A Late Night Ditch (VI)

You already did, Ronnie.

A sudden vibration arrived at my pocket. "Hold on, I gotta take this," I pulled my phone up. It's Allison. "Hello, what do you want?" I answered her call. "Me and Kyle are going to eat ramen. You want to come?" She asks. I turned my back on Ronnie and covered my mouth. I whispered, "I'm with Ronnie, remember?"

"Oh, right," she mumbles, "Then bring him then." I glanced at Ronnie who was still looking at the sunset. "I thought you don't trust him yet? Why suddenly invite him?" I whispered into my phone again. "Well, I guess we do have to spend some time with Ronnie to get to know him more," Allison reasoned. "You should've thought of that sooner, dumbass."

"Whatever, see you at Belledon Station. The ramen shop is quite near there. Bring extra cash, we might do something else after," she says. "Fine. I'm hanging up," I grumbled. "Bye~"

I looked at Ronnie again. "Hey, Allison and Kyle wants ramen. They said you can come. Want to go?" I offered. "Sure, I'd love too," he accepts. I start to stand up to go downstairs when he says something. "I'll pay for you, Jeiro, okay? My treat," he claims. "What, why?"

"You painted my ceiling, dummy. You're really forgetful," he reminds me. "Oh right."

Here you are again, Ronnie paying me for my artworks. You smiley dummy.

The train whooshes as it increases its velocity on its tracks. The night sky was dominated by the city lights, ranging in different colors of blue, orange, yellow and white. Ronnie was once again mesmerized by the view.

He really loves sceneries.

"You should take a photo of that," I said. "Of what?" he asked. "Of me," I joked. His eyes went in confusion. "Just kidding. I meant of the view. You can only see this at night train rides. Can't see it everyday."

"No thanks," he responds, "my phone's camera isn't good quality. It would make the view ugly." I grabbed my phone and gave it to him, "Then use mine. I'll just send it to you." He stared at me and smiled. He returned his gaze at the window, "No thanks. I don't need the picture of the view anyways. I can always see it whenever I want."

"Suit yourself, donkey."

"Whatever, horse poo."

We arrived at the ramen shop that Allison was talking about. To my surprise, it was actually quite near the train station. The restaurant had an Asian vibes with its woody structure of planks and beams. It had red lanterns for lighting and Japanese characters on sign boards.

We slid the door open and entered the restaurant. The tables of wood are low, complementing the sitting customers on mats on the floor. The waiters weren't in a rush because there weren't many customers to entertain. I gazed towards my left side to see Allison and Kyle, discussing something about the menu that they're holding. They better not argue with what food to eat, gosh.

Ronnie and I made our way to the quarreling duo that's fighting about which flavor of the ramen they should order. "Let's have spicy chicken!" Kyle hissed. "No! Seafood!" Allison argued back. "Are they normally like this?" Ronnie asks while staring at the two who hasn't noticed that the both of us are here already. "Nope. Usually, they're teammates and I'm the one that their arguing with. This only happens when I'm not around… these children…"

"We're having Beef, that's final, you two," I butted in, slamming my palm on the table. Ouch. They stared blankly at me, "Beef?!" they both ranted. "No way! I'm not having beef! It's too fatty!" Allison complains. "Jei, chicken is much better, don't you think?" Kyle suggests. "Told you they'd be against me," I said to Ronnie. He giggles. "How about you decide, Ronnie," Kyle says. "Oh, Ronnie's here. Hi, Ronnie!" Allison waves.

"I agree. You decide, Ronnie," I agreed on what Kyle said. "Oh… um… hold on, this is a bit pressuring…" he mumbles, "I pick spicy chicken!" He votes. Kyle cheers and Allison grumbles. "Fine. Chicken isn't too fatty anyways." Kyle jokes at her, "Yeah, but you are." Ronnie and I laughed as Allison hits Kyle's head. "Hey, that hurt!"

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" The waitress thanked as we exited the restaurant. "So, what to do next?" Kyle asks. "How about go home? I'm stuffed," Allison replies. "It's only 8pm. We can still do something else," Kyle insists. "Fine, what do you want to do?" The two of them became farther and farther due to the slower pace of me and Ronnie's walking. "Sorry you had to see them like that," I apologized. "No worries, it's okay. It doesn't look like they'll be stabbing each other or anything," Ronnie jokes.

The sidewalk was pretty long. The two are already very distant. The wind brushes itself to our skin as the yellowish streetlights poured above us. It was pretty dark but the moon and the stars provided us light so it wasn't really a bother. We walked side by side and we were silent. I noticed Ronnie was staring at his foot while walking. Looks like he's thinking about something.

"You okay?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," he shrugs. "The two seems to be far off. Wanna ditch them?" I asked, smirking. "What? Aren't they going to get mad or something? Plus, they're not that far for them to not notice us when we leave." I shushed him, "Shh, wanna do it?" I offered still. He connects his pointy fingers and smiles at me, nodding.

