Chapter 11: A Platonic Date Part 2

"Almost... Al...mooost-" Sean said to himself while trying to attempt to get a plushie from the toy machine more than 12 times.

Jake went to the bathroom so now Sean wanted to get a stuffed toy for Jake. It was the price to pay after Jake gave him strawberry lemonade. The machine was filled with stuffed toy animals like lions, monkeys, birds, and pretty much all the jungle animals.

After the 17th try, Sean still couldn't get one toy. With disappointment, he lightly punched the machine. 'This is rigged,' he thought to himself.

"Sean?"

The black haired boy turned and saw the peach haired boy with his hands on his pockets; madly confused on what Sean was trying to do. With curiosity, Jake laughed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get a stuffed toy, but I should've realized this game was rigged after... uh..." Sean dug into his pockets and searched for coins, but felt nothing but soft fablic. "Aw shoot."

"I think my stupidness is getting to you." Jake laughed. "One time I went to the mall with Henry and I tried to get a stuffed toy for him, but I ended up having no more coins in my pocket."

Sean chuckled with him. "Really?"

"Mhm." Jake scratched his head. "It was a lettuce stuffed toy and it was huge. I thought Henry would like it but he was just getting annoyed at how many times I was failing." A sudden ring came through Jake's head. He thought to himself. "But he did give me one more chance with his quarter."

Jake dug into his pockets and gleamed when he felt a silver quarter lying around his jean. (Not the ship *cough, cough*) He stepped towards the toy machine and put the quarter inside.

He grabbed the handles, but Sean pushed his hand away. "Hey, I wanna get it for you."

Jake squinted his eyes. "Alright." He stepped aside and crossed his arms.

Sean thought to himself. He looked at the lion, monkey, and parrot toy which was close to where the grabber was. He turned towards Jake. "Which one do you want?"

Jake put a hand on his chin and mumbled 'hm...'. He pointed towards a bird at almost the top of all the other stuffed toys. "The parrot one looks cool." Jake responded.

Sean smirked and pushed the grabber above the parrot. He checked to see if it was in the right angle. Feeling confident, he hit the grab button and finally caught the parrot. With joy, he put his arms in the air. "Oh my goodness, Jake!" Without a warning, he put his arms around the peach haired boy.

"Wah!-"

When Sean realized what he was doing, he let go. Feeling embarrassed, he scratched his head. "Oh gosh. I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to do that."

Jake chuckled. "Oh no, don't worry." Excitedly, he bent down and got the parrot out of the toy machine. He laughed at the look of the parrot. Yellow and red feathers with a light brown beak. He also had a little red ahoge above its head. Jake put the parrot right next to Sean's face. "I'm Mr. Parrot and I'm here to steal you! Arggg!"

Sean's face started to heat up and he put the parrot away. "Alright, Mr. Parrot, how about we go exploring more and give you a cracker, hm?"

"Oh, but Mr. Jake would want a cracker, too." Jake put an arm around Sean's shoulders. He snuggled the parrot from behind, trying to hold back his laughter.

For some reason, Sean wasn't pulling away. The way he was close to Jake right now; he wanted to be this close to him. '...Is this feeling... what I think it is...?' Sean thought.

His thoughts were interrupted when Jake exclaimed, "Hey, why don't we go to 'Jean's World of Plushies', I bet we could find more or even a plush that can talk on its own! Then after, we can go to the food section to eat!" Jake pointed to the nearby store and grabbed Sean's hand to drag him to the wonderland of plush toys.

Sean smiles cheekily. 'Maybe... this feeling isn't so bad.'

***

***

Hailey looked around the mall in search for a magenta haired boy. She took out her phone and read the last conversation she had with him.

'Meet me next to R&J's.'

Hailey looked around, but she found no one. She leaned against the wall. Head lowered down, thinking that maybe this isn't a good idea.

Oh what am I doing? Hailey thought to herself. I should've just stayed at home. Zander is probably worried about me. Agh!- I should've said no to this stupid--

"Hey Hailey."

The frustrated girl's attention turned directly to the magenta-haired boy she was looking for. She looked at his attire: black pants with a short sleeved leather-jacket. She tried not to give in to that... handsome look. Shaking her head, Hailey huffed under her breath. "Why are you so late?"

"There was slight traffic in the middle of the road." Drew put his hands under his pockets. "But I'm here now. Let's go to the food area, we can talk there."

