Lollipop

02 - That Virtual Lollipop

Warning: This chapter is the only chat chapter in the entire story, so if you don't really like it, you won't see it anymore after this chapter. Slight anime references but they are not the key parts of the story. Lowercase and grammatical error in the messages are intended for the effect I want to achieve. Thank you for reading!

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Corey

The third lollipop was given to Corey virtually.

It wasn't actually edible, to be precise. It was an emoji that a certain Asian boy sent after the first midnight chat they had after a few hours they met in the Starbucks.

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21 30

Jun: Yo (: Busy?

Corey: Hey there. Not really.

Jun: Mmm. Wanna chat for a while?

Corey: How long is 'a while'?

Jun: Hmm...

Corey: ...?

Jun: How 'bout forever?

Corey: No shit

Jun: Just kidding. Hey, u're an anime fan, right? Have u watched Love Live Sunshine? My heart is like… doki doki Corey: yeah! u watched it too?

Jun: What happened to ur caps LOL

Corey: s**t. i was trying to cultivate a habit of like u know… putting caps in front of the first letter of the messages that i send

Jun: Sorry...

Jun: Not sorry( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Corey: Damn that emoji

Jun: It's a kaomoji*

Corey: i'm feeling the urge to blue-tick u now

Jun: Don't! By the way who is ur best girl in Love Live Sunshine? Mine is Dia Kurosawa {♥‿♥} her figure and her personality, that's a damn combo

Corey: mine… i can't choose between hanamaru and kanan

Jun: Damn straight I understand that feeling. Didn't ask earlier, but did u eat the lollipop I gave u in the Starbucks?

Corey: yeah, it's orange flavoured this time

Jun: Haha yeah, orange is actually my favourite flavour

Corey: I really want to ask, why do u give me lollipops?

Jun: Wait wait I'll ttyl my mom is video calling me right now. Sorry!

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Corey

Corey's mind wandered off to another dimension as he placed his phone beside him. Right now, he was sitting on his bed. His eyes fluttered closed, his hand reaching out to the ceiling. His palm then balled and his fingers dug into his palm. The softness of her skin against his hands tingled his entire body as what happened after the Japanese man had left flashed in his mind again. If he wasn't wrong, her body quivered against his touch when he had tried to calm her down. That one instant, her voice resonated in his brain.

"I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings, Corey… but I still want us to be friends. I don't want my relationship with Jermaine or your crush on me to spoil everything between us. I love you, but as a friend. You're an important friend to me!" He remembered her covering her face as she tried to spill her feelings to him. The blonde hair of hers that he always thought looked really good on her clung to her face due to the tears streaming down her face. He hated himself for making her cry. Sure, she didn’t and couldn’t reciprocate his feelings and of course, he was salty about it.

But that did not mean that he wanted her in tears.

He would never want her to cry because of him. He liked her, after all. Like was too simple of a word to summarise his feelings for her, but that did not mean he had loved her. Love was too strong of a word and he was sure that his adoration towards her was not love.

His thoughts were interrupted when his phone vibrated beside him. His hand reached out to the mobile device and a message from his new-found Asian friend, Jun came. Apparently, it was about Jun having to leave the phone for a while as he had guessed that the video call would take quite some time.

Unknowingly, the girl who had monopolised his thoughts earlier metamorphosed into his newfound friend. Corey tried to visualise the Japanese man's appearance again, and a small smile stretched his chapped lips. Jun was a nice guy. Actually, his extroverted personality awed Corey as he had always thought that Asians were generally introverted. Evidently, the one that he made friends with wasn't. He did not know why, but he had felt that the Japanese could understand him. They were the complete opposite of each other, but Corey thought that Jun could relate to him.

"Boo!" He jumped as his phone dropped onto his bed. Then, he turned to his side and found his sister right beside his bedside.

"Stop scaring me like that, Cait!" Corey furrowed his eyebrows in irritation as he moved away from her. He had this very, very bad feeling that Cait didn’t come to his room for good reasons and he would be better off not knowing at all.

"What are you thinking? An idea for a gay fan-fiction? LOL, you're so gay." His sister Cait teased him as she tickled his waist. Luckily, he wasn’t afraid of itchiness. At least, his waist wasn't his weak spot.

