⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

Flaneur
|noun|
A person who strolls the city in order to experience it. "Deliberately aimless."

"First week of school is finally over," Bruce said with an exaggerated sigh, slumping forward against his locker as he took out his books, loading them back into his bag to take home for the weekend. "We should do something to celebrate." He declares with a smile.

"Like what?" Delilah questions, her back coming in contact with one of the lockers next to his as she looks up at him with a questioning grin, her own bag already on her back, filled to the brim with different items and school supplies.

"I'm not sure yet," Bruce says, deflating a little as he shuts his locker door, mucking the combination up before checking the lock a few times to make sure no one else could get into it. "But you can invite Gwen and Robin if you'd like." He offers up, tossing the girl a smile as they start to walk away from Bruce's locker and to the school's front gates, readying themselves to go home after a long week.

"We don't need to invite them if you don't want to. Don't feel obliged to bring them along if you don't like them." Delilah says. Even though her hopes rose at the idea of Gwen and Robin coming along, she wouldn't want to force Bruce to endure the time with them if he didn't like spending too much of his time with them. She would make it stay that way if he wanted them only to be school friends.

"Nah, it's cool." He says with a chilled smile, his eyes squinting. "Amy's probably going to tag along so maybe she and Gwen will get closer." He reassures.

Delilah nods her head slowly, a broad grin taking over her face. "That sounds great." She states. "Now we just need to find them and ask if they can. When exactly do you want to do this little get-together?" Delilah questions, looking over at the taller boy.

"Maybe tomorrow." Bruce offers up. "It'll be the weekend so we don't need to worry about being too tired after school. Plus most outside-of-school activities have been on pause for a few weeks since school just started." He explained, pushing the school's door open for the both of them.

"Time?" Is Delilah's single-worded response.

"Maybe after lunch? I was thinking we could get milkshakes since it's been a while since we last had one and you're not addicted to them yet." Bruce says with a teasing smile, fond memories of when that happened, that day playing out in his mind quickly.

Despite his teasing antics, a smile akin to the Cheshire cats spread across Delilah's face. "I think that's a wonderful idea." She agrees, teeth glinting in the light.

Don't ask the girl how she was able to do it, but Delilah was currently walking side by side with Bruce and Amy Yamada, the promise from both Gwen Blake and Robin Arellano that they would meet them at the shop Delilah and Bruce had decided on. Delilah wore a smug arrogance to her as she strode along with the Yamada siblings.

"What flavour are you going to get?" Amy questioned, looking up at Delilah, an innocent question that the younger girl asked in hopes of growing closer to the taller girl.

"I already told you she was going to get-"

"Chocolate," Delilah said with a self-satisfied nod. Both cutting off and ignoring Bruce's previous statement as she looked down at Amy. Leaving Bruce to pout by himself as he was on the other side of Delilah. "How about you?" She asked in return, not wanting to seem rude.

Amy smiled at her brother's ignorance, taking a liking to Delilah more and more as the seconds passed by and they spent more time with one another. "I might get the lemon thyme flavour."

Her nose scrunches up at the poor-sounding flavour immediately. Delilah has never heard of such a thing and now that she had, she couldn't picture the different tastes going well together. By all means, she wasn't one to judge, only ever getting chocolate or some variety of it, but Amy's choice just didn't seem like a wise one to her.

"Alright then." Delilah decides on saying, letting her true feelings unknown even if they were quite clearly displayed on her face.

A soft chuckle leaves Amy at Delilah's words. At the confused raise of an eyebrow sent Amy's way, she chose to elaborate on it more. "Bruce already told me about your obsession and how chocolate was the superior flavour." She grins out, making Delilah look to Bruce momentarily as the boy pretends he had never said such a thing.

"Talking about me behind my back again Bruce?" Delilah says, feigning disbelief as she shakes her head in disappointment. "We really need to stop having these situations arise." She tsk's, caring no longer as they walked.

Eventually, she saw her favourite milkshake store, the pastel colours of it standing out from the stores surrounding it as they took on plain builds. Outside they could see Gwen sitting on a bench near the door, her feet swinging back and forth as she waited for her friends to arrive.

Amy got giddy beside Delilah as she spotted the girl as well. A smile taking over her face as her pace picked up slightly. It was nothing too noticeable, but it had her a few feet in front of the other two as they walked over to meet with Gwen.

"Hey, Gwen," Amy called happily as they walked over, stopping just in front of her as the older two caught up.

"Hi, Amy." Gwen grinned back, looking up so she could see the taller girl's face.

It wasn't long until the other two were by Amy's side again, greeting the other girl. "Hey, Gwenny," Delilah said, falling to the seat beside her as she rested back on the bench. "Been a while." She comments absently, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, acting as if the walk had drained her.

