"I can be absentminded sometimes. Don't take it personally," I said with a dry laugh. Forgetting someone's name when they remember yours is a dick move, no matter how you look at it.
"It's all good. Don't even worry about it. Anyway, what got you looking so upset?"
My eyes widened in confusion. 'Huh? What does she mean, upset?'
"What do you mean?"
"You look a little pissed. Something happen earlier?"
"Nah not really?" I said, well more like questioned. I thought back to earlier events. I guess the thing my brother got involved with annoyed me to a certain extent.
"That sounded more like a question," She said before laughing a little. "If you don't wanna share you don't have to."
"No, no. It's fine really. Maybe I just got a bad case of resting bitch face," I responded, somewhat laughing at my own joke.
I had times in the past when people asked if I was mad or annoyed. I guess as you grow older you look angrier and angrier.
I could still recall to this day how many times I thought my dad was angry at something when he was just zoning out.
"What has you chuckling like that?"
I guess I was laughing without noticing. I shrugged and explained to her. "I was just thinking how I must've got it from my dad. He has the rudest case of resting bitch face I've ever seen."
"Haha. Tell me about it. Dad's really do always look angry. Even when my dad eats, he looks like he wants to kill something."
"For real. Dads just have a default setting, I swear."
We laughed amongst ourselves. Customers around us, especially the older ones, smiled in our direction, warping reality into what they believed to be true in their minds. A blossoming love story.
"So, tell me about yourself, Annabelle. This is the first real conversation we had since we met."
"Well, let's see," she said, while she moved her hand under her chin and rested her head on it.
"I love art. Painting and writing our my passion. I enjoy working out and love fantasy. If I could I would love to daydream all day. Oh, and I hate school."
I laughed. "Tell me more about your painting and writing hobbies. What do you like writing about?"
"I love writing about anything, really. But if I had to choose a genre, maybe romance?"
"Why romance?"
"I love tragedy romances. Sort of like a guilty pleasure. It's kind of beautiful in a way. When you have someone you love, but the world gets in the way and you end up with a bad ending."
I nodded, speechless. 'What a masochist. I hate bad endings.'
"What about painting? What do you normally paint?"
"For that, I really just let my hand flow. I shut out my thoughts and just go straight to work. What about you? I can't be the only one talking about myself.
I chuckled. Her personality sort of reminded me of Emma. Just a little less pushy. Easy to talk to and incredibly friendly.
"Let's see. I-"
I thought about what I did outside of work. "Hmm, nothing interesting. I recently decided I wanted to buy a gym membership. I enjoy watching movies. Scrolling the web is another thing I like to do. Late-night walks are always fun too."
"What about sports?"
"If scaring as many homeless people count as one, you can think of me as the number one prospect in the world."
She started bursting out in laughter, and I soon did as well. "But seriously. I stopped playing soccer a while ago. And that was the only sort I really played growing up."
"Why'd you stop playing?"
"I grew out of it. Plus, I didn't see myself having a future in it. It was good physical activity, but there were other ways to get fit. Soccer cost a lot of money and without a drive to go pro, I was just wasting money."
It was true. Soccer teams cost an arm and a leg. I never had the aspiration to go pro and felt that I could just do something that didn't cost as much money. I didn't want to drag my parents down more than I already had.
They weren't made of money after all.
"I get that. How's school, by the way? Grade 9 sucks, in my opinion."
"I know. I feel you. Grade 9 and high school in general are all overrated. Nothing like the movies."
She laughed and questioned, "You make any new friends?"
"Yeah, I made a few. Other than you, I got one more."
"Only two friends?"
"What can I say? I'm just less likable than I originally thought."
"I doubt that. We talked once and were already friends. I think whoever doesn't like you has a stick up their asses."
"That's wild to say." I laughed loudly enough for the entire store to hear.
We talked about a few more things before she got up and left. However, we agreed on meeting again soon, so we exchanged numbers.
Leaving the store, I did as I said and signed up for the gym near me.
I wanted to be a mass monster.
In all seriousness, though, gaining more muscle would only benefit me in the long run. So why not start earlier than later?
Getting back home, I opened my phone to a message from Belle, a nickname Annabelle made me call her from now on.
I texted her a few sentences and left to take a shower. I had a party to get ready for.
Showers were meant to be quick. I couldn't understand how some took over ten minutes. After I was done with my shower, I dried myself and put on the clothes I would be wearing. Dark grey jeans and a black polo shirt. Over it, I would wear my trusty blue zip-up.
Once I had my outfit on, I sat on my couch and scrolled through the dark web. I looked over my account and looked at the comments and traction I was receiving. Thankfully, I was on the steady incline. Meaning my content and channel were gaining more views and subscribers.
Before I knew it, the clock hit 5:30 PM. I was supposed to meet Emma at 6.
So I stopped what I was doing and made my way to the mall.