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 Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2021 7:02 pm
“All right. That’s fine. Send me a DM on Twitter when you have your questions, and let me know when you want to meet again. I’ll send you the address of the cafe so that you can come over whenever. Seriously. Just feel free to stop by. If we’re open, one of us will be there to welcome you, even if it isn’t me.”
He took the check from the waitress and slid the box with the two BLT’s over towards Caius, as well as the two bags of chips and the to go cup of chocolate milk. Damn, that had been thoughtful. She would get a nice tip for that.
Placing two twenties on the table, Nick stood up and stretched, picking up his own cup of milk. “I would...appreciate if you’d send me a message when you get home? If you can. If not, I get it. Just...I want to make sure you’re safe. I mean.” He laughed and shook his head. “Nevermind. You’re just my responsibility now, and I’m going to take it seriously.”
...For once.
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2021 7:15 pm
Caius seemed genuinely surprised by all of this, and he turned pink again in that way that obviously meant he didn’t know how to respond.
“I…” he looked at the food and seemed like he genuinely needed a few seconds to figure it all out. “...I’ll eat it all, thank you,” he finally said, and held the chocolate milk a little closer, like it was something to be treasured.
“I’ll try to send you a message. But it’s late, so we’ll see. If I can’t tonight, I’ll do it in the morning. But you don’t have to worry, I’m sure I can make it back to the house safely. There’s basically lights the whole way back. I don’t think I’ll pass through any bad neighborhoods, either. But, um. Thanks for worrying.”
Probably. He didn’t know, it was weird and he felt all flustered and off his game. Holding the food was at least a good excuse to keep his eyes on that and not look up at Nick, and he could busy his arms with holding the leftovers.
He didn’t know how he was going to get them to keep, but he figured they probably wouldn’t go bad even if he couldn’t refrigerate them overnight.
He’d know by morning, probably.
“But. I’m not your responsibility. I’m my own responsibility. So...don’t worry too much about it. But I’ll message you. And maybe stop in soon. So...just. Thanks, again. For helping me, and for all of this.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:25 am
It was on the tip of his tongue to argue with the boy, to claim that in becoming his mentor, Nick was making him his responsibility...but that would simply be an argument for another night. “All right, all right. Then I’ll see you again soon, I hope! Make good choices and...have a good night, kid.”
He grinned and gave a little wave, leaving first, so that he wouldn’t think he was being followed.
The poor kid was so jumpy...and now he just wanted to get home and talk to Arias. Wanted to tell him everything.
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