A bunch of shit

"Awesome! This is... Uh..." Jaxon spoke without the full use of his brain. So he struggled to come up with the appropriate words to describe what he was looking at.

Crystal leaned her head forward and whispered behind his shoulder. "Shit right?"

"Okay, well... I wasn't gonna say that." He stuttered, feeling slightly flushed due to her sudden closeness. "But I mean, this is all just a bunch of junk." Gripping the sides of her backpack, Jaxon laid eyes on his cute friend. "May I?"

"Sure," She shrugged with a pleasant smile.

"Yeah, so as I was saying." He took a step back and flipped her bag upside down, sending the random miscellaneous contents down to the floor. "It..."

"Blends in with the rest of your room." Crystal jabbed her elbow into his side. Adress the abundance of cluttered junk scattered about. "Aren't I the best?"

"I really don't know how to respond to this." Jaxon gave her his honest answer. "Plus my mess is mostly clothes and books! Not..." His voice slowed as he glanced down to study the new objects that now cluttered his floor. "A set of plastic earrings... An old notebook and a calendar..."

Staring Jaxon down with a scrutinizing gaze. Crystal hummed with a click of her tongue. "So you don't like my gifts? Well fine!"

"What!? No it's not like that! I'm just... Confused, that's all."

"I understand, I understand... It's not like I went to an obscure giftshop to get these for you." She bent to her knees and reached for the smooth, pearl-like rock that had landed and bounced near her feet. "I'll just return them... I guess..."

Taking note of the rock in her hands, Jaxon had to admit, it looked pretty nice. "Hold up, that stone you got looks pretty cool."

"I know right!?" Crystal beamed, then dropped it back into her bag. "But you don't like these things, so I'll take them back." Sighing, she picked up the other discarded items. Tossing the earrings and the notebook back into her backpack.

She looked up to Jaxon and pouted.

"Now you're giving me the puppy dog eyes? Look," Jaxon said. "If you want I'll keep them, I'm just confused is all!"

"Hahaha..." She chuckled in response and readjusted her glasses, atop the brim of her nose. "I'm really just messing with you. I know all this random shit serves no use to anyone."

"Well the rock was nice," Jaxon reached to the ground and picked up the dusty looking calendar to hand it to Crystal. But at that moment, he paused. And retracted his outstretched hand. "Howa bout we make a trade?"

"What?"

"That rock for this calendar?"

"Uhhh... No I like the rock." Crystal blinked and looked to the now empty wall behind him that was missing a calendar. From the gadget mishap, that totally didn't happen. "Actually, I think you should keep that thing, you might need it."

Jaxon shifted his eyes down to the item in his hands. "This dusty thing? I dunno where you got it, but I'd rather use a calendar from the dollar store. At least then it wouldn't be covered in dust and~"

"Wow..." Crystal mocked surprise. "I'm hurt... No! I'm shocked... I'm shocked and hurt... I thought you would like it the way it is. It gives off an antique vibe."

"I guess I could see the appeal with that... But an antique 2020 calendar?" Jaxon raised an eyebrow, having just now opened the item in his hands to observe it's contents. "Something about that sentence doesn't add up. Besides, I already have a calendar."

Coughing awkwardly, Crystal shuffled her foot on the carpeted floor. "Heh... Yeah, are you sure about that?"

"Yeah I..." Turning around, Jaxon's original sentence was cut off. "Wait, what the hell? What happened to my limited-edition Pokémon calendar!? I had to shift through a shitton of spam mail for that!"

"I have no idea... But until you find it, you could use my gift!" Crystal pushed the bridge of her glasses up her nose a second time and beamed a bright smile at him.

"Your gift sucks... But... Thanks." Jaxon uttered out half-heartedly and sat down on the side of his bed. He looked down into the ancient-looking calendar in his hands. With how old the thing looks, it's odd how it seems to be updated with the current year. Still, he didn't put much thought into that abnormality. Most of his mind was set on trying to figure out what happened to the calendar he had that was actually worth something.

"Well I got you something else."

"Yeah?" He said sarcastically, his eyes still absently gazing upon the calendar.

