Count On Me

XIV

Cal:

Xavier always kept his word.

He came back like always, but I still felt like crap.

"I ran you off." I whisper.

"Did not." Xavier says pecking my on the nose. He sounded stressed, but he constantly kept smiling it off at me.

"Sukie? You ready to go?" He says, voice wavering a bit, something that I almost never hear from him. His hands are shoved in his jacket pockets, his hands shaking. I want to ask him if he's alright, but he refuses to meet my gaze.

"Yeah, coming!" She yells from upstairs. I hear the padding of her footsteps, and then she's downstairs sitting on the hardwood floor pulling her vans on, excited to go eat ice cream.

I smile quietly to myself...she's still got that childish personality.

"Take care of her, will you?" I ask Xavier, hating myself for it, but I needed him to say it. I needed to hear some type of verbal confirmation that Sukie wouldn't leave me.

"Daaaaddd." Sukie whines, rolling her eyes. "I'm getting ice cream, it's not like I'm leaving the country or something."

Xavier smiles at Sukie, his eyes sliding over to me, calming down slightly. "I've got her." He says softly, leans over and pulls me against him, brushing my hair back with the other hand.

Those unnerving eyes scan my face, almost like he's inspecting me. I try not to squirm in his grasp, but he's starting to make me feel self conscious, just like he always does. He strips you down to nothing, because he's selfless and refuses to focus on himself and only what's on his mind.

He's silently passionate about what he values. He takes his time savoring what he cares about. He lets nothing slip between you and him, keeping the raw tension running on high.

I swallow hard, not sure what do, and trying to stay put.

"I've got her." He repeats. Then he let's go, slipping away quickly.

"So are we having a cone or bowl?" He asks as he follows Sukie out the door.

"Either works." She says waving goodbye to me.

"No no no." Xavier says unlocking his car, opening the passenger door for her. "We need to coordinate. It's time I teach you about ice cream etiquette."

———————

Xavier:

"So tell me." I say waking down the sidewalk, licking ice cream off my cone. "What's your favorite color?"

"Black."

"Really?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." She says behind her own ice cream cone.

"Why?"

"Nobody likes the color black. People think it's too boring or too sad."

I glance over at her, shake my head smiling.
"I think it's a great color."

"Why?" She quips back.

"Because you care for the colors that aren't loved."

Sukie pauses, stops in her tracks. I didn't notice until she stopped walking next to me.
I turn back. "What's up?" I ask

"How did you ever figure out what to major in for college?" She asks quietly. "Everyone else knows what they want to do in the future. Even you are so sure of yourself. I always act like it, but I feel stuck in this void, or like I'm on some cliff where I see nothing. I'm not going anywhere..."