Do You Blame Yourself?

[Chapter 11] - Drama At The Dinner Table

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It was pretty late, and everything was quiet.
"So, did anything happen when we were gone?" Barnacles asked.
"Nothing really happened, except Peso was a nervous wreck," Dashi pointed out. Peso sunk in his spot.
"Well, you don't have to point that out," he mumbled, "and besides, I knew something was going to go wrong, and it did," Peso added.
"You were right about that..." Barnacles stated. It went quiet again.

"Hey, I've got a question, who was the last one in the launch bay?" Tweak questioned, looking up from her seat.
"Last time I was there, it was when we were returning from the rock mound," Barnacles said.
"Yeah, same here," Shellington added. And then there was Kwazii, who swallowed hard.
"Kwaz? What about you?" Tweak asked, turning to look at him. Kwazii looked up.
"Yeah, haven't been there since we came back," he muttered.

Under the table, Tweak tossed over the piece of paper, now taped together, over to Dashi. She pulled it up just a bit to look at it, and then she handed it back.
"Did you outline that again?" Dashi asked.
"Yeah. Took me a little while to figure out what letter was what, though."
"Makes sense."
Kwazii didn't mean to do this, but he glanced over towards the two. He noticed the paper that was being passed under the table, and froze. Kwazii recognized that paper, he even recognized the writing style. It was that letter he had thrown out earlier.
"Hey, what's on the paper?" he asked, pointing at the sheet. Tweak, Dashi, and Inkling all looked up at Kwazii.
"You tell him," Tweak whispered.
"I'm not telling him, you tell him!" Dashi said.
"Fine. It's just some notes. No big deal, Kwaz," Tweak said, looking up at him. Kwazii started laughing.
"That's a lie, and I know it," he said, still laughing like what Tweak had said was the funniest thing ever.
"What's so funny?" Peso asked from across the table.
"Give me the paper," Kwazii said without a hint of laughter to his tone. He held out his hand, motioning his fingers towards him.
"Why do you need it? It isn't your's anymore. You got rid of it," Tweak said, holding the paper close.
"Just give it back," Kwazii spat.
"Kwazii, calm down," Barnacles said, trying to calm him down.
"Just give me the paper, and we'll be done here," Kwazii added. Tweak then basically shoved the paper into Kwazii's hands.
"There. You happy?" she snapped back. Kwazii frowned and turned to read over the letter.

Once Kwazii was done reading the letter, he took two top pieces and tore it up again.
"Hey, what was that for?" Tweak shouted, grabbing the paper before Kwazii could rip it up even more.
"All I wanted was to get rid of that. What are you doing?" he snapped.
"Wait, you two, stop," Peso demanded. Tweak and Kwazii both whipped their heads to look at him.
"What's up, Peso?" Tweak asked.
"I'm hearing two different sides of this story, I don't know about you guys," Peso said before motioning towards Barnacles and Shellington. "Look, first we were told that on the paper were just notes. Then, Kwazii wanted to get rid of them," Peso added. "Let's start with this: Kwazii, why do you want to get rid of the notes? And what do you have to do with them?" Kwazii tensed up, before raising an eyebrow.
"Look, those notes had something to do with my personal life."
"Pfft, obviously. I read over it, I would know," Tweak said. Kwazii paused and turned around.
"Can you not? How many times did you read that over, then?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Well, I had to a few times to get your messy handwriting right, Kwazii," she said.
"Oh, for god's sake..." Kwazii mumbled.
"This is only my revenge, Kwazii." Tweak muttered. No one knew what to do, and as of right now, they just let Kwazii and Tweak handle it themselves.
"Revenge for what?" Kwazii questioned.
"Remember what happened the last time I planned something like this, and you went around and sort of, ya know, told everyone about it?" Tweak said. Kwazii raised an eyebrow.
"Actually, I don't remember. Could you remind me what you're talking about?" he asked. Tweak knew Kwazii was lying. She could hear it in his tone.
"We made a promise after that we would never forget that? You're an idiot if you don't remember that," she stated, but Kwazii just sat there, head in his hands.
"Oh, I think I remember now!" he said, smiling.
"Good for you. Now keep that in mind."
"Why?"
"Because this is my revenge for it," Tweak said.
"Go ahead and expose me, I don't give a shit," Kwazii spat before getting up and leaving.

