The dark-haired stranger smiles up at him. 

“Was that your girlfriend, Aloe?”

Aloe wonders just how long this man had been creeping behind him to know he was even texting a girl.

“No,” he answers, taking one step back. But just as expected, the stranger follows him forward. “And how do you even know my name?”

He feigns hurt and surprise. “How cruel of you. I took the time to get to know about you, and yet you can’t be bothered to remember my name?”

Aloe raises a brow. “Have we ever met?”

“Nope!” The stranger replies.

“Then what—”

“But I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of me,” Poppy interrupts him, pressing a finger on Aloe’s forehead. “Or you found out about me somehow. I heard you’re smart, so even if he never said my name, you should be able to figure out who I am, no?”

Though his finger doesn’t put all that much pressure on his forehead, it’s definitely charged with this person’s strong emotions. Whatever he wants from Aloe, it’s clear nothing good will come from it.

Aloe opens his mouth, about to make up some excuse so he can leave, but a familiar voice cuts him off.

“Poppy!”

Poppy—how could he ever forget about that name?

It came into his life with a mere slip of the tongue, just the ramblings of a drunk man. That time was the first, and only time he’d ever heard that name, but its impact cannot be overstated.

At the time, Basil had called for that name with such fondness, such intimacy, that there’s no other conclusion left but to assume she—he—is Basil’s new partner.

But right now, Basil’s tone is furious and frantic.

He rushes over to them and immediately pulls the stranger, Poppy, away from Aloe. Basil frowns at him.

“What are you doing here?”

Poppy just shrugs, nonchalant against Basil’s intense glare. But unlike him, Aloe is shaken by the unfamiliar expression of his friend.

Basil does get sulky, sometimes a bit angry, but never furious enough to let it show into such an intense expression. 

“What? You said I could come and see you whenever I wanted.”

“You know that’s not what I’m asking about,” Basil snaps back.

The two continue to argue back and forth, but all their sharp words go right over Aloe’s head. Something else grips Aloe’s mind and drags it through the mud.

I could come and see you whenever I wanted.

Those words echo over and over in his mind. 

Doesn’t that confirm everything? The way Basil calls out his name, the way he had offered such a thing—it all connects. 

What doesn’t make sense, however, is that Poppy is not Basil’s girlfriend, but his boyfriend.

“I told you to stop thinking like that! You don’t have to worry about Aloe like this.”

Basil’s words snap Aloe out of it.

When he looks up, he sees Basil frozen, as if he, too, realizes what he’d just said in front of him. He turns to Aloe, his face in a panic, but Aloe doesn’t want to hear anything right now.

“I think I need to go.”

“No, wait, I didn't mean to—”

“No, I get it,” Aloe tries to force a smile, but even he can tell just how pathetic it must look. “I get it. So you don’t need to explain anything.”

Basil tries to reach out to him, but Aloe just makes a run for it.

It just sucks that Basil never followed him.