𝙲𝙰𝙺𝙴 (𝙰 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕) 🍰

⑦ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙵𝙵𝙸𝙲𝙸𝙰𝙻 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙻𝙸𝙴-𝚂𝙺𝚈 𝚃𝙾𝚄𝚁

~~~

Charlie

"Hey, you ready to go?" I called to Sky as I put on my shoes.

It was about 7 o'clock, and me and Sky were about to go out for a walk, as we had agreed to earlier today at lunch. Jonathan, Dill, and the others were attending some campus welcoming event that Sky and I had skipped out on.

"Almost there," Sky called from the bathroom. I sat by the stairwell, waiting for him.

"What's taking you so long?" I whined, knotting my shoelaces.

Sky emerged from the bathroom and joined me at the front door. He was wearing a dark blue beanie, a dark sweater with beige tie-dye stripes, dark ripped skinny jeans, and black ankle-high boots. It contrasted a lot to his pastel fur.

"What are you wearing?" I laughed, grabbing my keys from the counter.

"What?" He defended with a frown. "Charlie, you said you didn't see me as—"

"Wha—no, I-I don't," I interrupted. I took a deep breath and placed my paw on his shoulder. "What I meant was, what are you wearing? Isn't it, like eighty degrees out? Won't you die of the heat?"

"Oh," Sky looked to the floor. "I just... get cold easily."

I nodded, unlocking the door.

"After you, ice cube." I teased, holding the door open. He gave me a look and stepped out.

"Sorry for overreacting," Sky apologized as I closed the house door and locked it.

"Hey, don't worry about it," I said to him, ironically, worried by how much he worries.

"I just... I panic a lot," He admitted as we walked down the steps to the sidewalk. "I don't know why I'm telling you this... but I have a serious anxiety problem. Like, social anxiety."

"Ah, I see," I spoke under my breath.

"Yeah," Sky sighed, "It gets annoying how... easily I can break."

"I understand. I used to have anxiety problems too." I added, attempting to comfort him.

"Really?" Sky questioned. "You always seem so... cheery to me."

"Welp, I am Charlie Cooperton, son of a prize-winning, plastic, cookie-cutter, architect for a father. Cheery is basically default mode for me."

"What... What do you mean?" Sky stopped in the sidewalk, giving me a look of concern.

"Uh..." I stuttered, stopping to look back at him. "Well, my dad and I always had... issues... at home." I shrugged, trying to brush it off as not a big deal.

But it is.

Why am I telling him this?

Why do I automatically trust a stranger I've known for a day and a half?

Why does he automatically trust a stranger he's known for a day and a half?

"On the inside, our relationship was messy, we'd always fight." I, stupidly, continued. "But, on the outside, we pretended... to have the best father-son relationship in the world. Just so no one would think..."

I went quiet.

"Charlie..." Sky spoke, looking at me with sad, apologetic eyes.

"You know what? Forget I said anything." I scoffed, turning around to resume walking. "We haven't made it off campus, yet. Onwards! The night is still young!" I mock-screamed with a happy attitude, but, of course, Sky saw straight through it.