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Noah was sitting cross-legged at the end of the bench, waiting for his ‘big buddy’ to return from the ice cream stand. At the same time as this, he is also consciously blocking out any noises or sounds of turmoil that may or may not be coming from the direction he went.
“Oh COME ON!” shouted a voice that if Noah had even tried to pay attention to, would remind him of someone. Too bad he can’t hear this.
“Can I really not get another one? That was just an unhappy accident.” Noah is glad he can’t hear this.
“Okay…” The distant sound of low sobs can be heard around the park by people who are not Noah.
Owen trudges towards Noah with a look in his eyes so deeply tinged with melancholy you would assume his whole family had passed away due to violent and mysterious circumstances.
Noah sighed. “What is it, big guy?”
“Ice cream.” Owen refused to look up.
Despite his obvious distress, Noah could see that Owen was holding a perfectly intact ice cream in his left hand. However, a glance to the left showed an ice cream, completely decimated, lying on the floor.
“You dropped it.”
“Yup!” Owen’s eyes watered uncontrollably.
“It’s okay, dude. I’ll get you another one after you finish that one.” Noah shrugged, defeated. He didn’t really want to buy another one, but he was also more than a little bit concerned at the amount of emotion his friend was showing over this ice cream.
“But it was for you! No, here. Take this one.”
Noah raised his brow.
“Uh, Owen. Are you okay? Are you dying? You’re dying.”
“Hey, come on! Am I not allowed to spoil my little buddy every once in a while?” The audible offence in Owen’s voice made Noah smirk.
Noah gingerly took the ice cream from his friend’s hand. It was two scoops of chocolate and strawberry ice cream, but the real point of interest was the decadent heapings of toppings slathered over the scoops. He could tell this ice cream was intended to be eaten by Owen.
Noah felt something warm in his chest. Emotion? Disgusting. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard to dismiss when Owen was eagerly watching him, waiting for him to start eating.
The ice cream was delicious, sweet and pleasant to eat. However, the taste of the dessert was overshadowed by Owen’s pure glee at watching Noah enjoy it. As he got to the base of the cone, Owen looked like he was bursting to say something.
“What’s on your mind? You’re blowing a gasket over there.”
“I was just, uh, wondering. Did you like it?”
Noah smirked. “Yeah. It was great.”
Owen sighed in relief and laughed nervously, like he always did. “Th-that’s great! You see, those are my favourite toppings, ahaha!”
“You sure you don’t want me to get you one?” Owen may be playing it cool, but Noah can tell he’s absolutely ravenous. Friends have a sixth sense for these kinds of things, you know.
“Oh, no! I’m just happy my little buddy is happy.”
“Oh? Well I’m glad too.”
They stopped in silence for a minute, and Owen began to sweat profusely.
“Okay, really. Do you want me to get you some ice cream? I can-”
“No!” Owen raised his voice without warning.
Both boys were suddenly taken aback, with Owen probably more surprised than Noah.
“I mean, it’s okay. I really did just want to eat ice cream with you, but I messed it up, again.” That sad look returned to Owen’s eyes. Maybe it wasn’t about the food itself at all.
Noah started to make one of his usual attempts to comfort someone. He didn’t mean to come off rude or condescending, but it’s definitely difficult when you start to comfort someone with a stilted pat on the back and a blithe:
“There, there.”
“Why?”
Noah froze. ‘Why’? Why the sudden introspection? This wasn’t even an answer Noah could answer. Why do people comfort others? To make the other person feel better? To make themselves feel better? To make themselves feel better that the other person feels- Okay. This is getting far too complicated. Whatever the reason, there was nothing he could say to Owen that would make sense to himself.
“Noah?”
“Oh. Just wondering why you’d say that.” That was the truth.
“I don’t wanna get all weird with you, man.”
“Go ahead. I’ve seen your bare ass. I don’t know why you’d stop now.”
Owen snorted. “It’s just, you’re so cool. You wouldn’t have dropped that ice cream on the floor.”
“Uh-huh. Not seeing what being cool has to do with it.”
“Maybe it’s not being cool. Just... maybe it’s just like being put together. You know?”
He didn’t.
Owen sunk into the bench. “I-I don’t know, man. I’m being a bummer. Wanna keep walking?”
“I don’t mind. This bench is comfortable though.”
Owen paused and decided to speak again. “You like me, right?”
“Do you think I would be sitting here if I didn’t?”
“No. Well, maybe. I don’t know!”
“Listen Owen. I’m just a dude, and so are you. Just do things in your Owen way and you’ll get by”
“We’re just dudes?”
Noah nodded.
“I want to be dudes with you forever.”
“Same.”
Noah felt that warm feeling in his chest again, and this time, didn’t try to ignore it at all.