Sweater Guy and Cubicle Girl

Mr. Angst

I never really saw Conrad as angsty. More... passive and somewhat moody. But then again I never really knew him that well. We never talked much or anything. My only impression of him was that he was extremely timid but otherwise nice and kind.

Once on a cold Monday morning in Autumn I was about to go out shopping, since I didn't have work. When I opened the door to leave I saw something odd. Conrad was sitting on the steps with head down and a backpack on. I could tell it was him because that Minecraft hoodie and those blonde curls were unmistakable.

"Conrad?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes.

"Oh my— Conrad what's wrong?? Oh my gosh come in!" I said, almost tearing up at the sight of his sad little cherub face. I took his hand and lead him inside to the kitchen. "What's wrong? You can talk to me I promise."

He mumbled something in Russian mentioning Corey.

"Honey, he's asleep. I promise you can talk to me though. Why aren't you at home with your mother or at school?"

"...I ran away" He said with his head down.

"What? You ran away from home? Why??" I asked frantically, fearing the worst. 

"I don't wanna talk about it right now."

"Hm, alright." I really wanted to push him for the answer but I knew that wouldn't get anywhere. "You must be hungry, I'll make you some breakfast." I said, going into the fridge. I figured food would make him more comfortable and more likely to talk.

"I already had breakfast."

"Oh okay." I said, putting what I had gotten out away.

"I mean umm... if you're making breakfast anyway" He said, with a wavering voice, starting to tear up again.

"Okay okay, I'll make you second breakfast it's no problem."

I made him pancakes and he talked while he ate. He didn't tell me what happened but he talked to me about school and videogame stuff and about how Corey "honestly like honestly kinda sucks."

A few minutes later Corey was up. He immediately went to Conrad and asked what was going on.

"Conrad ran away from home."

"What? Why?" Corey said, visibly angry.

"He says he doesn't feel like talking about it." I tried to tell Corey.

"Bullshit. Tell me now." He said, pointing a finger at Conrad.

Conrad mumbled something about his mother.

"What?"

"I said she— [mumbles]"

"She what?"

"I SAID SHE TOOK MY XBOX!"

I was startled and jumped because I'd never heard him yell before. I was still upset for him but relieved after realizing the reason of him running away from home wasn't as bad as I thought it was. "Oh no...how awful." I said, patronizing him a bit.

"Yea..." He said, wholeheartedly agreeing.

"Well...why'd she take it?" Corey said.

"She says I spend too much time on it and then she made pirogi with pork last night but I don't like pork and she said 'eat' and instead of eating I said 'whatever' and she got mad for some reason"

"Oh puh-leez" Said Corey. He huffed and smacked Conrad on the back of his head. "Drama queen."

"I'm NOT" Conrad said whining.

"That is not at all a reason to run away!" He said, frustrated. "You know what? I'm gonna run away too! Know why? Because you guys ate pancakes without me in my own house!!"

"Did you tell your mother you left?" I asked.

"No" He said.

"Pancakes." Corey said, interrupting.

"Fine I'll make you some. How many do you want?"

"All of them." He said.

I rolled my eyes and just started cooking. "Conrad I think you should go home. Your mother is probably worrying she doesn't know where you are and I think running away about an Xbox is maybe a bit extreme."

He looked at me with fury in his eyes.

"I'm gonna call Connie." Said Corey.

"Pleeaassee don't she'll KILL ME."

"Exactly." Corey said, rolling his eyes.

I decided to interrupt and say "Hey maybe don't call her just yet, maybe we can get through to him."

"I'm not going home I want my Xbox."

"Conrad, what's the real reason you ran away? It can't possibly be just because she cooked a food you don't like and then took your Xbox." I said.

"Nothing..." He said quietly.

"Please, you can trust me."

"Just seems like she doesn't listen to me... ever" He said, with his head down.

"Ohh, I know what you mean." I said.

"She does, she just knows what's best Conrad." Corey said.

"If you have a problem why don't you have a heart-to-heart talk with her instead of running away?" I asked.

"I dunno..."

"Well I think you should try," I said, pushing him out the door. "Go talk to her."

Conrad left and went to go talk to his mother. While he was gone, me and Corey made more pancakes and we debated on what the outcome of their talk would be. The suspense was killing me, I wanted to know so bad what happened. Much later, Conrad came back. He went straight to the pantry to grab snacks.

"Well...what happened?" I asked.

"We made up." He said.

"Oh you did? How nice! Did you get your Xbox back?" I said cheerfully.

"No, she said I can have it back next week, but she also said she won't try to make me eat pork anymore." He replied.

"Oh that's nice, did she say anything else?" I asked.

"She said I can only play games if I'm playing with somebody else and 'SoCiAlLy iNtErAcTiNg'" He said with air quotes.

"AHAH! So that's why you came back over!" Corey yelled.

"Well...I brought my Switch..." Conrad said, reaching in his backpack, "Can we play MarioKart?"

"HELLS YEA! I CALL ROSEGOLD PEAAACHH" Said Corey, leaping onto the sofa.

"Its Pink-Gold Peach." Conrad said.

"Whatever, let's just play. C'mon Ella!"

We played MarioKart for the rest of the day and had a nice time. I was really happy Conrad made up with his mom.