"I'm straight, just to let you know. What the hell are you here for?" Corey deadpanned, throwing his pillow right in her face. That obviously made her face red and in return, she plunged herself towards him. They wrestled for a while before he threw her out of his room. He had nothing against his older sister, but she could be quite a b***h sometimes.

"Yeah, straight guys DEFINITELY write gay fan-fiction. Normal, totally normal." She rolled her eyes once again at him. “I'll wait for the day when you write a fan-fiction about yourself. Haha, that'll be f*****g weird. I'm here to snatch your charger and your power bank because I can't find them in my room or anywhere else. Be sure not to miss me so much, my favourite lil' sunshine, " she threw a flying kiss at him and slammed his door, leaving him alone in his room. After a second or so, he found himself curling up over the cringe his sister just bestowed him and he sighed in exasperation, thanking God that she was finally out.

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23 02

Jun: Sry oh god, the video call takes a long time to end == For some reasons, mom called me again earlier to tell me about some things back in Japan

Jun: Ya there? Don't tell me you're asleep already...

Jun: Hello? Well if you're asleep already then… Good nite?

Corey: oh hi there.

Corey: oh its u, sorry i was getting pissed off with that stupid sister of mine

Jun: Ah! You're here! You have a sister? Older or younger?

Corey: older. annoying like s**t tbh

Jun: I don't have any siblings. Dk if that's a good thing or not lmao

Corey: out of the sudden you started using acronyms ._.

Jun: why not acronyms are good

Corey: It's a good thing. Having an older sister is bad. Very bad.

Jun: LOL. I can't imagine you saying that ahaha I mean when u're with me u're always blushing :P

Corey: i'm not

Jun: Yes you are. It's quite cute tho ;)

Corey: did anyone tell u that u're rlly annoying?

Jun: Nah. Ppl told me that I'm really handsome. You're welcome to join the party ;)

Corey: This is the part u say 'No homo'

Jun: Y?

Corey: dk. most of the fan-fictions i've read before always have innuendos between guys and they're like 'oh no homo'.

Jun: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jun: No homo. But that doesn't mean I'm 100% straight (lol)

Corey: now u're gona come out to me? We've just known each other for like 3 days??

Jun: Who cares about that haha. Length of time doesn't affect how deep friendship is. All it matters is whether u trust that person or not.

Corey: ...

Jun: And I don't really care if people know my sexuality. I don't f*****g know why people are making a big fuss whether one is straight or gay.

Corey: ...

Jun: But I'm bisexual :D

Corey: cool. i have three friends in the LGBT community now.

Jun: Lol, how's ur crush and ur best friend?

Corey: they whatapp'ed me earlier. i guess things cleared up? idk why I'm telling you this tbh like we've just known each other? my momma told me not to talk to strangers

Jun: Yet you're still messaging me? True, you shouldn't talk to strangers, but don't worry, I'm a rather nice one :) Feel free to tell me anything ^^ We might not know each other for the longest time and it's completely normal if u don't trust me

Jun: And although u're older than me, u can tell me anything. Like I said earlier, it’s not about knowing one for how long. It's about whether or not u can trust them

Jun: That's why if u think u can trust me, I'll be glad to lend u a pair of listening ears anytime

Corey: do you major in psychology? u sound like one

Jun: Unfortunately not haha I'm a (proud) music student. I'm here in this country for vacation before I go to UK to pursue my dreams

Corey: ur dreams?

Jun: I'm hoping to be like Joe Hisaishi one day. Have you watched Spirited Away? Princess Mononoke? The music in both anime is composed by him. His music just blows my mind away... I love 'Merry Go Round Of Life' the most out of all the songs that he had composed so far, you should definitely check it out! Wait, I'll send you a link of the orchestra version of the song

Jun: [Link attached]

Corey: the theme song of howl's moving castle? i know that song and i actually also like that song too

Corey: but i'll still check it out

Jun: Wait why is the topic about me?

