//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Sour Love // by RomeoDKat //------------------------------//            The rest of the week went on without any more problems, and Sour Sweet and I have been starting to make steady progress with trying to form a friendship. For starters, the two of us started to talk to each other more in between classes. At first, it just started with simple greetings and asking each other how we were doing, which was still a major step up from us verbally lashing at each other’s throats. By the end of the week, we were able to have comfortable conversations with each other. Her sour tone would still come up from time to time, but hardly ever to chastise anything I said or did. I actually started to find that tone less abrasive over time and some of the things she said in that tone actually got me to laugh sometimes.            Once the two of us started talking to each other, we then started to be around each other more often. We walked to classes that the both of us had together and she started to eat lunch with our other friends and I. Even our friends noticed how much more relaxed we were around each other.            The progress in our friendship even had an effect on our tutoring sessions. They went from being less productive, to being a lot more productive than our first tutoring session. She started to be a lot more involved with her tutoring and made sure that I understood the materials before we started to work on problems related to it. She still threw in a sour insult from time to time, but only if I made a stupid mistake on the problems and they weren’t as harsh as what they used to be. But even with us spending extra hours to catch up on the learning material, we still determined that we needed to meet up at my house on Saturday to finish catching up. Even more so when our professor announced that we would be having an exam this upcoming Thursday. Which was what I was currently getting ready for.            “Hey, mom,” I yelled down the stairs, “where is the extra lap desk?”            “It’s in my study room closet.” My mom yelled back. “Why do you ask?”            “I have a friend coming over to help tutor me in Physics, remember?”            “Oh, that’s right. When is this friend coming over?” My mom asked curiously as she appeared at the base of the stairs so that I could see her. She's a woman about a head taller than me, light blue skin, and white, shoulder length hair. She also had on a green t-shirt and blue jeans.            “She said she was coming over around ten.” I informed in a normal speaking voice.            “Oh, so you have a girl coming over?” She asked in a teasing tone.            I rolled my eyes before responding, “Yes, I have a girl coming over. And no, I don’t like her like that. She’s just here to help me with Physics.”            “Oh relax, I’m only teasing you.” She reassured. “Although you probably don’t want to look like you just woke up when she gets here.”            I looked at her with confusion until I looked over myself to see that she was referring to the sleepwear that I still had on. “Yeah, I know, mom. I just wanted to make sure that I had everything I needed for my study session before she got here.” I said.            “Whatever you say, dear.” She said before she walked towards the living room.            I rolled my eyes at her reaction and began to walk to her study room. When I entered the study room, I opened the closet door to look for the extra lap desk. “Let’s see here,” I said out loud as I looked through the closet. “If I were a lap desk, where would I be?” I looked around for a few more seconds before I found it nearby the door. “Oh, there it is.” I said as I picked it up and carried it to my room. When I entered my room, I placed it on the bed next to the other lap desk and my physics book, and looked around my room to make sure everything was in order.            My room wasn’t anything too complex, just a rectangular shaped room with my bed on left side of the entrance and my desk at the other. The desk was flushed up in the corner of the room and there was a small trashcan between the desk and the door. The bed was a queen sized with a black comforter and black pillows on it, and it also flushed up in the corner of the room. There was also a nightstand next to it with an alarm clock, lamp, and remote for the television set I had in my room. The television set, which was complete with a few game systems and a blue ray player, stood on the other side of the room across from my bed. A few feet from my T.V. set was a couple of book shelves filled with both books and various movies, which ranged from critically acclaimed to so bad that they’re fun to watch. The right side of my room was where my closet was and next to the closet door was my dresser.            “Okay, everything looks like it’s in order.” I said to myself. “Now, I should probably brush my teeth and change out of my sleep wear. What time is it anyway?” I paused to look at the alarm clock on my desk. “Nine-thirty, good I should have plenty of time before Sour Sweet arrives.” I said as I grabbed a red t-shirt and a pair of grey sweat pants that I had resting on the chair at my desk and walked out of my room and into the bathroom. “It’s not like she’s going to come earlier than she said she was.” I said when I entered the bathroom and started to brush my teeth.            