All Made Up (Marta x Cecil)

The silence only dragged out longer. Another time, Cecil might have backed off here. Stepped back, given him his peace, or at least try to handle things better.
This was entirely the wrong day for that, for as always, happiness was fleeting. And today, instead of just a pit, things were boiling and simmering away under the surface.

"...I don't know. Thinking about it, I really should have left well enough alone - but well, I'm pretty sure there isn't even a 'well enough' to be left alone." He was least trying to bite his tongue. Marta hadn't exactly earned this. But he'd still struck a nerve. "I didn't ask for your life story. I didn't force you to say you keep a wardrobe of hand-me-down fashion at school, or that apparently little of the things you actually have are yours based on your comment on your uniform. I've mainly asked you about points of concern...to which you demonstrated a concerning apathy, or just made up outrageous lies."
"Did it occur to you just to say you didn't want to talk about it at that vending machine? Just say you'd rather not talk about it rather than coming up with all of that bu-...that?" He spat the word with an inflection to which the swearing would have been favourable. "Why lie like that...other than how well it worked the first time? You're not just casting doubt on yourself, it's just straight up insulting. And I just can't think of a good reason for it."

Cecil let out a long breath as he continued to stare. "Things are not good with you. You said enough to make that clear when you definitely didn't have to. Really, I just want you not to ruin your health trying to cover up everything I didn't catch outright." He's trying not to, but that's definitely a glare. A...reluctant, glare. "Can't change things, huh? Reminds me...the park."
"There really no way to change things for the better, Marta?"
Or is it easier to think that? Did he just not want to try to?

Marta sighed and shook his head. This kid was definitely different. He acted in a way that perhaps nobody he had ever met had acted like. He held up his hands, almost as if in surrender, "Alright, okay. You win. You know what? Of course you're not the only person to get fed absurd lies. No one is that special."

He quieted down a little, "No. No. You're just the only one who cares. It's all about plausible deniability. A lie lets everyone turn their head and walk away. A lie politely tells them to do so."

He sighed again, "So alright. I'll try to be very honest from now. I don't want to talk about it. Not my diet, not my wounds, not my purchases, not my life."

Marta thought about Cecil's words, "Which yes, can't be changed. And shouldn't even if it could."

He'd come this far. He knew this much. And what he did know told Cecil to keep going, shut whatever was going on down, stop him being as much of a stupid shit as you were ignoring everything and acting like it'll all be fine until you had a magic voice in your head fucking calling you out on it-!

It wasn't his life to live though.
He'd done enough.
And frankly, he was the sort of glorious fuckup you'd have to be desperate to let help you.

"...well, at least we're here now. We'd probably not have gotten to this in the first place had this happened earlier." Hold your tongue. Don't keep prying. "I'll shut up, as I always should have. Like you said - not like I can change anything."

He slips on his headphones as the ire seeps into his mind and out of his face, leaving him looking more tired and listless than when he had started. "I still can't agree with you, though. You should at least look for a way out of this strange little pile of shit of yours." He shrugs. "Or you know, don't. Wallow in how pathetic you are as you settle in with your inertia. Go down like that as you inevitably will. Probably bring people with you."
The words didn't actually seem to be directed at Marta.

He turns off, shaking his head lethargically. "Not that anything matters of what I think or say. You have your view, and you're not shifting from it."
"...so much for shutting up...I'll leave you be. Have fun with whatever today's escapade is."

Cecil shambles off.

Marta growned. Him and his mouth. He tended to get snappy when he got angry and it was clear to him that he had angered the young man for some reason. Set him off. Marta was at first quite embarrassed for the young man until he realized that Marta himself had been baited into being a little snappy as well.

Despite Cecil's very angry words, Marta was not particularly angry. Not at Cecil and not even at himself. Really, the overwhelming emotion for Marta was embarrassment. For both of them. But especially himself. Since he knew. Smart lips get turned into busted lips. Marta learned that pretty clearly last night.

That being said, as unpleasant of an interaction it was, he safely assumed the young man would avoid him from this point forward. Marta wasn't even surprised. That was a typical outcome. That was what most people did. That was arguably what almost everyone did except for one oddly nosy third-year. And upon that realization, Marta immediately felt as if something were missing. He buried that sensation before swiping his purchase in front of the door just to make sure that it wouldn't go wrong again.

It didn't.

So thus Marta left, his business for the day largely completed.

[EXIT]