"I saw you after school yesterday," Gwen states, turning to the taller girl with furrowed brows as she lies across the seat.

"For all of three minutes." Delilah corrected, pinching her face together at the encounter. "Point is, I've nearly seen you since schools started, and now I'm properly seeing you." She went on, clearing the air of any miscommunications.

Gwen rolled her eyes but was nonetheless smiling. Amy sat down on the other side of her, making Delilah sit up and slide over so Bruce could take a seat of his own. The small group sat and spoke as they waited for their final member to join them. Once he did, they all went into the store, greetings shared along the way.

"Robin, please don't get something atrocious," Delilah begged as she walked next to the boy, her voice hushed down to a whisper. "I already know Bruce is going to get some ungodly mix, and Amy already told me what she was getting. So if you choose to get something basic—like me—or a normal flavour that I've at least heard of, I will be so happy." She ranted, watching as the boy slightly ignored her so he could look over the options.

"The birthday cake ice cream looks pretty good," Robin states, staring down at the multicoloured flavour before his eyes briefly flicker up to Delilah, waiting so he could gauge what kind of reaction she would have to the flavour he chose.

Delilah went silent. Looking down at the tub of ice cream through the class as she scanned its contents. "I can't decide whether or not that's a good choice." She says slowly, eyes narrowing at the flavour like it had done something to personally offend her.

"I'll let you try it if you want." Robin offered, catching Delilah's attention as she finally looks away from the colourful frozen treat. But now her eyes are on him. Because of their small height difference, Delilah stood slightly taller, the other boy still waiting to go through some growth spurts.

Delilah stared at him kinda spaced out, eyes slightly distant as he watched the boy in front of her. Well, not really watch. She was more or less just staring aimlessly at him, waiting for something to come to her before she answered the other boy.

"Maybe. It depends how grossed out I am by what the others choose to get." Delilah decides, shrugging her shoulders before she is turning from the boy and making her way to the counter.

An ageing man comes to greet her, dark skin and greying curls sitting on his head as he stood behind the counter, smiling down at Delilah as he waited to take her order. "Can I have a medium chocolate milkshake please?" She states, the correct amount of money was already in her hand as she waited for the man to tell her the amount she owed him.

"Would you like whipped cream and chocolate sauce on that?" The man questioned, the normal accessories that came along with the drink being offered.

Delilah's eyes widened at the mention of the toppings. Those were some of her favourite parts. How could she forget them so easily? "Yes please." She quickly said.

"Alright." The man said, putting the order into the machine he had before getting a cup ready so he could start making it. "That'll be $4.30." The man stated, the price coming up on his little machine so Delilah could see it.

She was quick to hand over the money, the coins falling into the older man's hand before he quickly checked it, smiling when he saw the exact amount. "It'll be ready for you in a moment." He said with a soft smile before he begins making his order.

Delilah took notice that Bruce and Gwen already had their orders. The two had probably been her a number of times since Bruce was the one that showed it to her, so they both probably had multiple orders filling their head, knowing what they were going to get every time. Robin was ready to order, coming up next to Delilah as another worker came over, serving him quickly as she handed change back over and began making his drink. Gwen still stood around some of the glass displays, checking some of the flavours out but she seemed to be gravitating towards the checkout so she could order.

When the man that had taken Delilah's order returned, he wore a large smile on his face as he held her drink, the item possibly overflowing with whipped cream as a spiralled tower stood tall on it. "Here you go." He said, grin somehow widening as it stretched across his face. "Hope you have a good day." He says, eyes still trained on Delilah as he got ready to help Gwen out.

"You two," Delilah said before she was walking over to the two siblings that had gotten themselves a table to share. A few empty seats left open for Robin and Gwen when they wandered over, which Robin would be doing very shortly. "So what did you two end up getting?" Delilah questioned, taking her first sip and absolutely melting when the flavours hit her tongue. She momentarily closed her eyes as she took a longer sip, enjoying the taste as she waited for someone to bring speaking.

Amy was the one to do so. "Like I said earlier, I just got lemon thyme." She smiled out, taking a long sip of her own milkshake, a slight slurping noise coming from it as she gulped some of it down.

Bruce stares at his sister in slight disgust for a few moments before he turns back to Delilah. "I got coconut this time." He states, hands resting around his drink as it cools him off.

Delilah rolls her eyes lightly at Bruce's choice. "Next thing you know you're going to be getting that broccoli flavour we were talking about last time." Delilah chides, warning Bruce of a dark future he may fall down the path of.

Bruce gives Delilah a blank stare for a few moments. "Ha. Ha." He says, shaking his head as he takes a small sip of his drink, Robin sits down as soon as he does so.

