Honestly, I never thought I'd date someone like Delilah. I always thought I'd be lonely forever. But since our date two weeks ago I've learned much more about her. Her real hair color is brown. Her favorite treat is anything mango flavored. She's written over two dozen campaigns and this next one she's working on is her most ambitious adventure yet. I've also learned that her adoptive parents are well in their late fifties to early sixties. I try not to ask much about them. I think that would be rude.

Nothing else has happened as far as Delilah touching the way she did that night in the theater. The only thing she's done is hold my hand in the halls and on our walk home. Nothing else. Not even a kiss on the cheek. I'm not complaining. Because I still get the pleasure of calling Delilah Lor my girlfriend. Daniel has backed off too since we've been dating, which gives me more time to focus on her.

She sits to my right, resting her head on my shoulder. We're in the library, sitting in between two bookshelves waiting for our off hour to be over. Some days, Delilah and I talk a lot. And other days, we don't talk at all. We just enjoy each other's company in silence.

I observe the top of her head. Her roots are starting to turn brown. However, my attention is on whatever is going on in that skull of hers. What are you thinking, Delilah? Is it just D and D campaigns or is there more going on?

She lifts her head up and our eyes meet. It's like she sensed I was probing her mind.

"What?" she asks.

"Do you talk to anyone else other than me?"

"A little. But you're the one I talk to the most. Why?"

"Maybe we need friends. Like one or two. I just don't want us to get tired of each other."

"Hm. Well, I could never get tired of you, but, it would be cool to have a friend. But everyone acts weird around me."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, their personality changes. They act super nice or get nervous."

Probably because you look like that.

"People act weird with me too. They either avoid me or call me Jesus Freak."

"Stupid name by the way."

"I know, right?"

"Speaking of stupid names check out 'Squid' over there."

She gestures with her head to a senior in bright purple clothes taking selfies with their phone. I recognize that outfit and dyed purple hair from anywhere. That's Squid. No one knows their real name, just their social media name they go by. If they aren't on their phone, they're talking someone's ear off. It's safe to say that Squid is friends with everyone. Well, everyone except Delilah and I.

I've known Squid since sixth grade. Though they've never talked to me, they've never called me 'Jesus Freak' either. We've never had the same classes together, but I see them in the halls and at lunch. Now it seems their off-hour is the same as mine.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Delilah asks.

"Befriend Squid?"

She smiles, "Befriend Squid."

"I'll go talk to them," I volunteer. I stand up and start making my way toward the table Squid is sitting at. I take a seat across from them and they stop taking selfies. Their grey eyes interlock with mine.

"Oh. Hey, Judas! And Delilah!"

I turn and Delilah is in a chair to my right. When did she get there?

"Hey, Squid," I say "This is Delilah. My..."

Delilah reaches out her hand and Squid shakes it.

"Friend that kisses him from time to time," Delilah says.

Friend? I guess I know where I stand with Delilah now. I avert my attention to Squid.

"Wait a second..." I start, "You're wearing a skirt?"

"Huh? What's wrong with that, Judas? Of course, I'm wearing a skirt to school."

"Not in middle school! You wore men's clothes like I did didn't you?"

"What are you talking about Judas? You mix things like this up all the time."

"Okay, no, I'm certain I'm right about his."

Squid giggles. They've always been like this. Gender unknown. What they say doesn't match what they do. And above all, Squid is friends with everyone. I think the only reason we aren't friends is that we've never formally met. But that changes today.

"Hey, Squid, so, do you want to be friends with us?" Delilah asks.

"Oh, well. I guess it's just. Sorry. I don't think I can do that with Judas right now. Not right now."

I'm frozen in shock. I thought for sure Squid would want to be friends with me.

"Hey, Squid, can I talk to you for a moment?" Delilah asks. Delilah looks at me and I know to give them a moment of privacy. I step away and watch as they discuss something. Delilah then steps out of her chair and makes her way over to me.

