Sometimes, I just get a burst of a short story idea:
This really doesn’t portray anything in my personal life, maybe a good bit of my friend’s but not mine at all. I wrote down a couple of ideas to mention and talk about, and I wanted to get them in a story. I was just lying in bed and thought “this would be really cool to flourish”.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy the short story! I also made this at like… 12:00 in the morning lmao please don’t diss me too much if the structure is off. I haven’t written stories in like… YEARS…
Weatherman wasn’t lying this time. An absolute downpour starts at 6:15pm, hell even a couple of minutes behind schedule. Neither of them brough an umbrella as they both thought they would be out of the diner by then, yet they blamed each other for making the same mistake.
Quickly finishing and paying for their meal, they dart out into the thunderstorm. After a couple of minutes of running, they finally get to their car a couple blocks down, and take in a deep breath of relief. Time passes as you can hear each raindrop creating a symphony as they hit the car, but in the meantime, one has already come to terms with the conversation that is soon to come, while the other without missing a beat…
Sira: “What if it happens?”
Caden: “What if what happens?”
Sira: “Really? As if we didn’t talk about it in the diner for half an hour? All I’m asking for is just a tiny bit of remembering, and perhaps just a drop of consideration”
Caden: “Don’t blame me, I started getting a headache. With the amount of nonsense you tell me, I might have to start writing stuff down on a sticky note”
Sira: “That’s ACTUALLY the first idea you’ve given me today that I’ll agree to. Maybe the next step is to staple it on that bigass forehead of yours like a bulletin”
Caden: “Wonderful. Wait I just realized though, you can barely afford dinner for yourself. Don’t think sticky notes are within that little budget of what you call ‘income’”
Sira: “Why do I even bother talking to you?”
Caden: “Because you have no one else”
Sira: “You mean I have no friends? Not even 3 hours ago before dinner, you quite literally met my whole gro-“
Caden: “No one else who understands you better than I do. You’re a walking enigma, and you should be somewhat proud of yourself for making it this far in life. For better… or definitely for worse”
Sira: “I hate you”
Two individuals with conflicting personalities, but not conflicting enough to dispel a decade old friendship. Nevertheless, a confrontation in a situation like this yields absolute silence– a silence with added tension; even worse than before. He sits there knowing that the conversation is bound to continue, and she sits there gathering the word, thoughts, and emotions she’s going to bring to the table. In addition, Sira starts trying to find ways to break through the awkwardness they’ve created, but after knowing him for so long, it’s pointless to even think about it.
Caden: “Oh I remember now. Wait, you’re still worried about that?”
Sira: “God you’re the absolute wo-… nevermind. I already told you the situation, and what could happen if I were to go down that route, and it’ll be even worse if it doesn’t go the way I want it to go. I’m just considering not even doing it”
Caden: “Fair argument. And what’s stopping you from actually pursuing this?”
Sira: “Cause I’m afraid”
Caden: “Nah really? I wouldn’t of guessed”
Sira: “Was that even necessary?”
Caden: “Mayhaps. Afraid of what?”
Sira: “I don’t know, every possibility that rushed into my head. Whether I wanted to think about it, or not”
Caden: “And you know already know what I’m gonna ask ri-“
Sira: “Yeah yeah, you don’t have to remind me every time. This is every realistic possibility that could happen- I filtered all the nonsense I know you’d criticize me for. I can’t be bothered to hear one of your stupid lectures about this again.
Caden: “Oh really?”
Sira: “Yes really. It’s not the ‘But what if… and if that happens then…’ thing. I genuinely thought of everything that could happen”
Caden’s eyes widen a bit. He wasn’t expecting her to actually consider one of this teachings and preaching’s. If you look hard enough, you could see the sun beam a little ray of hope shining through the sea of melancholy expectations
Caden: “Wait actually…?”
Sira: “Yes… actually…“
Sira’s unconfident response and second guessing puts Caden on high alert. Did his persistent questioning trigger a relapse in her judgment? Did he unintentionally remove a mask of conviction? It’s starting to get cloudy in Caden’s wonderland, with waves of doubt in the ocean. That light isn’t shining as much as before.
