Candy [MCCARTNEY]

SIX

LOVE AND LEPIDOPTERA

✞

George offered me the cigarette without looking, but I merely stared at it, watching the smoke swirl and disappear. I didn't feel like smoking today. In truth, I didn't feel like doing anything but laying in bed, thinking about the different shades of brown and the colours they threw in the sunlight.

My friend, however, was busy watching some kids trying to break into the janitor's shed as we stood in the courtyard of school, sheltering ourselves from the gentle rain.

When he realised I hadn't taken the cigarette, he turned his attention to me. "What's wrong with you?"

I merely shook my head, screwing up my mouth slightly as I usually did when something was, in fact, wrong. "Nothing."

George waited, eyebrows raised. "Go on, idiot."

"Fine." I folded my arms, but still resisted the cigarette. Figuring out what I needed to communicate wasn't going to be an easy feat — I could barely do it in my own head. "What would you think if someone says that they shouldn't be interested in you. . . but that doesn't mean. . . that they aren't."

George was slightly taken aback and simply blinked at me. "Has someone said that to you?"

I shrugged. "Just — what do you think?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"If someone said that to me - just pretend - would you also think that person would add them back on. . . I don't know. . . Facebook?"

"Add you? Are you basically asking if you think they were interested in you?" George appeared confused. "Do you think they're interested in you?"

I groaned. "Yeah, George. Let's pretend."

My big, brown eyed friend looked to me with a hopeless grin. "Then, yeah?"

I nodded solemnly. "Thought so."

He turned his head from me again, putting the cigarette back to his own lips. "So what I'm gathering here is that someone said they're into you," he relayed. "But they. . . didn't add you back on Facebook? Could they be into the chase, instead? I don't know." He finished off what was left of the cigarette and reached over to toss it into the bin.

"It was just a scenario," I told him, leaning back against the cold wall. "Would your answer still stand if I maybe gave him my phone number as well?"

"And he didn't call you?"

I pursed my lips together, before briefly closing my eyes and begrudgingly answering: "He told me he wouldn't."

George burst into laughter. "Who is it, by the way?" 

"You're an ass," I said. "It's someone." 

The bell was about to ring for the last class of the day and I was tired. Emotionally exhausted. I nudged George to get his bag while I grabbed my own, getting ready to re-enter the school's halls. Absoloutely despondent with love and social media.