However, when I was about to rinse the toothpaste out of my mouth, I heard the doorbell ring, which caused me to flinch in surprise. Wait, is that Sour Sweet. I thought to myself. Crap, I thought she was coming a little later. I then calmly rinsed the toothpaste out of my mouth and reached for my clothes. It’s okay, no reason to start panicking yet.            “I’ll get it!” My mom suddenly yelled out.            Okay, that’s a reason to start panicking. I thought as I began to frantically take my sleepwear off. “No, I’ll get it, mom!” I yelled down as I stumbled to get my pajama pants off. When I finally got them off, I quickly put my t-shirt and sweatpants on and threw the sleepwear in the laundry basket before I left the bathroom and quickly ran down the stairs.            When I was halfway down the stairs however, I saw my mom open the door and happily exclaimed, “Oh, hello there! Who might you be?”            “Hello, Mrs. Foam, my name is Sour Sweet.” I heard Sour introduce herself at the front door. “I’m here to help out White Form with physics.”            “Oh, so you’re the friend he told me about. Come on in, I’ll call him down.” My mom said. She then yelled out. “Sweetie, come on down. Your friend’s here."            “I’m right here, mom. You don’t have to yell.” I said as I approached the base of the stairs. When I reached the bottom, I was able to see Sour Sweet come inside. She had her hair done in her usual pony tail, but instead of wearing her school uniform, she was wearing a dark purple V-neck shirt, black shorts, and a pair of black and purple sneakers. She also had her backpack and a black purse on her as well. As I walked up to them, I said, “Hey Sour Sweet, you’re here earlier than I expected.”            “Sorry about that,” Sour Sweet started to say, “I thought it would be better if we started earlier.”            “That’s okay, I don’t exactly blame you for that.” I kindly replied.            I then noticed my mom, who was standing behind her, trying to get my attention. She then silently mouthed to me, “You didn’t tell me your friend was a looker.” I gave her a deadpanned look in response.            I then turned to Sour Sweet and said, “Well, since you’re here, shall we get started then?”            “Yeah, lead the way.” Sour Sweet replied.            I then turned to my mom and said, “We’re going to be studying in my room, mom.”            “Okay, I’ll let the two of you be then. Call me if you need anything.” She replied before returning to the living room.            I turned back to Sour Sweet, motioned her to follow me, and led her upstairs. When we reached the top, she suddenly said, “So, you’ve been talking about me, huh?"            I was a little flustered and surprised by her sudden question. After a few seconds, I managed to reply, “I was only telling her that you were coming over today and that you were a girl.”            She giggled before responding, “Relax, I was only kidding. Sheesh, you don’t have to get so defensive.”            I blushed in embarrassment as I continued to lead her to my room. When we reached the entrance way to my room, I opened the door and motioned for her to go in first. She walked in and began to inspect my room. I followed her in and closed the door behind me. After a few seconds, she said, “Not a bad set up you have here. Though the books you have in your shelves prove to me that you’re as big of a nerd as I thought you were.” She then noticed the section of the book shelves that held all of my low budget films. “Not to mention that you have a weird taste in movies. I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these movies."            “Hey, bad, low budget movies are a guilty pleasure of mine.” I lightheartedly defended.            She playfully rolled her eyes and said, “Whatever you say.” She then noticed the lap desks and the physics notes on my bed. “So, trying to get me in bed already?" She said in a mixture of a joking and an accusing tone.            “Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I jabbed back as I grabbed a couple of pencils and a calculator from my desk.            “Eh, not really.” She casually replied as she took her shoes off, grabbed one of the lap desks, and sat down on the section of the bed closest to the wall. “Now, shall we get started?” She asked as she took her backpack off.            “Yeah, of course.” I said as I grabbed the other lap desk and my notes before joining her on the bed.            “Alright, let’s see how you did this time.” Sour Sweet said as I handed her the latest list of physics problems she had me do. “That’s right…that’s correct…that’s correct…you got this one wrong.”            “Okay, what did I do wrong?” I asked.            “Well, you used the formulas correctly. You just made a simple mathematical mistake. Although to be fair, we’ve been at this for…” she paused as she looked past me to look at my alarm clock, “two and a half hours.”            “Wait, really?” I asked as I looked over at the alarm clock to see that it was about twelve thirty. “Damn, I didn’t think we were working on physics for that long.”            “Well, look at the bright side. We only have two lecture materials to cover before we’re finally caught up.” She pointed out.            “I guess you have a point there.” I said. I then heard a knock on my door. “Come in.”            The door opened and my mom poked her head in. “Hey, are the two of you interested in lunch?”            “Sure, that sound like a good idea right about now.” I replied. “In fact, I’m sure that we were thinking about taking a break. Right, Sour Sweet?”            “I think that’s a good idea. I could definitely use something to eat.” Sour Sweet replied.”            “Okay, how does grilled cheese sandwiches sound?” Mom asked.            “Yes! That sounds like a great idea!” I said, causing Sour Sweet to laugh at my response.            “Okay, I’ll be back with the sandwiches then.” Mom said before she left my room and closed the door behind her.            “You’re how old and you still get excited over grilled cheese sandwiches?" Sour Sweet asked with a hint of light hearted sarcasm.            “Hey give me a break, my mom makes amazing grilled cheese sandwiches.” I replied.            “Whatever you say." She said as she stretched herself out. “So, what are we going to do during our break?”            “Well, let’s see here…” I said as I looked around my room before my eyes landed on the book shelves holding my movie collection. “How about we watch a movie.” I said as I got up from the bed and walked to the shelves.            “Sure, I’m okay with that. What movie do you have in mind?” She said as she sat up in order to face me.            “Well,” I began to say as I went through my movie collection, “it depends if you’re in the mood for a good movie or a bad movie?”            Sour gave me a puzzled look before replying, “Okay, genius, tell me why I would intentionally watch a bad movie?"            “Because they’re a lot more fun to make fun of.” I replied with a smirk on my face.            She raised an eyebrow before asking, “Make fun of them how?”            “Well, by pointing out plot holes and joking about them, mocking the lazy writing, and, my personal favorite, making fun of the bad acting.” I explained. “Haven’t you ever just watched a bad film just for the hell of it?”            “NO, I usually end up watching a bad film on accident and then I either stop watching it or suffer through it."Sour curtly answered.            “Well, you clearly haven’t been doing it right then.” I jokingly replied, causing Sour Sweet to roll her eyes at my statement. I turned back to the shelves and browsed through the movies I had. “Now then,” I muttered to myself, “what would be a fun movie to watch. ‘Reptilicus?’ Nah, I’m not in the mood for a cheesy monster film today. ‘Manos: The Hands of Fate?’ That’s borderline torture, so no. ‘Bled?’” I suddenly yanked the ‘Bled’ dvd box from the shelf and chunked it into the garbage can, startling Sour Sweet in the process. “I could have sworn we got rid of that thing.” I said as I continued to browse through the movies before one finally stuck out to me. “This one will do.” I pulled the dvd out of the shelf and read the title out to Sour Sweet. “’The Final Sacrifice.’”            “Oh god, you’re trying to force me to watch a snuff film, aren’t you?" Sour asked with a hint of worry.            “Of course not, it’s just a bad, cheaply made film from Canada. So, it’s almost worse.” I said jokingly.            She rolled her eyes a bit before responding, “Alright, I suppose we can watch it.”            “Okay then.” I simply replied as I walked over to the television set to get the movie ready. Once I had everything set up, I turned around and saw that Sour Sweet had repositioned herself so that she was laying down with her head and shoulders propped up against the pillows. So, when I got back onto the bed, I laid down in a similar position that she was in and made sure that there was plenty of space between us. I then turned to her and asked, “Ready to get the movie started?”            “Yes, I am, so you can go ahead and start it. But if you put your arm around me, you’re dead." Sour Sweet replied.            “Noted.” I said as I reached for the remote on the night stand and got the movie started.            The movie opens in a snow-covered forest as two men stand around a fire. One man has medium length, black hair and is wearing a black coat as he looks over to the other man with an evil smirk. The other man is wearing a gray tank top and was putting on a red ski mask that only reveals his eyes. The film then reveals that the masked man has a red, hourglass shaped marking on his arm.            I turn to Sour Sweet and said, “Well, I guess if you’re not allowed to have a kinky, sex dungeon in your home, then the woods are the next best place to have one.”            Sour Sweet chuckled a little as she responded, “W-wait, what?!?”            The movie then cuts to a different part of the forest where a man is being chased by a group of men wielding machetes. The men are also wearing black tanks tops, black pants, and black masks like the one the man from before was wearing. “Huh, so that’s how Total Nonstop Action recruits its wrestlers.” I joked, causing Sour Sweet to roll her eyes as a smirk developed on her face.            