Caden: “Ok… If you’re really this sure of yourself, name each and every realistic possibility you thought of”
Sira: “Wait… E-every one of them…?”
Caden: “Yes”
Sira “Bro… that would take forever, and I don’t like the feeling of being tested. You don’t belie-“
Caden: “Shut up. Go down the list”
Sira takes a deep breath, and reluctantly goes through each scenario that she created. With each and every word, each and every pause, Caden’s eyes appear more and more exhausted- that ray of hope over the sea is now replaced with a thunderstorm more disastrous than the one outside. Every disappointed facial expression Caden makes, Sira tries to back up her scenarios with more… interesting reasoning. Once that episode is over, it’s back to our momentary silence.
Caden: “…”
Sira: “So you get what I’m saying though? It would make no sense to even tr-“
Caden: “Stop. Just stop.”
Sira: “B-but I wasn’t even able to expla-“
Caden: “Shhhhh… just… just stop. Out of the… thousands of things you just told me, only like 5 of those have a 10% chance of happening, and that’s being generous”
Sira: “Wait actually? 5?! That’s way better than before!”
Caden: “Shut up and let me think”
Sira: “Fair enough”
Caden uses this timeout to reflect on everything he just heard. He doesn’t even know where or what to tackle first, as it would make more sense to go in circles than to take the route Sira created for him. The silence made Sira chagrined and ashamed, but Caden patted her on the back with a smile bringing her to ease. He knew this was bound to happen, and he isn’t upset by it. Just another headache he has to deal with, but at least he enjoys how he got here, whether he wants to admit it or not.
Caden: “Let’s go back to the subject matter at hand- why exactly are you afraid? What is there to even be afraid of?”
That aggravating question he’s asked time and time again irritates Sira a bit, but she understand why. The situation always changes, and so does the answer. At least this question comes from a person who is genuinely curious, and concerned for her well being; not a judgmental tone or dismissive attitude.
Sira: “I don’t know, it’s just how I feel. There’s no do over button, and I don’t know how it would plan out. I don’t know if what I’m doing makes sense, I don’t know if what I’m doing is worth it, I don’t know if what I’m doing may affect other people. And what if it’s the wrong kind of effect? What if it ruins everything for them? What if I ruin everything? And it would be all my fault, and my fault alone. I just don’t know, and the best thing to do to prevent something like this is to not do it at all, or to do something else entirely.”
Sira: “You know what, lets just not even worry about it. Thank you for coming and spending time with me, I’ll take you back to your apartment”
The moment Sira pulls her keys out of her purse, Caden snatches them and puts on the opposite side of the side of the car. Sira visibly frustrated, starts to yell at him demanding her keys back to her own car, but she knew he didn’t want to end the talk on her terms.
Caden: “You know what… I agree”
Sira: “FOR LAST TIME, AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GIVE ME BACK MY F-ING KEYS CADEN OR I WILL LEAVE YOU STRANDED IN THE RA-“
Sira: “Wait, did you just agree with me?”
Caden: “Yes, yes I did”
Sira: “Oh my God… Caden Ashford actually agreed with me…? Shit that means my Xanax is finally working again”
Caden: “Not well enough, don’t get too happy now”
Sira: “Oh piss off will you?”
Neither of them can’t help but laugh a little; being facetious no matter the topic when it comes to one another. A vest of humor against the bullet of sorrow shouldn’t be worn all the time, and sometimes it backfires completely, but when it works, it works. They’ll most definitely feel the force, but the pain will be more manageable with than without it.
Caden: “But no seriously. I agree. I don’t completely agree, but I agree somewhat
Sira: “That doesn’t make a single bit of sense”
Caden: “Look, none of us got the instructions on how to do this. Hell, quite literally nobody on earth will know what happens next, but you’re tying yourself in knots and rehearsing yourself over possibilities and disasters that don’t exist yet. You say there’s no do-over button, but there’s no pause button either. And every time you tell yourself the safest thing is to do nothing or whatever that noggin on yours decides to harp decides fabricate the extreme scenario, that’s where your thought process ends- so I have a follow up question.”