Then he felt his body freeze up, as something soft, plush, and somewhat wet pressed against his cheek. The feeling disappeared almost as suddenly as it appeared.

Crystal laid a gentle kiss on the side of his face. And backed away with her hands behind her back.

"That's a little present from me to say I'm sorry for..."

*Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep*

Crystal's eyes widened, and she gritted her teeth. A flash on annoyance washed over her face.

But Jaxon didn't have enough mental fortitude to acknowledge that. His mind had completely shut down after the peck his friend gave him.

"I'm sorry for..."

*Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep*

"For..."

*Beep-Beep*

"Okay, I gotta take this... I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Uhh..." Jaxon fumbled with his words.

*Beep-Beep*

"Actually, let's hang out! You and me... Later we'll just get together and chat, okay?"

*Beep-Beep*

With his mouth on its own, Jaxon said. "Sure..."

*Beep*

"Alright! Alright!" Crystal said to herself as she exited Jaxon's room.

Leaving a befuddled teen in his own thoughts.

---

"Silent Crow." The familiar distorted voice spoke through Crystal's left earpiece. "Apologies for interrupting such an intimate moment with your boyfriend but..."

"Oh? You're sorry? Then why did..." Crystal paused mid-rant and realized the rest of what the voice in her head had said. "Wait, what did you call me? And... And Jaxon's not my boyfriend! Also, how did you know I was... Were you spying on me? On my friend?"

"Hold on a moment... You're single? Interesting... Well my son is..."

"I'm not interested."

"Shit." The voice cursed, the digital distortion going on glitched out for a moment. "Anyway. Let's get back on track, we need you to~"

"No, let's not get back on track." Crystal whispered with a hiss as she walked down the sidewalk. "Were you spying on me? And what was that ''Silent Crow'' crap you called me by?"

"You teenage girl's love drama."

"What?"

"Achemm, nothing. There was just something in my throat. So I assume you don't like your new code name? Is it too edgy for you? Are you not a fan of crows?"

"No, I actually like crows. But what happened to Frozen Bird?"

"Yeah, the E.U.A. didn't approve of it, I tried to let them see it our way but~" The voice was interrupted by the sound of another person speaking.

"He's lying!"

"No I'm not! Shut the fuck up Ronald!"

Crystal raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing, erm." The voice cleared his throat. "We need you back at base to continue this discussion with assured privacy."

Crystal sighed.

---

'It aint the same.'

'It just isn't.'

Jaxon stared at the wall that now carried his new birthday gift.

A fucking calendar.

A goddam fucking calendar.

It's entirely useless with his phone lying at the ready. And even more so, it pales to live up to the president his limited edition Pokemon calendar set. That thing wasn't something Jaxon needed but was basically a novel piece of shit he kept so he could know he had something not many other people could claim.

He'd open it for the pleasantly drawn artwork that coincided with the month, and nothing more.

So in comparison, this completely generic 2020 calendar paled in comparison to what used to be on that wall.

But goddam, downgrade or not. Jaxon's gonna keep this gift on his wall for the whole fucking year.

Really, it's the thought that counts. The meer presence Crystal gave him was enough of a thrill spike. He had thought she'd more than forgotten about him. But this gift showed that~ She fucking cares.

Even if she pulled this shit out of the trash, at least she pulled the shit out of the trash with him in mind.

Jaxon never had high standards, he'll take what he can get.

Something was weird about this calendar, though. It was modern in every sense of the word. The dates lined up with the current year to an accurate degree from what he was able to gather.

But the dusty aesthetic gave off an discarded, forgotten look. One that definitely didn't fit well with the whole updated appearance that this calendar was strutting. How can something made for this year look so naturally forgotten with the time? As if it were attempting to both blend in while standing out, and it couldn't just pick what it wanted to be.

Or...

And this is also a possibility.

He could just be putting way more thought into this than necessary.

It's a fucking calendar.

What should be a topic to ponder over was how Crystal gave him a peck on the cheek as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

A chick doesn't just ignore a guy on his birthday, and then come back four days later and show such an honest level of affection. Unless the girl was trying to toy with his emotions, which is a very possible possibility, but equality unlikely given her personality.

So...

