“You, okay?” David asks me one I arrived at the teacher´s lunch I consider lying about how I feel but reconsider when I remember that David is a therapist outside of work “I had a difficult day yesterday”  he sips on his coffee mug “Student difficult or out of school difficult” I rest my head against the table “out of school” “damn, anything I can do to help?” I turn my head to look at him “no, it´s okay, I was just not prepared for who found me in the sub-way” Valery sat down looking into her tablet, going over her notes for her class “you had a problem at the subway? Aren’t you like a killing machine?” she said and sat down “Val, I mean yeah but is not very master martial artist to kill someone” I told her, I enjoy martial arts and I have high ranking on several of them kendo been the best I am at, however, life is not a movie, while is true I could have deal with Michel by force and god knows I could have and was ready to, I would have gotten in trouble if I did, “so what happened?” David asked, “An old acquaintance form college found me” they were now invested in the drama “and that’s bad because?” Valery asked her tablet now on her bag “let´s say we stop been friends the hard way” David nodded “stabbed you in the back and destroy you emotionally?” I hate his expertise at reading me “yep” is my short response “kick him in the balls” Valery instructs me and I love her for it “we could walk you to the station” I lift my head and shake it “its okay, maybe it was just a coincidence and I won’t found him there again, it will be fine… it looks like brake is about to be over, I´ll see you guys later” I wave goodbye at them an walk up the stairs toward my next class, hoping that it goes smoothly and without a hitch; and to my surprise nobody talks, an very few students are looking at their phones, while not many engage ether is a nice refreshing sight, in time the day ends and one particular student steps near my desk as her friends are leaving.

“Teach” she says dryly “Ceecee” I answer she nods and adjust the strap of her Louboutin bag “what’s up with you today?” Ceecee one of the students I used to have problems with her real name is Cecila, but her attitude improved when I use her nickname, she has been doing better and is honestly weird that she is concerned about me “Nothing is… I think I´m just coming up with the flu, no biggie” she bites down on her lower lip still nodding, her hand looks for something in her bag and she leaves a pill in its aluminum wrapper in my desk, I look at it “It´s flu medicine also good for allergies top quality” she said like if its noting but I believe that this brand of medicine is at least a hundred bucks per box “am… thank you” She nods again and adjust her bow in her almost silver blonde hair “You can’t have the flu, you promise we would be playing Dress-up Hunn! On Monday instead of the Spanish activity book and I love that game” I smile, I did promise that to them and Ceecee was locked in to make it happen “is this you been nice trying to save face?” she turns to leave “nobody would believe you if you tell anyone” and with that she begins to leave but stops at the doorway “Hope you feel better” once she is out of sight I murmur “Shit” to myself.

Once the day is over I go on my way to the sub-way, my stomach starts to rumble, I didn’t had time to eat at the brake, but is okay is not the first time I feel hunger while on my way back home, but the smell of something sweet makes my mouth water, near the station there’s a place that started to sell crepes, but when I look at the prices and the line I give up and walked down with the rumbling hoping nobody will notice, the train soon arrives and I find one of the double sits empty, before I can get my ear pods in someone rushes to sit next to me normally I wouldn’t have cared but Michel smiles my way “Hi Richi!” he says I was going to get up and leave but the rush of people stops me, for a few stations I’m trap with him “did you plan this?” I ask dryly he thinks for a second “nop, as you know I can’t control rush hour” I grunted “well but then you-” my stomach roars loudly for the lack of food, I can feel my face growing hot and all I could do is hold my stomach and deal with it “want some?” Michel says and present me with a crepe form the stall, I look at it and flinch, this is my favorite crepe, Nutella, whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries, I can feel a sting of saliva running down the side of my mouth, Michel smirks and gets the crepe near my face “Come on, is the Mich and Rich special”  without my input I take the crepe and sink my teeth into it we use to get this once a week while in college, and the moment the flavors hit my tases buds I get launched back to that past, a past where things were simpler, a past where we walked back home after classes late at night, a past filled with laughter and making fun of each other, a past that cant comeback no matter what he tries to do, a past where he stops talking to me, a past where he makes fun of me because his friend group told him to, a past where we stop dating because he chose that group of friends over me, a past I wish I could go back sometimes, but this is not a fairytale, in this moment this crepe loses all flavor as I look coldly at his eyes.

