You're a Metaphor

Chapter 9: Black & White

Andre tiptoed and scanned the place before closing the door completely, trying his hardest not to make unnecessary noises.

"What's onya mate?! I was scared shitless!" James said with a baseball bat at hand, about to swing to the perpetrator, who turned out to be Andre.

Andre raised his hands in front of him, in a form of surrender, hoping that they would shield him from the supposed beating.

"Heey, whoa, it's just me. Your mate, Andre, alright!" Andre said in his own 'aussie' accent or how he believed it sounded like one.

James dropped the baseball bat and walked to the kitchen, limping.

"Yeah well, you sure were asking for it mate! Why the hell were you tip-toeing and acting so suspicious?"

The sun was just rising, emitting rays of light from the window, which made James scrunched up his eyes with the contrast. James' silhouette can be seen reaching out to the cabinet above his head.

"I didn't want to wake you." Andre walked behind him and as he was fairly taller than the poor lad, he reached out for the box of cereal and handed it to James.

"So you're already in that stage of staying over at your girlfriend's house, aye mate? Next thing I'll know, you'll be moving out and moving in with her. " James asked, his arms crossed.

"Nah. Not yet, you can still have me here reaching out for elevated things that's way out of your arms length." Andre winked at James with a smug face. "I stayed over cause I helped Yassi tend after Nadine." The words just came out when Andre was supposed to not mention a thing about it, as he has promised Yassi. He covered his mouth in an automatic response to hopefully eat up the said words.

"It's already out mate. So you better spill the beans. I have about 2 more hours before I head out for my job interview." James glanced at the wall clock, making sure he made the right calculations.

"So, this job interview, what position and for which company?" Andre sat, placing his elbow on the table while rubbing his chin.

"Haha! Don't change the topic mate." James dragged the chair and sat in front of Andre. He poured almost half the cereals into his gigantic bowl and drowned it with milk.

"Alright so here goes..." Just when Andre was about to start with his narrative, James interrupted him.

"Hold up, can you please give me the concise, abridged version. I don't have all the time." James tapped his fingers on the table.

"Fine fine, here goes..." Andre fixed the collar of his shirt, and sat straight, his chest protruding.

"Nadine's still hung up with her ex."
"I'm gonna ask Nadine to go out on a date with me!" James blurted out of the blue and right about the same time, Andre revealed his exposition. It was an awful harmony of words.

"Wait what?" They both said in unison, for the second time around.

"You can't keep doing" James said, Andre following through, "that..don't do that!" and finished the sentence James was about to express.

"Will you please" James tried again, with Andre completely continuing the sentence with his own words, "stop doing that. Stop finishing my" as if he knows every word that's going to come out of James' mouth. Which could be quite true. "my sentence!" James followed suit, celebrating his victory: because he said the last words. "Hah!" James stood up, pointing at Andre, high and proud. He sat down as quickly as he recalled Andre's revelation. His face turned from ecstatic to stern.

"I thought you weren't interested at her like that. Thought you wanted to explore being single?" Andre asked, making the quotation gestures in the air - sympathetic and feeling awful.