Random One Shots

One Shot #5 - Confrontation

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   Emmi put down the scissors and inspected the piece of paper she was ruining. Not enough spikes, she decided and took up the scissors again.

   The bright sunlight was streaming though the broken window, making her orange hair seem gold. The blue streak just looked lighter. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she snipped at the paper and hummed to herself a high tune, waiting for the bomb to drop.

   A second later it did. Jostling could be heard at the door, prominent too. A faint groan could be made out. Emmi smiled and continued her massacre on the blank paper.

   A much louder sound came after that. Glass shattering and something hard hitting the paved floor. He'd broken the window. Smart boy, Emmi found herself thinking.

   Next came the footsteps. Oh how she highly anticipated footsteps. You never knew who was coming. It was odd, Emmi had taught herself how to figure out who was coming just by listening to footsteps. But she didn't need to use her talent this time, she already knew who was coming.

   Closer...closer...finally. Carlos marched into the room swiftly, angrily, just like she knew he would. His mouth was a desired frown, his eyebrows in a position that made him look angry and frustrated at the same time. She knew he would look like that. His hands were on his hips and he was staring at her, just like she knew he did. And because everything that he was doing was already expected, because she was such a genius, in spite of herself, Emmi smiled.

   She looked up from her lap and kept on smiling. His eyebrows shot up for a moment, as if surprised to see the knowing smile on her face and the glint in her eyes, but soon they went back to their original position.

   Emmi reached into her pocket and pulled out a Twix bar. She unwrapped it and bit into it. She didn't want silence. If anyone was here, she didn't want them to think that the tension was so thick they could cut it with a knife. So she crunched on her chocolate, all the while staring at him. One thing she was sure of. She wasn't going to make the first move.

   Crunch.

   Crunch.

   CA-RUNCH!

   Emmi chewed slowly and steadily. Her eyes traveling up and down his body until they finally settled on his eyes. Light brown eyes met dark brown eyes. Carlos breathed in for a while before finally speaking.

   “Why?”

   Emmi knew exactly what he was asking but didn't drop her gaze and continued to chew.

   “Emmi, don't play dumb.”

   Emmi shoved the remains of the Twix bar into her mouth and crunched even louder. She opened up the wrapper and licked the chocolate that was stuck to the inside. She looked up to see Carlos cringing.

   “Don't do that, that's disgusting.”

   Emmi rolled her eyes and licked the inside again, this time nice and long. Carlos shook this off and spoke again.

   “Why did you lie to me?”

   His words were like a gunshot. It made her look up. Suddenly she was aware, he was serious. She stared, with a slightly crooked frown.

   “I seriously don't know why you would lie about something like that, it was completely uncalled for. Do you even feel-”

   “I didn't lie,” Emmi said firmly, speaking for the first time.

   Carlos blinked, he looked quite taken aback. “What did you say?”

   “I said I didn't lie.”

   “Oh, really? How did you not lie? Convince me!” he said.

   “I just told you a made up story,” Emmi shrugged and open and closed her scissors.

   Carlos groaned.

   “People like my stories...” Emmi said dumbly.

   Carlos was getting tired of her, she could tell soon enough, he would stop being firm and play along with her.

   “Fine, why did you make up that story?” he asked.

   “I wanted to know what it would be like to have a friend.” She put it as simply as that.

   “You already have friends,” Carlos said.

   “A real friend.” Emmi kept her voice calm, but she was staring at Carlos so sharply it wouldn't have made a difference if she had held him up against a wall with a knife. It was a struggle. His eyes were quavering, trying to lock onto hers but couldn't. Emmi started again.

   “A person who I haven't known my whole life. Someone I could actually make friends with by myself. A person who I could actually get to know, without him instantly taking pity on me.” She took the candy wrapper out of her pocket and started working on it with her scissors.

   Sadness and concern flashed through Carlos' eyes, but they went back to plain old stern. “Well, you went about it the wrong way. Because now you don't have one anymore.”

   Carlos had expected her to snap. He had expected her to instantly look up, maybe say she was sorry or at least show some emotion. But she didn't. She kept her head down. Emmi wouldn't subdue to any expectations. She was thinking for a while before reacting.

   After a few seconds of silence, Emmi finally looked at a slightly baffled Carlos.

   “Okay.”

   The word hung in the air. Carlos hadn't expected this. If it had been any other time, Emmi would have smirked. She would have been proud of herself for not following the norm and shocking her victim. But this was a different time. She kept her face straight; she wasn't even fighting a smirk.

   “Whu-wha-”

   “You said you don't want to be my friend anymore, and that's okay. I'm not going to force you to be. You never said you made any commitment to me.”

   “I-I,” Carlos was at loss for words, “I guess that's it then.” He shoved his hands in his jean pockets.

   “Yeah. Leave.” Emmi ordered.

   Carlos nodded and walked out the doorway. Emmi listened to the footsteps. She listened to him unlocking the door and waking outside. She heard a slight yelp that was probably him stepping on some of the glass he broke. She heard faint footsteps. Those faint footsteps soon faded into the sound of still air.

   Emmi listened to it for a while. She listened to the sound of two cars passing, one blasting loud pop music, the other just tires rolling against the asphalt. Then air again. Emmi breathed in and out and listened to the silence for a while.

   Then she allowed herself to cry.