Wasted potential ★ holes [zigzag x oc]

Thirty- six

The first night squid had stayed over, they had set him up in the basement on the pull out couch. It was pretty comfortable and squid didn't seem to mind it.

"If you want the tv on well you sleep, here's the remote." Shark told him, tossing the remote on the couch.

Just then Lottie came in, holding a couple of towels and a tooth brush for squid, placing them down on an empty chair. "Here Alan there are for you." She told him. "And if you need anything, just let me and Josie know alright? I'm gonna head to bed." She told the two. then kissing shark on the top of her head. "Goodnight love bug." She said.

"Goodnight mom.." shark said, slightly embarrassed by the nickname.

"And goodnight Alan." She smiled at him.

"Goodnight mis—I mean, goodnight Lottie." He said correcting himself.

Lottie waved to the two before heading back up stairs to go to bed.

"Love bug?" Squid snickered, playing teasing at her nickname.

"Stoppp.." she wined. "She'd called me that since I was like three."

"How'd that nickname come about?" He asked her.

"I used to put worms and other bugs in my pocket and try and bring them into the house." She told him.

"Well I'm glad you didn't bring that habit back at camp." He said.

This made shark burst out laughing. "Could you imagine? If I brought a scorpion in my pocket to the tent?" She was now doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"X would have killed you." Squid said, laughing along with her.

Once the laughed died down a bit, shark spoke. "Speaking of x, you talk to him lately?" She asked.

Squid shook his head. "Not too much though, but I was talking to zigzag a couple days ago." He told her.

Sharks ears perked up at the mention of zigzag. "Oh? What did he say?" She asked.

"You wanna know if he was talking about you huh?" He smirked, the two hadn't exactly talked about her relationship with zigzag.

"Pfft, no.." she lied. "But you know if he did, I'd like to know." She said.

"Well if you must know....he doesn't shut up about you." He told her.

Shark tried to hide her excitement, but she couldn't help it. Of course she talked to Zigzag all the time on the phone but to hear that he was talking about her to their friends, just something about that filled her stomach with butterflies.

"Sooo..what does he say about me.." she asked.

"Sorry, that's confidential boys talk." He said.

"Come on!" She then grabbed a pillow and thwacked him in the head with it. "You gotta tell me!" She continued to pester and hit him with the pillow until he ripped it out of her hands and put it behind his head to get comfortable.

"No can do." He told her.

She groaned. "Fine, but I'll get it out of you one day."

"Good luck with that shark."

-

The next morning shark found her self waking up at 5 in the morning again. She really tried to go back to sleep, counted sheep, and recited all the digits of pi she had memorized, but nothing worked.

She finally gave up and decided to start her day. She threw up her hair into a ponytail and put on her hoodie over her tank top that she slept in.

As she entered the downstairs area, she noticed the lights were on, she didn't remember leaving them on.

As she reached the living room, she was greeted with squid sitting on the couch, watching the tv with the volume off.

"Squid? Why are you up so early?" She asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Ever since I got back from camp, I just can't sleep in anymore." He told her.

"Yeah, me too." She said, sitting on the couch next to him. "Why's the tv muted?" She asked, reaching over to grab the remote.

"I didnt wanna wake you guys up." He explained.

"Trust me, my mom and Dave are heavy sleepers, the tv won't wake them." She said, unmuting the tv. "You hungry? Want breakfast?" She asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."

"Let's go," she said, getting up and leading him to the kitchen. "How do you feel about egos?" She asked, reaching into the fridge and grabbing the box.

"Fine with me." He told her, leaning up against the counter as she put them in the toaster.

As the waffles cooked, shark leaned against the counter with squid. "You know my mom is gonna wanna talk to your mom..." shark told him. "About, you staying here."

"She can try, but she's too busy drinking to even wanna talk to her." He said.

"Squid maybe you should tell my mom what's going on at home. I know it's easier said than done but maybe if she knew what it was like, she'd be more open to you staying here." She said.

Squid contemplated the idea in his head, he had never really talked to an adult about his mom, and he wasn't sure what would happen if he did. "But what if she calls someone and they throw me in a foster home or something?" He worried.

"I wouldn't let that happen. And neither would my mom." She promised him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Fine, but not right away. Gimme some time to figure out what I'm gonna say." He said.

"Whatever you need squid." She said, just then the waffles popped up from the toaster. She took both of them out and handed one to squid. "Now eat your waffle before it gets Cold."

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but if I'm being honest, I'm started to feel a bit of writers block. So any encouragement would be welcome!