"Have you seen Eion?" Leroy said after a few days barging in on the door with a troubled look, and startling me, Hannah, and Luke as we chill at the balcony. It was already afternoon, and I was in Aunt Maggie’s house again, as Hannah has been bugging me lately. Good thing that Aunt Maggie summoned us to check out the church and have the rehearsals.
"Oh, didn't know you two were here," said Dax, appearing behind Leroy.
"What? He ran away, did he?" Hannah said. I looked at her. Ran away? Why are they looking for the robot that much? "Does this normally happen?" I asked them.
"Yes," answered Leroy, "But now, we were looking for him since we're supposed to go to church in a while and we haven't really seen him around..." Leroy asked.
"Doesn't he always stick to you two? You're supposed to be his friend, right?" I asked sarcastically.
Leroy smiled sheepishly, "Well, he's complicated sometimes, wanders off alone once a while."
"Everyone else is already at church..." Dax interjected, "We are the only ones who are left in here."
Leroy nodded at us, making a puppy face. "We need your help."
I stared at both of them for a minute, not knowing what's happening. "I clearly don't know what's happening, but.." I sighed and stood up. " Let's go!"
"To where?" Leroy asked.
Shrugging, I answered, "To find the robot.”
**************
"Maybe to a club?" suggested Leroy. We were walking to the driveway, ready to find Eion the robot.
"Leroy, are you really his friend? He doesn't want loud places since he's always alone and quiets these past few days," Dax said irritatedly.
A phone buzzed loudly. Dax grabbed his phone from his pocket and pushed to answer.
"Aunt Maggie?” He called out then paused to hear what the person from the other line was saying... Nope, we hadn't seen him yet......Oh, okay. I'll tell them, bye."
"What is it?" asked Leroy.
"Aunt Maggie has commanded me to get the flowers."
"The flowers are plenty; I think I can't get it myself..." he said. "Luke, can you please help me?" He asked Luke.
"What? Oh C'mon," protested Luke while glancing at me, but didn’t have a choice but to go with him.
Dax turned to me, "And Snow, help Leroy to find Eion. I think you can find him there,” he instructed.
I sighed, I agreed helplessly. Hannah was beside me and we just stood there.
"Okay, see you later," Dax waved us goodbye and they walked away to ride in his car and they finally left.
It was only me, Hannah, and Leroy left now. I turned to them, "Now, what do we do?"
"I think I have an idea where he is..." said Leroy, glancing at his phone. “Come on,” He said, and we jumped in his red car and drove away.
**********
"Really Leroy?" I said once we reach our destination. He just shrugged. Leroy took me here to the ice cream shop I was working at, which is also Eion’s store. I saw Emma’s figure inside and I knew it was open. Once I jumped out of the car, the car immediately moved and was driving away.
Wait what? Why didn’t Leroy and Hannah get out?
"Leroy! Come back here!" I shouted after them, but the car was still moving away. I saw the idiot just sent me a grin and was slowly fading away, with Hannah mouthing the word ‘sorry’.
"I have somewhere to go! You go look for Eion there," Leroy rolled down his windows and I heard him shouting against the wind.
"You idiot!" I shouted back at him. I was fuming in anger now, how dare he was worried about his friend and now he left me here alone to deal with him. Wow. That idiot and his robot friend. I made a mental note to punch him later. I sighed, now hopeless. Really, I take back what I assumed that Leroy is the nicest of the three.
Screw it. Now what? I was standing on the sidewalk when it started to rain.
"Grrrr!" I roared, I'm sure people are staring at me weirdly and I don't care now. Just great, the idiot just left me, I had no ride home, his friend was nowhere to be found and it started to rain. Did the universe hate me tonight?
I decided to just stay at the ice cream shop until it stops raining. The bell jingled once I entered and the familiar atmosphere greeted me. Emma was behind the counter when she noticed me arriving, she had this relieved look on her face, “Oh Snow, good thing you came here. I was about to call you.” she said.
I raised my eyebrows, “Why?”
She didn’t say anything further and just pointed at the boy wearing a black jacket at one of the tables. The hood of his jacket is covering him and I can't see his face from my line of sight since I was meters away from him and all I can see is his back. He was holding a strawberry ice cream in a cone.
And I didn’t have to see his face to know it was him. Eion. I silently stood up to confirm my theory. I walked in his direction and saw that he was staring at the ground so I couldn't see his face, but I didn't have to since I already knew it was him.
Strawberry in hand, familiar jacket, and hair, that boy is definitely the robot.
Guess that Leroy was right. He was just here all along.
“Take care of our boss, Snow,” Emma said to me.
Fuming with anger, I quickly walked to the table he was sitting on. "You!" I yelled. Good thing that there were no other customers beside us right now because I’m afraid I’ll cause a scene. His head was resting on the table so he raised it a bit to glance before dropping his head again and refusing to look at me, "Oh, you again. Why are you everywhere?" he said rudely. I didn’t have the time to see his face as he was hiding it but I just sighed.
Everywhere? What is he talking about? Shrugging that aside, I continued, "Do you know that we were looking for you? Aunt Maggie called us to rehearse her wedding and you were just here all along? Your friends said that they couldn't find you anywhere!" My blood boiled up in anger.
I knew I might have overreacted, but that's what I could think of right now. I’m really fuming mad from Leroy, and now I’m pouring it on Eion.
"I had told them that I was going somewhere," he replied calmly and went back to eating his ice cream, his head still on the table like I was not there.
"Did you tell them where?" I asked, crossing my arms. He went silent at that.
I scoffed, shaking my head, "See?"
"Psh, that practice will start even if I wasn't there," he said, brushing me off.
I closed my eyes, calming my nerves before opening them again, and said, "Don't forget that it is your aunt's wedding. Now, let's go to church." I was about to grab his hand and force him out but he pushed my hand away. “No, I don’t want to.”
"I said we should go to church. Now!" I commanded, still standing. “Aunt Maggie is probably fuming in anger. "You should not stress her, not in her upcoming wedding, Eion.”
"Whatever. Besides, all we have to do is walk to that carpet thing," he said carelessly, finishing his ice cream now.
"Eion. I. Said. That. We. Should. Go. Now," I said slowly, emphasizing the words.
"Why are you so desperate to go there? You can go there alone?" he said, his voice clearly irritated.
I glanced at the window and saw that the rain was pouring outside, "Firstly, it will be your fault if the wedding does not go smoothly. Secondly, it is raining outside; I would have left here and left you alone if I had a car," I explained.
"Then why did you come here to get me? It’s your own fault, not mine,” he responded.
Gosh, I feel like I’m talking to a child now. Even my own little, Brother is more mature than him. "Eion. I don't have time for this."
"Then stop worrying," now his head was still on the table, so I still couldn’t read his face, while he’s still not looking me in the eyes.
I snorted at what he said, "No, I'm not worrying. To you? Psh.”
Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at me, but tried to hide his eyes again but it was too late now. I saw how puffy his eyes were and it was evident that he had been crying. Now I realized it...so that's why he was looking at the ground and hiding his eyes. He doesn’t want me to see it.
"Have you been crying?" I asked, doubting it a bit. Am I seeing it clearly?