"This is getting out of hand," she muttered as she sat
down on the bed, turning the gadget back on and seeing she had no new messages.
"I bet she's having fun over there."
A cold breeze entered her room; goosebumps rose on her skin.
"I swear I closed that window..." the girl stood up and
walked out of her room, walking straight to it and closing it firmly.
"It's too cold for June, what the hell?"
At that, she went back in.
And someone was sitting on her bed.
Eating a bar of Hershey's milk chocolate.
Beside him were other sweets.
And a bottle of coke zero, nearly empty.
His golden eyes met her brown ones, and he gave a calm smile her
way.
Arzen Venura could only stare as the Watcher set the sweet back
down, wiping his hands with a white handkerchief from his coat pocket.
"...Watcher."
Her voice was flat, his pleasant.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?"
He didn't blink as he answered, voice still calm.
"Elaine sent me."
"How did you get in?"
"Your window was open - cold day, isn't it?"
He sounded so calm, almost happy.
"Is that my chocolate?"
"...oh." he frowned, looking at the sweets on her bed.
"This is yours?"
She reminded herself to yell at Elaine on Monday.
And demand payment for the food he ate.
"I won't...just. What," she cleared her throat, sending
a glare his way, "No...why the hell are you in here?! If Elaine sent you,
go back to her and tell her I don't need some sweet-nicking, blonde stranger,
overcoat-wearing man - ghost - Watcher thing!"
The blonde didn't flinch and tossed a bag of hard candies towards
her.
"Sit. And eat."
Angry, she went for her phone but found him flickering through the
messages.
"Don't you have some kind of sense of privacy?!"
"Nonexistent. I'm telling her I'm here," he replied calmly, but she
snatched her phone with a glower.
"Oh no you don't. Get out before my parents see you!"
But he stayed there.
"You're still angry, aren't you?"
"That isn't any of your business, Watcher."
"But not about Freshman year-"
"That was two years ago!"
"-rather, about someone else."
She stopped and stared at him.
He cracked a small smile.
"Your thoughts are loud, Arzen. Because you're keeping
something in." He stood up and walked to her table, grabbing a chair and
bringing it close to her bed. "Let's have a talk," Watcher sat down
and looked at her, "Pretend I'm a therapist and you're the patient?"
"No way."
"Fine," he shrugged. "Your choice."
* * * * *
“Why
didn’t you erase them?”
He
glanced up from the book he was reading, (something called ‘Divergent’) and saw
her looking at him with her arms folded over her chest. “Erase what?”
“You
know what.” She hesitated before speaking once more, “my memories from that time in Freshman year. Technika and
the Setomions and Eri and Amaya…” she trailed off. “Elaine may have slip that
you erased hers. Which…is actually acceptable, since you don’t want her to get
into trouble or danger or anything.” Her voice took on a matter-of-fact tone,
and the Watcher was reminded of Eri Blitzschnell.
He
merely closed the book, remembering the page number, and set it on his lap.
“Would
you like me to erase them?”
“No!”
she sent him a look, “I’m just wondering why you didn’t.”
“Well,
would you have wanted to forget all the things Elaine said to you? After all,
she did go through the trouble of getting hacked just for you to know,” he
added with a small chuckle. He didn’t mean for it to sound accusatory. She
looked down, running a few fingers through her hair, which had grown longer
over the summer.
“No.”
He
noticed the change in her mood.
“…you
do know I didn’t mean to guilt you, right?”
“Of
course I know.” She looked away and hugged her knees, “I was just curious.
That’s all. I’d be crazy to choose to have it all forgotten.”
He
smiled (just a bit) and opened the book again, sitting on her bed.
“Are
you reading that?”
“This?
Yes.”
“Well.
Prepare to have your heart ripped out, Watcher.”
* * * * *
“Who
was that guy we saw in Technika?”
“Which
guy?”
“…Mathias.”
The
Watcher smirked at her reddening cheeks.
“A
friend of Eri’s, I think. Why?”
“Nothing.”
She faced her laptop, hiding her face, “I was just curious. Again.”
He
decided to change the topic for her sake.
“Are
you writing something?”
“Maybe.”
“Can
I read it?”
Arzen
hesitated.
Elaine
(and around a number of people worldwide) knew of its existence.
“…maybe.
When I finish writing this chapter,” she then resumed her typing.
* * * * *
“’The
Royal Flush’?”
“Don’t
criticize it,” Arzen scowled. “And just read.”
“Alright,
alright – calm down.”
He
paused.
“What?”
“Do
you still have any of that chocolate left?”
She
threw him a pack of Kisses.
“You
can have it.”
The
Watcher could only smirk, murmuring a “thank you” as he opened the plastic and
took one out, then resolving to peel off the silvery foil.
* * * * *
“So
what exactly is this ‘shipping’ thing you do, Arzen?”
“…excuse
me?”
Of
all the things to ask, why that?
“Shipping…it’s…”
she struggled with her words and tied her hair up. “…taking two characters –
even real people – and wanting to ‘ship’ them. Like, you want person A and
person B to engage in a relationship.”
“Romantic
relationship?”
“Of
course. I don’t really ‘do’ incest, Watcher.”
“So
this Elly and Arthur, do you ship them?”
He
sounded so confused.
Arzen
wanted to record the conversation and let Elaine listen.
“Yes,
I do. I also ship Rianne and Gilbert – or Ludwig – and then there’s Francis and
Reese, then Tricia and Antonio.”
“’Or’
Ludwig?”
“It’s
complicated.”
The
Watcher clicked on the next file containing the next chapter. “I can clearly
see that.”
* * * * *
The
Watcher just asked me what shipping was.
And
yes, I did explain it to him.
She
had calmed down after throwing the phone on the wall. Even after the Watcher’s
appearance, which had freaked her out, she had gotten used to him clicking on
her laptop and occasionally browsing her bookshelves. Other times, he just sat
on her bed and ate.
The
clock eventually struck half-past eight. Arzen glanced at her phone.
“Elaine’s
going home,” she told the Watcher rather than herself.
Which
meant she could speak to her without someone from the ‘party’ snooping on
Elaine’s inbox. She didn’t want that to happen.
The
Watcher stood up and got his coat, which hung from the hook on her door. “I’ll
go back to waiting in her room.”
That
sounded very odd to Arzen, but she ignored it.
Elaine
was (probably) used to the very, very weird Watcher.
“Can
you take this to her?” she rustled through the wrappers on the desk, found a
pack of sweets, and threw it to him, the blonde catching it with ease. “And
please don’t eat it. You finished half of my sweet collection this evening,”
she glared at him, but she didn’t really sound angry.
He
knew she was thankful for a companion.
Even
though he was a weird one.
“I’ll
give it,” he reassured her, putting it safely into the pocket of his coat. “Is
she home already?”
She
glanced back at her phone.
“I
don’t think so, she just left the café.”
“Café?"
There
was an odd look on his face.
Confused?
“…didn’t
she tell you where she went?”
“She
told me she’d go grocery shopping.”
Arzen
kept her face stoic.
“Well.
I guess she’ll just explain it to you then.”
“She
will,” he muttered under his breath, and his tone made her crack a smile.
“Overprotective,
aren’t you?” she teased.
The
Watcher faced her and smiled serenely.
“Goodnight,
Arzen Venura.”
With
that, he opened the door, peeked out, and rushed off.
She
heard the opening of a window, a gentle thud, and with that, she knew he was
gone.
She
just hoped he remembered to close the window this time.
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