***

***

"Look at this, Sean! It talks on its own." Jake pressed a button on the large cat plushie and it began copying Jake's exact words; except it was so high pitched you could barely recognize your own voice. Jake laughed and checked the labels. "It's called the Talking Tom plushie."

Sean cringed at the looks of the toy. Tom's eyes were shaped too big and too shiny, it made the whole toy seem like a really scary prop, like those props people use for cosplays on Halloween. "Uh, that looks a little creepy to me."

"Oh?" Jake raised a brow and began staring at the plushie eye to eye. Sean squinted to see what Jake was doing. Jake was staring too long and with the tingles he felt while holding it, he quickly shoved the toy back into the shelves, knocking all the Talking Tom plushies. He held himself, shivering. "Okay, you were right, Sean. It was staring into my soul."

The black-haired boy laughed at his companion's statement.

"Seriously though, Sean. What plushie do you like? You already got one for me, I wanna get one for you, too."

Sean felt his heart struck with astonishment. "Jake, no. This store's price is 20 dollars. I only spent a quarter on yours."

"Technically it was 5 dollars 'cause you wasted your quarters on Mr. Parrot." Jake smirked.

"That's not the same, Jake." Sean sighed.

"Oh, come on, Sean. Pleaaaase?" Jake held Mr. Parrot to face Sean again. Jake gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes. "Consider it as the request for giving away my laptop that I wasn't able to give to you last year. For me but mostly for Mr. Parrot."

Sean rolled his eyes, but he was thinly smiling as he did so. "Alright, fine, but Mr. Parrot is the one who convinced me."

"You're right, Sean. Mr. Parrot does need company. We don't want him to suffer with angst."

Sean trotted over to the jungle animal section. Jake followed him with Mr. Parrot. On the shelves were thousands of jungle animals he saw on the claw machine, but some were 10 times bigger than the parrot he got for Jake. "How are these 20 dollars?" Sean thought out loud.

"Hm..." While holding Mr. Parrot, Jake checked to see the tag of the toys. He gasped. "Wait, Sean, I think you could record yourself into these!" he read the labels, "Click 'press me' and hold to record yourself to hear your animal friend come to life."

Sean leaned against the shelf. "Why don't you try it?"

"Okay." Jake cleared his throat. He thought about what to say, but he couldn't put a finger in it.

Sean opened his mouth, he was about to suggest something, when something caught his attention from outside the store's glass walls. His eyes widened. A teal haired girl, walking and holding hands with a familiar tall magenta-haired boy. Sean whispered, "Hailey?" But the figures started to walk away, he couldn't get a one-hundred percent glimpse of them.

"I like you, Sean!"

And once again, the DJ's thoughts disappeared when Jake said those words. He was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond.

The parrot Jake was holding started to repeat the exact words: 'I like you, Sean.' it said. Jake chuckled at the voice it made. But, once he saw Sean's worried face, his smile soon faded. "Wait... was that too much? I-I'm sorry. I'll change it–"

"No, it's not that. Uh..." Sean scratched his head. "I thought I saw something."

"Really?" Jake looked around. " What did you see?"

"Nevermind. It went away after you said— 'that'." Sean looked down.

"Oh... well, I could change it."

"No, don't." Sean chuckled. "I like it. Don't change it."

Jake's heart skipped when Sean said those words. They looked at each other with love eyes and leaned in close to each other; their faces were almost touching.

Then, out of knowhere, a high-pitched voice interrupted the two.

"Oh, my Gosh. You two are like, so cute together!"

Hearing this, Jake and Sean pulled away from each other nervously; their faces red with embarrassment

The love struck boys looked at each other, then back to the girl who interrupted them.

The girl gasped dramatically. "Oh, my gosh. Did I like, disrupt the time when you guys were gonna kiss? I'm so sorry about that. I am like, so sorry."

The girl was short. She looked like an average freshman gal with pigtails and a 'cute' uniform, but she was probably in her junior year or out of high school. She wore a pink blouse, and the bottom was a pink skirt with a white kitten engraved into it. Some might think first hand that she's one of those wanna-be cutesy girls because of how many times she repeats the word 'like.'

"We weren't about to—" Jake shook his hands, almost begging the short girl to not make fun of them.

