He's Desperate

8-Their Fates

 The clouds turned grey as Justin ambled silently in the street. He had begun to feel cold. He folded his arm and barely stooped. He tramped into a store, stayed outdoor where the drizzle wouldn't tickle on him. He sat at the corner, folded his arms and gaze downward. Gina in his head got worse these days. Beforehand, she'd nobody she liked so it was a relief, now that she liked Darren made him thought he'd lost her completely. She'd beginning to smile these days, laugh, answer questions in class just to make Darren feel better and not giving a damn about him. He heard the door of the shop creaked open and saw a lady moved out. When he looked into her eyes it looked like it was Gina. He heard her say something but In his thoughts, it was ‘don't worry much I'm here for you. . .’
    "Hey, Is everything ok with you?" she said again and he came back to his senses.
    "Hello?. . .yeah I'm fine" as if he doesn't know what to say. The lady studied him for a while, she noticed he looked sick, she noticed he had a lot in his head.
    "You're shivering!" She said in between gasps.
     "Really?" Justin checked himself.
     "Oh. . . poor boy. . . are you feeling so cold?" She asked. He wasn't making any attempt to answer. "Come on, I saw a furnace in the back, come with me"
    "I'm fine" he definitely said.
    "No! You're not, come with me" she walked in the shop. He'd no choice than going with her. When he got there he watched as she added more coal. Inside the furnace, he saw the coal beginning to smoke; there were faint wisps of white smoke at first, then the smoke drew dark, bulging out. Justin's eyes smarted, watered; he coughed.
    "Oh sorry. . . You can sit down here." He pointed at a bench opposite the furnace.
The smoke was rolling from the furnace now in heavy billowing grey clouds, filling the basement. Justin backed away, catching a lungful of smoke. He bent over, coughing. He heard her cough too.
    "I have to do something about the ashes," she said and attended to it quickly. As time goes on the smoke surging out began to reduce, it became weak and less acrid. By then they both sat on the bench staring at the furnace.
     "I'm Ella" she said after some time.
     "I'm Justin" he mumbled. Something came right in his mind; everybody is so easy to get with; but not Gina. Melissa in his class was once close to him without stress, Lily was close to him these days and now, Ella, from nowhere helping him just in his slight condition. He wished Gina was as easy as them.
    "Thanks" He said.
    "You're welcome." She said. Justin looked at her. She was beautiful, he knew she was much older than him. Maybe twenty-five. She kept her sight right at the furnace like in thought of something too. Justin wanted to talk but felt it wasn't necessary as though he was just knowing her. The cloud began to get white instead of grey. It seemed it wasn't going to rain still the air was cold that it could make one teeth grits.
     "How're you feeling now" she asked shortly.
    "Good" he replied. He turned to face her,"and you?"
    "Good too" she replied with a slight smile. It made her look more pretty. She looked very rich. Her clothes, her shoes, her wristwatch and wrist band. Her ice necklace glittered, it really looked too expensive. That made Justin comfortable with her. He was rich too, it made him confident and bold.
     "I can sense you are over something." She said. He knew she was going to come up with something like that. His body, despite the smoke and his burning eyes, was taut. Was he going to talk about it? The whole thing that is not wanting to be suspended above his head, the huge weight that would soon fall and crush him. He turned to face her and later look away. How he wanted to start was kind of tough.
    "One of my pet died. One of my puppies" he lied. He is sick of saying how crazy he'd been. How foolish he'd turned because of his feelings. His thoughts, his plans, his motives all because of someone that doesn't give a damn about him.
    "Oh . . .I'm sorry. The puppy would have been good to you . . . " She tried to fumble the right words, giving direct contact with her brows pulled together.
    "Yes. . . love the puppy so much. . .it died this morning as I was about to hike down the street." He said.
    It looked stupid lying to her, the way she looks; her sad smile, direct eye contact, moist eyes, made him guilty.
    "I'm sorry. . I feel your pain" she said again, she held his shoulder and squeezed it softly. She now gave a smile that reached her eyes. The atmosphere was icy, the untied roads were sticky and slippery. Most people that passed by were with full-arm gestures monitoring their steps. Lily was part of them, her lips were shivering, her hands were freezing but her head wasn't; her thoughts made her not notice this. She stepped in into her house and walked to the door. She dropped the umbrella she'd held over in front of the corridor and walked inside. She met her mother stooping in search of something before she was distracted by her voice. She is just back from evening service.
    "How was service?, Let me make you coffee," said her mother and left. Lily dragged off the face mask she wore and pulled off her glasses, she pulled off the hood that covered her head; she'd always been on that outfit some days now, maybe trying to hide her identity from any of Louis' students that could see her around. As her mother brought a glass of coffee she watched as the steam formed up off the cup. Something that seemed to be worried about kept her head in the clouds. Those words from the principal hurt. How would she cope with Darren? What are they going to talk about? How would she get over with him?. These are the questions that baffle her. she would place her left palm on her forehead, holds her fist, sometimes, she hits the wall, pushes every standing object with her bare feet and at the end-she goes weak, dropping back flat on her bed. What would bring that day back would be her guitar. She would focus on the music and let her head settle.