That Was Mine

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn spotted it. It was sitting there, with other, less appetizing desserts. A bunch of white or chocolate cake pieces, cookies, some jello and what looked like rice pudding. The last one. He could not believe they bothered to make small custard tarts. They probably bought them. Even so, they had to today. Custard and fruits cannot possibly remain fresh for very long.

The line was moving slowly but Quinn had spotted it as he filled his tray with food. Nothing fancy. He barely even pay attention, he only pointed at a soup and the choice of meal he wanted. His eyes were on the tartlet. It might be nice to know that Quinn loved anything with custard in it. And since it was something they had a lot around here, the only moment he seemed able to have it happened to be when he left to town. Something he did even less than smile or being nice to people around here. So it was obvious that this was a guilty pleasure he could not indulge often.

The line was so slow. He looked at the person working at the cafeteria. He knew they talked. He looked down at his tray. A soup with a few crackers that came along with it, then some chicken with a bunch of vegetables thrown next to it. No he didn’t want anything else. He shook his head and just waited for them to move towards the dessert area. His hand reached for the tart when someone got before him and picked it up. “Hey,” he let out with something in his voice that sounded as though he had been robbed. He was. Of his favorite dessert no less. Who would do that? And just as he was about to get it!

[Valerie Law]

So... Lunch. Surely she could survive lunch. I mean, all she had to do was get food and eat. Quickly of course, considering she had no friends yet so she'd have to sit along. Which was probably odd. Would it draw attention? Calm down Val. Just breath and eat and then go lift. Simple right? Right.... Val thought as she moved along the line, pointing out what food she wanted. Which consisted of a lot of protein, mostly for her body since she burned a lot of calories during her workouts. "It's important to eat right!" She could just hear her dad's voice. It made her smile a little and feel just a tad better.

She looked around a bit as she waited in line, and her newfound confident faltered a little. There were so many people. Suddenly she felt claustrophobic and looked away. Only to spot the desert table and a single small tarlet. I always wanted to try one. Valerie thought, looking at it before diverting her attention back to the food being served. She had never had a custard tart before. Or at least that she could remember eating. So, why not? She would try it, see how she liked it. So when she finished, she walked over and grabbed it...

...Only to hear someone protest. Eyes snapping up, Valerie found herself staring at a brunette boy who looked like she had just stolen his car. Instantly Valerie felt bad and dropped the tart back where it was, gulping. "Oh! Ah, sorry!" She apologized quickly, backing up a little and averting her eyes. Shoot, did I screw up?

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn had paid very little attention to the ones in line with him. He only cared about no one picking the dessert of his choice. The rest, he wouldn’t mind picking something else if they happened to grab the plate he wanted. He didn’t go for something very fatty today. He could hear the dietician remind him he needed more fat than normal people. Still, there was a limit how much one can take before wanting something more lean. Besides, there had to be enough fat in his chicken. If not, the cream used for the custard would suffice. Quinn was not ready to do like this guy from Supersize Me and eat fast food every day. The dietician wouldn’t agree to that either, reminding him about the good and less good fats. A speech he was not interested in hearing again.

The meal mattered little. Only the dessert did. And someone was about to take it away from him. Quinn was usually not doing anything to draw attention to him. Truth was that if he didn’t like being bullied, he didn’t try to be the bully either. He just wanted to be on his own. But the way this girl looked at him, it was as if he hit her fingers with a ruler or something. Maybe he went too far with the way he sounded. He certainly did not expect her to replace the tart there and look away from him as she apologized.

He blinked at that. This girl... as he looked at her silhouette, he understood she could easily pick him up and squeeze him until he was nothing of a pile of jelly on the floor. Yet she was acting as though he was the big bad wolf and she a poor, helpless creature. It was weird. Too weird for him. He simply stared at her, not understanding what just happened there. The line was pushing them though to advance. He looked away from her to go back to his tartlet... Only to find someone else took it in the end. “No,” he said softly, now really disappointed as he doubted he could achieve the same thing with whoever had it. And they were still pushed to move. Looking down, Quinn just waited for this girl to pick something else and pay. He knew nothing would tempt him anymore, not even the content of his tray and looked less and less appetizing by the second.

