𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 ~ Aladarius

3. Trying To Look Away

I didn't actually expected to finish this today, bc I was sewing on my Willow Park costume the whole day, but I still somehow managed to write this chapter🥰💖💖

And just a little warning: there is going to be Odalia in this chapter.

Hope you enjoy!

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The next day, as Alador stood at the entrance to the cafeteria in Hexside, he wondered if it wouldn't be better to start his afternoon classes without lunch.

All day long he had avoided walking into Darius. He had dodged him in the school hallway, had not said a word to him in abominations, and had hoped that maybe Darius had already finished eating.
Alador had locked himself in the bathroom for an extra twenty minutes of lunch break to wait out some of the time unnoticed. After all, he didn't want Darius to eat too little just because of him.

But unfortunately, when he stood at the entrance of the cafeteria after those twenty minutes, he saw Darius sitting at one of the tables, together with Eda Clawthorne and Raine Whispers.

It had been naive, almost foolish of Alador to assume that Darius had even noticed that he was avoiding him.

Part of Alador had hoped that Darius would come looking for him. That he would wrap him in a gentle embrace to show him that everything was going to be okay, but Alador should have known that was complete nonsense.
Why should anyone notice that he was absent? Darius probably was even quite happy that Alador didn't get on his nerves for once. That Alador wasn't a bother like usual.

Alador's eyes filled with tears.
Why couldn't he just stop liking Darius so much when it was obvious that Darius would never love him?

Should he just leave again and hide in the bathroom for the rest of the break, too? That would be the safest idea, on the other hand the cafeteria was big, so if he paid attention he could avoid Darius here too.

Then he was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when someone bumped into him. When he turned around, he saw none other than Odalia.

As always, she had tied her hair back so tightly that not even a tiny green hair out of order on her head. Alador had always found this rather creepy. This could not be normal at all.
Whenever he tried to comb his hair somehow, it ended in disaster.

Odalia examined him from her cool and appraising eyes and raised a brow. "Alador? Why are you standing here like this?"

Alador swallowed. Even if he and Odalia were friends in some way, he had always been a little afraid of her. Just looking at her released this feeling of fear in him and he just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear.

"I- " he felt his gaze automatically drift over to Darius, "so- "

Odalia raised a brow. "Speak in complete sentences to me, we are friends after all! I can expect that much from you, Alador."

Alador felt his heart tighten in his chest and he had the feeling that the room had just become seven degrees colder. Only with him Odalia spoke in this way. He was really an incredible burden to his friends, it seemed. Alador hung his head. "I- I was just thinking. Sorry."

She just contorted her face, unimpressed, and looked over at Darius as well. "What is it with you and Darius?"

"I didn't say anything about Darius!" Alador exclaimed, but felt some heat rise to his face. If it was so obvious what he was feeling, then surely Darius knew long ago. It would only be a matter of time before he would tell Alador that they could no longer be friends.

"Are you questioning what I am saying?" Odalia asked sharply.

Alador quickly shook his head, feeling a little nauseous. "Of- of course not!"

Odalia looked like she was thinking. Alador briefly thought about whether he should just run away, because somehow he felt the need to do that.

"Are you going to invite him to grom?" she asked mockingly, and Alador's face turned even hotter.

It wasn't that he had actually intended to do that, but the thought had certainly crossed his mind and he couldn't deny that it was something he would be only too happy to do. Alador would like to invite Darius to grom, but he knew that Darius would never ever accept this invitation, so he rather did not try it. However, just the thought of it made him blush more and more.
If Darius would go with him to grom, then it would finally not be strange anymore when Alador looked at him dreamily. He would finally have an excuse to hold Darius tightly in his arms and tell him what he felt.

But this pink bubble of wonderful imaginings was popped like a balloon by Odalia as she laughingly said, "Forget it."

Alador turned even redder, but this time out of shame. She was right. What had he been thinking? Of course, none of this would ever happen, and imagining it wouldn't make it true.

But if he knew that, why did it hurt so incredibly?

"Darius is way too good for- "she let her eyes wander down his abomination goop-smeared clothes with a dismissive look,"-for everything that is you. I don't mean to insult you with this, but why would he go there with you when he could have anyone else from this school?"

"You- you're right. But- "

But Odalia interrupted him. "But you're wondering who else you should go with?"

That was far from what Alador had wanted to say, but he was afraid she might totally freak out if he told her she was wrong, so he kept his mouth shut and just nodded. He had learned over time that it was better to just agree with Odalia on everything she said.

"I could sacrifice myself. After all, I got myself a new dress, and it would be a shame if no one got to see it, wouldn't it? And if I went with you I wouldn't have to worry about you outshining me with- "She paused and looked a little disgusted. "Whatever YOU are going to wear."

She had a point there, Alador thought. All of his clothes were nowhere near as great as Darius', and normally Alador wasn't really interested in fashion at all, but when he thought about it like that, Darius would never go to grom with someone as poorly dressed as Alador.

"I- I'll think about it!"Alador said quickly, holding his breath and waiting until Odalia, who had a strangely pleased expression on her face, had walked over to the table with her friends from the oracle track before exhaling again and running off, feeling even worse than before.

He didn't want to go to grom with just anyone, he wanted to go with Darius. He wanted to go with the boy who made his heart race and always put a blush on Alador's cheeks with a simple silly smile.

But Odalia was right, Darius could have anyone. He probably already had someone.
Someone who was a thousand times better than Alador.