"We're gonna go for a walk. Stalk us," she tells me.

"Wait-What?"

"And while we're walking make sure you aren't seen by Squid, okay?"

"Delilah, I've never stalked someone-"

"Please? You'll understand later I promise. Just come out when I give the signal. You'll know what it is."

I look into her eyes and I just can't argue. The things I do for love.

I've been following them for at least ten minutes now. I'm currently behind a bush while they walk straight toward Hawkin's Junkyard.

"Sorry about what I said earlier to Judas," Squid says.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Delilah counters "Why can't you be friends with him anyway?"

"I just-I don't want to lose friends if I befriend Judas."

"If someone would end their friendship with you because you became friends with someone else, they probably weren't your friends to begin with. Sure, there are some situations where that's not true, but Judas is worth it. Trust me."

"You do seem to really like him. Everybody's talking about it. The Freak and the Goddess, hitting it off. It's really romantic when you think about it. It's noble of you."

"No. It's not noble of me. Judas is amazing, okay? And I'm tired of everyone believing he's just a freak when in reality he would die for anyone of you in an instant."

"I don't doubt that. But I'm not sure if that's because he's a good person you know? Delilah, you've known Judas for a few weeks. I've known him since I was eleven. He's not all 'holy' like you think he is. He's done some bad things."

"So have I. That doesn't stop everyone from worshiping me and calling me a goddess."

"How did you get so popular anyway? What's your secret? I had to work on this for years. You move into town and on your first day you're what everyone's talking about."

They enter the junkyard through a large-shaped hole in the chain link fence. The junkyard has been abandoned for years now, so it attracts a manor of people to it. From teenagers to drug addicts to homeless people. However, it seems that Squid, Delilah, and I are the only ones in the area.

I hide behind a rusted jeep with red paint flicking off of it.

"I wish I could tell you," Delilah starts "Everywhere I go it seems like people are just obsessed with me. They treat me differently. Men rush to hold the door for me. Women want to befriend me. Or make up rumors about me. And it's not like I'm complaining. Being attractive has its perks. But I'm trying to turn a new leaf. I don't want to be defined by my body. I want people to see me, for me. And Judas sees me."

"Are you sure though?" Squid asks "You sure he's not using you?"

"I'm sure. He's a good person. I don't care about whatever his past was. I know he just wants to help."

Would Delilah have said all of that if she didn't know I was tailing them? The thought of her possibly dating me with ulterior motives has crossed my mind. I mean-if you look at her and then you look at me, it definitely seems odd.

Delilah could have anyone she desired, yet she chose me. Am I attractive? And I've just been so hard on myself that I believe I'm ugly? Maybe I'm just average.

"Come now, Judas, you know you are my most radiant child," Jesus says, crouched behind the jeep with me.

"No way," I whisper, "Have you seen the girl I'm looking at right now?"

"Why is that hard to believe?"

"Well, I'm 'Jesus Freak'. Everyone thinks I'm the schizo weirdo that talks to his imaginary Jesus friend. If she knew about how bad I was through most of school-"

"She'd probably love you all the same. Our past doesn't define us Judas. Our choices aren't us. What is us, is what we are now."

"Who you talkin' to?" A raspy voice from my left asks. It startles me and I turn quickly towards it to see a bearded man in a black hoodie. His hair is blonde, unkempt, and greasy.

"Uhm... who are you?" I ask.

"That doesn't matter. I'm not even here for you. I don't even know who you are actually. You a creep?"

"No! That lady told me to follow them."

"What, the hottie? You know that sounds like bullshit right?"

"I know how it sounds but it's the truth. Why are you here anyway?"

"I'm here for them." He points his dirty finger at Squid. "You and the hottie weren't supposed to be here."

So this was Squid's idea, not Delilah's. There's something off about this guy. His eyes are a little bloodshot and his breath smells like burnt plastic.

"Who's back there?" Squid asks.

"My time to shine," the man says stepping into the open.

"Who's he?" Delilah asks.