What the fuck Crystal?!

THAT'S why he placed his attention on the fucking calendar.

If he put thought into that peck on the cheek from before, his mind would be sent down a spiraling loop of confusion.

Which is a loop he isn't mentally prepared to go down.

---

"What's with the frown?"

Back in The Nest, Crystal was pissed. And she made her feeling known from the expression on her face. "You were spying on me, so you should know damn well why I'm mad." She had her arms crossed below her chest.

The black silhouette scratched the backside of his head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, I~"

With narrowed eyes, Crystal showed she wasn't buying the man's bullshit. She leaned forward in her computer chair with arms still crossed.

"Then how did you know who I was talking to?"

"Lucky guess."

Crystal gave him a deadpan stare that caused the cloaked man to silently shutter.

"Listen, I~"

"No." There was a slight creak from the contact between her ass cushioned leather of the seat as she shifted. "You listen. I've been going on mission after mission for you guys. And now I'm risking the relationship between my best friend cause I can't find time to hand out. So I'm going to make this clear. If something happens between Jaxon and me, and we get cut off. Know that I'm cutting it off with you." Having spoken her mind, Crystal leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. "So you should see Jaxon as an extension of myself. If he goes, I go."

"Jesus, and you said he wasn't your boyfriend."

"He's not~"

"Look, I didn't want to interrupt you. You think I'm the only one in charge here? Well, unfortunately, I'm not. The verbal report you sent in was received. And I was willing to let you off for the day. But my peers looked through our satellite footage and noticed that you took a few items from the house you visited."

"Yeah." Crystal nodded to her bag that was draped across the side of her chair. "It was just a bunch of junk."

"Be that as it may. Something did breach through our satellites, and those items are the only forms of evidence we have to correlate."

"FINE!"

Jumping off the chair, Crystal retrieved her bag, and placed the junk she gathered from the house onto the polished computer desk before her.

"A set of earrings. A nice looking rock. A notebook." Crystal chose not to mention that she gave Jaxon that calendar she had also retrieved from the same house. If they knew she had handed it to him, they would ask her about it, so there was no real point in bringing it up. "There were also a few larger items that I wasn't able to carry, like a typewriter and an old-looking laptop."

"Thank you, Crystal." The man voiced his approval, then added. "That is all we needed from you. We will send another agent out to retrieve anything else you might have missed. Now please, go on and enjoy the rest of your day."

---

Jaxon's entire day had flipped atop itself.

He found himself unable to properly focus after that stunt Crystal pulled. She had the fucking nerve to kiss him and then jet as if nothing had transpired.

No one does that!

Granted, it was just a peck on the cheek. Something innocent that his mother does to him every other hour.

It really shouldn't be given too much consideration.

But Crystal doesn't fucking do that! Jaxon had known her for, how many years? The fact that he has to think that number over means it's been long enough.

So that means...

He should stop wracking his brain for an answer and focus on something else. Perhaps now is his chance to forget about her for the time being just like she had forgotten about him.

Jaxon had pulled up to his desk, with the calendar laid out before him.

While his brain was focused on decoding the action of his female friend. His hands were on autopilot, filling out the calendar with personal dates that wouldn't have been preprinted. Things like his birthday, Crystal's, and the rest of his family. School events, and the like~

Shit that he wouldn't have jotted down if he was in his right mind. He has a fucking phone for god's sake, a physical calendar isn't a necessity.

But since he needed something to distract him, this would do.

*Ding*

His phone vibrated, signaling a text.

And one idle glance later showed him that it was from Crystal.

'Well she certainly doesn't make it easy to forget about her.' Jaxon thought to himself and dropped the pencil he was holding.

With his attention now on his phone, he didn't notice that during his distracted writing, he accidentally placed his birthday down on the wrong date. Tomorrow to be more specific.

---

"I can't hide anything from my Dad, especially food!" Crystal laughed, "Seriously, I made a meatloaf the other day and put a note down next to it that said, DO NOT TOUCH, DAD.''

"Oh shit."

"Yeah! I leave to use the bathroom, come back, and~"

"He fucking touched it?"

"HE FUCKING TOUCHED IT!"

