Chasing The Sun

chapter 6

After Charlie got her piercing we decided to go to the arcade. Well, they decided I needed to have some fun and dragged me to the arcade. 'Letting loose' wasn't really something I had ever known how to do. I had been taught to focus on nothing but school my entire life. Doing anything else other than that was strange to me, but I was starting to like it.

The arcade was brightly coloured and filled with children of all ages. At first I was startled to see it so full but then I realised that it was a Friday afternoon, of course it would be full.

There was a bowling area to the back and a little restaurant also. Parents were sat there, looking tired — more tired than me even. Kids running around screaming in every direction and teenagers trying too hard to look cool.

"What do you wanna do first?" Aspen asked, grinning excitedly.

"Omg, please can we go and play that Whack A Mole game?" Damon asked.

"Only if you're ready to lose," Aspen smirked at him.

"I have a feeling that both of you are going to lose," Cameron retorted. Both Aspen and Damien turned to glare at him. With in two seconds, the three of them were racing towards the game.

I chuckled silently to myself. My friends were worse than some children when they wanted to be.

"What would you like to do?" Charlie asked, breaking my train of thought.

I tapped my chin, thinking for a second. "I actually wouldn't mind getting a slice of pizza. I don't think I ate today."

And I hadn't. Between my lecture — which I wasn't supposed to has but clearly my lecturer hates me — and the assignments I had been given, I hadn't had time to think about food. This was a constant problem when I was in high school, but I always had my mother to remind me to eat. My mother wasn't here now and remembering to take care of myself was proving to be harder than I had thought.

"Well we can't have that now, can we?" Charlie grabbed my hand casually and lead me to the restaurant. I couldn't help but notice how some of the parents stared, curiosity written all over their faces. Back in Texas, it wouldn't have been curiosity on their faces, it would've been pure disgust.

"Two slices of pepperoni pizza and two chocolate shakes please," Charlie ordered. The cashier told her the price and she paid for it.

"You need to stop paying for me now," I told her. "I already owe you lunch for that time you paid for me. Are you trying to make me go bankrupt?"

Sitting down at a table and placing my pizza and shake in front of me, Charlie chuckled. "Okay, I promise you next time you can definitely pay."

This surprised me. I had been expecting more of a fight from her, but she had listened to what I wanted. I wasn't used to that. When it came to Ethan, he always paid. He did what a 'man' was supposed to do. If it were up to him and my father, I wouldn't be in college. I'd be a house wife. Taking care of the children and cooking and cleaning.

Charlie and I sat in silence while we ate. It was never an awkward silence. I got the feeling that she knew I wasn't comfortable speaking a lot and I appreciated that she didn't force me to speak, she rather waited for me to do it on my own time.

"Our friends are idiots, do you know that?" I asked, taking a sip of my shake.

She laughed lightly, "You have no idea. You'd swear they have not matured one little bit. They've been exactly the same since we were kids."

"What about you? You're telling me you don't behave like that?"

"Oh no, I definitely do. But I'd rather sit and talk to you than run around like an idiot."