"Okay, I see, I see." The girl smirked. "Anyway, I'm like, the counter girl so like, if you want this parrot, I'd be happy to give it to you~ You guys like, 'love' this parrot, right?"

Jake turned to Sean and gave him a short smile. The black haired boy sighed and nodded; thinking that Jake will have to pay this time. Now all he could think of was what they were about to do... Was that getting lost in someones eyes? Sean's face heated up in embarrassment. 'Don't even think about doing that again.' Sean told himself.

"We'll take it!" Jake said, confidently.

"Great!" The girl beamed with excitement and skipped through the counter. The two boys followed her. She checked the price and scanned the item. "15 dollars."

"15?!" Jake elbowed the black haired boy. "You were 5 dollars short, Sean."

Sean rolled his eyes and grinned.

Ring, Ring, Ring!

The DJ's phone started to vibrate. He took the phone out of his pockets to see who it was. Sean raised a brow. "Uh... I'm gonna take this. I'll wait for you outside, Jake."

"Sure, go ahead." Jake leaned against the counter. He took out his wallet and gave the counter girl a 10 and 5 dollar bill. "Here you go."

"Hey, before you go..." the girl gave the receipt to the peach haired boy. "I just wanna say that you are like, so lucky to have a boy like him to be with. Both of you are like, so lucky. Even if it is just like, a platonic date, y'know?"

Jake took the new parrot and Mr. Parrot. "How did you know it was just a 'platonic' date?"

"Oh, I just like, have a sense." the girl put her hands behind her back. "I support you guys like, a hundred percent. Feel free to come back when you guys are like, romantically together."

Jake looked down, thinking about what the girl had said. While holding the new parrot, he waved to the girl. "Thank you so much."

"You are like, so welcome!" the girl exclaimed in response. "Ba-bye!"

***

Jake met Sean on the benches outside of the stores with Mr. Parrot and the new parrot. He sat down next to him. Trying not to mention the almost-kiss.

Jake mumbled awkwardly, "so, looks like Mr. Parrot isn't gonna be alone anymore?"

"Yeah..." Sean gently grabbed the new parrot and pressed the button Jake used to record. 'I like you, Sean!' it said. Sean laughed at the way it sounded and he petted the bird's head. "Hey, what if we go to the food center? I'm kinda hungry."

Jake held Mr. Parrot close. "That sounds like a treat now..."

