"Très bien Armani, since you and monsieur Kennedy are the only ones done, you may compare notes." He instructed, and I turned to face River, all the flashbacks of last night hit me, and I felt nothing but embarrassment.
"No, thank you, monsieur, I'll be fine," I assured him, feeling my cheeks flush as I turned on my heel to go back to my seat.
Later that day, during a free period, Fabian and I decided to stop at the local Farmers market because he had to buy some greens for his mom. I felt like I could finally breathe and like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. The sunlight bled through the tents as we tossed the carrots and red apples into the basket.
"Do you do this for your mother often?" I asked him as he checked something off the list in hand,
"Only when her assistant is off work." He assured me, "But I don't mind. I like helping her."
"I used to go grocery shopping for my parents all the time. I was their assistant." I joked, and he laughed, "But I didn't mind either. At least it got me out of the house."
"Oh, do tell Armani, I'm guessing you were quite the party animal." Fabian instigated wiggling his eyebrows,
"You know better than I do. That that’s not true." I assured him, "If I must admit, you guys are my first real friends."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, I never had time to sustain any friendships, and if I'm being honest, I don't think people at my old school took much of a liking to me. But I also don't think I ever let them know me regardless."
"What a pity." Fabian marvelled,
"What's a pity?"
"That you can't see how incredibly fascinating you are." He lingered, and my gaze held his, perhaps a moment too long.
"How long have you known Merilla and the others?" I asked Fabian, and he paused for a moment to think.
"Keomi and I have been friends since première, which is the eleventh grade, I believe. She's my best friend, and we've grown up together through all the phases. And trust me, if I stuck beside her through her K-pop phase, I could survive an apocalypse."
"That explains the Stray Kids shrine hidden in her closet." I wondered out loud,
"The what?"
"Nothing!" I exclaimed, holding my hands up in surrender and accidentally dropping the apple in my hand, it rolled along the pavement, and I chased after it until it hit the monolith boot of someone standing in front of me, the side of the shoe had a silver Prada logo engraved onto it, and I watched as the person flicks his foot upwards and the apple lifts off and lands in the palm of his hands. I’d been in a hell of a lot of embarrassing situations throughout the eighteen years of my life, but this took the cake by far. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath cursing to myself before slowly standing up as my eyes met River's.
He was dressed in all black, except for the silver Vivienne Westwood around his neck and hanging from his earlobes. It was a subtle sense of style that was impossible to miss. But unfortunately, I couldn't quite focus on any of that when I was in the process of avoiding conversation with him at all costs.
"Northern Spy," River spoke, his voice low and clear.
"Huh?" I asked, slightly puzzled.
"This is a Northern Spy apple. They are rather notorious for bruising easily." He warned, and I took notice to the reed basket filled to the brim with lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli.
"Why do you know facts about apples?" I asked in confusion,
"Why don't you?" He quipped before asking for 3 pounds of apples from the lady behind the stand, who appeared seemingly starstruck by him. "Gravensteins are of far better taste."
"I— thanks." I mentioned grabbing the apples that he had just paid for from him, "You didn't have to do that."
"No, I didn't." He affirmed, and I spun on my heel, turning back and searching for Fabian who was standing by the rather curious-looking pineapples.
"Where'd you get those?" Fabian asked curiously,
“River just paid for your mom’s apples.” I deadpanned in complete shock.
“Really? That’s really nice of him. I’ll have to give him a call.” Fabian smiled, puzzled, “He’s always here though, basically lives at the farmers market.”
“He knows an awful lot about apples,” I commented and Fabian, and I burst out into laughter, tears of mirth collecting in the corners of his eyes.