“… I see that it didn’t work” Michel admits as I finish the crepe, “were you planning to bribe me into talking to you?” he lowered his head, “Look I know I fucked up but can I-” I scoff “Fucked up? Michel, you invented a whole new category” he crosses his arms “okay lay it on me” I look at him “you invented a new kind of stupid” he laughs “really? Quoting Hamilton at me?” “An open all the cages at the zoo kind of stupid” “let me guess” he says, “a damage I can never undo kind of stupid?” I nod “you get the idea” he licks his lips and nods “can I have one shot?” I roll my eyes because I know he can’t do anything to help the situation “oaky” I say he makes a doble take “Okay?” he ask almost breathlessly “you wanted five minutes, go ahead, you have one shot” he snaps his fingers and furiously looks through his pocket “Come on, god damn it, where… here!” he opened his palm and showed me a bracelet braded with red and black thread dangling form it there are a few charms, a chainsaw gun from a videogame, a katana in its sheet, two cubes with letters in them “R” and “M” and a charm in the shape of a sun, I swallow he can’t have this becomes I know he throw it away.

“You can’t have this!” I accuse him, “I saw you throwing it into the river, this has to be a replica you made to put on a show” he answers by turning the chain gun charm and shows me that right down the middle there´s the marking I made with an icepick “you decide to practice Kanji and told me that it meant” “everlasting” I grumble he takes the bracelet and I almost want to keep it away from him but in the end I let him have it back “do you still have yours?” I roll my eyes and look for my keys, I repurposed mine into my keychain and kept it to never forget the pain “… I see you am… reap my block and bent the chain gun” the bracelets are identical but the difference is that mien is missing the “M” block, the chain gun is bent through the middle and instead of a sun mine has a crescent moon, he gets the sun charm close and due to the magnets they click in place, marching into the typical moon and sun symbol “how did you got it back?” I asked him he lowered his shoulders “after you… no after I hurt you and you walked like a zombie I panicked and well… I” my eyes popped open “you did not dive into the river to get it back!” he nervously laugh and that was the confirmation of his dumbness “God damn it Michel you could have die” he smiles again “hey you talked to me this time not in the cold tone” I push his head as far away as I can form me he starts to do the same “You are an idiot! And so childish!” “You always love my boyish charm!”  “Cabron de-” I notice how people are looking at us “what?!?” I yell at the people staring “Have you never seen this before, go back to your phones!” Michel adds people go back to their businesses and let us continue, we eventually go down at my station and walk out of the sub-way.

“so… this is the second time in the week that we have to run from the sub-way” I look at him eyes half closed “and whose fault is it?” he closes his mouth and nods, we walk for a moment and I realize that Michel is still fallowing me “what?” I told him he put a sad puppy face that I would have fallen immediately for before “well I was wondering if am… I could have a second chance” I stop dead on my tracks and think about it, my brain turns on automatic mode when a big guy appears form an alleyway and says “Give me you-” before he gets to finish his threat I already kick him in the neck, grabbed his arm and threw him back the way he came from “Michel, you hurt me” he blinks several times and points to the alleyway “in the scale of hurting where does that guy falls? Did you break his Adan’s apple?” I shook my head “no, that’s lethal, but more importantly, I don’t know” I said and lean near the wall, the man with blood in his mouth screams and run away “look, I think I can give you a chance” his eyes lighten up but before he manage to say anything I cut him off “but we start from the biggening no romance, no using old information to win anyone over and if I get a whiff of you trying to do the same that you did back then, you will be begging to have the same fate as that jackass” he smiles harder “So I have a chance?” “God, I should kill you” “No, no, no, you gave me the chance, and I will use it wisely, are you free tomorrow?” I nod “you, me, stromboli?”  I breath hard I do want one for a while “Sure, but don’t try anything funny” he wiggles his ears and it gets a chuckle out of me.