****

~~~

"Henry and Liam are 'what?!'" Hailey exclaimed in surprise.

"No I am not joking; they are probably going out now." Drew sipped his ice-cold coffee and sighed. "Now I have to sit around while they flirt with each other. I don't even know if they're faking it. Can you believe it?"

"No, I can't." Hailey folded her arms. "Wow, I guess... a lot has happened ever since the competition, huh?"

"Yeah." Drew rested his hands on his cheeks, thinking about what happened before the competition. "Is there anything that hasn't changed?"

"My club still acts like same." Hailey soft chuckles. "Most especially Zander--"

Ring Ring Ring!

Hailey's phone began to vibrate. She took her phone out of her pockets and looked at the caller ID: Zander. The teal haired girl sighed. "Speak of the devil."

Drew smirked. "Come on, answer it."

She nods. Nervously, Hailey stood up from her seat and excused herself.

She stood next to a tray next to her and pressed call, looking to her left and right to no one could hear the conversation.

"Hello?"

"'Hailey. Uh...are you okay?'"

Hailey put her hands on her pockets. "Yeah, I am." She cleared her throat, trying not to mention a lie. "Zander, don't worry about me."

"'Hailey, you know it's hard to not worry about you when you're acting really strange lately.'" Zander groaned under his breath. "'Dad said you wanted to meet up with a friend. He saw you go with them, right?'"

"Yeah, he even said hi to him."

"'Alright...'" Zander said with a low voice, making it seem like he doesn't trust what Hailey's doing. "'Well, I'm gonna go see what Sean's up to. So....have fun over there.'"

Hailey cringed at the word. "Thanks, Zander. And tell Luke I said hi."

"'Mhm.'" And that's when the pianist hung up.

Hailey touched her heart. It was beating so fast. She began to sweat. 'This was probably not a good idea. Not with Zander worrying about me, and not with me not being ready... No, I don't think I'm ready for this.' With a nervous adrenaline, she sat back down on her seat.

Drew drank the last sip of his iced coffee. "So? What'd he say?"

"He was just worried about me." Hailey slightly smiled. "You know how brothers are."

Drew looked up. "I don't really know anything about brothers. I don't even have one." the magenta haired boy scoffed gently. "But I guess they're a bit complicated."

Hailey glanced at Drew with a friendly smile, her tummy with butterflies. "You're right."

****

"A special order from 'Stacy's Mamamia Pizza', and 'Sadiebucks'!" Jake exclaimed excitedly and pushed the tray, full of food and drinks to Sean, and their two parrot toys.

Sean beamed at the sight. His worried deminior after the plush store disappeared after Jake ordered his favorite meals from his favorite restaurant and cafe. He shook his head, realizing that the peach haired boy had spent his money. "Jake, seriously... all you had to do was order just one order of 'Stacy's Mamamia Pizza'; not go through 'Sadiebucks' and get two frappuccinos."

"Mmm..." Jake thought of an excuse. "I just like doing these things to you. You're so..." 'cute,' that was the word Jake wanted to say, "modest."

Sean blushed at what the shorter boy said. "Jake..."

"See?" Jake laughed. "Anyway, let's eat! There's even free crackers for Mr. Parrot and..." Jake stared at the new parrot. "Who should we call him... or her?"

The black haired boy looked at the white feathered parrot bird with a yellow ahoge on the top of its head. She almost looked like one of those white parrots. Sean thought for a moment. "She looks like a bundle of pearls." Sean thought. "Pearl?"

"Pearl!" Jake grabbed the parrot and held it like monkey Rafiki from the Lion King. "Ms. Pearl and Mr. Parrot!"

"Yeah, that's great." Sean rolled his eyes. He darted towards the people next to them who were looking at them strangely. Without being ashamed, he waved his arms, smiling. He began to wonder why he wasn't feeling anything...weird. Like, being with Jake made him so happy that it just feels so right. To be with him now; comfortable, not stuttering, not nervous. It feels so right.

Before he could overthink again, when he saw something from almost the outside of the food center. The same teal haired girl and magenta haired boy went out of their seats, and went through the exit. Again, he couldn't get a glimpse of them, but something in him worried a bit.

The phone call.

Sean began to quiver again, but it didn't take long to notice the black haired boy's long face. Jake's smile faded; putting the plushes down.

"Are you okay, Sean?" Jake asked, worryingly.

"I... uh..." Sean scratched his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me, Jake. I keep seeing things. Like, the one in the toy store?"

"Hmm..." Jake made a questioning sound. "You didn't really tell me who you saw back there. Would you mind telling me?" Jake asked while sipping his cold frappuccino.

Sean rested his chin with his hands, he looked down. "I thought I saw Hailey and Drew."

When Jake heard this, he almost choked. "What?!"

Sean attentively nodded his head. He stopped for a moment and folded his arms. "Or maybe I'm just seeing things."

Jake clenched his fists, remembering all the events that happened last year. He didn't speak, he softly just leaned against his chair. Jake shook his head. "I don't think he's with Hailey. Why would Hailey just go to Drew? It isn't like her." Jake laughed under his breath. "Right?"

Sean looked up, thinking. "...Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right." His memory then turned back about the conversation he had with Hailey last time at school. She was acting strange and she flinched when he tried to mention who the mystery person she liked could be. ' "And I got a call from Zander eariler today at the toy store. He said he called you but you didn't answer and he seemed a bit worried. He said Hailey was here in the mall."

"Maybe you saw different people. I mean, there are many teal haired girls around here, right?" Jake tried to convince Sean that it wasn't Hailey and Drew he saw back there. Jake convincing himself was working, but Sean's mind was in the middle of thinking.

