Wednesday, July 20, 2005

   Cream Filling: Origins (Chapter VI)
[So clearly names like "Knight" and "Jones" and "Jason" aren't exactly food-themed like ALL of the other names I ever invent . . . in this particular case, they are true-to-life cameos of sorts for other people. Difference is, they're not from myO . . . two are people from my own teen years, while the other two are named for people others at this community have known. Regarding their people, they are people I absolutely despised (for different reasons, and one much, much more than the other); regarding mine, well . . . again, one has a much closer, personal thingy for me. Thus, these people represent our pasts and why it's not always such a bad thing to graduate and get away from such people . . .]


"Alright, so where the crap you guys wanna go first?" Tim asked as everyone got off the bus in the small downtown region.
"Let's . . . get . . . . drunk!" Jones sang out musically.
"We can do that later!" Cream objected. "I'm starving, man, let's get some food first . . ." Jason snickered immediately afterwards
"Yeah," the younger man added, "you know Fil' can't take it when he drinks on an empty stomach . . ." As everyone around him started to laugh at his expense, Cream quickly glared Jason in the eye.

"Hey guys," Cream said as they walked next to a small park area, "hold on a sec, I wanna show you something wicked . . ." As the curious group of males followed Cream off the sidewalk and onto the grass, Cream turned and faced them. "Okay, Jay', I want you to try to punch me in the face."
"What the piss are you talking about?" Jason answered back as the others began laughing.
"Come on, man, trust me . . . this is awesome . . . . ." Cream stepped his right foot back and loosened his arms out. "Alright, give me your best shot . . . . ."

Jason looked around the half-circle the others had formed around him. They were all nodding, encouraging him to get on with it. Once Jason saw Knight telling him to go, he shrugged, turned back to the waiting Cream and raised his hands into a fighting stance. He bounced a few times on the balls of his feet and quickly threw his right fist forward as quickly as he could.

Cream quickly swivelled his body to the side and grabbed Jason's arm as it came, hoisting it high over his own head. Immediately he twisted himself away, yanked the arm down and twisted his hips as hard as he could. Before he knew what was happening Jason was sailing over Cream's hips and impacting hard against the grass - Cream completed the demonstration with a loud, open-palm slap on Jason's chest.

"Haha! It totally works!" Cream cried out as the others exploded into a surprised burst of laughter.
"Holy hell!" Jones exclaimed. "Where the piss did you learn that?!"
"Oh, this place on campus," he explained. "Self-defence and other fancy junk like that. I've been playin' around with it for the last bit of the semester . . . but I'll tell you after I get some beef in me. Can we go eat now?"
"Alright," Knight said as the laughter finally died down, "we'll go to that diner place and get some food and then go to the pub once we're done there."

As the five of them made their way to the dineresque restaurant further down the way, conversation generally drifted towards recent adventures and achievements. For the most part, Cream stayed relatively silent during the conversations.
"So yeah," Jason said to Tim, "you think you can hook me up with some more before the weekend?"
"Shouldn't be too hard, yeah," Tim answered back. "Just pay me as soon as you finish pimping yourself in the men's room."
"Oh, piss off . . ." At the youngest's expense yet again, the money-related ribbing continued.

"Oh, that reminds me," Knight said as they came in sight of the diner, "Fil', I'm gonna need your share of the rent money really soon, so get that to me right away."
"Oh, right . . ." Cream said as his mind came back to the conversation. "Uh . . . . yeah, I'll get that to ya once I can . . ." He looked down and away as he pondered his money situation - with school and such, his income was not especially good.
"Fil', you okay?" Knight asked once his roommate slowly drifted back into his own mind.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, really," he lied as the others continued the conversation without him - money problems were not the only things weighing on his mind.

Cream was jarred violently out of his thoughts when he felt a hand jerk on the back of his collar.
"Yo, Fil', wake up," Jones said, releasing the other man, "you started walking right past the door." Looking over, Cream felt embarrassed to think he almost completely passed the diner. "Retard," Jones shot in quickly.
"Oh, kiss my . . . huh?" Cream interrupted his speech when he heard his name being called from across the street.

Searching across the traffic, he found the source of his suspicions.
"Hey! Cream! Over here!" It was Candace.
"Hey!" Cream shouted back, waving, "The hell are you doing here?"
"What the hell do you think I'd be doing here?" she sarcastically called back while swinging a couple shopping bags over her head. "What kind of an ass question is-"

Before she could finish her sentence, someone grabbed her purse from over her other arm and shouldered her to the ground. The thief immediately darted across the somewhat sparse walkway, bumping into anyone in his way.