"Let's get this over with, Jack," Squid says taking off their backpack. I realize Squid still doesn't know I'm here.

"Why'd you bring these two?" Jack asks. He points at me and I'm forced to expose myself.

"You were following us?" Squid asks.

"I told him too," Delilah says "Squid, what's going on?"

"God, you still have people call you that stupid name?" Jack jokes "Some things never change."

Squid pulls out a large zip-lock baggie of oval-shaped white pills. Great. This is a drug deal.

"You're a drug dealer?" I ask Squid.

"Why do you think I'm so popular?" Squid says with such casual brazenness.

Squid then tosses the bag to Jack and he grasps to catch it. He looks at the baggie, then back at Squid.

"Where's the rest?" He asks. Oh no, shit this is going to go south, isn't it?

"What do you mean?" Squid retorts "That's what we agreed on!"

"You know what-" Jack says reaching into his pocket and pulling out a switchblade with a red handle.

Something takes hold of me and I step in between Jack and Squid. Delilah calls out my name from behind me but I don't turn to face her.

"You're kidding. Step aside," Jack commands. He takes a step toward me and it takes every fiber of my being to not move. My heart is thumping in my chest and my hands are becoming wet with sweat.

"If you wanna hurt someone, you're gonna have to get through me first," It comes out shaky from my lips. Not intimidating at all.

Jack stops only a foot in front of me. He holds the knife in his hand and the glare of the sun shines in my eyes.

Suddenly, Jack lunges at me and I flinch. He then bursts into laugh.

"Scared ya, kiddo," He says with a yellow smile "I'll come knocking at your house for it later, Squid."

He folds the blade back into its grip and slides it into his jacket pocket. Jack then turns around and we watch in silence as he leaves our vision.

I can't believe I just did that. I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't imagine someone hurting Delilah. Or Squid. Squid may not like me, but they don't deserve pain.

When I turn around, I'm almost tackled to the ground by Delilah.

"Don't do something stupid like that again, you hear me?" she screams into my chest.

"Sorry, I-I don't know what-are you okay?"

She lifts her head from my chest and her wet ocean-green eyes calm me. All I have to do is look into her eyes and I forget about all of my problems.

"Why'd you do that?" Squid asks. Delilah and I both fix our attention on them "He could've hurt you. Why did you do that?"

I think about it. Then say what I can only manage:

"That's what friends do for each other."

Squid just stares into my soul. I wonder what they're thinking.

"We should be heading back," Delilah says "We don't want to be late."

We make our way out of the Junkyard and this time I'm walking in between Delilah and Squid. Delilah starts to ask questions about Jack and Squid starts to tell but my attention is fixed on Jesus. He's walking backward in front of us.

"My brave Judas," Jesus says "Rejoice in this victory. Your heroics won't go unnoticed. Though I know you didn't do it for heaven, now did you?"

"Hey, Judas?" Squid says. I turn my head towards them.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I misjudged you. I always thought you were just another asshole who thought they were better than everybody because they believed in a magical bearded man in the sky. But from what Delilah has said about you and from what I've seen, you have much more to offer."

"So-are we friends now?"

"Starting today, I'm glad to call you my friend, Judas."

"A new adventurer has joined our party!" Delilah announces in a booming voice

"What?" Squid asks.

"We're nerds," I tell them "It's a D and D thing. I think you'd like it actually. I'm getting wizard vibes from you."

"As long as there's no guns involved," Squid says.

"Oh no, don't worry. It's fantasy," I say.

"Like Lord of the Rings?" 

"Yeah! But with your imagination and dice." Delilah says.

"Hm. Doesn't sound too bad."

"I have the perfect campaign in mind," Delilah chimes in.

"Fuck it! I'm a wizard!" Squid exclaims. We laugh. It's only been a few weeks and I already have a girlfriend plus a new friend. As I focus my attention on God, life yields more and more of its splendor.

https://youtu.be/EPtrQpx9VDw