Chapter 3 — “Don’t Leave!!!”
“Soooo…”
She looked at me, the smile not once receding from her face. To our bewilderment, Ezra had followed both of us to Jack’s room. Since when did she care about video games?
“Soooo…?”
“What’re you guys playing?”
“Uhm… It’s a shooter… Duty’s Call.”
“Ooooh, what do you do in it?”
“Shoot… people…?”
Seriously, since when did she care about video games?
“Don’t forget you also shoot zombies.”
Jack cut in on the conversation, but Ezra’s gaze never left my face.
She moved from the floor to the bed, sitting next to me. It was uncomfortably close, her shoulder basically touching mine, though I couldn’t really complain. I could complain about Jack’s glare, though.
“Ahem!”
Almost comically on cue, Jack cleared his throat and brought our attention to the TV, the game now booted up.
“Pay attention to the game, Jason.”
His voice was more curt than I would have liked. One glance confirmed the growing irritation on his face, which Ezra completely ignored. He was never an irascible person, but I guess his sister being close to me was enough to tick him off…
“Right, right…”
I scooted away a bit, knowing it would be better not to piss him off too much. Ezra frowned at that, but said nothing.
“So, which mode are we trying first?”
To both of our dismay, Ezra inserted herself into our game time, deciding that she was now a member of our party.
“Um… Ezra, have you even played a shooter game before?”
As I muttered my question, Ezra leaned across the bed and snatched up one of the controllers. Even though Jack had three of them, we barely ever used the third. But I guess we’d have fun with more people?
“What’s wrong with starting now?”
“Nothing… It’s just that you’ve never really shown an interest. So it feels kind of weird.”
I let out a nervous laugh, hoping my comment didn’t come off as too pretentious.
“Yeah, it does feel kind of weird, Ezra.”
Jack looked towards his sister, and then fixed his gaze on me.
“I’d like you guys to tell me what’s really going on.”
“W-Wait…! I was being honest when I said I have no clue. Seriously, what the hell are you accusing me of?”
My face contorted as I spat out my question, although I realized I was acting too defensively.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
I apologized, but his fiery gaze never softened.
“You know what? I really don’t care. I’m not feeling well, and I’d like you two to leave.”
At that moment, Ezra shot up and put her hands on her hips.
“Um, this is my house too, y’know! You can’t just ask me to leave!”
“So get the hell out of my room!”
I’d never seen Jack burst like that. His attitude had shifted so quickly that I could barely process the fact that we’d upset him before—
“—Guh.”
“—Ugh!”
We were both swiftly removed from his room.
× × ×
Did the possibility of his sister getting close to his best friend really make him that angry, even though I already said I was just as confused?
“What was that about?”
For a moment, I forgot Ezra was there. I threw that thought out there without realizing I had said it out loud.
“Ugh! Who cares? He’s just being a jerk!”
She looked up towards the ceiling, and then back down at me quickly, moving in a weirdly animated way.
“Hmmm… Why don’t we just hang out together? What does it matter if he’s there?”
“W-Wha…?!”
She had never shown an inkling of interest in me, and now she was suddenly inviting me to her room?
Something felt off. Not just off, but wrong. It was that same feeling. The one from earlier. Something so sweet, so treacly it made me sick.
I knew I couldn’t go with her, though. It wouldn’t be right. Not when Jack had already expressed his disapproval.
“I-I mean, do we really want to upset Jack even more?”
Once again, my voice nearly failed me. But I couldn’t be spineless for something like this.
“Is this really a good idea?”
Ezra’s eyes narrowed at that, shaking her head.
“Who cares what he thinks? If he wants to sulk, then he can sulk by himself!”
“That’s not the point…”
“He can’t tell us what to do.”
Her words grew unrelenting, completely disregarding my concerns. And after every word, she stepped closer to me.
“I’m his best friend. I don’t… want him to be upset with me…”
I took a step back, my heart racing in my chest.
“Does that matter when he’s being so controlling? What kind of friend thinks he has the right to tell another what to do?”
“W-What the—”
I grunted as I hit the wall behind me, giving her free reign to get up in my face. Her lips spread in an indulgent smile.
“Come on, it’ll be fun. Don’t you want to spend time with me?”
I wish I could say I was brave enough to tell her to back off. That I didn’t appreciate how she spoke to me. That I held my ground.
Instead, I shoved her to the side and bolted as if my life depended on it.
“W-Waiiiitttt!!!”
I heard her yelling—no, whining behind me, as my feet scrambled to take me away.
And then I heard a second pair of footsteps growing quickly behind me.
“Please, we’ll have so much fun!!!”
“N-No, I’m sorry! I can’t!”
I practically jumped through the door and passed the stairs, my legs colliding with the stone pathway in front of their house.
“Wait! Jason, don’t leaveeeee!!!”
I didn’t bother responding. I kept going and going, running so fast my feet had gone numb.
At some point, the only footsteps I could hear were mine. But still, I couldn’t stop running. Not until I found myself on my front porch, dry heaving as I attempted to collect myself.