[Valerie Law]

Valerie was a bit.... confused when the boy didn't take the tart. Wasn't that what he wanted? Valerie had been sure that was the reason he had yelled out as if she had stabbed him. But he was just staring at her. It was starting to make Valerie really uncomfortable, and she gripped her tray harder as her embarrassed flush increased. She could see that she was denting the tray by how hard she was gripping it, but she didn't care. She was just so nervous. She had already said sorry and put the tart back. What more did he want?

But then he spoke again and she chanced a glance up. He was staring at where the tart had been only a moment ago. Someone else must've taken it. Valerie realized as she looked back at the boy. He looked so.... depressed. Just so utterly defeated. Valerie instantly felt guilty. If she hadn't taken the tart, he would've gotten it. I've got to fix this. She thought, looking around at the people who were exiting the line.

There! She spotted the tart on someone's tray. "Um... wait here. Please?" She said before hurrying off and pursuing the person with the tart. She was incredibly nervous, but gathered her courage. She had to fix what she had done. Still, she was slightly terrified when she reached out a tentative hand to tap the boy's shoulder who had taken the tart. he glanced back at her curiously, and Valerie gulped. "Uh, hi. Sorry, I just.... could I have that, ah, tart? Please? That boy over there was going to take it and I accidentally took it before, um... before he could. I put it back for him but he... he kinda forgot." She managed, although her voice was getting quieter as she went on, her throat constricting a little. She felt so embarrassed and her face was red-- she was sure. Maybe the boy pitied her because of this, because he did end up returning the tart.

Saying a quick thank you, Valerie hurrying back to the previous boy, and hesitantly held out the tart. "Um.... here."

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn didn’t understand how she could appear so shy and intimidated when she looked like that. He never witnessed this before. Usually, the tough ones, if they were not all a bunch of jerks ready to punch you in the face the moment you look at them the wrong way, did not fold like this just because Quinn expressed his disappointment out loud at the perspective of losing a tart. Quinn intimidated some people in the past, but it was usually people with a smaller frame than his who just felt uneasy about his way of staring at people without a word. He did not exactly look intimidating, with his lean body. He had rather large shoulders in comparison but nothing screamed strength or anything even remotely bully-like. Other than his stare, he supposed. Even there, he thought it was more creepy than intimidating.

He thought he was done now. She didn’t take the tart but someone else did while he was busy looking at her and as a result neither of them would taste it. But she suddenly asked to wait. Asked him? Why would she bother to ask him to wait? What was the point? He was not ready to wait. At most, he might watch over her tray to make sure no one took anything from it if she left it there, but that had more to do with the fact she was before him in line than because he cared. He had lost his appetite and just wanted to pay already. He was even ready to get over her in line to do so if necessary.

Only she returned. And with the tart no less. He blinked, staring at the little dessert in her hand, then back at her. She really went out of her way to fetch him the tart? Really? He could hardly believe it and he had the proof right before his eyes. Slowly, he grabbed it and placed it on his tray. There was still something surreal about that. Maybe it explained why he did not smile of gratitude. Or maybe it was the fact this was Quinn. “Thank you,” he said, his voice soft now that he was not angry or defeated.

[Valerie Law]

When she returned the tart to the first boy, he seemed shell-shocked. He stared at the tart for a while before looking at Valerie herself. He had a kind of unsettling gaze that made Valerie curl up in embarrassment a little more. Then again, she felt like everyone had that gaze. Or at least everyone her age. She was just so easily nervous around people. And rest assured, she was definitely nervous around this boy. He seemed to hesitate for a bit before taking the tart. Valerie was half afraid he wasn't going to accept it, and would just stare at her again. Does he not want the tart now? She wondered, but he eventually did accept the tart, and even thanked her.

Valerie just gave a small, shy smile in return. He did not smile, but his voice had changed. It didn't sound as defeated or angry as before. I... I think I fixed it. Valerie thought. That gave her a little bit of confidence. A little. "Sorry again. For, ah... Taking it." She apologized before realizing they were holding up the line. With a tiny flash of a nervous smile, she got back in line and paid for her found, before making her way to her own empty table nearer to the corner to sit and eat by herself. She didn't mind it so much. Just as long as she kept her head down and ate quickly, no one's eyes would fall on her hopefully.