Sira: “Which is…?”
Caden: “Forgive me if I sound a little mean saying this as I don’t intend to, but why do you put so much faith a disaster you made up- one that hasn’t happened and probably wont?“
Another uncomfortable and agonizing pause.
Sira: “You really think that you’re a therapist after taking one psychology class eh…?”
Sira: “Well… I… I don’t know. I don’t. I just… convince myself it’s a possibility- a more probable possibility… If I make a move, I’m responsible. I can at least visualize what the worst case scenario can be, I can prepare for it, and it scares me every time. Some scenarios I think that if I do nothing, no one gets hurt, nothing breaks, and I don’t have to sit here wishing I could take it back. Other’s, I try to do something completely different to deviate from that worst case scenario.
Sira: “I mean, remember that one time I was panicking about apologizing to Zephyr in because I thought he would hate me forever and plan my downfall in high school after I lowkey ruined our group project?”
Caden: “But it didn’t happen. Granted you messed up, but we fixed it in time. He really had no reason to full on hate you, nor did I. We both just fixed it, and called it a day.”
Sira: “And that night I refused to go to Kiera’s birthday party sophomore year of college? I remember we had that big stupid argument, and I was convinced that her friends would just stare at me, and I’d have to leave early in tears”
Caden: “Again, didn’t happen. Ya stayed home, and the party came and went without you. I told you this before that no one cared about the argument, and they just asked where you were. The only thing that happened for you… was nothing”
Sira: “Ok then… what about when I tried taking that exam I knew I was going to fail? You know, the class I needed to pass to actually graduate college?”
Caden: “Right, you did fail, so that did technically happen. But then you did her make-up exam policy thing and did better on the final than you did any of her other exams, went from a D to a B, and I didn’t even study with you that time”
Sira: “Or when I almost skipped the interview because I had little to no work experience?”
Caden: “You mean the same interview you decided to go to, and the same company you work at right now?”
She gets a little aggravated- four strikes without a single hit, and he knows her too well to forget stuff regarding this. Sira needs an advantage in the debate by any means necessary, and this is one of her favorite trump cards.
Sira: “Alright then smartass, what about that one time I told you not to date Sirena because I knew she had zero intentions on being with you for long, and you decided to do it anyway?”
Caden: “Come on, really? Are we still on about this?”
Sira: “And I told you that she wasn’t interested in you at all, and she was interested in someone else? And you got really mad saying some stupid shit like ‘You just got out of a relationship, you don’t know what you’re talking about’. And what did she do?”
Caden refuses to answer, he knows not to give her that satisfaction, but reluctantly, he knows he’s lost this one
Caden: “Slept with my ex… and my coworker… all within the same week…”
Sira: “Oh my goodness! So sorry to hear that. Oh and, how long ago was this?”
Caden: “Two…”
Sira: “Twooooooo what? You’re a math nerd no? What’s the unit of measurement here? Two apples? Two birds? Two feet?”
Caden: “Two… months ago…”
Sira: “Damn. That’s soooooooo crazy man. Like, like I somehow perfectly predicted what would happen…”
Caden: “I hate you”
Sira: “Hate’s a strong word ya know? Can’t use it willy nilly”
Caden: “I’m using it correctly, and it’s not strong enough”
Sira: “Well, maybe I’m pretty right after all, ya know?”
Caden: “1/5 isn’t a passing grade in the slightest, ya know?”
Sira: “Come on man, let me have this at least”
Caden: “No”
The storm outside is barely letting up still, and the car keys are still with Caden, which they both forgot he still has. Caden cringes from flashbacks of his… embarrassing relationship and shakes his head in disbelief.
