DEAL | 6
It was been two days.
Two days of quite and peace.
There wasn't anyone who loudly greeted Ian and nagged him almost every time to be their friend.
Ian felt peace.
"Why are you smiling so much?" his mom asked as she turned off the car engines.
Ian quickly fixed his lips and cleared his throat, "I am not smiling."
"Yes, you are not," his mom muttered.
"Bye mom," he said then opened the door and got out of the car. He walked behind the school bus to feed Cookie as usual.
However, when he reached the corner of the bus, he froze.
June Weng was playing happily with Cookie.
"What are you doing here?" Ian hissed.
June looked up and gave him a wide smile, "Hi, Ian! What are doing here?"
"That's my dog," Ian flatly said, pointing at Cookie.
June looked at Cookie who was enjoying his ear rub and back at Ian .
"No, it's my dog," June said. June remembered Cookie because he came here to feed him with Ian before.
"...dude, it's a stray!" Ian snapped. He gave Cookie a betrayed look but the big brown ball of fluff was busy wagging his tail as he enjoyed June's ear rub.
"I feed him!" June defended himself.
"I feed him too!" Ian angrily said, "Oh what now?", He waved his lunch bag in the air with frustration, "Are you gonna tell me you have a name for him?"
June stopped rubbing Cookie's ear and slowly answered, "...yes."
"Well, screw you, I have a name for him too." Ian stubbornly snapped.
"What do you call him?" June asked, even thought he knew both of them called Cookie with the same name.
"None of your business," Ian snapped and crouched down to open his lunch box and take out the extra box.
Cookie wagged his tail and came towards Ian's direction.
Ian smiled at Cookie.
"You are a smart dog, aren't ya?" He said , as he pet his head in a fast motion, "You already have someone feeding you, yet you go on eating what other people give you."
He gave June a nasty sideway glance.
"Cookie is really a sweet dog isn't he?" June said with a giggle.
Ian snapped his head at him, "Cookie?"
June nodded his head, "That's my name for him. He is brown and sweet like a cookie, so I named him that."
Ian said nothing and turned his gaze back to Cookie who was happily eating the food he got him.
After Cookie finished eating, Ian gave him one last pat and got up.
"Ian wait!" June called.
Ian rolled his eyes and did not stopped walking. He heard June's footsteps come closer towards him. Ian started to take long strides to distance himself from June.
"We can start feeding Cookie together and be friends!" Ian heard June gush excitedly.
Ian stopped in his tracks when he suddenly remembered June was in poor health. However, June was still rambling about how they could feed Cookie together everyday as he tried to catch up with Ian's fast pace and ending up hitting his back.
"Ow! Why did-"
Ian turned back and looked at June with a raised eyebrow.
June gave him a smile, obvious to what was going inside Ian's mind, "So what do you think? We can feed Cookie together and become friends just like that!"
Ian said nothing as he slightly bend his knee to match June's height and squinted his eye at June. Studying his face for the second time.
Those hazel eyes were still warm looking like the first time he saw them. And then those lips, they still looked plump and supple.
How does he manage to keep his lips so pink? Ian wondered.
June was getting flustered under Ian's gaze."W-w-what are you doing?", He shuttered.
"Tell me," Ian said, still looking at June, his eyes suddenly soft, "Are you in love with me or something?"
Those porcelain cheeks turned red in a flash, June's brown eyes widen and he looked away from Ian quickly, now those red was spreading through his ears.
"God! You think so highly of yourself!" June said, in a high pitched voice, and let out a loud cough. Still looking away from Ian, he took in a deep breath trying to calm himself.
Did he gave him an impression of a teenage boy giddy in love? He clearly remembered telling Ian, he wanted to be his friend!
June looked back at Ian with narrowed eyes, "I just want to be your friend, what's the harm in that?"
Again, the friend thing.
Ian really didn't understand why June was trying so hard, any other person would have given up days ago. He straighten up to his original height and gave out a sigh.
"Will you leave me alone, if I become your friend?" He asked.
"Well, technically when you are someone's friend, you don't leave them alone." June deadpanned.
"Then I don't-"
"A friend will be there for you during your cloudy days with a huge fan to blow away those dark clouds." June cut in and gave Ian another one of his annoyingly bright smile.
Ian blinked.
Ian make zero effort in a conversation and he really don't see why a person need to be with another human being when a they can be completely fine without one.
After trying hard to be alone for so many years, Ian had gotten used to keeping himself company and doing things by himself.
Both of them stared at each other for a long time as the silence between them grew. Ian's mind was blank , he didn't knew how to respond to June. He would sense, other students passing by them and giving them weird looks and back glances but somehow for the first time, the attention did not bothered him and June was the only one he could focus on.
Finally, June's voice broke their silence, "If you don't want to be friends with me, it's fine."
Ian gave him a doubtful look. Is he is finally backing up? After all those days of pestering him and hovering over him. Is Ian's will to live a solitude life finally paying off? Thank God, he can now have his old life-
But June cut in his thoughts and spoke, "We are going to graduate by the end of this year, till then I am continuing to pester you. Be prepared for a lot of sticky notepads, loud greetings and a feeling of getting stalked."
"What?" Ian gaped.
"You heard me," June said with a smug smile, "Of course, you won't have to go through that if you agreed to be my friend."
"You aren't giving me much choice here." Ian frowned.
June grinned, " We can stop being friends after this year's ends or maybe before that, around September maybe?"
September was months away, Ian frowned.
"You mean, I won't have to deal with you after September ends?" He curiously asked.
"Or after the year ends," June gave him a smile. Somehow, Ian would tell that the smile looked bitter and sad.
"You will never see me again after the end of the year till then let's be friends." June finished.
Ian pursed his lips, he didn't want to interact and talk about useless things with another person. This was not how he imagined his last year in school to go.
However, when the school ends, they won't meet again. Instead of making his life difficult by avoiding June . Ian can just go along with what he wants, Ian figured it be easier that way.
"Fine," he slowly agreed.
"So it's a deal!", June beamed and bought his hand out to shake.
Ian bought his hands out and wrapped it around June's hand.
June's hand was small and so so soft.
"Deal."
Little did Ian knew the double meaning behind June's words and the agreement they made would change both of their life forever.
I had to cut and rewrite this again and again. My gwad, I am gonna flip because of my inability to make decisions.
Pls Vote.
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