He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

The man stared at me, smiling. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat , looking at the girl, who was rubbing her cheek.

"What do you want, fool? "I asked harshly.

"Desmond, don't you remember me? I was your friend. We used to walk together to school. I was the only one who accepted your ugly ass face," he laughed while grabbing another drink. He was sitting cross-legged, smirking like he won the lottery.

I tried my best to remember. I didn't remember any friend at school. Peers at school ridicule me, my parents left me when I was 7 to my grandfather, who died when I was 10. Then, I kept on bouncing between foster homes. By the time I was 17 I ran away and made a living on my own. I had very few friends, now estranged. But he was definitely not one of them.

"I haven't seen you ever in my life. You probably got the wrong person, dude," I said.

"No, Desmond," he pulled out a silver chain with the initial 'S' on it.

Immediately flashes of memory came back to me. I saw myself in high school, being ridiculed and got pushed into a locker by a tall guy. Then, someone held out his hand to me, helping me up. The boy had a choker with the initial 'S' in it. My brain hurt, as tried to picture the guy's face. Then I saw it.

It was the man, of course, the younger version of him, but one would not mistake the fine eyelashes and the handsome smile. "Hey, Desmond,".

Then the memory ended.

...

"I..I am sorry, I feel like I should have remembered you, why can't I??"

"Its okay, Desmond. It was a long time ago. Ooh, you got some coffee on your lips,"

before I reacted, he stood up, his girl watched, as he wiped my mouth with his handkerchief.

I pushed him away, "what the heck, dude, just pass me some tissue or something!". I don't know why, but I felt like something was a bit off.

"Sorry, sorry,"he laughed, as he went back to his seat. Then he did something I never saw anyone doing.

He sniffed his handkerchief, like one was admiring the aroma of a perfume.

The girl stared at him, shocked. "E, what the f..".

"Don't speak," he put his finger to his lips.

"Dude, you are creepy as shit."

"Desmond, you stalked a girl to her house. You are a damn psycho yourself. We are the same," he shrugged.

"I am not the one sniffing someone's b-breath here,"I tried to speak, but the sight of him doing what he did still shocked me.

He laughed and laughed.

The girl tried to get up, but he pulled her down her seat.

"Don't touch her!" I yelled.

"I will do more than that if you don't behave, love, "he smiled menacingly.

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to not speak any curse words, fearing he would hurt anyone else.

"So.. let's get to the story. Of romeo and juliet. But in this case..Romeo and Jason, maybe,"he pulled a cigarette and lit it with a lighter.

I waited as he smoked and released tiny puffs of cloud into the air.

"I never know you back then, until when I was 16. That was the first time I met you and got to the same class as you. I was the new hot guy, y'know? I was always with friends, surrounded with fake ass people. then I saw you. You were being pushed into the locker by Skeppy, that tall quarterback dude. So I helped you up, at first I thought nothing of it. Then , you responded by just saying, 'Okay, thanks,' and just stormed off. No affection, no nothing. I felt like that was the first time I was treated 'normal' by another student without them fawning over me. I immediately vowed to myself to find you, maybe get to know you. Found your sorry lonely ass in the library one Friday, and decided to sit next to you. We talked about John Green. John Grisham. all the writers you loved so much. I may or may not have pretended to like a few authors just so I could win you over, but that's it. Then you decided I am not so bad after all, we met at library from time to time, then started going to cafeteria together. I pissed off my friends by choosing to sit next to you instead and inviting you to sit with us."

He continued," I even came to hang out with you at your foster home, but your foster dad, Grahams didn't like me. Said I was a bad influence because I invite you to go out and play football all the time. ".

He put his left hand under his chin as he looked at me , straight in the eye," He started forbidding me from seeing you. One day..I just can't take it anymore. I remember the day before the class trip you told me he wanted you guys to move to Austin, Texas. I just can't bear having no real friends, no one that I can be myself around. So I advised you to come to me and just run away. I mean, if I can't have you, he couldn't, too. You hung out in my shed and I treated you to all sorts of new stuff, gaming consoles, presents."

"Your shed??" I exclaimed, "So I did not run away that far?".

"you couldn't," he rubbed his nose, giggling.

"Alas, old man Grahams had a heart attack and died the next day and I had to let you go before people find out. I don't know what happened to you next, but.." he put his hands over his face. Then, I realized he was sobbing.

"I just missed you so much, Desmond. You have no idea,"

He removed his hands from his face, smoke filled the air. I coughed.

"And now, you are here, and you will not leave me, "he smiled.

I cleared my throat and forced my voice out,

"listen, dude. I only mildly remembered what you just said, but a lot of it is just glimmers to me. Why don't you let the girl go, I go back and think this through?".

His smile disappeared.

"Too late, Desmond, you drank it,".

Then, I looked down at the coffee on the table. I finally noticed miniature white powders floating on the surface of the coffee. My head started spinning and my vision became blurry. The last thing I remembered was the strange man in front of me smiling before the world turned dark.

...