"Hey Rob," Delilah grins, knowing the name will strike a nerve. "What flavour did you get?"

And it does as the boy scowls at her, setting his cup on the small table they were surrounding as he kept his gaze on her. "Don't call me that." Is the first thing he says. "Birthday cake." Is the second.

Delilah nods at the other boy, eyes flicking up as Gwen quickly follows, taking one of the last seats. She was taking big sips of her own milkshake, looking around briefly at what everyone else had gotten.

"Do you want to swap for a second?" Delilah asked, looking at Gwen's swirled drink, no cream or flavoured source sitting on the top.

"Sure but it's only cookies and cream," Gwen says, pushing the drink towards Delilah where she wraps both of her hands around it quickly, pulling it closer to herself as she takes a small sip of it. Just like her own drink, an abundance of flavours bursts in her mouth, making her grin around the straw before she is pushing it back towards Gwen.

"I like it." Delilah agreed on saying, the flavour still dancing across her tastebuds as she brought her own milkshake forward, handing it over to Gwen where she took a small sip of her own.

"It's chocolate." She stated, staring down at the drink before she handed it back over to Delilah.

"What's wrong with chocolate?" Delilah asks, taking her drink back and taking a sip, washing away the remains of Gwen's.

"Nothing." Gwen quickly says before she eyes the drink in front of Delilah. "I just didn't know that you were going to be the basic one out of us all," Gwen says with a large grin morphing over her face, pointing her nose up into the air as she waits for a response from Delilah.

"I will always pick chocolate. I don't care how basic it is." Delilah chides, bringing her milkshakes straw up to her lips with a small smile, enjoying the taste of the cool drink flooding her mouth.

"So are we going to stay here or are we going to go do something?" Amy asked, half sprawled out on the table they had chosen, sliding her cup in between both hands, momentarily sitting up whenever she wanted to drink some of it.

Bruce and Delilah look at one another. Neither of them had really planned what was meant to happen after they got their milkshakes. Only before it. So the blank looks on both of their faces gave them away to the rest of the group, telling them exactly what they needed to know; that there was nothing past this point.

"We could go through the rest of the shops in this little strip mall?" Bruce offered, shrugging to the rest of the group as he chewed on his straw, waiting for the rest of them to react to his idea.

Robin nodded his head, his hair shaking with his hair as it started to grow long. "I'm down for that." He agrees, his leant back posture showing how relaxed and content he was with anything.

"Of course you are amigo," Delilah said, putting emphasis on some of her words as she rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, grinning at the kick Robin sent to her ankle, even if it did sting for a few minutes after the assault.

When they all felt ready, they got up and left the milkshake store, saying 'thank you' as they left the small building, choosing to wander down the store lined up next to each other. There were a few clothing stores, a book store and a record store. Delilah spent a lot of the time in the record store, playing multiple tracks back and forth as she looked through the different vinyls.

At some point, she had to leave the store. Leaving the comfort of the aisles of music behind and the relaxing, homey feel of it all. She walked out of the store, knowing that the others had separated to go into the different stores. Gwen and Amy had gone to the clothes while Bruce vanished into the book one, leaving Robin to vanish to who knows where.

While Delilah walked down the street, she felt this presence creeping behind her. Looking for far too long as she walked down the streets, peering into stores until she spotted one of her friends. She tried her best to ignore the feeling, but as soon as a hand was placed on her shoulder, there was nothing more she could really do about the situation.

Spinning around quickly on her heel, ready to push whoever it was back, her eyes landed on Billy Showalter standing sheepishly behind her. Delilah didn't know whether or not her hackles should be rising or she should be backing off, leaving Billy behind and putting space between the two of them.

"What do you want?" Delilah questioned harshly, leaning back so there was a larger distance in between the two of them. Billy looked put off but her movement, taking a few short steps backwards, made Delilah furrow her brows at the boy's movements.

"I came to apologise." Billy quickly said, his voice coming out thick as his eyes try to stay on Delilah, flickering away from her face a few times before he forces them to stay on her. "You shouldn't have gotten in trouble that day." He states, shaking his head at the memory.

Delilah still looks doubtful as she listens to Billy's words. "It's fine." She says slowly, like she's speaking with a spooked animal. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad." Reflecting to make herself look worse.

"No, you had every right to be. I was being insufferable." Billy corrected, not letting Delilah undermine it in any way. "So I'm apologising."

"By randomly cornering me in a strip mall?" Delilah asks, raising her head slightly as she straightens up, not as keen on running away from Billy as she was a few moments before.

A wry smile makes its way onto Billy's face, his shoulders hunching up slightly. "I'll admit it wasn't my best idea." He says slowly, scratching his neck as he looks away from Delilah once again, the heat of her stare making him nervous.

