A TALE OF TWO LOVERS

ALMOND CHOCOLATE.

"Watch a movie on any of the topics listed and write an essay on it. Do this in groups of four and include your personal opinions, even the differing ones" Mrs. Andrea instructed before dismissing the class.

Fiona was in line at the cafeteria for a delicacy that was only offered for sale on Mondays. She had handed me all her materials and we had split up at the door. I walked towards the lockers and after reaching mine, opened it to place everything in when a familiar face propped near me. I fished out what I needed for the next class, ignoring the obnoxious face that gave me a pointed look, as if I owed him something. Moving to the next locker to grab Fiona’s things, he also moved and what I was dreading happened, he spoke.

“ I heard your sister passed the test. Congrats" he let out a half-assed congratulation.

Wait, I thought, what was he doing in the halls of a high school? I stopped myself, before I became curious. Disgusting. Alicia, a brunette with brown eyes and perfect makeup, walked up to where we were before holding tight on to the creature's arm.

“ Let’s go" she said, ignoring my presence, and I was thankful for that.

“ Give me a minute" he said, pushing a hair strand behind her ear.

I took a step, an attempt at getting away, only to hear his slimy voice.

“ Running away? Are your feelings for me so strong that even a conversation is a lot to handle?” he asked and I turned on my heel, mock incredulity on my face.

“ Get over yourself. You are just not worth my time" I said, and a slight laugh escaped him.

“ Harsh. Guess I'm right" he said.

“ I’m not the one dating someone who looks like me now, am I? Or is that a coincidence?” I asked, noticing how much Alicia and I had in common.

“ No. She’s prettier and age appropriate. You are basically a child in comparison" he said, with a smug face.

“ He is right. You can’t compare to me, Amanda, don’t even try", Alicia quipped.

“ I’ve got no interest in doing that nor in this conversation, so may you choke on dust particles, bye" I said.

“ You look frustrated, Amanda. Finding it hard to find someone who can tolerate you? Don’t tell me you still believe the lie you tell yourself?” he said with a smirk and I closed my eyes tight.

Frustrated? Me? I already found someone, you toad!

Jake was a boy I had a crush on a year ago. It was such a mild crush that I don’t deserve this conversation right now. When he pretended to reciprocate, I shared that I wasn’t looking for love and that it wouldn’t lead anywhere. I told him that a love measured made no sense and he called me insecure. He was never ready to engage in a conversation about it because, apparently, that wasn’t my worry, it was the man's worry. Thinking of this, I was thankful to have witnessed my sister’s measuring.

For him, it was delusional of me to think of a great love that needed two in the world we live in. He said, ‘ let’s just date and see where this goes' and I raised an eyebrow at his statement. I realised I had a crush because of his smile, face, eyebrows and his sense of style. A conversation was all it took to stop the shine and I realised that he wasn’t as grand as I made him out to be.

“ Cat caught your tongue? I’m right, aren’t I?” he hissed.

“No. I was applauding myself for dodging a bullet with you" I said, seriously wondering what I was attracted to.

“ Frustrated and salty. Not a good look" he said, and I checked my watch.

8 minutes of my time. They had munched through 8 minutes and I was starting to crave the vanilla and hazelnut delicacy Fiona was in line for. The conversation was boring and I had nothing more to say so I was looking around, wondering whether Fiona was done, when an arm was strewn across my shoulder.

“ My love. We need to head to the cafeteria”

I recognized the smell and the voice, making me relax and he pulled me into his chest before leaning down.

“Here" he said, dropping a piece of chocolate in my mouth.

He placed his chin on my shoulder, regarding the two with an eyebrow raise. “ Who??” he asked and I shrugged.

“ I'm Alicia and this is my boyfriend Jake” she introduced.

“ Wait, did you just call her ‘my love’?” Jake asked.

“ Yeah. That's what she is to me, why?” Max asked, his voice curious, and Jake shook his head.

“ Nothing. I just didn’t think there was someone who could tolerate her", he said, and I rolled my eyes.

I didn’t think I was weird for having opposite thoughts, but to him, the system was right.

“ Tolerate? That would mean I would be trying hard not to like her and what’s there not to like?” Max answered and I nodded internally.

Jake opened his mouth, ready to spew some more confused nonsense when Max spoke up.

“We are running late so we will be on our way now. Bye" he said, leading me away and towards the cafeteria.

We rounded the corner and he let go of my hand before taking the books I was holding.

“ Almond chocolate. Great choice", I praised, and he smirked.

“ I saw it in your bag the first time we met. I hope I didn’t go too far back there" he said, and I shook my head.

“ You arrived right on time. I was getting bored of it" I said as we entered the cafeteria.

I looked around, immediately spotting my brown-haired best friend at a table to the far left.

“ You must have overheard what they were saying" I said as we made our way towards Fiona.

He approached me in a manner that would shut Jake up and that was only possible if he had context.

“Why? Couldn’t I have done that just because?” he asked and I smiled at him.

