Awkward

Stillness filled the air for the next few moments. Time seemed to pause as Rob and Linnea stared at each other, unable to control their bodies. Robert was the first person to break this deadlock, but he would've gone on for hours if Roland didn't pull his shirt and smack his arm.

Rob pulled his gaze downward to the table. Roland tried to ease the situation by making small talks, but all that procured a handful of nods and mhmms. 'Of course she'd be coming here on this day on this particular hour when I'm trying to forget what happened. What the fuck man.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Of course he'd be coming here on this day on this particular hour when I'm trying to forget what happened. What the fuck,' Linnea's mind uttered this before going into overdrive, throwing hundreds of trivial information in the way, such as the incompatibility of the color scheme in the restaurant. 'Like seriously, who puts green and red together?' Linnea stood still for a second before her brain started up, 'The weather was lovely tod—,' Linnea slapped her cheeks hard, 'right, I need to focus. There's this guy I hate with a passion sitting next to the only table available. The wise option would be to leave the restaurant, but when did I ever choose the wise option?'

"Welcome to Treasure Garden," said the waitress, "table for two?"

'What a shit name for a restaurant,' argued Linnea in her mind while nodding to the waitress. Linnea tried to distract her mind from the imminent social doom by letting her eyes wander. The design was awful. In addition to the ridiculous color scheme, the tables scattered around the room without a distinct pattern, making navigation a burden. The ceiling, if it could be called so, was a piping jumble. Small and big pipes entwining with each other made the restaurant seem like it was on a budget in Linnea's eyes. But that wasn't the worst of the bunch. The wallpaper and the wall decorations made Linnea cringe so hard her face deformed permanently. The wallpaper consisted of vertical stripes of three different colors—red, black, and blue—repeated in equal intervals. Brown stains, which increase in opacity as you look toward the center of the stain, scattered all over the walls. Some of the paintings, which were all tilted, tried to hide the stains. The restaurant's atmosphere was dim, which forced Linnea to squint her eyes.

After reaching the table, Linnea moved her seat where she would be giving her back to Robert's table. Rachel sat on the opposite side. Silence ensued for the next ten minutes on both tables until Rachel broke the ice, "So, what do you want to order? The waitress probably thinks we're morons."

Rachel's voice snapped Linnea's mind from the spell that contained her. "Uh, I want pancakes."

"Pancakes? Who eats pancakes for lunch? Are you ok?"

Linnea could've sworn she heard a chuckle behind her, "I eat pancakes for lunch. In fact, I think pancakes are the universal dish for all meals." Linnea sucked in her cheeks and blinked a couple of times.

"Don't you get tired of them? Ah, jeez." Rachel turned to the waitress who was leaning on a wall a few meters from the table, "Excuse me, we finally decided on what to order."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{15 mins later}

"Sooo, mind telling me what exactly happened to you the past year and a half?" Roland paused to take a bite out of his burger and chew, "you only gave me a half-assed explanation for your sudden disappearance." The atmosphere became lighter as time went on. This was one of the many small talks that occurred throughout this lunch. Linnea left for the bathroom a few seconds ago, so Roland took the chance to open up a conversation again.

"Wel—"

"And don't you fucking tell me it's family issues. I'm tired of hearing that, Robert." Roland's face couldn't be any more serious. In the entirety of the two weeks he's seen him, Rob never saw him this serious. His gaze was suffocating, which deterred Rob's eyesight.

"I-I—."

Roland placed his right hand on Rob's left shoulder, "If it's hard for you to say, you don't have to. I am sorry about tha—"

"I got into an accident, had to be treated for a year. I'll tell you more in private on a later date. I don't feel comfortable here."

"All right."

Little did both of them know, Rachel kept her ears open. Linnea had told Rachel about her 'toxic' friendship with Robert. According to Linnea, Robert ignored her texts and calls for over a year. Rachel had asked whether Robert had ignored her on purpose or unknowingly. Linnea affirmed that it was an active act, stating that not only was he online most of the time, but he was also playing the damned game all the time. But that wasn't the worst of it. He didn't respond to the memes she sent. Can you imagine that? Rachel felt a vicarious sense of betrayal at the time, which gave birth to a hatred.

However, Rachel's opinion of him took a turn. From what she managed to extract from the conversation, she inferred that Robert didn't contact Linnea for a good reason. As a matter of fact, it seems like he didn't contact anyone for over a year. 'Why is that?' Rachel's ears didn't manage to catch the statements that Rob uttered right after, but the corner of her eyes caught his pale and sweaty face. 'Something bad happened to him.'

After a few moments of silence, Roland suggested that they go for a walk around the city. Robert agreed and called for the waitress. After a heated argument about who was going to pay, they decided to settle it the ultimate way...

"Rock, paper, scissors! Ha! I win, now give me that bill," said Roland with a smug face.

"Fair enough," Robert handed it to Roland but not after a second of contemplation and bitterness.

After finishing the transaction, Roland left a tip and exited the restaurant with Robert. Robert took a moment to study the decorations one last time. The restaurant was aesthetic and eye-pleasing. The randomness and funkiness of the place gave it a sense of peculiarity. 'Certainly spices up the eating experience. Well, it sure spiced mine up.' noted Roland.

"Why do I have a sudden urge to punch you?" asked Roland.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linnea returned to the table but not after noticing that the table next to them was empty.

"They left?"

"Yeah," Rachel stared at the entrance, her palm against her right cheek and elbow on the table.

"Thank God. Now we can talk freely."

"Hey, Linnea."

"What's up? You look tired."

"You might be wrong about Robert."

Linnea's face darkened. First it was him, now her? "I don't care. We don't talk about him."

"I am not messing about."

"Oh, so now you're on his si—"

"I heard their conversation. You weren't the only one he cut off for a year. That blond friend of his lost contact with him as well."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that something bad might've happened to him. His face was pale and sweaty when they opened that conversation. It was like he was trying to avoid it." Rachel paused for a second and turned for the first time to face Linnea, "No, he feared remembering it."

Linnea couldn't decide on which shocked her more. The fact that Rachel produced a serious face or the new information she received. Was it perhaps a misunderstanding? 'No, no way. Why didn't he contact me?'

"If that was the case, then why didn't he inform me of his situation?" There was no malice in the question, only a hint of confusion.

"That, I don't know," Rachel took a sip of water, "they said a few other things, but I couldn't hear it because of all the noise."

Linnea felt a strong ache rush to her head. "I don't want to think about this now," Linnea took out some paper notes out of her purse and placed them on the table, "I'm going home. Bye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert stared at the ceiling while lying on his bed. It was quite a hectic day, but his shock subsided. He strolled with Roland for thirty minutes, talking about many things that ranged from inside jokes and games to politics. They exchanged a few insults and parted way at Robert's door. Roland lived close-by.

'I need to get to the bottom of this.' He sighed and stood up to stare at the night sky from his window. The darkness and stillness of the night put him in a trance. Whenever he felt stressed, he'd always stare into the sky, letting his eyes run around without a goal.

After formulating multiple ridiculous plans and simulating impossible scenarios, he felt his confidence filling back his body. He turned around and surrendered his body to gravity when he reached the side of his bed. He adjusted his blanket and pillow and closed his eyes...