Waffles

oatmeal with chunky raspberry sauce

knock knock

a minute or so after he knocked, eden opened the door. for the first time since angelo met her, she was wearing a dress and her hair looked... presentable.

"what's the occasion?"

"my aunt's coming back from beijing soon. she was there for a work thing, but she met up with an old friend while she was there," she said, letting him in and closing the door behind him. "the old friend happens to be a pretty rich culinary chef now. and since she knows that i like to cook, she wants me to meet this chef and be his apprentice or whatever. so i'm trying on dresses for when we meet."

"i didn't know you liked to cook," angelo said, setting down the box of waffles on the table. eden shrugged in reply as she walked into the kitchen.

"you want some?"

"no thanks, i'm allergic to raspberry."

as she got a fork and began to eat her waffles, eden noticed a change in angelo. he looked a bit anxious.

"what's on your mind, angie?" she asked.

he sighed and rubbed his face. "i've been thinking about what you said. you know, about secrets. and you're right. it's not fair that i know your's and you don't know mine."

eden shook her head. "it's fine. you don't have to tell me."

"no, i want to. i sort of need to," angelo corrected himself.

taking a deep breath, angelo began. "i was pretty stupid when i was twelve. i thought that i was all grown up. a big kid." he chuckled. "i wasn't, by the way. but i used to hang out with some fourteen year olds. they were all so cool, and i was obsessed with them. they were the real big kids."

he turned to eden. she was busy pouring more sauce on her waffles. "i'm listening," she assured him.

"well, these fourteen year olds were idiots. they smoked pot to look cool, and i thought it was cool. so i took some. luckily, one of my older brothers, who was fifteen at the time, pretty much scared me out of it. he told me stories about what happened to addicts and i just about peed my pants. i quit hanging out with those guys.

"but i had a friend, named ronald. we all called him mick, you know, because we all called him mcdonald and it got shortened to mick. anyway, i was the guy who introduced him to the fourteen year olds. and they introduced him to all types of drugs and alcohol." angelo cleared his throat. "long story short, he overdosed and died at the age of thirteen."

eden, to say the least, was not expecting that.

"his parents were ashamed of how he died, so they played it off as medical issues and moved to a different state." angelo sniffed. "and for so long, i thought i'd killed him. if it wasn't for me befriending those guys, mick would still be alive."

"angie, it's not your fault," eden said, reaching out to touch his hand. he moved it away.

"that's what i made myself think. that it wasn't my fault, so i just forgot it even happened. but now, thinking about it again, it is my fault. mick was barely thirteen."

angelo wiped his eyes before standing up. "anyway, there's my secret, since you so desperately wanted to know." eden opened her mouth to speak, but angelo was already gone.

• • • • •

so sorry for not updating in a long time or not responding to comments last chapter! i had midterms to study for, so that sucked. but now, i have the week off and a blizzard just hit nyc, so what better time to write than now :)

there are three more chapters left, and once i'm finished with them, i'll begin work on a new story (i have a new idea, but i'm not sure if i'll use it yet)

there's this movie i watched called 'god help the girl' and it was pretty amazing (in my opinion) so i'd definitely recommend that you guys watch it! also, arrow came back!!

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