“You aren’t that kind of person. You’ve done that twice and both times, there was someone annoying in our presence" I shared.

“ I did overhear some of it. Hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable” he said.

“ No, it doesn’t actually. It was the tiniest of crushes and one conversation with him ended it" I explained, subconsciously avoiding a misunderstanding.

“ Good to know. So do you have a group for the movie assignment?” he asked, changing the topic as we reached the table.

“ Just me and Fiona" I answered.

“Let’s do it the four of us" he suggested, as we sat down.

“We are three" Fiona said.

“ Blake?” Max said and she nodded.

“Alright then, that's settled. Let’s eat, we have only ten minutes to go", Fiona said as she handed us each two packets of the vanilla cake and flavoured milk.

The bell rung and I packed away my history book and the pens I had been using. I made my way out of class to find Fiona leaning on the wall, waiting for me. She was busy looking at her phone so much that she didn’t notice me walking over to her. Her class must have ended early.

“Hey, what are you looking at??” I asked as I peered to see, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder as the people passed us to get to the door.

“A movie I wasn't able to finish last night" she responded after looking up at me and turning off her phone.

We started walking towards the gates when she suddenly started talking about the movie.

“The female protagonist of this movie was reading a book when a line confused her" she started, a small smile on her lips.

I moved my head to the right to get a good look at her as I descended the steps out of the building.

“What line??” I asked.

“He let out an incredulous gasp" she responded in what was supposed to be an imitation of one of those computer-generated voices.

I narrowed my eyes at her as I tried to understand what was so confusing about that sentence. This better not be a movie built on the ignorance of a girl.

“She didn't know the meaning of incredulous and since it was at night, she didn't want to look at the dictionary and before you ask, she doesn’t own a phone. Sadly for her, the teacher asked her the meaning of the same word the next morning" she explained.

I formed an o with my mouth as I tried to imagine how that must have felt and she gave me a slow nod.

“What is the name of the movie?” I asked.

“Abused and insulted" she answered.

I stopped walking for a moment. That title is just lazy and a copy. I’ve seen and read books titled Abused and broken but insulted? Fiona stood in front of me with a smirk on her face as she looked at my incredulous face. They should throw that female protagonist here and I’ll show her a real incredulous gasp since I can’t believe the title of the movie.

“What an incredulous expression you have there" she commented as she flipped her hair in a rather exaggerated motion. She looked satisfied with my reaction.

“The title is just... When did they become so lazy ?” I asked as we started walking again.

“You haven’t heard anything. After she fails to answer the teacher, she gets insulted infront of the whole class" she said with a lopsided smile and a wiggle of the eyebrows.

“And the title has been satisfied” I finish, unbelievable.

I found myself wanting to facepalm more than I ever have in my life as she continued telling me about this slightly ignorant female protagonist who I find out is a wannabe bad girl. With a dark past, as every other protagonist, she finds herself the target to a lot of insults due to her inability to use a dictionary. She throws big words here and there without knowing the meaning to them to look cool when all she ends up doing is embarrass herself even more hence the insults. What I dont get however is the whole point of the story.

“Why are you watching such a dumb movie?” I ask.

Fiona bit her lower lip in thought as we got out of the school completely. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Well, whenever the protagonist makes a dumb mistake or doesn’t know the meaning of a word, the watcher finds themselves expressing the word at the exact moment. You were incredulous a moment ago" she responded.

Fair point.

“Wow" I said with a little nod.

“I also kind of downloaded the movie by mistake so I figured I should give it a try" she added and the effect of the fast answer went as first as it came.

“When you really think about it, the movie is funny because it is ridiculous. You read the title and you get just that" I commented and she nodded.

“ So, you and Max" she said, changing the topic.

“Yeah, me and Max” I said with a sigh and she narrowed her eyes.

“ What? You don’t like him? You liar" she said.

“ I didn’t say that" I countered and she stopped.

“What was that sigh then?” she asked.

“Well, I’m dangerously comfortable with him. All his advances are welcome for some reason and I trust him even though I’ve met him four times" I explained.

“Well, to be honest, it is weird how comfortable the both of you are but I ship it" she said.

“You know I saw Jake today. He was with his girlfriend, Alicia" I said.

“What did that slimy bastard want?” she said, grimacing at his mention.

“He came to show me that he had a girlfriend and I was still wallowing in loneliness” I explained.

“ So, did you hit him at least?” she asked and I gave her a deadpan look.

She shrugged “I couldn’t stand him”

“Did you at least get to boast about your handsome Max?” she asked.

“ My? I didn’t. He showed up himself calling me my love and all that" I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

She guffowed, a comic look on her face.

“My love? You’ve reached that stage? Dangerously comfortable it is" she said.

“He came armed with chocolate" I continued.

“I like it. He has been paying attention. You know what, I like him for showing Jake what’s what. Date him" she narrated before walking away.

Date him? It’s not as easy as choosing fruits.

I fastened my walk to match hers as we walked home, my mind already imagining what it would be like to date him.