"Well, sorry about that," Tweak muttered.
"He's fueled mainly by anger. You shouldn't apologize," Peso said.
"How can you say that? Now that I realize it, I kind of went through his whole stupid letter and tried to make sense of it, and for what?" Tweak asked. "I can't believe it. I did all that, for what? All I got out of that was a ruined friendship," she muttered, banging her head onto the table.
"I'll go talk to him," Peso said. Just as he was about to get up, Tweak held up her hand.
"Don't. This is my friendship. I'm going to handle this my way," she added. Peso froze and sat down again.
"Please don't hurt him. You know how much I care about him," he said. Tweak managed to stifle a laugh.
"I'll try not to."

Kwazii sat down on his bed almost exactly where he was this morning. "And I thought today was going to be better..." he muttered. Kwazii sunk down into the mattress.
"Hey, Kwazii? Can I come in?" Tweak asked from the doorway. Kwazii looked up and sighed quietly.
"Sure."

"So, uh," Tweak started. She was standing at the edge of Kwazii's bedframe. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I just wanted to get to the bottom of all that," she said. Kwazii looked up at her.
"Do you really mean that or did someone beg you to do that just to make me feel better?" he asked. Tweak sat down next to him.
"I don't want to make this anymore awkward than it already is, but I've got a question," she said. Kwazii already knew what it would probably be, but he didn't care.
"What is it?"
"Did you mean everything in that letter?" Silence rang in both of their ears.

Did you mean everything in that letter?

He knew it. Maybe Kwazii should have seen that coming. "I'd rather not say," he said, shrugging. Tweak nodded slowly.
"I get it."
There was more silence.

"Do you remember when I came out?" Tweak asked. Kwazii looked over at her.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Remember when you made a shit ton of jokes that day?" Kwazii sunk down even more. "That was the hardest day I've ever had on this ship, and you kind of made jokes about it," she said, "but I'm not going to do that when you come out, but only because I don't want to destroy your ego."
Kwazii smiled. "Wait, what do you mean when?" he asked. Tweak smiled and got up.
"You'll see!" she said before sprinting out of Kwazii's pod.

Kwazii was left in his pod, alone. He thought about what Tweak had said. When would he come out? I mean, if Tweak knew, then it was really obvious. Kwazii rolled onto his side.

"Hey, Kwaz? Can I come in?" Peso asked from behind the door. Kwazii glanced over at the door.
"Sure," he breathed out. Peso opened the door, and he was still holding Kwazii's plate.
"This won't become a habit, all right?" Peso said, sitting down on Kwazii's bed.
"I know, you're not my mom," Kwazii muttered. Peso sighed quietly before placing down the plate.
"Just try to eat something before you go to bed, all right?" Peso asked.
"I know, don't worry."

"Did Tweak come in here?" Peso asked. Kwazii rolled his eyes and smiled.
"Yeah. She did."
"Are you guys on good terms?" Kwazii paused and he sat up, leaning against the pillow.
"You could say," he said. Peso smiled softly.
"That's better." It was quiet again. What was it with the Octopod and being quiet at the worse moments?
"All right, well I'm going back to my pod. If you need anything, I'll be there," Peso stated, getting up and walking away. Just as he was about to leave, he opened his mouth.
"I l-" Peso froze, and Kwazii looked up.
"What was that, matey?" Peso looked away for a second, then back at Kwazii.
"Never mind," he said calmly. "I'll be in my pod if you need anything."
"I know, Peso. Don't worry." Peso froze again.
"I'm only telling you that because I care about you," he said. Kwazii looked up again.
"I care about you, too, but you have to stop worrying about me so much. I've got this," Kwazii said, trying to reassure the poor guy. Peso rubbed his eyes.
"I know you do," he said. They just stared at each other.
"Goodnight, Kwazii."
"Goodnight, Peso!"

Kwazii flopped down on his bed. "I better do this soon or I might just scream."

Words: 1568 Words
ew i kinda don't like this chapter but im not doing that well rn lmaooo next chapter will be better i swear