The movie then cuts back to the two men from before, showing us the masked man loading a rifle and the man in black using a can to draw the same hourglass shaped symbol from the masked man’s arm…for some reason. The movie then alternates between showing the man that was getting chased and the two men apparently waiting for him. When they apparently see him, the masked man begins to aim his rifle, which causes the movie to cut to an image of the forest as a loud bang is heard.            “Hey, he exploded before they could shoot him.” I jokingly complained.            Sour Sweet gives me a playful slap to my arm as she chuckles at my joke. As the opening credits begin to roll, she asks, “Are you going to be like this throughout the entire film?”            “Why, do actually want to sincerely watch this cheesy piece of crap?” I said with a smirk.            “Eh, not really. I’m just worried that you’ll get real annoying about it really quickly." She replied.            “Hey, I’m just trying to have fun with a bad movie.” I defended. “But, if I do get too annoying for you, just let me know, okay?”            “I’ll keep that in mind.” She says as she returns her attention to the screen, which was still on the opening credits that blared an annoying, repetitive sounding music. “Can we extend your offer to the film’s music?” She asked hopefully.            “Unfortunately, no.”            “Damn." She said disappointingly, causing me to chuckle.            It was at that moment that my mom had walked into the room. In each hand, she held a plate that had a grilled cheese sandwich, an apple, and a banana. She also had two bottles of water lying down on one of the plates. “Here you are, kids.” My mom said as she handed me the plates. “I also thought that you two could use some fruit and water.”            “Thanks, mom.” I said as I received both of the plates. I then handed one of the plates and one of the water bottles to Sour Sweet, who accepted them graciously.            “No problem, sweetie.” She said as she made her way out of the room. At least, that was until she noticed the movie that was on. “Wait a minute, I recognize these opening credits. Is this ‘The Final Sacrifice?’”            “It sure is.” I responded.            “Oh god, this film is so cheesy!” She said excitingly as she turned the chair at my desk around and sat down to watch the film with us.            The opening credits finally ended by showing a title card that stated that seven years had gone by. It then fades to a shot of a cemetery as a teenager that clearly hasn’t gone through puberty yet walks to one of the graves. He stops at it and says, “Hello dad, it’s been a while. I want to know what happened to you.”            “I died, dipshit!” My mother exclaimed, causing Sour Sweet and me to burst out laughing.            With the villain now dead, the film’s two protagonists, Troy and Rowsdower, watch as an ancient city flies up into the sky. Rowsdower, revealed to be the man in the red mask from the opening scene, looks at the arm that his mark was on, to find that the mark was gone. He then smiles and happily yells, “Alright!” in celebration as he embraces Troy in celebration.            “You know, the only reason he’s happy is because his drinking arm’s now healed.” My mom commented.            “Yeah, and Troy’s happy because Rowsdower finally gave him a hug.” I added.            Sour Sweet just chuckled and said, “Oh man, the two of you are just awful.”            The film finally ends as Rowsdower and Troy ride off in Rowsdower’s piece of shit truck and the closing credits roll. My mom got up from my chair and put it back behind the desk as she said, “Well, I better let you kids get back to studying.” She then came over to us to pick up the mostly empty plates and empty water bottles. She was about to leave the room until she looked inside my trash can and found the ‘Bled’ dvd box in it. “Hey, White, is that ‘Bled’ in your trash can?” She asked. “Yeah, why?” I replied. “White Foam, I thought I taught you better than this!” She scolded as she pulled the movie out of the trash can. “The trash is too good of a fate for a movie as bad as this.”            “Well, it was the first thing that came into mind when I found it in my shelves.” “Well, I guess you can get away with it this time. I’ll get rid of this so that the two of you can focus on studying. Have fun.” She says as she leaves the room.            “Can’t really promise that.” I jokingly replied to her. I then grab my lap desk with my notes as Sour Sweet does the same. “Shall we continue where we left off?”            “That we shall, but before we do, there’s something I should clarify.” Sour says.            “What’s that?”            “Remember when I poked fun at you for getting excited over your mom’s grilled cheese sandwiches?” She asked. I nodded in response. ‘I’m taking it back. That grilled cheese was amazing!”            I chuckled before replying, “I figured that you would like it. What she does is that she spreads butter on the pan and uses cheese with garlic and herbs in it.”            “Oh…really?” She said as she pulled her phone out of her purse and started typing on it.            I raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “Are you typing down what I just told you?”            She looked at me and said, “Yeah, why do you ask?”            “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’m just surprised that someone your age can be so enthusiastic about a grilled cheese sandwich.” I said with a playfully mocking tone before giving her a smirk.            “Okay, since you’re going to play that card.” She said as she pulled a piece of paper from her folder and slammed it on my lap desk. “How about you shut up and do the problems I have written down for you?"            “Yes, ma’am.” I said sarcastically as I got to work on the physics problems.            The rest of the afternoon was spent going over the last two lecture materials that we needed to go over and working out problems both from the homework and from the list of problems she prepared. It was around early evening when I finished the last set of problems and she began to check them. I just sat there watching her as she hovered her pen over the paper as she read over my work saying, “That’s correct…that’s correct…good…good…and-“ She laid the paper and her pen down, looked at me, and said, “You got all of the questions correct.”            I gave a sigh of relief and said, “Thank god, I don’t think I could handle anymore physics problems today.”            “Yeah, I know the feeling.” She said as she looked up the time on her phone and saw that it was approaching five o’clock. “At least we got you caught up with the class and, in my opinion, you should be ready for the test on Thursday.”            “You really think so?”                       “So long as you study between today and Thursday, you should be.” She then started to gather her things and said, “Well, since we’re finally finished, I should probably get going.”            “Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Here, let me help.” I said as I gathered some of her notes for her. Once we had everything put away in her bag. I escorted her out of my room and down the stairs to the front door. Once we reached the front door, I turned to Sour Sweet and said, “Thanks for coming over today to help me out.”            “It was no problem. I’m just happy I was finally able to make up for all of those days I didn’t help you. I’m still kicking myself for that." Sour replied.            “Hey, we’re over that now. It’d only be a problem if you didn’t try to fix your mistake, right?” I kindly reassured.            “Right.” She simply answered. She then paused for a moment before saying, “I had fun by the way.”            “What, studying?” I asked.            “Well, yes to an extent, but I had fun watching that movie with you.” She answered. “I actually enjoyed watching that film with you. Although, the only reason I could sit through it was because of some of the jokes you and your mom made. Ugh, that movie was bad."            I chuckled before responding, “Yeah, that movie is kinda bad. If you ever want to watch another one, then you’re more than welcome to come over.”            She gave a smirk before saying in a teasing tone, “Oh, so I’m allowed to come over, but not any of our friends?”            “Hey, if you want some of our friends to join us, then they can join us to.” I replied. “Do you think that they’d actually want to join us?”            “Well,” Sour Sweet began, “Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap would actually enjoy it, Sunny Flare would be indifferent about it, and you’d more than likely drive Sugarcoat insane."            “That’s if the movie doesn’t do that first.” I added in.            “Hmm…true.” Sour Sweet responded. “Well, I’m going to get going.”            “Alright.” I said as I opened the door for her. “You have a safe drive home.”            “Thanks. See you on Monday.” Sour Sweet said as she walked out the door.            “Alright, see ya.” I said as I watched her walk out through the front door. When she was halfway down the walkway, I closed and locked the door. I was about to go back up to my room, but stopped when I saw my mom standing in the doorway, that led into the living room with a smirk on her face.            “So, trying to get more girls here, huh?” She teasingly asked.            “Mom, I’d just be inviting friends who just so happen to be girls.” I tried to defend.            “Hey, I’m just saying, if any of them are as good looking as Sour Sweet, then I wouldn’t complain if you tried dating one of them.” Mom said playfully.            “You know, most moms aren’t this encouraging about their sons dating a girl they don’t know.” I tried to point out.            “Most moms don’t convince their sons to watch ‘Army of Darkness’ when they’re twelve.” Mom pointed out as she walked back into the living room.            “Yeah, you got me there.” I conceded. “By the way, what did you do with that movie I had in the trash?”            “Do you even need to ask?” She asked back.            “Oh…do you need me to clean the fireplace?”            “No, that’s what I’m doing right now.”