"Yeah, it made you seem like a stalker," Delilah said through her teeth, watching the boy squirm slightly in front of her. "But hey, apology accepted." Delilah shrugged, trying to loosen her features as she watched the boy in front of her.

Billy seemed to let out a breath of air, relaxing as he seemed to gravitate forward again, leaning back into Delilah's space. "That's good. I was scared you would hate me forever and hold some sort of vendetta against me."

A smile flickered across Delilah's face at Billy's words. "Maybe I will." Delilah shrugs with nonchalance, her smile widening across her face as Billy's eyes bulge out of his head momentarily. "Relax," She grins. "I don't plan on killing you in your sleep or anything." Delilah pushes Billy's shoulder back with a closed fist, amused by the boy's sudden change like he was actually scared of her.

"Right." He says, still unsure of Delilah but a lot more welcoming than he would have been a day prior. "Well, I've got to go. I'll see you on Monday?" He questions with a grin.

"'Course." Delilah nods, giving the boy a small wave as he turns away, seeing him off as he walks back to where he had come from.

Delilah walked with a smile on her face until she found her friends again. The lot of them asked what had gotten her in such a good mood but she blew them off. Just saying she had found a good record and would come back for it eventually. But really, she was glad Billy and her had made up. Putting whatever it was between them in the past and moving on.

Delilah walked past the rest of the house, heading to the kitchen so she could get a glass of water. Delilah could hear some commotion coming from up the stairs, her mother probably working in her bedroom. Ignoring the sound, she grabs a glass from one of the cupboards in her house and quickly fills it up from the tap, pouring the rest of the water out and placing the glass upside down in the sink once she had finished.

Delilah hears some steps coming from the staircase before she spots a chocolate cake stacked on the counter. Delilah paused as the fresh scent of chocolate hit her nose. The icing look delicious as it swirled across the top of the cake, making Delilah's mouth water slightly as she saw the stacked baked good.

"Hey mum," Delilah called as she walked back out of the kitchen, spotting her mother coming down the stairs. "I saw the cake on the counter, what's that for?" She questioned, pointing her thumb back in the direction she had just come from.

"The school called today. Told me about your little incident on Monday." Raina frowned, pausing on the last step. "And I was also told about the unexpected visit you had the other day." Raina stood tall on the staircase, already towering over Delilah but now with the few extra inches, the younger girl had to look up to meet her mother's eyes.

"I just had a friend over," Delilah said, deflated after she just had such an amazing day. "We were working on this extra credit assignment for English." She tried to explain, voice huffing a little as she spoke. "I swear it was nothing bad."

"That doesn't matter," Raina spoke harshly. "No one is allowed to come over to this house without me knowing." She said, arms moving to rest on her hips as she steps down from the last step, walking towards Delilah where she towered over her, staring directly down at her as she spoke with her daughter. "Is that understood?"

Delilah takes a moment to look up at her mother. Such disgust clear on her face as the two make eye contact. Neither of them backed away from the other, staying in close proximity until Delilah uttered the word "Crystal." Resulting in Raina straightening her back and taking a tiny step back.

"And if I find out you're causing more problems at school, I'll be having a different approach to your life." She warned, turning around and beginning back up the stairs, leaving Delilah in her wake.

The young girl stared after her mother, face pulled down as she waited until she heard the slam of a door. When that had happened, she walked back to the kitchen, cutting a chunk out of the cake and placing it on a plate before she pushes the remainder of it into their fridge, grabbing a fork before she left and walked to the front of her house, sitting on the small porch they owner.

Her shoulder dug slightly into one of their walls, leaning heavily into it as she started breaking off chunks of the cake, saving the icing for last since it was her favourite. While she sat there, she sat in solemn, not caring to look up as she ate the cake.

But the jingling of keys caught her attention, making her look towards her neighbour. The one that had gotten her into this mess.

Albert stood hastily trying to dig his keys into the front door, a box resting at his feet as he tried to shove his door open. Delilah watched the man with disgust, familiar feelings for him rising in her chest. Something akin to what she had felt the first few times she had seen the man.

Sooner or later Albert felt her stare on him, his gaze turning to where Delilah sat on her porch. His eyes tracked down to the cake in her hands, offering her a cold smile as he finally got his key in the door, letting it fall open as he bent down to pick up the box. Before he walked in, he tried to look at Delilah again, only to see the girl glaring at him.

Quickly standing from the porch, Delilah backed into her house once more, leaving Albert staring at where she had been as she kicked the door shut behind herself. She ate the remains of the cake quickly, hardly savouring the icing before she was opening the bin, letting any crumbs fall into it before she dropped the plate and fork in the sink. Leaving them there to be dealt with another time.