Chapter Four: A Regular Month
After you've heard and done things for a god, how do you go back to living a normal life, especially when He leaves without giving you another mission?
For Damien, after a month without a single sign, he found himself wondering how to get a girlfriend. Damien had always struggled with forming relationships. Well, unless you count...
"What are you thinking so hard about? I want to punch you every time I see that face," Alexa said while eating with him at a fried chicken place near the college.
"Well... you always end up mad when I talk to you. I'm doing what's best for me," Damien replied. He was there for the promotion.
"You're so annoying. It's impossible for me not to be mad at you," Alexa said, sitting with him only because his table was next to the sauce dispenser.
"You like getting angry. You've followed me a few times now," Damien said, remembering how every time ended in some kind of mess.
"You're the only one who likes food the way I do," Alexa said as she stood up to clean her side of the table, throwing away some of her wrappers and returning to eat the rest.
The promotion was 2-for-1. Damien bought one meal for himself, and Alexa bought two. Their table looked like a war crime. Damien helped clean up a bit and went to grab more sauce to finish his meal.
"You eat one day, then skip the next. Or you're on some weird diet like that," Damien commented as he watched her begin eating the rest of her food.
He had noticed this behavior over the past month. Despite the amount she ate, she wasn't overweight.
"What are you thinking?" Alexa asked with a smile, locking eyes with him. Damien knew why, but he didn't care.
"Bulimia," Damien answered, watching as she picked up his cup and set it down again.
Alexa stared at him for a moment while he kept eating. "I could say the same about you. I've seen you eat like this more than once, and you're not gaining any weight either."
Damien's expression changed as if she had just said something idiotic. When Alexa was about to stab him with a chicken bone...
"I don't eat in the morning, and I won't eat anything tonight. Maybe just an apple if I get hungry. I spend almost all my money eating out, and I end up eating less than I need on other days at home."
"..."
"What? I know I have a problem." Damien already knew this in the future, he always assumed his god would end his life any day. So, he eats whatever he wants.
Alexa didn't say another word for the rest of lunch. It was the first time they didn't fight after an encounter. But Damien was already forming an idea in his mind.
— — —
Damien and Fausto were sitting in the basketball court at a park near their apartment, after playing. Fausto had talked about it several times in the future, but they never actually played—until now.
This time, Damien saw a basketball for sale, bought it, and decided they should start playing on weekends.
"Are you still dating? Or... are you together?" Fausto asked Damien about Alexa.
Damien lay down on the concrete. "And Paola?"
"We're just friends. She has a boyfriend," Fausto replied after sipping some water. "And Alexa's a problem."
Damien laughed a little. "So... I have to deal with Alexa, and you deal with the boyfriend?"
"I'm not getting involved with someone who cheats on her boyfriend." Fausto lay back, staring at the sky.
"But I have to be with the crazy one." Fausto looked sideways at him.
"Are you kidding? Somehow I already knew your reputation before I even realized it was you. You were dating one girl and talking to her best friend who already had a boyfriend. Then the boyfriend beat your ass." In Fausto's eyes, Damien was socially dead.
"She was bored, and her friend was funny. If her boyfriend thought I was flirting, why was that my fault? The problem was with her, not me. And the fight happened at university!" Fausto sat up and looked down at Damien.
"Bi***, If I hadn't known what happened, I would've thought you survived a car crash."
Damien had broken skin on his knuckles, bruises all over his arms and legs, and even some on his face. On the first day, he looked like a potato. He even ran a fever that night.
"And he got expelled from the only decent university in the country. And I'm still talking to his now ex-girlfriend," Damien said. He'd known the guy in the future, but they were never close.
"And you mocked him..."
"What are you talking about? I wished him the best." Damien tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't work.
"If you say so..." Fausto helped him up.
They headed back to the apartment, and Damien waited on the floor until he stopped sweating, letting Fausto shower first. That's when he felt a piece of paper in his hand.
On it was a number: 9.
"Is it working?" Damien asked himself, reading the number. He had done it a week ago but hadn't received an answer. On the back of the note were three words:
Don't sleep today.
"…"
"F***."
* * * * * *
After several days without sleep, I think I finally know how to continue the chapter. Still, it's hard not to notice how the number never goes up. I'm not sure if it's because the story isn't good, or if I just haven't found the right words yet.