Like Ivory and Ebony Chapter 4
#1 of LI&E
Like Ivory and Ebony Chapter 4
It took me a couple of seconds to compose myself.
My tail twitched nervously behind me as I came up with something to say. "....Uhh, it's nothing really, I umm... just haven't seen a good friend of mine in four years because he, ah, moved. To.. California." I scratched my arm to distract myself from looking at him.
"Alright, well if you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me."
He shrugged and fell silent for a moment, and I had a weird feeling he was still looking at me. I looked up and found him looking over my shoulder at something, so I turned a bit to see what was behind me, only to find nothing worth looking at. I turned back, confused, to him to see him quickly look away, and I thought I saw him blushing slightly under his fur just as the bus pulled up. I ahrugged it off and stepped onto the bus, and threw myself into my usual seat, and he sat in the seat behind me.
I wasn't particularly tired that morning, so I started listening to my iPad with an earbud in one ear, keeping the other open so I know what's going on around me. I was listening to Rolling in the Deep by Adele when I heard the wolf behind me let out a "Cool!" I turned to find him looking over my shoulder at my library. He followed up shortly with, "What music DON'T you like?"
I chuckled and said,"I listen to everything but rap. Aaand heavy christian music. I just can't stand that stuff."
He nodded and asked, "What's your favorite music to listen to?"
I pressed my favorites button on my iPad and recited, "I listen to Pendulum, Prodigy, Maroon 5, and SOAD most often, but I also really like Rise Against, Jonathan Coulton, Senses Fail, and Weird Al. Oh, and Monty Python is pretty cool too."
"Awesome! And yeah, Monty Python is really cool, I like their Flying Circus a lot."
My tail started thumping against the seat softly at that. "Finally! Somebody knows about more of Monty Python than just their Holy Grail movie! You just got some major cool points."
He then replied shyly, "Thanks, it's no big deal really.." He trailed off and laughed for a second, almost nervously, and as he sat back in his seat I thought I saw, no I definitely saw him blushing this time.This brought up a few questions on my part.
'Why does he keep blushing? Is he shy? Well he did just move here, he probably doesn't know anybody that well. Heck, I know I'd be if I was him. I'll talk to him about it later, he's a nice guy.'
I turned back to see what he was doing, only to find him already asleep and starting to snore lightly, his head leaned against the window and one of his ears horizontal with his head. I smiled and laughed softly, then realized what I was doing and stopped. ' Was I laughing because... because I think he's- no, that isn't it, he just looked funny sleeping like that, yeah...' I shook the thoughts out of my head, and let music blank my mind for the entire ride to the transfer station.
When they called transfer I didn't even remember that that wolf was still sitting behind me, and instead quickly made my way onto my next bus, slumping into my seat at the front shortly afterwards. Then the thought occurred to me, 'Why am I acting like this? Is it just because I don't understand? Or... am I afraid of something? Myself? I don't know, I'm so confused...' I grimaced at the thought, and a tear managed to escape my eye as I realized how hopelessly confused I really am about everything. I noticed it a bit late and quickly turned my head to the left, wiping the tear off as I did so, and hoped it didn't stain my fur too much to be noticeable.
"Hey, why are you crying?" I heard the voice behind me and I turned, shocked to find the wolf sitting behind me yet again. Luckily we were the first ones on the bus so nobody else had seen me cry.
"It's nothing, really. I was just, er, nevermind..." I turned forward again and shut my eyes, pretending he wasn't there. It was going well for a few seconds, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see him standing next to me, a worried look spread across his face. He sat down next to me and said in a softer voice, "it's okay, you can tell me what's wrong. You're helping me with my problems, at least let me repay you by helping you with yours."
I thought about it for a moment, and figured I could trust him enough to at least explain some of what was going on with me, but at that moment people started climbing onto the bus, taking their usual places. My closest friend Jacob was one of the first, he got in and sat in the seat behind me since my new friend had taken the seat next to me. I leaned over when nobody was looking and whipered, "I'll talk to you about it later."
