"You're ungrateful, Dom, you could've gotten hurt, just admit that I saved you" Tony screams from behind me, he clearly sounds like he's running to catch his breath. "that's about it, Tony I don't need a man to save me, I can do anything for myself, I learned how to put a damn pad on my underwear all on my own for goodness sake, all I need is support, I can save myself, besides, you have your own life to worry about." this time i actually turn around to look at him, just so he gets my message more clearly.
"I know, Dom, but I get worried about you a lot, and I panicked in there, I was just as afraid as anyone would be, I'm sorry that I overstepped my boundaries, I'll do better with that, ok?" he runs his fingers through my hair, almost like my dad used to, but it feels different when he does it, like I'm safe and warm.
"Ok, we're cool then, Mr Clarke." I pull him in for a hug, letting a tear fall into his hoodie before pulling back and wiping it off. He notices that I'm crying, but instead of pointing it out like a normal person would, he pulls me into a side hug with him and we continue to walk.
We're all broken in our own, incredibly special way, and that's poetic in and out of itself, we're like these complex beings floating on a big rock somehwere in the universe, and having Tony care about me, it's a really small, yet incredibly big thing, it means the world to me.
"you know, if you quit, we can move to Barbados and live happily ever after" Tony says, lowering his pace, he knows it annoys me when he walks slowly, sometimes I think he's doing these things on purpose. "move to Barbados with you?" I chuckle a little, "What would that look like?" he smiles before slightly tightening his grip around my arm, pointing at the door to McDonald's, after what feels like forever, we're here.
"I'll take care of Devante, he's over there at the back with my brother, oh..and that coworker of yours, DeAndre, yeah he has a huge crush on you" Tony says, before winking at me and walking over to the booth at the back. I chuckle a little before pulling on my apron and walking over to the back, and what do you know, I'm working with DeAndre today.
"hey DeAndre, could you pass me the soap, please?" I ask, avoiding his eyes, I know he heard what Tony said about him having a crush on me. "yeah, sure." he hands me the soap, and for a while, we both wash the dishes in silence, before he breaks that silence, "so you and that boy, the Clarke boy, are you two dating?" oh no, universe this kid cannot have a crush on me!Please no! "no. we're just friends, why?" I drop a pan into his side of the sink and pull another dish off the counter. "no reason" he says, rinsing the pan, pretending to pay close attention to it.
My attention drifts elsewhere, into all things extraterrestrial, my nerd is on again, and just like that, I've tapped back into the art of zoning out while still being able to be a functioning member of society.