"Can Hailey really be in love with Drew?" Sean crossed his arms. "Has he changed that much?"

"I guess Drew did change." Jake looked down, remembering the fight they both had in English class. The peach haired boy, then got on track. "But, no! It can't be. Like that'd be impossible. It's probably not meant to be."

Jake's words got Sean off guard. He thought of the impossible love he had with Jake. He didn't want to get into a relationship, Jake is struggling with who-knows-what now.

Sean crossed his arms, thinking. 'Is this... really meant to be?'

***

***

Jake's POV:

"Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me, Sean." I put my hands in my pocket, smiling. I had a great time today and I really hoped Sean did, too. We stood next to the sliding glass doors, opening and closing.

I didn't want him to go yet.

"I had a really fun time, Jake." Sean laughed. "And I think that Mr. Parrot and Pearl are feeling pretty good as well."

I completely forgot about me holding these two parrots. I looked at the one I bought (Pearl) and handed it to Sean. "I think you should keep this." It's the one where I said 'I like you, Sean.' In my head, I think I shouldn't have said that. I feel like it's a big step in... whatever we're having right now. "You could change the recording if you want."

"I think I'll keep it." Sean winked at me as I blushed. "Anyway, are you sure you don't want to walk home with me? I think my mom could take you home after. It's not far from here, y'know."

"No, it's fine. I have a lift in the end of this alleyway thing and my mom'll be picking me up there." I put my hands on my hips with confidence, trying to act a bit brave.

"Oh, alright." Sean scratched his head while holding Pearl. I stroked Mr. Parrot's soft ahoge as the black haired boy waved at me and exited the mall with the sliding glass door opening.

He finally left.

I put my hands in my pockets.

"I like you, Sean." I said, proudly.

***

I went to the alleyway, about to call my mom so she could drive me home. I scrolled through my phone.

I could see a lot of messages and 3 calls from Zander. I didn't realize he was messaging me before; my phone was on silent. I pressed the button on the top right which raised the ringtone volume up; just in case my mom would call.

I put my phone in my pockets, deciding to read Zander's messages later.

I took a quick look at the alleyway. It was dark, gloomy, and I saw graffiti all over the place. It looked a bit suspicious, but maybe that was because the sky was turning dark blue now. The only thing beautiful about this place are the stars at night.

I think I would be scared if I saw a bunch of big tall guys with spray paint everywhere. And now that I think about it, I'm much closer to my brother's school than I was before. Speaking of my brother's school, I got to say that his middle school was a lot different than mine. Yes, people did bully me because I was the outcast of my old middle school; but that's mainly why my mom decided to move my brother to a different school. But little did she know that this school was a lot worse.

Eighth graders would prank everyone, and if I ever went to this school in the first place, I'd probably be dead because of all the fights. I think the eighth graders here would mostly target people who are... different. I shivered at that thought; because 'different' meant boys liking boys and girls liking girls, or any other quote on quote "weird qualities" you have; like wearing a gray sweater because you're nervous of what others think of you.

I think that's what I'm afraid of.

I wanted to rant more about how I felt about the school when I heard something...

I stopped my walking and I tried to hear the sound more. It sounded like a whimper or maybe a soft sob. I gasped, maybe it's one of the victims.

With hesitation, I followed the sound and to my horror, I saw a familiar face.

He was surrounded by spray paint bottles and it looked like he got shoved or pushed. There weren't any bruises, just a soft whimper. I ran up to him– my brother. How the heck did he get here? Why is he here? And why did people leave these bottles here?

"Matt! Matt!" My brother looked up to me. He looked like he was about to cry. "Matt, tell me, a-are you hurt?"

I was about to take a quick look at him and pull him up, but he smacked my hand away. "I'm fine." He said, with a cold expression. Soon, he got the courage to stand up and walk away. Away from me. But even though I was full of rage, I followed him.

"Matt, where have you been? You're not supposed to be at home! How the heck did you get here?"

"Dad dropped me off."

"How did you—" there was no way dad would drop off Matt in this place. He knows about those awful bullies. I decided not to question it. "Matt, mom needs to pick us up. Come on." I held his hand, but he shoved me away. I scoffed with annoyance, "Matt—"

Beep Beep!

A car pulled over the street to us. The window went down and mom came to view. "Hey boys, get in!" she yelled. I looked at Matt who was shivering and he quickly went back of the car to the side and closed the door a bit hard. Without talking, I went into the front.

Mom said something, but I didn't listen to her.

I looked at the front mirror and Matt was all tucked up with a frustrated, no... more of angry and sad look. I faced down...

What's going on with my little brother?

FINALLY!!!! AAAAAGH This one took forever to do but I am finally done with it. And now I could get to the climax next chapter :3 Which means angst definitely!

I am SO SORRY for not publishing sooner. 1. I was busy with school and 2. I was a bit scared to publish this. But now I have a lot of confidence because its cold outside! (I know- weird thing to be feeling confident about ;-;)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I'll publish the next one NOT in 2 months but next week! :3

Thanks for reading and bai baiii!