Ex Pen Pals || michael clifford

5.7

Abby was sitting on the concrete at the back of one of the buildings in her department. She had her headphones in and was blasting the playlist she made when she was in one of her murderous moods and ‘Monster’ by Skillet was currently on. She was really hiding from everyone because she was in one of those moods where she just wanted to be left alone.

She saw a pair of worn out high tops come into view and she slowly looked up to see who it was. “Fuck.” She said silently under her breath when she saw Jake smiling down at her. He had his hands behind his back and there was this weird glow in her eyes that just creeped her out. In all honesty; she was really just hiding from Jake. She slowly took her headphones out and smiled at him.

“Can I join you?” He asked motioning to the empty space next to her and she reluctantly nodded and cringed internally as all the tin caps on his bag jingled as he sat down. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were hiding from the world.” He said opening his bag and searching through it.

She laughed sarcastically and forced another smile. “Why would I do that?” She asked and Jake just glanced up at her and shrugged. He was really focused on finding something in his bag and Abigail hoped it wasn’t another one of his weird presents. A piece of her soul always chipped off and withered whenever she heard those stupid tin caps jingling on her zipper.

Jake yelped and pulled a small box out of his bag. He beamed and handed the box to Abigail who gave him a confused look. “What is it?”

“You’ll have to open it.”

She opened the box and took out an even smaller glass box with a keychain attached to it. She squinted and held the box up so she could get a better look at it. “What am I looking at?” She asked turning to look at Jake.

“It’s Brachyponera species ant.”

“Say what now?” Abigail asked squinting back at tiny glass box. She was finally able to spot what looked like a black ant with orange legs. The legs were the only thing about the weird present that got her excited because orange was her favourite colour.

“It’s this amazing ant from Asia. I caught it and preserved it in this one par- never mind the details but when I caught it I thought of you.”

“An ant made you think of me?”

“No! It’s not like that... I just thought you would’ve liked it.”

“Why?” Abby asked silently hoping that her phone would start ringing like the last time she was stuck with Jake.

“It’s just... they call it a ninja ant because it’s mostly black and it over all is a really cool ant. You know back in-”

“I’m lost in empty pillow talk again...”

Abigail squealed when the familiar ringtone came on and she looked at Jake. “I have to take this.” She said pointing to her phone. She swiped the screen and placed the phone to her ear. She frowned when instead of getting up and leaving, Jake pushed himself against the wall, making himself more comfortable.

“Hello? Abby? You there?” She heard Michael ask pulling her out of her trance.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm here.” She said absent mindedly as she looked over to Jake again. He just smiled at her, completely oblivious to how much his presence was not needed.

“You sound really distant. Is everything okay?”

“I can't tell you.” Abby said glancing at Jake who’d now taken out a book and was doodling in it.

“Lemme guess; the weird tin cap boy?” Michael asked and Abby started laughing.

“How’d you know?”