Why are you here?

Just Ignore It

"So what's for lunch?" Radlynn asked from her spot on the couch. She'd settled comfortably into his home in the past few days, so she didn't glance up from her channel surfing as Radley searched through the fridge.

"Nothing, really." He replied. She glanced over at him. "I'll have to go out, I guess." He closed the fridge door and walked over to the coat rack near the door. Radlynn watched him slip on his long white jacket.

"Can I come with you?" She asked. Radley glanced at her. "C'mon, I haven't left the house in days!" She moaned. He sighed.

"Alright," he murmured. Radlynn hopped off the couch quickly and stood up in front of him, looking eager to leave, even if it was for something as mundane as grocery shopping. "But you have to stay close by, you'll get lost otherwise."

"Fine, fine." She muttered back. "Let's just go already. I'm going stir crazy just standing here!" Radley rolled his eyes at her and unlocked the door. Radlynn walked out past him quickly and busied herself with gulping down her first breaths of fresh air in almost a week.

Radley locked the door behind them and started walking, hands stuffed into his pockets. Radlynn walked quickly alongside him. Radley wasn't a fast walker, but his legs were far longer than hers. He hadn't really realized how short she was till now. He slowed his pace just a bit.

They walked in silence for a while. Radley made sure to keep an eye on her, just in case, as they walked through the caverns. They'd finally reached Lake Chocodunk when Radlynn spoke up.

"Why do you live so far away from town?" She asked. Radley looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been walking for at least thirty minutes now and we've only left the caves," she replied. "Why so far away? What if there's an emergency or something?"

"I don't need to be close." He replied, almost defensively. "I can handle things myself."

Radlynn frowned. "Doesn't it get lonely though? All the way out in the caverns, away from everyone else?"

Radley didn't reply for a while, and Radlynn thought maybe she'd overstepped or something, when he finally answered the question. "I don't like people." He said simply. "I don't like being around them, and they don't like being around me."

"...oh." She replied. Things went quiet again after that.

They didn't talk again until they reached Neapolitown. "So do you walk all that way every time you need groceries?" Radlynn asked. Radley nodded, and pulled up the collar of his jacket so it covered more of his face.

Radlynn stopped for a second and looked around, suddenly realising she- no, they, were being stared at. She frowned confusedly, but then got quite literally yanked out of her thoughts. Radley was gripping her wrist and pulling her after him. "No dawdling." He muttered. She arched a brow. It wasn't like him to be so...rough.

He led her into a large supermarket. Radley didn't say anything as he grabbed a large shopping cart and headed off down one of the aisles. Radlynn followed at his heels, her confusion only mounting, as they received more stares wherever they went. Conversations would suddenly flicker and die, or just suddenly stop when they were noticed. Radlynn edged closer to Radley. No wonder he was covering his face.

"You haven't got any allergies, right?" Radley suddenly asked her. Radlynn looked up at him.

"Allergies? Uh- no." She glanced from him to a scoopian staring at them, frozen in place, gripping a box of macaroni a little tighter than was probably necessary. "Um- does this always happen?" She asked as they walked down the aisle. Radley shrugged.

"I just ignore it." He murmured back as he tossed a package of pasta into the cart. Radlynn nodded and resigned herself to just shuffling along behind him.

Ignoring the stares proved to be easier said than done. At first she was just uncomfortable, but now it was starting to grate on her nerves. Maybe Radley had the right idea living far away from everyone else.

"Oh, Radlynn?" His voice pulled her from her thoughts again. She looked up at him and- when did they get to the checkout? "How about you go back and grab some coffee? You said you drink that, right?"

"Oh, yeah sure." She mumbled back. The thought of being alone without Radley made her stomach lurch, but she pushed it off and walked away. "You got this Radlynn, you're strong and uh- independent! Yeah! Some ice cream people aren't gonna scare you off!" She thought to herself as she walked through the aisles. Eventually, she found the right one and looked through the unfamiliar brands.

"E-Excuse me?" A voice came from behind her. Radlynn turned around and looked at the speaker. A chocolate ice cream scoopian, wearing a name tag that simply read 'Flake'. She arched a brow at him. "We noticed that you're er- with Radley Madish?" Radlynn didn't miss the glance Flake gave to the picture of Radley that was on her shirt. "He's not like...forcing you to be with him, right? Is he holding you captive o-or anything? Should we call security...?"

She scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Of course he isn't." Radlynn replied. "Why would he do that?"

"Um- because he's Radley Madish?" Flake replied. Of course, that's why they were staring! They just assumed Radley was doing something bad the second he stepped into town. Radlynn grit her teeth.

"I've been staying with him by choice for nearly a week now and he's been perfectly nice to me." She snapped back. When did she get that angry? She didn't realize the stares had gotten her that worked up. "Maybe he'd be nicer if you didn't stare at him so much!" Flake flinched away from her. Radlynn huffed, grabbed a random container of instant coffee, and walked off.

"Oh, there you are." Radley was busying himself at a self checkout when she came back. "Did you find it alright?"

Radlynn just nodded and held out the coffee for him to scan it. "Fine." She murmured. He looked at her for a couple moments, probably surprised at her tone, but didn't say anything.

×××××××××××

"Are you alright?" Radley asked. They were walking through Mintley Meadows now, bags in each of their hands. Radlynn shifted her grip on the carrier bags and nodded. They were heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. Though the thought of walking another thirty minutes or more with them wasn't doing a lot for her morale.

"Mhm."

"You sure?" He asked. "I mean- you looked upset earlier." He tilted his head at her.

Oh, he meant that. Radlynn sighed. "Everyone was staring at you! Doesn't it bother you?"

Radley glanced aside. "I'm used to it, I guess." He murmured. Radlynn looked at him. "Radlynn, I did some really bad things. I'm lucky the scoopians don't kill me on sight." She stared at him, horrified. "I tried to take over the world. They have a good reason to hate me."

They were quiet for a while. Radlynn glanced at him. "...I don't think you're all that bad." She murmured. "You just did bad things."

"...let's just get home." He murmured back. That ended the conversation for the rest of the long walk home.