Methis POV
I stood by the door, staring awkwardly at him as he stared back, begging him to say something, anything at all to break this silence.
"You look..." I paused, unsure of what to say, "Good."
He smiled, "Yes, well apparently the black eye looks good on me, I haven't gotten so much attention since when I pooped my pants in the third grade."
I remained silent for a moment, looking at him confused while he smiled back."It's a joke Methis." He said, noticing my confusion, "It's a joke."
"Oh," I replied, chuckling nervously, grateful that he had at least made an attempt to cut out the tension in the air between us.
"So." He said quietly.
"So, Sophia isn't home?"
He shook his head, "No, she went out to get some groceries."
"Wanna talk about what happened?" I asked, quietly, trying to maintain eye contact. Awkward conversations like this weren't my strong suit.
Thankfully, he seemed to recognize this. "Yeah, I would rather we take a walk."
I looked up at him gratefully, "Really?"
"Yeah, just let me hop in the shower real quick."
His first good idea in a very long time.
* * *
By the time he got out of the shower, put on a pair of jeans and jacket, it was already drizzling outside. I debated staying back and just watching a movie with him or something along those lines but decided against mentioning it to him. He needed a little bit of air, being stuck in this apartment for so long. And staying alone there with him would have felt a little bit too awkward.
It was better to go ahead with the walk.
He grabbed an umbrella, holding it over me as we walked down the flight of stairs into the street under the drizzle. We said nothing, making our way quietly to the park. I resisted the urge to snuggle up against him for some warmth, given the events that had already happened, there was no need to pour gasoline into the fire I was trying to quench.
We finally got to the park, almost empty as the drizzle had chased everybody inside which worked perfectly for me. I needed some alone time with him after all.
"So, how is your face?" I asked as we settled down under the tree on a park bench, staring at the rain-soaked park in front of us.
"It feels a lot better now." He said, his face grim and solemn. "Given what exactly it had been through."
"I am so sorry, Xander." I said, hearing the pain in his voice. "I really didn't mean for that to happen at all, it was all so fast."
"It's good, it's good." He replied, cutting me off, "Of anything, I should be apologizing, I shouldn't have done any of that." He took a deep breath before exhaling, "I should have been a bit more mature."
I didn't know what to say to that, so I did the only thing that made sense and sat quietly next to him as the rain started again.
After a while, he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out something. My eyes wideness as I saw the pack of cigarettes which he casually slid open with one finger, flicking out one and holding it up to his lips before shutting it and sticking it back into his pocket.
"Xander!" I said, punching his arm so hard the unlit cigarettes fell from his lips splattering on the floor.
"Ouch!" He said, "If you wanted one, just say Methis, damn!"
"Want one? No- I... That's not-" I shook my head returning my focus, "When the hell did you start smoking?"
He shrugged pulling out the pack again and flicking it open, "I don't know, a few weeks now?"
"Why!"
"It helps me calm down Methis, I don't know what else to tell you." He said, an irritation returning to his voice as he held out the open pack for me to take one, "Go on," he growled, "Try it."
I shook my head, almost amused at the absurdity of the situation. I felt like I was in highschool again, in the girl's bathroom, trying to shrug of the attempts to make me take a drag of weed. "No."
Unlike the girls however, he didn't care. Just shrugged and muttered "Suit yourself." Before lighting it with a lighter he fished out of the other pocket. Cupping his hand over the flame to stop it from extinguishing as he took a deep drag, holding it in as he shut his eyes and leaned back for a while before exhaling through his nose with a long "aaaaaaaah."
He opened his eyes again to see me watching him, almost as surprised as I was intrigued. "See." He said, smiling, "It ain't that bad, it ain't bad at all."
I slapped his thigh in annoyance ."Give me some of that." I muttered as he chuckled, handing me the pack to select mine.
Great, I had come over to ask him about my mom and make things up to him and now we were in the pack, handing me my first ever smoke. I smiled, wondering how we got here.
As I took in my first drag of the tobacco, placing it between my lips and inhaling hard, sucking in the air, I nearly spat it out as a fit of cough overtook me, the abrasive smoke filling my lungs and immediately irritating me. I sputtered and spat, shaking as I tried to get it all out, my eyes turning red and tearing as my cheeks turned pink.
Xander was laughing, harder than I had heard him laugh in a while, holding on to his sides as tears started streaming down his face and I threw out the cigarette in disgust.
"You think-You think this is funny?" I asked, punching his arm as I hard as I could, which at the very least seemed to silence him.
"Sorry, sorry." He chuckled, rubbing my back gently. "You just took it in like an amateur."
"I AM an amateur!"
And like that, in that moment, we sat silently watching the sunset. Just too friends enjoying a cigarette together. Nothing else mattered in the world at that moment.
It was perfect.