Games We Shouldn't Play (a one shot)

Hide and seek

I sat in the dark. Maneuvering the object in hand, to and from each hand. The breeze blew through the curtains and I watched outside when it revealed enough of the scenery behind the glass doors. The breeze actually felt really calming. Like it was reassuring me of something. And I hadn't had much reassurance these last few days.

The chime of the computer went off and I refrained once again from leaning over to even inspect the notifications bar. All of my apps have different chimes that go off on the computers. And this one was from my most frequented social media app and my most frequently talked-to person. Normally I'd answer her back in a heartbeat, but I didn't want to this time. And a facetime call suddenly blared through the room.
I covered my ears and bent over, forcing myself to not cave in and answer her.

It was hard. Everything for the last 4 months has been. My only wish, if I could have ever gotten one, was for me to rewind a bit over a hundred days back. I gulped just remembering the one scene that night.

"No, dude, literally. If they were using their brains, they would have seen it was all a setup. Who just invites you over to a deserted private island for a month, no fees necessary, but you know there's a lack in signal??"

He chuckled and shook his head along with me, then turned to look at me for a while.

"Ay, I meant to ask, how is it going? Music? Shows?"

"Oh," I lean back while adjusting my long sleeve cropped top. "It has been BUSY those voice rehearsals can wear you down! But the shows have not been half as bad. It went from 3 people in the crowd interacting to like 50% of them, that's a plus. Especially with a bit more than a hundred people there. Could be more but I'm glad where it is. I get nervous up there."

I laughed and glanced at him. There was this look that I couldn't pinpoint at the moment... and I brushed it off. He isn't the type of guy to do whatever irrational thing my brain had come up with.

Should have listened to her.

The phone rang again. And I looked at it this time. And I kept on watching it.
The first eventually went into the fifth before. It stopped. And I let out this breath I didn't know I was holding. My leg stopped bouncing the moment it stopped ringing, but my heart took its place and I saw a message from him pop up.

I put my hands in my palms again and rested my elbows on my knees.

My back hurts.

"And that's why I said that they should not allow her to do that! Like, leaving old traditions aside, I KNOW that you shouldn't spank your child but if she's calling her mom a B-word at 4 years old, she needs a toy frying pan aT LEAST upside her head."

"I agree," it came out softer than I expected.

We sat at the table just outside the cozy-looking pizzeria.

"Hey, what's going on with you and that guy?" She wiggled her brows and I faked a laugh with an eye roll.

"Uh, i- I dont know, B. We hang out as I do with you when I got nothing to do during the day or night. He's, he's chill as always and, yeah."

"Mhm, code for I wanna fuck him but I'm shyer than Ashnikko."

I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. I detected another tone behind the obvious joke and focused on that mentally so I could keep my mind off everything else she said.

"What are you gonna get?"

"A chicken alfredo, haven't tried that yet."

The waitress was walking toward us already.