The Pseudo Semicolon

CHAPTER 4: We Meet Again

"Well what brings you here?" Todd started as they slowly walked down the path. Knocker Street held some very comical looking buildings; vibrant colours and built at weird angles. They seemed to be glued together, only ripped apart due to small alleyways. The small town was particularly alive in the evening, the cafes rang with laughter as people went to and fro.

"Nothing much. Wanted to get some fresh air." Devland tilted his head, quietly observing the ginger cat yawning as it stretched atop a wall, flicking its tail from left to right. "What about you?"

"Same as you I guess. It can get... hectic in my house," Todd mused, pulling down the sleeves of his hoodie. His body language slightly shifted, "How's everybody holding up?"

Devland didn't want to talk about that. "As fine as they can. They're all coping in their own ways." There was a clear warning to not talk further about the topic, "How was Max to you, by the way?"

"Happy, honestly." Todd replied, "He was a good friend."

Not enough.

"We were completely out of touch." Devland forged on, "I didn't know what was going on in his life and he, mine. I think I'm just trying to figure out why he did what he did. Maybe he was pressured by dad to be good and cracked under the stress? I don't know."

"Well, he was the topper in our class. He never dated around though, and rarely went to parties. Rarely threw one too. The only time he did was for his friends' birthdays."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Poor dude died a virgin." Todd exhaled a hollow chuckle, "Sorry, that was a bad joke."

"It's fine." Devland offered a small smile, "But seriously? Not one girlfriend?"

"Nope. Not even a boyfriend." Todd shook his head, "Too much of a goody two-shoes."

'Not enough.' Devland groaned, 'What was Max really like? What did he do?' "Were you close with Max?"

"Not... really?" Todd paused, "Charlie was closer to him. Those two seemed like they were joined at the hip."

Finally. "Oh. How did you guys meet then?"

"Well, our group started out as just Charlie and Max. Then me and Jason came along and then Roy and Mitchel." Todd smiled crookedly, "It seems like we had a lot more in common than we all thought."

Devland noticed the absence of a name. The absence of a certain someone. "I heard Charlie is on the football team?" Devland had not, he was guessing based on the obvious clues.

"Yeah. Captain actually. You should join, tryouts will begin next week, don't you like sports?"

"Damn right I do." Devland grinned like a Chesire cat, already regretting the words. The things he did to get some fucking answers that SOMEONE couldn't just write down. Devland wasn't terrible at sports, he was in a sports team back in his old school and played it well enough.

Speaking of his old school, he wondered what his classmates were doing. They had texted him with their condolences but Devland didn't reply to any of them, having been too drained. He thought back to his team members; They were really good people. Honest people—which was rare to find in Devland's school.

Thanks to Devland's reputation and the people he hung out with, they had mostly avoided him. Ignored him. Devland simply took the hurt, thinking he deserved it for all the shitty things he did—betraying some good friends and all the lying.

He was guilty for what he did, but back then, he thought he didn't have a choice. Thought that if they were gonna betray him anyway, might as well do it first. It was the mindset his mother had instilled in him—the businessman mindset.