Stranded Pixels of Us

Vulnerability Sprouts

 "That was an amazing short and I'm impressed already", the voice of a woman who wasn't Mrs Jessica rung in his ears.

    He looked towards the speaker and it was Alessia. He was so lost in his thoughts as his day could not have gone any weirder. Alessia noticed the shock on his face and bent down to pick his ball from the floor as it rolled away. She threw it to him, but a twist of events found the ball right on his head.

    It was quite a surprise Drake didn't fall right to the ground stone cold as the ball met his head which was probably steaming due to overthinking.

 "Oh My God! I'm so sorry…", Alessia said sincerely and with an awkward look on her face.

    "Ha ha", Drake chuckled. The ball really must have hit him pretty bad at some delicate spots for him to be laughing at such pain.

    Alessia walked up to him and touched his face. Once again, this very moment, time seemed to slow down, but it didn't really.

    "It does hurt much, doesn't it?, Alessia asked as she rubbed both sides of his face lightly with her two soft palms. Drake was too caught up in the surprise that today had been that he didn't even pay attention to her question.

    He was sweaty and now it was worsening in the wake of the nervousness that surrounded his breath and eye blinks. He walked towards his bag and checked his phone and saw that time had really flown quite fast.

    "I have to leave now", Drake said to himself maybe with the intention that Alessia would do so too.

    "Are you sure?", Alessia said with an expression of worry. "I might still be here for a while, in fact, a really long time. My mum would be picking me up late as she's just on her way back to town", she confessed to Drake as she sat on the bleachers.

    Drake couldn't leave, not like this. He took a seat about two seats away from Alessia as he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. 

Nightmares now wear long sleeves

    For some seconds, there was this awkward silence between Alessia and Drake because both of them hesitated to speak.

    Alessia decided to break the silence as she looked at Drake, who had turned his face towards the ground, maybe nervously or because he was embarrassed.

    "The last time you asked me why I picked APP, I lied. I didn't mean to… it was just easier to do" Alessia confessed.

    "I'm sure you had your reasons. Besides, it was rather foolish of me to ask like I did." Drake said with a gloomy look on his face.

    "No, you did nothing wrong." Alessia sighed before she continued.

    "For about 4 years now, I've had this void that I've always wanted to fill" Alessia said as she looked Drake in his crystal clear blue eyes.

    "I get that. I've had my own share of void too. My only circle consists of my adopted parents. And if you haven't noticed already, around here, I'm known as orphan boy. There is just that void that the more you get yourself busy trying to fill it up, it doesn't go and you live in constant fear that it might swallow you up." Drake poured these words out like he was talking to a therapist.

    Alessia was processing all that Drake said with a look of calmness that covered her surprise and compassion for him. He had just opened up to her and she felt like hugging him, but she couldn't.

    "I'm sorry about your parents… I know what it is like to lose one and I haven't gotten over it." Alessia said slowly to Drake who fixed his face on her.

    "I'm sorry. I don't know what it is like to lose a parent because I never even met mine." Drake replied.

    "Seems like a collage, doesn't it?" Alessia asked.

    "Emotions? Yeah, they are.", Drake replied.

    Drake looked away from her since she didn't want to and he desperately wanted to avoid another round of awkwardness. The basketball ball suddenly started rolling towards them without contact or touch.

    "Ha ha. That's a good one" Alessia chuckled.

    Drake replied with a laugh so soft he could barely hear it.

    "About that project, have you been able to come up with something?" Alessia asked.

    "I still haven't." Drake replied with a light smile because he was glad she asked.

    "Well, maybe I can help. We are partners anyway. You are interested in Spatial Physics, right?" Alessia asked unsure of Drake's reply.

    Drake nodded in awe. He had always loved spatial physics but he just couldn't run into it alone.

    "How about we discuss that over snacks tomorrow?" Alessia asked.

    "Sure" Drake said as he let out an unintentional smile. He hadn't been on anything like this before. At least, not with anyone.

    "Where I moved from, every day wasn't always like this… peaceful and maybe too quiet. It was always rough and lousy teenage kids who were either bragging about their newly attained luxuries or sticking their faces into another's." Alessia said with a warm smile.

    Drake laughed, quite loud this time. He didn't hold back. He couldn't even if he wanted to as he saw her face light up.