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My cousin and I lock our bikes out in front of the LGBTQ+ centre. My hands are shaking and I could feel my heart thump. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see Reggie’s brother (or as I lovingly call Mr. Peachy ).
“You good?”
I turn to look at Lucas, who nudges at my bike. I finish up whatever it is I have been doing and sling my backpack over my shoulder.
“Yup! Good to go.”
“Barry said that he’s hiding out in the washroom at the moment, so I’ll go check up on him.”
I nod. “Guess I’ll head in and find us all seats.”
“You’ll be the second one out of all of us to finally meet Reggie’s brother, you excited?” Lucas teases.
“I just wanna figure out if Mr. Peachy is just as moody in real life as he is through text,” I reply. Lucas and I go our separate ways, him finding Barry, and me greeting the regular members of the LGBTQ+ centre.
A few minutes in and I immediately spot Reggie sitting further off in the back, talking to someone beside him. I’m going to assume that’s the infamous brother, Mr. Peachy. He looks exactly like his message icon: moody and full of angst.
I make my way over to the brothers, saying “hi” to a couple of other friends and acquaintances along the way. I finally reach them and plop down on an empty seat next to Reggie.
“Hey, Reggie!”
Reggie looks over at me with a large warm smile and pulls me into a side hug. “Good to see you, Dawn.”
“It’s good to be here,” I chuckle. My eyes glance over to the other purple-haired boy with a scowl on his face. “And you must be Mr. Peachy.”
“It’s Paul.” So he does speak.
“Right, Paul .”
He continues to glare right at me while fishing into his bag for something, not breaking eye contact. Sort of impressive, but seems a little awkward with him trying to get something from his bag and he’s not even paying attention to what he’s grabbing. Anyways, when he does pull his hand back out from his bag, he’s holding what appears to be an e-reader?
“Is that an e-reader?” I ask.
“Hn.” He grunts. What is he? A caveman now?
“What’cha reading?”
“Nothing you’d be interested in.”
I’m not going to lie, but I am a bit offended from that. So I guess I’m going to do the one thing I do best: I PUSH ON!
“Try me.” My gaze does not falter as I do my best to stare straight into his soul. It’s worked before in the past when I had to deal with pompous assholes like Mr. Peachy here--although he seems more of the “I hate people” type of asshole. Or maybe he just doesn't know how to people.
Paul flicks his sights at me, his brows knit close together and seems to rest delicately close to the top of his eyes. He taps the screen of his e-reader and then shows it to me. There in front of me is the cover of some book I have never heard of before. Well shit.
“Uh, what is it?” He’s gotten me too curious now, I can’t back down now. I need to know.
He rolls his eyes. Well, that’s just rude.
“Told you it wasn’t anything you’d be interested in.”
“Paul,” Reggie warns. “Be nice.”
Paul just shrugs and starts reading his weird… Book thing on his e-reader. Psh. Yeah, whatever lame-o. Arceus this is going to be a long gathering…
We just sit in silence after that. I sometimes look over towards him and he’s just hooked onto the book that I have never heard of before. I feel like this entire situation is just wasted time. Though on the other hand, it’s nice to finally meet Mr. Peachy in real life, even if he is a bit of an asshole. Maybe friendship will change that. After all, friendship is magic or whatever, right? Isn’t that the motto from that show?
Anywho, I end up engaging myself in a conversation with Reggie while I wait for the rest of my friends to show up.