+ Positively Negative - | Freddie & Joey

15. Joey - Suspension [Part Two]

Chapter Fifteen

Suspension Part Two

Joey –

 Lou had texted me the details to a cool café that was in town, but it was in a closed off area so it was never really busy. I’d been there once or twice. They sold sandwiches and baguettes- things like that. When I got there she’d given me a hug and invited me straight in, talking so fast about how Freddie had arrived and how she was annoyed that he hadn’t told her anything about where he’d been. Before we sat down she ordered a baguette for herself and a ham and cheese Panini for me, plus strawberry milkshakes for both of us. They gave Lou her BLT Baguette straight away.

‘Are you serious?!’ I asked. ‘He won’t tell you where he was?’

‘Nope.’ She sat down on a high table for two by a window. I followed her and sat opposite. ‘He looked terrible when he arrived too. Kind of dead. I’m really scared. He was so quiet.’

‘Isn’t Freddie quiet anyway?’

Lou’s head cocked to the side. ‘You don’t know him very well, do you?’

‘Not yet, no.’

‘So you’d like to?’ she grinned.

I blushed, ‘That’s not what I said.’ She raised an eyebrow but dropped it.

‘I guess he is quieter than some, yeah, but when he is around most of his friends he is pretty chatty.’

‘Oh.’ Was I a friend? ‘Did he go home?’

‘No-’

My eyes widened, ‘Are you serious? He must feel like shit-’

‘Yeah, but he refused to let me put him off. His boss, Eric, tried to tell him to stay off today too but Freddie wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eric’s making him take extra breaks though. He’ll probably be out for lunch in another half an hour or something.’ She sat up suddenly and looked towards the till. ‘He’s taking orders, look.’

I followed her gaze and sure enough, there he was standing behind the desk. He did look like shit. I didn’t mean to sound like a dick or anything, but it was true. He had dark bags under his eyes and his collar-length hair had been packed up away from his ashen face though only a tiny bit of hair was contained in the hair band. The rest of his wavy hair had escaped and framed his face as it always did. His face…it looked so withdrawn, empty, blank- just as it had done in that wood tech. lesson. And then there were his lifeless eyes. Hard as it was, I stared at his brown pupils, determined to have them as memorised as the rest of him.

Was it weird that despite the fact that I thought he looked like shit, he looked pretty…good (shi-it) to me..?

‘Why… Why would they have him speaking to people when he looks like that?’ I asked. I looked back at her briefly. ‘No offence to him or anything.’

Lou sighed, ‘I felt the same way. But Eric said if he’s being seen by people he’ll make more of an effort to get himself together. He isn’t staying there for his whole shift though.’ She yawned, ‘Sorry about that, I obviously didn’t get much sleep last night. Damn, I must have kept you up too, sorry.’

‘That’s alright,’ I nodded just as our milkshakes and my Panini arrived. I offered a quick ‘thanks’ to the female waitress before saying to Lou, ‘It was to make sure Freddie was okay.’ I looked over at him again to find than he’d lifted his head in our direction and was looking right at me. I sent him an hesitant smile. He stared at me for a little longer, looked as if he tried to smile- but couldn’t quite manage it- and looked away again. His left hand started playing with the bracelets on his right and he seemed to be stroking the skin underneath it. I looked at Lou, confused. My eyes widened when I saw she had tears in her eyes as she fiddled absentmindedly with her straw.