[Quinn Wiley]

She had every reason to be afraid. For Quinn’s favorite activity seemed to be to stare at people, although usually with less emotions in the eyes. Sure, you could hear Tyra Banks complain his eyes looked dead because he was not ‘smiling with his eyes’ but for the boy, there was lots of expression in them. Because he usually showed little expression to begin with. Not that he was incapable of them. On the contrary, he could be very expressive when given the chance. He simply did not give himself that chance a lot.

If he did not smile to her, it had nothing to do with her and more with how ugly he thought his smile was. He felt like the teeth were too small for how wide his lips could stretch. Or maybe he was just not used enough to seeing himself smile. There was a lot of that too. But he still thanked her and she seemed relieved about all of this.

He was too, of course. He just got himself his dessert back. Or more like she got his dessert back. It was weird for him. He was not used to people doing stuff like that for him, whether they knew him or not. There was also the fact she looked like she could break him by blowing on him yet she was the one apologizing like he was the dangerous one here.

He would have ignored her by now, even if her attitude would forever remain in the back of his head, trying to understand it and all. But he had to pay and then get a seat. Quinn didn’t like to be around too many people. He did not pay attention to where she sat, he only noticed that this table was pretty much empty and recognized her as he was about to sit. He froze and stared at her. Seeing more of her had not been his intention but leaving now would just give the wrong impression of him. Still, sitting here would also give her the wrong idea. “Everywhere else is full,” he explained as he sat a few seats away from her, on the other side of the table to keep a reasonable distance between them, thus proving they didn’t have to chitchat if none of them wanted to. It was not actually true that there was no other spot anywhere but it sure was the most empty table and so he used this excuse.

[Valerie Law]

Content to just eat on her own, Valerie was a bit startled when someone ended up sitting at her table. She was even more surprised, however, that it was the same boy with the tart. He explained that there was no where else for him to sit before Valerie could say anything even if she wanted to. He kept his distance, for which Valerie was grateful. "Oh.... Alright." She said, flashing him a small, shy smile before looking back at her food. "Um... I'm Valerie." She offered before they sat and ate in silence.

Valerie didn't know whether or not she should say something as the silence extended. Wasn't it polite to chat when sitting with someone else? At least, that's what Valerie thought. But the boy sitting with her didn't seem to want to talk. So should she? Valerie's mind was going into a bit of a panic. Why am I so bad at this? She thought, discouraged.

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn didn’t know if it was a good idea to sit here. If he went at the far end of another table, even if it was crowded, they would likely ignore him. But he’d listen to their conversation and feel like he was intruding, if not left out. He rarely talked, even amongst friends, but that did not mean he could not hear everything being said and he didn’t want to get the feeling he was not welcomed at the table. So he came here, even if, for some reason, that girl seemed uncomfortable around him. Why, he was not sure. Sure, the little ‘hey’ he let out when she grabbed the dessert before him might have been louder than he meant to, but he always felt like no matter what, his voice sounded too soft for people to think he was as mad as he really was. Not that he was that mad. But it was his favourite dessert.

She told him her name was Valerie. Why she felt the need to introduce herself when he pretty much agreed to keep a distance and even silence between them while they had to share this table was beyond him. He wished he could just blink and pretend he didn’t hear but she might just repeat in case she thought he indeed didn’t catch what she had been saying. “Quinn,” he then told her, just so she could not say he was totally ignoring her.

Quinn didn’t think he was a bully. He might have, sometimes, a sick satisfaction when getting even with someone that pissed him off, but he did not try to just scare people into thinking he was a badass. The simple thought that someone may think of him as a badass was ludicrous. And whenever he, for some reason, managed to drag someone down like a bully would, their gaze just sent so much guilt on him that he couldn’t take it and felt like he had to justify himself. “It’s... custard tarts are my favorites, and they don’t have them often.”