He nodded and I went back to listening to my iPad, and leaned my head against the window, closing my eyes. When the song I was listening to was almost finished (Crescendolls by Daft Punk) I peeked one eye open to see which song was coming up next, and changed it to my liking.
We arrived at school relatively fast, it's only a few minutes down the street from the transfer station anyways. All of us wound our way to the cafeteria for breakfast and got in line, as usual. We all sat at the same lunch table; again, as usual, and talked about the newest video games and social media crap.
He walked over and sat at the table directly across from me, and I realized I didn't even know his name yet. I couldn't believe I haven't even asked his name and blushed furiously at the thought. Luckily my dark fur covers that up really well, so I don't think he caught my embarrassment.
"Hey, umm..." I rubbed the back of my neck as I talked, trying to downplay my shame, "I don't think I caught your name. I should have asked for it earlier, I'm sorry." I looked away and blushed even harder, my tail curling around my leg out of the increasing shame I felt.
Of course it was at precisely that moment that my girlfriend came over and sat in the seat to my left, turning toward me as she did so.
_Great, I already have shame and embarrassment on the list, why not add nervousness?_I thought sarcastically after I said 'hey' to her.
"Hey Zach, listen I've got to talk to you for a second."
"Oh, um, alright. What is it?" My new friend had a weird look on his face and he was looking away, as if he already knew what was going to transpire.
"Come over here, I need to tell you in private." Now I was getting nervous.
"Alright."
She led me over to an empty table and sat down across from me.
"Zach, you're a nice guy and all, but you're not right for me. I'm breaking up with you." Her stout dark muzzle looked stolid, as if she'd come to this conclusion a while ago and was prepared for this.
I just looked down and said, "Oh, alright. I guess I'll talk to later then."
"Bye." She got up and left, her higher than usual, like a weight had been lifted from her. I sat there and put my head down, trying not to think but inevitably doing quite the opposite.
Great, she broke up with me. I mean its not that I really felt anything for her, but it seems even the one person that wanted me figured out how undesirable I am. Ugh, and now I'm going to have to explain to my parents and everything. God, I'm such a disaster.
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing back any tears that would come. Perfect, the last thing I need to do right now is cry. I'm such a wuss. Normal guys don't cry, why can't I just be normal for once in my life? I grabbed my backpack and went to the bathroom, trying to be as invisible as possible on the way there. I splashed my face a few times with cold water from the sink and shook my head, inadvertently trying to shake my thoughts and emotions from me.
The bell rang as I was on my way back to the cafeteria, so I just turned around and went to my first class. The day was going by incredibly slowly, so I tried to sleep through my classes to both help pass the time and keep me from my thoughts from as long as possible. When I got on the bus I put both of my earbuds in and pretended to go to sleep, my new friend sat next to me but he didn't say anything until we got to our stop.
I put my iPad in my backpack and stepped out of the bus, and immediately started on my way home, staring at the sidewalk so I didn't have to look at anybody.
"Hey Zach, wait up!" My ears flicked backwards as I heard my new friend -I still hadn't gotten his name- calling behind me. I slowed my pace and allowed him to catch up.
"You want to hang out later? We could meet at the park, I'd like to spend some time with you that doesn't involve me hurting myself." He looked away sheepishly, I could see his tail twitching out of the corner of my eye.
"Uhm, sure, I guess I still owe you that talk too, if you want that is."
"Okay, I'll see you later then!" he waved as he turned away to head towards his house. I started to cross the street but a black van turned right in front of me and took his sweet time in getting out of my way.
Irritated, I jogged all the way to my house in the back of the neighborhood. I closed the door a little too suddenly behind me and some of my tail fur ripped out, causing me to yelp in pain. I closed the door to my room and blew through my homework, wanting to get it done and out of the way. I took a short nap afterwards, and then washed the dishes and vacuumed my carpet. At about five thirty I stepped out the front door and started towards the park, wondering how far I'm willing to tell him about my internal battles.