The One with the Glasses

How was she supposed to respond to this kind. Her chewing gum brain felt the stretch it was making trying to connect all these sentences. She was beginning to get an understanding of who her roommate was. And well, despite calling himself cool, she wasn’t so sure the cool kids saved him a seat at the lunch table. 

It was almost a metaphor. 

So she sat there and listened finishing her slice of pizza. The last bite tasting like lemon meringue pie. Delicious. 

“Oh you rap, Daniel?” Cj looked the boy up and down, very carefully. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear any of it. She likened her musical tastes to bubblegum pop. She had a feeling their music tastes would clash tremendously. And she couldn’t have that in the house while she was working now could she. So immediately she regretted asking the question.

So she took the opportunity when the conversation turned to dessert. “You’ve never eaten dessert? Why you poor, poor thing.” She was sickly sweet like syrup. The artificial kind that didn’t taste quite right. Not like the real deal. “Well we’ll be sure to remedy that. Trust me the only balanced diet is one that’s heaping with sugar in all categories.” She coos slightly, “And only the good shit’s allowed in this house.” 

Dave was oblivious to CJ’s mind blanking. He was used to filling silence by himself, both in person and online. Having to entertain himself alone growing up did that to a kid. And even when he had people to entertain, they talked just as much as he did, or knew how to cut him off.

If he hadn’t just shoved another piece of pizza in his mouth, he would have started rapping right then and there. As it was, he had just shoved another slice of pizza in his mouth, so he was effectively blocked from rapping. And before he knew it, she’d moved onto another topic.

Damn Dave. This boy sure had a mouth on him. Which was fine let him do all the talking while she had her fun. She should’ve been put off by the sunglasses in the now darkening apartment, but with the company she keeps it’s hard to be put off by anything. It did however make his expression harder to read which was a little bit frustrating. 

“Cooler than chocolate left in the freezer huh? That’s a fun way to describe yourself, mind if I steal it sometime Dylan?” She laughs a little. Changing the name once more. She wondered if she could hit a name he really didn’t like. Or even if he would notice her never getting his name right. 

However her little pizza trick didn’t have the intended reaction. Oh well you win some you lose some. Well maybe if she just. She turned the flavors back for his third bite, maybe that could throw him.

“Well dessert is my favorite part of any meal. It’s just perfect don’t you think? Nothing better than to leave the evening or the day or the hour or the minute on a sweet note.” 

She kept doing it to, switching the pizza from sweet to savory. As she ate her own, calmly and without pause. 

Dave shrugged and swallowed his food before opening his mouth again. He knew better than to talk with his mouth full. Rose had drilled that into him, telling him he talked too much to do so without dying. It wouldn’t be Heroic or Just by any means, so he’d just come back. But he had almost choked on a pb&j once and John and Karkat had yet to let him live it down.

“Sure. It ain’t a patented Strider Sayin’ or  anything. Can’t stop ya from sayin’ words. And if they happen to be words that come out arranged the same away as somethin’ I said, then it’s whatever. Now if it were a sick rap or something, something I had copyright on, then we’d have to have some words. At least some credit thrown in there. ‘These words were spoken by one fly guy, Dave Strider.’ Somethin’ like that.” 

Ok, what kind of pizza was this? It kept changing flavor profiles on him and that was just wild. He was pretty sure the pizza in the box was pepperoni or some shit. He didn’t actually know, he hadn’t even looked, just eaten. Now he did peek in the box. Oh shit, there was an extra piece missing, a sweet Time symbol drawn in tomato sauce. Great idea, Future Dave. Steal a slice while it’s hot fresh from delivery rather than heat up a new piece.