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"I'm the violence in the pouring rain..." Hurricane - Halsey

[9] caring

We found my dog eating a thrown out burger by a house in the neighborhood's trash can. "Well, would you look at that," She smirked. "He must be hungry."

"Yeah, I guess." I murmured and moved closer to my dog. Thunder ran up to me, still chewing his food.

"See?" Clarity was still smirking. "He does want to come back; he loves you."

"So, what? This was a test or something to see if my dog would want to stay with me?"

She rolled her pretty eyes. "I didn't test anyone or anything, actually. For your information, I just did it all on instinct."

I almost face palmed myself. "Okay..well, what a good way to act on instinct. Real good."

Instead of rolling her eyes, she laughed a bit. "Whoa, you used sarcasm!"

"Yes, so awesome. I can be sarcastic sometimes." I put my dog back on his leash, resisting the urge to smile.

She was too cute. And it was becoming hard to stay mad at her.

"Yeah, I guess you can." She started to walk away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I exclaimed as I caught up with her.

She turned to look at me. "Somewhere. Want to come with me?"

"Yes," I said automatically. I must be eager to be with her because of my quick answer and her quirk of an eyebrow, amused.

"Sorry, you can't." Her voice was loud and clear to me.

"Wha-"

"I'm kidding," she grinned before turning to walk again. I caught up with her. "Calm down."

I could barely calm down with you so close to me, I thought. She was smiling. "I wasn't freaking out," I said instead.

"Ha! Okay," she sounded like she didn't believe me. She probably didn't.

"Where are we going anyways?" I changed the subject.

"Nowhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Nowhere."

"So, the specific place of nowhere is..."

"Nowhere." She confirmed, gray eyes looking at the sky.

"Oh my goodness. Just tell me where."

"Nolan, it's really nowhere. We are just going to walk, duh." Her voices sounded so simple that I didn't have it in me to argue.

"So," She said. "What's your favorite color?"

We were still walking. "Um, I don't know. Maybe green or yellow.."

"Green or yellow?" She asked, her nose wrinkling up. Her straight-lined-black-hair fell into her face from the wind, covering her eyes and she used her hands to brush it away quickly.

"Yeah, I guess. What's yours?" I said,

"As you can tell," she gestured to her dark clothing, "black."

"Why?" I asked aloud, letting my thoughts speak for myself. "Does that color not seem....empty??"

She made a goofy voice, but cute nonetheless. "Empty like my soul." She nudged my side and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious," I told her.

"Ugh, okay, okay. Well, uh, let's see. I like the color black because (1) I can like that color, (2) because black signifies a meaning, poetic even. Mysterious and meaningful." She said. "Almost like you. Mysterious, that is."

"Me? How am I mysterious?" I asked, wondering why she was thinking that. I wasn't anything that special, honestly, I didn't have any bizarre complexion or a interesting personality.

She stopped, bent down, and picked up a flower. "I don't know, you just are. Just, I don't know, you don't really talk a lot about yourself."

"Mostly because I don't like talking about myself." I replied, watching as she twirled the flowers around her long fingers.

"Why?" Clarity questions.

"Just don't."

"Okay.."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"Just tell me about yourself." She demanded quietly, sneaking a glance at me after she threw the flower, it soaring in the wind before landing on the pavement in front of us.

"Like..?"

"Favorite food, drink, best moment in your life..."

"My favorite food would have to be spaghetti. My favorite drink is lemonade, freshly made by my mom. My best moment in my life? Um, I don't know..Maybe when I won a spelling bee in sixth grade..." I trail off as I remember that memory. I was so nervous that I had left damp sweat marks under my arm pits. I was a stuttering mess at first - but I ended up winning anyways. Parents were proud, I suppose. Dad clapped me on the back and mom smiled at me and her eyes were lit up. Morris, on the other hand, didn't attend the spelling bee. As a matter of fact, he went out with Addie instead.

"A spelling bee is your best memory?" She asked, her voice high.

I glanced at her and said, seeming a little embarrassed, "Yeah, I guess..."

"Um, okay then."

"Okay when was yours?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are you going to tell me or-" I began.

"Shut it, I'm thinking!" She exclaimed, hitting my shoulder. After a few moments, she said, "Okay. Well, it was the first time I ever put a bottle of vodka to my lips."

"Did you like it?"

"No, I hated it. That's why I still drink it." She was using sarcasm. "Yes, Nolan, I liked it. It burned a bit, but I got used to it."

Thunder barked at another dog that ran by them. "Oh, well nice, I guess."

"It was," she replied dreamily.

"Ok," I said. "Well, I should be heading -"

"Hey, look," She pointed to a ice cream truck rolling around the neighborhood, it's tune playing loudly. Kids began going towards the truck. "Let's go get some." I didn't know that the ice cream truck ran this early.

"I don't have any-" she was already walking away, not worrying about what I was currently saying. I followed her quickly. She passed an adult, not bothering to apologize for bumping into them which almost made them drop their ice cream.

"Two fudge pops," she demanded, looking at the man in the truck. The man nodded and handed the two fudge pops to us. She slapped money into his hand and stalked off.

"That was rude, plus, he was supposed to give you change."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't care."

"You don't care to which part? Your money or being rude?" I asked. She sat down on a bench and I sat down beside her.

"I don't care," she says, "about both."

"Oh," I say, "so you just don't... care?" I looked over at her and she was looking at the orange, pink, and blue sky.

"Caring too much can really hurt someone," she suddenly didn't look so interested in the fudge pop, "that's why most people pretend not to. So they won't get hurt as much."

"That seems wrong," I say, "I mean, if you pretend to care, wouldn't people end up caring too much when they pretend to not care at all?"

"They can," she says, spinning the fudge pop in her hand as she examined it, "but not me. I simply do not care." Thunder plopped down beside my feet, his tongue sticking out.

"Why?"

"Why do I not care?" She gives me a thin smile. "Because I just don't. I don't care what people think, I don't care what people say about me, I don't care and I don't care that I don't care."

"Well, I do, I care about a lot of things. I do care, I always have. I care what people say about me and what they say because it affects me." I told her honestly.

"Well, look at that." She gave me a long stare, "I was wrong."

"About what?" I wonder if I said something wrong. Did I? I just had stated my opinion, which, honestly, I didn't do too much. But I did anyways, in hopes of talking go Clarity longer and letting her know more about me - just like I wanted to get to know her.

"Nothing." She said. We ate our fudge pops in silence. It was good, but not something someone would typically have for breakfast. Well, it was around eleven now, I figured.

"I have to go," she said quickly. "Bye, Nolan."

She was already walking away when my words of farewell to her got carried away by the wind.