimpse on the screen, either shake his head or sigh heavily before ending the call and going back to his homework. There was a moment where his phone would continuously buzz annoyingly the frick out of me.

"Answer it," I said, clearly pissed off at the constant shaking of the glass table.

He picked up the phone and went to the other room, wanting privacy. There was some grumble sound on the other end, and the volume started increasing more with each minute.

When Todd returned, there was a sour expression on his face, indicating he was upset with the phone call. He sat down, and his phone started buzzing again, but this time, he turned it completely off.

He grabbed his pencil and re-focused on his home, but his mind was not present as he continued tapping the top of his pencil on the book.

I released a low sigh then glanced at the clock to see that roughly two hours have passed. Grabbing the corner of the book, I closed it—confusion strolled all over Todd's face.

My mouth opened to tell him that I'm leaving, but his face was desperate for companionship. "Are you leaving?" He clearly took the words out of my mouth.

His tone was filled with desperation as his incredibly messed up hair covered his gorgeous blue eyes. When I did not respond, his eyes lurked in a downward manner, shoulder slumping.

"I wanted a break," I mumbled.

Instantly, he perks up.

"A break! Yes!" He spoke in a happy tone while I grabbed my phone for a so call break. Todd decided to go to the kitchen to grab some snacks and beverages, assuming I'm going to stay here longer.

I scratched my head, mind wondering what in the world is happening. Todd and I haven't spoken for years, and here we are studying together as if everything is normal.

I wasn't mad at Todd for our sudden drift, of course not. After all, separation happens all the time without justification.

Sitting in the living room, I tapped my pencil, gazing around the unchanging place. There was a feeling of nostalgic roaming stirring inside of me. Resting my chin on my palm, elbow on the coffee table, I released a deep breath.

A smile appeared when I remembered the first time I met Todd. My parents and Todd's parents met at a meat market and hit it off to find out that they live not too far away from each other. They decided to have dinner over at Todd's place, and then I met him.

I remember seeing a slightly taller than me, a dirty blonde boy with sparkly blue eyes holding a soccer ball walking in the front door. I was wearing a pretty light pink dress with my favorite ballet shoes. I was into ballet at the time for some odd reason, even though I can't dance.

***

Todd would give me a grand smile showing off the gap between his teeth then wiped his dirty hands on his mud-filled shirt. "Nice to meet ya, I'm Todd!" He sneezed on his hand, then placed it out.