"Let's go then," I said before cuffing his wrist with my hand and running towards an adjacent street. My fingers grabbed tightly unto his wrist, not wanting to let him go. "Come on," I said, still running. We got into an intersection of streets. There were lights everywhere and it was crowded. I didn't knew there'd be an intersection here.

My phone's vibrating.

"Ohh, look who's calling," I showed Ronnie my phone. "It's Allison! They might be mad, don't you think?" He questions. I shrugged, "I don't think so. Besides, were here, look at this place." We looked at the place of lights and crowd. "Too many people here, I'm uncomfortable," Ronnie says. "Oh, you don't like it here?" I ask. He shakes his head. "Oh, okay," I grabbed his wrist once again, "I'll take you somewhere better." We ran again, passing through the people as we make our way.

To be honest, I don't know anything about Belledon. Only Allison knows this place because she lives here. I just wanted us to run and run until we find a good spot. Found one. We were welcomed by the view of a lake. I didn't knew this place was near a lake.

The moon reflected on the shaky water that is enclosed by land of fishing boats and trees. The wind blew stronger. I looked at Ronnie to see his face lit up by the magnificent view. Even I was amazed by the scenery of the lake. How much more Ronnie would be?

"Want to take a picture?" I asked. He was still staring at the lake. His eyes opened widely as his hair danced with the wind. I can see the moon in his eyes. "Ronnie?" He flinched, "Oh… m-my camera isn't that great in taking pictures. It would ruin the whole thing." He said the same thing on the train. "Then use mine," I pulled my phone out and offered it to him. He smiles, "thanks."

Only the splashes of water and the stutter of the camera was present in the place. Oh, as well as Ronnie's excited face. "This is so pretty!" He says. "You really like sceneries, don't you?" I asked. He nods, "When I paint, I try my best to mimic them but I fail." I tilted my head, "Don't mimic them," I faced him, "feel them."

"Oh" Ronnie says, elongated. I laughed. "Don't let yourself chase the colors you want to paint. Let yourself feel the colors and it will fall into place."

"Wow, you really are an old man," he says. "What?! Why?!" I wondered. "You speak like one." I placed both hands on my hips, "Excuse me, I do not—." My phone is ringing again. Looks like Allison's still trying to call me. "You should answer that, you know?" Ronnie says. "Nah, let's meet them on Monday," I said, declining the call. "You jerk."

"Hey, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stuck up in the middle of them. You did see how they fight over small, ridiculous things, right?" Ronnie nods. "But you know? It's nice to have someone new in the group. Makes me feel less lonely," I said. "You're welcome, dorkface."

We walked around the area to entertain ourselves more. We only found closed shops and a convenience store that we entered in. Inside, we are both eating a sandwich while playing tic tac toe on the back of the receipt. "I win again," Ronnie says proudly. "Not fair," I said. "Nope, you just suck at this game." Ronnie already won 3 games while I didn't win any. This guy should be entering a contest in tic tac toe, not painting.

"I'm bored. Let's not do this again," I said, wanting to quit the game. Ronnie approved. "What do you want to do then?" He asks. "I don't really know." He looked around to find something to do, only to find nothing. "It's already 10:30pm shouldn't we go home now?" Shit.

"Let's wait for Allison to call first," I gulped. I don't know the way back. "Okay. Let's wait then." The two of us waited for about thirty minutes when Ronnie said, "Hey, do you do this to Allison and Kyle all the time when the three of you meet?" I nodded while palming my face. Shit.

"Looks like they'll be calling tomorrow," I stated. "That's okay, let's just go home ourselves. You do know the way back, right?" I didn't respond, causing one of Ronnie's brow to rise. "Oh my Gosh, Jeiro, what the heck?!" He says. "Hey it's okay, I can search up a—." My phone died. What a fucking great time.

"And your battery's empty?" He adds. I looked down and nodded. "Well, looks like we'll have to find a place to sleep, smartyhead," he ranted. "We could just ask people for directions, Ronnie, chill." Ronnie pointed at the store's glass window, "And whom are we going to ask too?" I glanced outside to see an empty street. What the actual fuckery is going on here.

"You have any cash?" I asked. He nods and asks me the same. "Yeah, I brought my whole wallet. Let's just rent a room for the night, what do you say?" I asked. "Guess that brain of yours is still working. Now come on," He stood. Before he could reach the door, I stopped him, "Wait!" I walked over to the aisle where there were toothbrushes and grabbed two. "We can't skip dental hygiene," I smiled, teeth revealed.

"No wonder your teeth is white," he says. I giggled before proceeding to the counter.

Luckily, an inn is open right outside of the convenience store. "Well, would you look at that," I said. "Still mad at you for getting us lost, dummy," Ronnie says, crossing his arms. "Hey, don't be too mad. Tomorrow is Saturday, we don't have school." He rolls his eyes and walks towards the inn. "Hey wait up!"

Well, I guess I'll be sleeping with this mad head for the night.