As The World Falls Down

Friends ?

Robbe was looking at his phone, headphones on, chewing his lunch, when a shadow fell over the table. Thinking that it's Zoe and the girls, he didn't bother to look up. He heard his name, muffled by the music in his ears, finally looked up only to see Sander sitting across from him in school canteen. Taking off his headphone, he stared at the apparition in front of him, who was unwrapping his food with casual ease. He forgot how to move or to breathe, it felt unreal, impossible under the electric light in the room. When he went to sleep that night, he had fully accepted the event as an oddity, that the boy probably won't speak to him again, let alone to sit with him in school canteen, when he had always sat alone, like they were friends.

"What are you listening to?" Sander was asking him.

He heard the question, but it didn't seem to register, as his brain had stopped working and Sander was arching his eyebrow.

"Or daydreaming about?" Sander smirked.

Robbe blinked and cleared his throat. "Ehm, just now, it's Nas."

He suddenly was aware of the buzzing in the room and glanced around. Some people were whispering, staring at their table, he could felt eyes on his back, many pairs of them. The unwanted and intense attention made him want to duck under the table, he tried to not blush.

"Nas?" Sander frowned in thought.

"Yeah, stuff like Lamar, West, Drake?"

"Oh, Nas. Ya, I think I know. So you like that kind of music?" He asked, after swallowing his food, ham and cheese sandwich. Sander as usual, was unperturbed at all by the stares.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the girls entering the canteen, they had stopped talking, and started to look toward what people was focusing on, namely him and Sander. Jana was gaping, started to move toward them, grinning broadly. Robbe wanted to shake his head, but Sander was looking at him. He had a feeling that Sander wouldn't be comfortable and he might acted aloof like he normally was. Though he might not, Sander was hard to predict, like a strange cat who might suddenly leap at you, rip your face, licked you up, or ignored your existence altogether. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry. Fortunately, Zoe had the tact for the weird situation, she said something to Jana and steered her away. They went to sit at a table, talking softly.

"Robbe?"

He looked back at him, trying to relax, he didn't want Sander to be uncomfortable and left.

"Well, I listen to almost everything actually. But, mostly yeah."

"You should try Bowie. You know David Bowie?"

"Bowie.." Robbe thought he heard that name before. "Wasn't he like dead?"

"Ya, unfortunately," Sander said, looking more than glum, he looked sad, like he knew him personally. Then abruptly his face lighten up, "But his music.. amazing, mindblowing music. Bowie worked with the greatest stars out there. No, all the big names worked with him."

Sander continued to talk, and Robbe found himself listening closely, engrossed in his passionate voice, the light in his eyes, the chatters around him faded to background noise. He told him about some of the songs he listened to, and Sander appeared to be listening attentively. Robbe had never been able to talk about music with his friends, or anything else for that matter, as they always only half-listened, and didn't seem to be interested at all. When the bell rang, he was genuinely startled by how fast time had flown by.

"Here, put in your number," Sander was pushing his phone across the table toward him. "I'll send you a playlist. You'll like it."

"Okay," Robbe typed his number in, keeping his face casual, though inside he was an obscure mishmash.