rainbows

twenty two

Five dollars.

That's what it takes to order a whole meal but Lexi insists I share my food with her, which always results in me packing my own food and eating it alone in my bedroom. But somehow here I sit, sharing my fries with Ryan.

Instead of eating a fry in bits he pops the whole thing in his mouth and eats it in a single bite. You can even hear the crunch, it's so loud. It's weird to share my food with someone else but it's weirder to eat it while walking on a busy road.

Ryan insisted we take our food and go somewhere, and when asked somewhere all he said was "follow me" so that's what I'm doing, following him. I take a moment to look around at the people while he's busy munching my fries. Everybody around is engrossed in their phone, too busy to even acknowledge the ones they came with.

A question pops in my mind and I nudge his shoulder.

"Do you think technology has turned us into robots and less appreciative towards life?"

"Where is this coming from?" He asks.

"Dunno" I shrug my shoulders. He nods taking a moment to reply.

"Really, it would be a shame for a Gen z to say but somebody has to say it so yes. Not robots but definitely a little less appreciative towards life. Instead of being a part of our life, phones have become our life and it's saddening." He kicks the rock with his shoe.
"Unlike you, I don't have big words to express myself so yeah." He chuckles "What do you think?"

I hate that he said something I wasn't expecting. I hate that he has a point. I hate that I disagree with him. And I hate that I'm someone who he indirectly talked about.

"I don't," I speak up.

"So you disagree with me? He tilts his head quirking his eyebrows.

"Yep." I sigh "You're not entirely wrong though. But maybe the people who turned their phones into their entire lives had a reason for, nobody asks them that. They're quick to question our ability to use technology as our escapism but nobody dare asks us why."

He narrows his eyebrows as I speak.

"Fair enough."

We take a left and I see familiar yellow lights and red metal.

"Wait is that the bridge!?" I exclaim.

It's been so long since I came here. The last time I was here was with dad. There's a lake underneath the bridge.

"Do you know there's a lake here?" He asks causing me to widen my eyes.

I nod my head frantically. Not a lot of people know of it. You have to walk a little into the trees to come to the lake. I was a little less than five when he showed me this place. He used to bring me here when I had a bad day. It was our safe space, our secret. Now, not so much.

"I used to come here as a child."
It's strange coming here with Ryan instead of dad. Not even Lexi knows about it. Unlike her, I'm good at keeping things from people.

"Cool."

We cross the bridge and stumble our way to the lake on these large stones. He holds his hand out for me, I shake my head saying it's okay.

"Oh, c'mon Green." He huffs before taking my hand in his. His palms are the same way I remember, rough with a few cuts.

"Sunset or sunrise?" I ask. The sound of water comes to me signalling we're close.