Distant Minds

Chapter 18: Unexpected

          Troy smiles and looks at Gabby, "hey. How's it going?" Randall jumps in the unwanted conversation immediately. "Hey, why are you here?" Troy glares at Randall and asks him "why the fuck you here?" Randall leans in towards the side. "We can take this outside if you want." Troy smirks. "Wanna bet?" Gabby grabs Randall's arm. And whispers to him. "Don't do it, not now." Randall respects Gabby's wish. "Okay, I won't." The two continue to watch the movie, With Troy as the third wheel. As the movie credits roll in, they get up to leave, but Troy quickly grasps Gabby's hand. "Wanna hang out sometime? I've really been missing you." Gabby thrusts her hand away from his grasp. "I think I'll pass." And the she and Randall walk away.
          Randall and Gabby enter the Randall's car and drive out of the parking lot. "Where do you wanna go now?" Randall asks turning his head towards her. Gabby thinks, "umm, I don't know, wanna go back to Daniels house and chill?" Randall nods. "Anything you want." Randall continues to drive across the highway, and the two continue to talk about their childhoods. They enter the garage way at Daniels house, and Randall parks the car. Then he says, "you go on ahead, I need to make a quick call."
"Oh alright, but be quick I'm gonna get lonely!" Randall smiles as gabby exits and closes the car door.
Randall holds his phone up to his ear.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring
Hello?
Hey Braden. How's it going?
Not bad, you?
I've been well, lol sorry about fighting you a while back,
Don't worry, it's cool.
Is the deal still on?
Me helping you keep Troy away from you and Gabby in exchange for Kate? Still is.
Alright I just wanted to make sure,
Yeah dude. It's nice to have you back in Texas for the summer.
Well, I gotta go now. She's waiting for me inside.
I'll talk to you later Randall.

          Daniel opens the door to Red's room and sees red and Jacob on the bed. "Hey man, you called me over and said it was urgent. You good?" Red sighs. "Kyrie and I are done." "Oh god. Why? What happened?" Daniel walks towards Red's huge bed and sits on it. Red looks down. "Kyrie and I were at the mall a while ago. And we were walking around a few places as usual." "Yeah, and?" "And we went inside urban outfitters, but we came across Liv. She recently told me that she liked me, but I didn't tell her that I was dating Kyrie. So I guess that came to her by surprise. She walked past me and Kyrie and it looked as if she purposely ran her shoulder against Kyrie in like some sort of aggression." "Damn, what happened then?" "Kyrie sort of got threatened, and went after her and told me to stay inside the store. Turns out she beat her ass out in the open." "But she wouldn't do that, bro! From all the years we knew her-" "Daniel I saw it! I saw liv on the ground with Kyrie standing above her, and it didn't feel right. I didn't want Kyrie hurting other people over me. No matter how bad the obsession is. It's fucked up." Daniel nods. "She really shouldn't have done that. But what are you gonna do now? All of that work up for nothing?" "She was unique," Red says. "She was really kind and sweet but seeing that other side was too much for me. Too much for other people. And I can't have that in my life."
Daniel gets up from the bed and taps Reds shoulder. He looks at him and says, "wanna go somewhere to clear your mind? You wanna go to like a Starbucks or something?" Red nods. "Let's go." Red gets up, walks out of the room and Daniel and Jacob follow. The three walk out of the house and out to the street towards the bus stop. They get on pay their fare, and sit at the very back. Jacob gets on his phone and Daniel does as well. Red stares out of the bus window into the bright and windy afternoon. He sees the trees swaying slowly across the following neighborhoods, colorful birds soaring through the air, cars speeding by the rocky and pothole filled roads, and he wonders how much longer his love crisis will last.
          The bus arrives at a stop near an intersection, and the three get off and enter the Starbucks. Daniel says to Jacob and Red, "you two get in line. I'll get something later just let me grab a table." "Alright" Red reluctantly says. Red and Jacob get in line. There are about three people in line ahead of them. As soon as Red and Jacob get to the ordering register, Jacob smiles at Red and says, "I uhh, I need to use the restroom," "oh damnit Jacob," Red laughs. "Tell me what you want." "Just get me a sandwich, any sandwich." "Alright." Jacob runs to the restroom and Red walks up to the cashier.
Hi, welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?
Hi, yeah can I get a grande caramel frappe and a ham and cheese croissant?
Got it, is that all for today?
Yep.
Okay, that'll be 7.58
Here you go,
Thank you, and what is your name?
Richard.
Okay thank you! Have a good day.
You too.
Red takes his receipt and walks away from the cashier and to the table Daniel is sitting at. He sits down and sees that Daniel is on his phone. Red says, "Daniel how's your love life going?" Daniel looks up. Then chuckles, "haha, what love life?" Red shakes his head, "you got it easy. You never know when that love at first sight will strike-" "order for Richard! Richard!" Red turns around and sees his drink and sandwich on the pickup counter. He gets up from the chair and walks towards the counter and takes the food. Daniel yells out to Red from a good distance, "Hey Red! Guess what Kyrie posted on her Instagram!" Red turns around quickly with the food in his hands, but SLAM! He knocks into a person and the two end up on the floor with spilt drinks and food. Red looks up, and sees a boy, probably his age or so, hold his hand out for red to reach. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for bumping into you, I didn't see you coming!" Red blushes a bit and extends his hand and the boy pulls Red up. "I- it's okay. I'm sorry for bumping into you, I should've turned around slower." Red pulls a 10$ bill from his pocket. "Here, use this to pay for the drink I made you spill." "No, no, you don't have to!" Red smiles and looks at the mess on the floor. "You sure? I'll feel bad if I couldn't pay you back for this mess." The boy nods, "yeah, I'm sure. My name's Jason. Got snapchat?" "Yeah, I'm Richard." Red pulls out his phone and hands it to Jason to enter his snapchat. Jason hands the phone back to red and smiles. "Nice to meet you, well I got to go now, I'll text you!" Red nods back, "let's hang sometime." Jason walks away from the mess and back to the register to order his drink. Red walks back to the table and sees Daniel and Jacob. Daniel looks up. "I see you've made a new friend!" Red blushes. "Dude, I think I have to tell you something, I think I like a-" Red pauses. "I feel like i, have a crush on a guy."