Corey: idk. i still don't get it like why I'm telling u all these, especially when we know nothing about each other. but apparently after you went home, Anastasia saw me at Starbucks and we had an awkward conversation

Corey: she then burst out crying out of the sudden. i was like, whut? she told me everything. like how I'm avoiding her after they came out to me

Corey: that hit me really hard. i mean it's hard getting over her, but making her cry is something i'll never do

Corey: then... i told her everything

Corey: like how i have a crush on her

Corey: everything

Corey: she was shocked

Corey: and she said this, "i'm sorry that i can't reciprocate your feelings...but i still want us to be friends! i don't want my relationship with jer or your crush on me to spoil everything between us. i love you, but as a friend. you're an important friend." after that idk why don't judge but I cried too

Corey: we both had a crying session and the people around us was like wtf why r they crying

Corey: when we finished crying she called Jermaine and I told her about my crush on Anastasia. She was like sry bro and we bro hugged. jermaine tried to act it cool but after we hugged, she cried

Corey: literally. i have never seen her cry in my entire life before

Corey: it scared me. she told me that she was a s**t friend for dating the girl i like, but she didn't want our friendship to end just like that cuz of her relationship with ana

Corey: i didn't know what to do. i was just rlly surprised at how much jermaine actually cared. jermaine always seemed nonchalant and stuff. in the end i told them that our friendship isn't that weak and they should stop thinking too much. forced them to go on a date and relax. idk what i was thinking but that time i just didn't want to say something to agitate them.

Jun: ... Well I'll just say take things slow...?

Corey: i'll try to. i guess crying out and like confiding things really helped and altho i'm still not rlly over ana yet

Corey: but when they reluctantly left (really. they insisted on staying but i forced them to leave), their fingers automatically intertwined. it's like they're meant for each other

Corey: it's weird. i should feel salty but yet… i felt a little glad for them?

Corey: it'd not like i'm really over her because no b***h i'm not. but is it weird i feel like this?

Jun: Nope. I'd say just take it slow. It'll be hard to truly let go, I know.

Jun: Been there, done that :')

Jun: But I want you to know that there’s someone out there for you :)

Corey: thanks lol bet u're a ladies man

Jun: Hmm I wonder about that... Maybe I am one lmao

Jun: But I'm single as hell

Jun: No girlfriend

Jun: Or boyfriend yet

Corey: there's always a club for you to frequent lol it's midnight already

Jun: I don't prefer to meet someone like that in the club. Plus, you do stupid s**t when you drink too much, so meeting that ideal someone there under that circumstance isn't the best choice ever Corey haha

Jun: Going to sleep soon?

Corey: i've only been to the club once

Corey: and i hated it

Corey: not yet to your previous question

Jun: Great we have this common consensus Corey

Jun: Well, well. Wanna continue chatting?

Corey: sure lmao

Jun: Good, because I'm gonna drag you to my personal hell with my messages

-

Corey

While they were texting one another back and forth, Corey didn’t realised that the small smile that had appeared on his face earlier grew wider. He was sure about one thing--he liked talking to Jun. It was weird that they had only known each other for three days, yet he felt a strong connection towards him. Through all these messages between them, he could sense their distance getting shorter with them getting to know about one another. Although he was the quieter one between them both, he felt like he was opening up to him and that perhaps might be a good thing. Jun always had interesting stories to tell and Corey loved hearing about them. Maybe, he found a true friend in Jun. What should he say, this connection between them was like one that he had with Jermaine, his female best friend, yet it was completely different.

His heart did not feel like it was about to jump out of his body when he talked to Jermaine (in fact he wanted to punch her sometimes for being such a b***h), but that was how he felt when he was texting the Japanese. His fingers weren’t that fast in typing when he was messaging Jermaine, yet it was as if something in him triggered him to type fast when it was with Jun, just so he could get a new message from the latter. He normally slept at 12.30 am, but now he was so immersed in the conversation that his eyelid didn’t feel as heavy as it would be. Although he had opened up to Jun through messages, somehow he knew that the feeling would be the same if he had opened up to him personally.

Corey knew it in him--he liked this feeling and this friendship was one that he would cherish as long as he could.

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03 32

Corey: i'm gett...ing sleepy...

Jun: Oh s**t it's this late?! Oh man go to sleep soon

Corey: yeah...good night

Jun: Night Corey :)

Corey: wait

Corey: thank you for today

Corey: at Starbucks

Corey: and here

Corey: ok, good night

Jun: WAIT

Jun: COME BACK

Jun: COME BACK

Jun: COME BACK OR I'LL SPAM YOU

Corey: ?

Jun: