My Opinion Doesn't Matter

He had tugged me into a Pizza Shop before I could deny. It was a little old shop. Just a few ratty tables and wooden chairs that were seated at them filled the tiny place. The front looked raggedy and I would be a fool to lie and say I didn’t want to come in by the way it looked and what neighborhood it was in, but as soon as Kaden handed me a slice of pizza and told me to take a bite I was in awe.

“How can this place make something so good?” I moaned, taking another bite of the delicious cheese and sauce layered dough.

“Told you.” Kaden replied, smirking as he took a bite of his own slice.

Looking around, nobody else was really in the place. Every now and then the door would open and somebody would grab a pizza, pay and then leave. It was quiet in the parlor, but soon Kaden broke the silence.

“So…” Before he could continue I glared and cut him off.

“Shut up.” I warned. His eyes shined with mischief.

“What?” He asked innocently. “I wasn’t going to say anything about your journal.” I growled, literally growled.

“Stop Kaden.” I mumbled, stuffing my face with the last few bits of my pizza slice.

“I just want to know something.” He said, leaning on his elbows and placing his chin in his hands.

“This isn’t part of our deal.” I told him sternly, reaching for a napkin. Quickly, Kaden’s hand reached and grabbed them before I could get to them.

“I know, but unless you want to wipe that sauce off of your face without using your hand, you’ll have to answer me.”

Why had I fallen for this? I should’ve just known he wasn’t going to forget about it as easily as I had hoped. I sighed, rolling my eyes at him.

“What do you want to know?” I asked, giving up. Nobody really talked to him other than me so who was he going to tell?

“How come?” Confused, I raised an eyebrow.

“How come what?” He rolled his eyes and leaned back into his chair, releasing the napkins.

“How come you do it? Why do you listen to them if you hate being bossed around?” I just rolled my eyes in response. How the hell far did he read?

“It’s not that easy to stop.” I replied, grabbing a napkin and wiping the edge of my mouth with it, taking off any pizza residue that had settled there.

“Looks pretty simple to me.” He told me. I just stared in disbelief. Was he serious?

“It’s not.”

“Yeah it is.”

“No, it’s not.” I argued.

“All you have to do is stop.” He argued back. I stopped listening and backed my chair and got up.

“I can’t just stop listening to my parents.” I grabbed my bag that I had brought along and draped it over my shoulder.

“Why not? I did.” I ignored him as he went on and started out of the pizza parlor. Suddenly realizing I had no clue where I was, I turned around. Kaden just smirked at me through the parlor dirt dusted windows. Bastard.

“They’re only looking out for me.” I mumbled to myself. Kaden raised an eyebrow as if asking what I had said and I just shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

He was really making me uncomfortable and he knew it. I had never talked about this with anyone! No one had ever seen me with my notebook let alone read pages into it. My mind wondered how fast he could if he only had it for a few minutes at the most and he read far enough into it to realize what it was about.

I watched and waited as he got up, paid for our slices of pizza and then walked towards the place’s door. I didn’t move, I just shifted from foot to foot, waiting for him to come out and when he did I muttered what I had when he was in the store.

“They’re only looking out for me.” He nodded.

“Trust me, that’s what they always say, but I know what they’re really doing.” I took my eyes off of the floor and looked up at him.

“What’s that?” I asked. He chuckled.

“You know Ronnie, for a smart girl, you don’t really look at the things happening around you.” Appalled I dropped my jaw.

“Excuse me? Says the one who’s got lower grades than me.” He laughed. He laughed at me! What the hell was up with this guy?

“Says the girl who’s getting tutored by me.” I looked back down at the ground. Stupid Ronnie… he got you there. He noticed me and stopped laughing to sigh. He grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around. He slung his arm over my shoulder and walked along with me. “I didn’t mean it like that. You’re a smart girl, very smart.”

“Can we just stop talking about it?” I muttered, walking alongside him. I didn’t bother making him move his arm, I didn’t mind it around my shoulder. He just looked down at me, but the conversation stopped dead there.

We continued walking on for a while without talking. Kaden led me around a few more blocks until we came to a park that I had never been to.

“Are we just going to walk in silence this whole time? I mean we have another hour or so until your tutoring is supposed to end.” I bit my lip. The silence was really killing me. I guess we could talk…

“Only if you don’t bring anything up.” I said, glaring at him. He dropped his arm from my shoulder and held them both up as if in retreat.

“Promise.” I smiled.

“Fine then, what do you want to talk about?” I asked, taking the lead and walking down at stone path in the park.

“I don’t know.” He mumbled.

“Well aren’t you fun?” I grumbled sarcastically. He just shrugged. “How about twenty questions?” I asked. He gave me a look and I shrugged. “You didn’t come up with anything better.”

“Fine, you go first.” He replied, looking over at me. I thought for a few seconds and then asked my question.

“What’s your favorite color?” I asked.

“Black.” I scrunched my face.

“Black?” I questioned. He shrugged.

“Yeah, black, what’s wrong with black?” I shrugged.

“Nothing, it’s just not a usual favorite color.”

“Oh, alright, then what’s your favorite color?” I smiled and replied,

“Lavender.” Kaden snorted. “What?” I whined. He only laughed harder.

“And you thought that black was a weird favorite color. At least mine is reasonable.” I continued walking onward and after a few more chuckles Kaden joined back up with me. “What’s the next question?” He asked me.

“Why don’t you pick the question?” He thought for a second before asking.

“Favorite food?” I smiled.

“Chicken Parm, what’s yours?” I asked.

“Lobster.”