Sira: “You sure do come in handy when I need someone to talk to Caden. I appreciate you for that”
Caden: “Oh wonderful. I’ve upgraded from your best friend, to merely a talk piece that’s only useful when you have a panic attack”
Sira: “Shut up, I’m serious. You’ve been here with me for… God I can’t even remember how long. You pick up my phone calls late in the night, let me talk my head off about all my struggles, helped me out in my darkest times, and did all of that without asking for anything in return… It was all unconditional, and nothin’ less”
Caden: “Ok…?”
Sira: “And you know so much about me…”
Caden: “Don’t you dare start this shit again Sira, I’m not doin-“
Sira: “And you barely talk about yourself and your struggles. What’s been on your mind recently, ya know? Anything weighing you down?”
Caden’s not used to seeing and feeling compassion so directly, especially from someone like her. It’s a once in a while event, and each and every time it happens, he feels like regurgitating. He dare not let anything slip up with his mask of indifference and demeanor of nonchalant. He’s good at hiding his weak-points, but when she finds them…
Caden: “No, nothing at all”
Sira: “Nothin’ at all?”
Caden: “Nada. Nothin’ at all”
Sira: “Not even the relationship with her two months ago? Y’all were dating for a while no? It’s not like you can get over her that easily”
Caden: “She cheated, I got my stuff and left. The end of the story, with no epilogue.”
Sira: “Ok… then how about your projects? I’m sure they’ve been stressful no? Is there anything you want to talk about there?”
Caden: “Stressful is apart of the game, and I’m here to play. That’s like asking a center if they’re worried about blocking the d-line. No duh, that’s apart of the game. They’ve prepared for it, and they’re ready to play”
Sira: “Whatever. Wait, didn’t you say you might not be able to pay rent this month? Anythin’ I can do?”
Caden: “I got a second job, and I sell things online. I’ll be fine for a while”
Question after question, Caden masterfully answers each of them leaving no room for a follow-up response, which leaves Sira annoyed. After a couple minutes of pestering, the show is over. Caden smiles and hands over her keys, but Sira doesn’t admit defeat and internally vows to continue the battle later.
Sira: “Caden sometimes I think you’re a lost cause”
Caden: “Yeah yeah thank you for the compliment. Just remember to drive me home, I wanna get some sleep, my head has been pounding since the moment you picked me up”
Sira: “Sure, whatever you say princess, you need your beauty sleep. You always be complainin’ about your headaches over the phone lately, don’t you take Tylenol for them?”
Caden: “Nah I don’t need to, they don’t really hurt as much once I sleep…”
Sira: “That’s… how does that even work? You even talk about not being on your phone late at night, I don’t think you get headaches from that…”
After she says that, Caden realizes he’s talked for too long, and revealed just enough for her to pry in. He knows he’s in danger, and must find a way to divert this conversation, but…
Caden: “Yeah, maybe I’ll just go to a doctors soon, doesn’t really matter that much though, nothin’ to worry about”
Sira: “Ok… if you can sleep it off though, you should be fine right? How much sleep do you even get last night?”
Caden: “Oh, I haven’t slept since yesterday…”
One minor slip up- all it took was one minor slip up of not realizing what he was saying. Sira looks at him with just as much concern as he typically shows her, and every inch of his body starts sounding alarms, but it’s too late.
Sira: “Good God dude, we only did that shit in college… and now we have full time careers. Wait… you’ve been complaining about headaches for a while… when’s the last time you had a sleep schedule?”
First time Caden has felt an internal panic in a while. He tries his best to play it off, but he knows he can’t lie, it’s against his code as a man, and as a longtime friend to her. Seeing no other option, he braces for impact and prepares for the talk he wishes he never would’ve had.
Caden: “Since… uhhh… a few of years… ago…?”
Sira: “What…? A few…? Why…?”
Caden: “Uhh… well…”
Aaaaaaand that’s it! I have a lot of stuff planned to write for Caden, but in all honesty, I’m kinda tired. I might do it later if this somehow gets like decently popular.
There were a couple of themes I wanted to go for in this piece, and again, I lowkey did this in like… 6ish hours. I hope yall enjoyed!
Sincerely,
Cravings and Comfort
Cravings & Comfort 