Cream didn't even have time to think before he immediately ran across the street through the stopped traffic and gave chase. He sprinted hard against the purse-snatcher, pumping his body for all it was worth. The man had a little more than half a block's headstart on him, but Cream was already flying down the sidewalk catching up bit by bit. When he came within meters of the thief, it finally dawned on Cream that he didn't even know why it was that he gave chase, let alone why was trying to hard to catch the man. Whatever the reason, though, Cream was determined to bring the man down . . . . .

After almost four blocks of running, Cream was able to brush his fingers against the man's back. The moment he did, the thief quickly spun around and swung the purse at his pursuer's head. Again, Cream did not even have time to think before he noted the swing of the man's arm. He reached out and grabbed the man's jacket sleeve; with his continuing forward momentum he jumped forward, raising his knee while cinching the seized arm down.

As they both fell to the pavement, Cream decided that the outcome of the conflict was credited to luck more than anything else: he blindly shot his knee up and he had simply happened to drive it hard under the man's sternum. Taking a short moment to reflect on what he had just done, Cream exhaled, retrieved the purse, and jogged his way back to the diner area while shouting news of his victory proudly.

Cream could see that everyone else had already gathered on the other side of the street as he came to the same block. He was slightly out of breath, but very much glowing with excitement.
"Miss Estevez," he said upon returning Candace's purse, "I believe this is yours."
"Cream," Candace replied, "that was perhaps the dumbest yet utterly coolest freakin' thing I had ever seen! Thank you so much!" Regaining his breath, Cream could only look back and smile.
"It was fun, I gotta say," he said, "I mean, he took a swipe at me and everything, and I took him down without a scratch and without like . . . y'know . . . fighting dirty or anything."
"And you left him to get away?" Knight asked from slightly outside the circle of people.
"Well . . . he was pretty much unconscious. I didn't feel like stickin' around . . ."

"Well," Candace said as her smile widened, "thanks again. Heh . . . Jimbo's gonna love hearing how his classmate is also a hero of sorts . . ."
"Ah, you don't hafta do that . . ." Cream responded. "I mean, if you want to, I won't stop you. I'm just saying you don't have to . . ."

"Eheh, that's right," Jones said as he stepped closer to both of them, "you can just thank him privately!" Several of the others chuckled at the comment; Cream froze on the spot and looked at the large man completely alarmed.
"Yeah, I think it's only fair," Tim said as he circled around behind Cream, "I mean, I've never seen this guy do anything this nice for a girl before! I think he wants you, y'know . . ." Candace was starting to feel nervous as the men all closed in around them. Cream was completely at a loss for words as the others continued.
"Uhm, I don't . . ." Candace muttered before Jason chimed in abruptly.
"Heck yeah! Someone here deserves to score for cleaning up this crapbucket of a town!"

"Hey!" Cream seethed through his teeth. "Will you dicks shut the hell-"
"So whadayasay, cutie?" Jones said, stepping right in front of Candace, "is Fil' worthy of your thanks?" Candace was visibly shaking by that point, and quickly ducked out and away from the others.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, "but . . . . . but I've gotta go. Uh, Cream, uh . . . . . yeah." With that, she turned around and walked away as briskly as she could. The other guys, meanwhile, were calling to her, begging her to come back. Once she was around the corner, the boys started laughing uncontrollably.

"What a shame," Jason said, slapping Cream on the back as the others howled, "you might have been able to tap that if you had tried a bit harder . . ." Cream immediately grabbed at Jason's hand off his back and threw it back at him.
"What the piss was that all about?!" he shouted before shoving the younger man away.
"What? We were just goofin' around," Jason replied.
"Yeah Fil'," Tim added, "see, this is what we're talkin' about!" Cream stepped forward directly into Tim's face.
"See?! This is the kind of sh-"

"Hey!" Knight shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Forget it, okay? It's over, it's done with. Let's just hurry up and get some food." Cream scoffed and turned his back to everyone.
"I'm not friggin' hungry anymore . . . . ."
"Yeah," Knight replied, "well it was you who wanted to get food, and we all walked the extra distance away from the pub so you could get some food, and this was all to cater to . . ."
"Alright! Let's go friggin' eat then, ya jackasses!" he shouted before stomping back across the street to the diner. Once his back was again facing the others, Cream squeezed his eyes closed and tightened up his fists. His pulse was racing and he was uncomfortable in every manner possible.

Narrowly missed by an oncoming car, Cream spun around and fell against a street lamp on the other side of the road. As the noise around him hazed up his senses, he could only think of the fear and shame in Candace Estevez's face before she ran away. As he braced himself against the street lamp, Cream could only question himself as to why he had not done the same months earlier . . .


[Man . . . . . who knew I could write so heavy?! What happened to the fun and cheerful Cream Filling & Nougat we all grew up with?!?!]
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