"That sucks CJ" Jaxon had leaned back in his chair, which has the option to recline. He left Crystal on speakerphone and chatted to her with his eyes shut. It was getting late, and he was a bit tired. "You know, you probably should have given some to me. I would've held onto it."

"Yea no," Crystal retorted with a soft huff. "I know your basically a vegetarian. You would have tossed that shit."

Jaxon was quick to clear the air. "I'm not a vegetarian! But with the way my Mom is strict on eating healthy, I goddamn could be."

"Just tell her you want to have meat every once and a while."

"Oh, she's all for mixing protean into our meals. But it depends on where it's coming from. Knowing her, she wouldn't have trusted your meatloaf and thrown it out once she had the chance."

"Well you need to demand some sweets for your birthday tomorrow." There was the sound a shuffling coming from her end, and Crystal's voice suddenly became louder as if she brought the phone closer to her mouth. "I'm going to bring over your favorite ice cream, and your Mom's not gonna stop me."

Jaxon blinked.

He shot open his eyes and looked down at his phone.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? You think I'm gonna let her get in the way of us having a good time? Please."

Jaxon blinked again.

"What?"

What occurred was a brief pause on Crystal's end, before she eventually replied.

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"WhHHaaATTt?" Crystal's voice mocked Jaxon's own.

"No really. My birthday was four days ago. What are you on about?"

"You.. Uh... No it fucking isn't!" Her tone was still in it's joking manner, as she believed Jaxon was attempting to pull her leg. "I know when your freaking birthday is, don't even start."

"Clearly you don't!"

"Dude, check your calendar~ You know, the one I gave you."

Jaxon had to shake his head. He leaned up from his chair and stared down at his phone. "The one you gave me as a late birthday present?"

"No, the one I gave you as an early gift... I..." Crystal stuttered as she tried to gather the appropriate words. "I know when my best friend's birthday is, so you can stop trying to fuck with me. I'm not even going to double-check, I'm that sure."

"Pfff, maybe you should." Jaxon shifted his gaze from his phone to the calendar that was situated on his desk. "Even on my calendar, it says..."

"It says?" Crystal prodded.

"Tomorrow? What the... What the fuck?"

"MMMHHHM!" The sound of Crystal humming smugly entered Jaxon's ears. "Another win for Crystal! That's seven to one, you really need to step up your game dude."

"No no... I must've put that there by mistake."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I was distracted by..."

"By my awesome looks?" Crystal joked in a way that made Jaxon **** on his tongue.

"No! I.. I was~ I wasn't paying attention." Grabbing his eraser, Jaxon began to remove his fuck up from the calendar.

"Clearly," Crystal said with her cute laugh. "If you were you would have~ Realized that your birthday already passed."

Just as Jaxon erased his mistake, Crystal seemed to stutter halfway through her sentence, and the following half came out with a slightly different tone of voice.

"There, I fixed it."

"Yeah, but seriously, I'm sorry for being absent for your birthday. I'm gonna make it up to you, that's a promise."

"Oh really? But I thought you said my birthday was tomorrow?" As Jaxon spoke, he scanned the page for any more errors.

"That would be nice wouldn't... Wait, I never said that."

Jaxon blinked... Again. There might be something in his eyes.

"I don't know why you're suddenly all for teasing me, but it's getting late, so I might start getting ready for bed."

"Hold on!" Crystal almost shouted, "Jax, I'm really sorry. You know I love you right? Like... I was just extremely busy."

"Oh it's no big deal," Jaxon replied honestly. "I'm just not in the mood for all this teasing right now."

"What teasing?"

"You pretending it was my birthday tomorrow, and now acting like that never happened."

Crystal paused, perhaps thinking how to respond in a way that Jaxon wouldn't take in the wrong manner.

"I honestly don't remember pretending it was your birthday, I don't see myself doing that. But if you say I did, then I'm not going to argue."

That honest tone of voice is one Jaxon recognized as Crystal being truthful with him. Which doesn't mesh well with the fact that she's talking out of her ass.

Instead of replying, Jaxon looked back down to his calendar and brought the tip of his pencil to its surface. Jotting down his birthday again for tomorrow. He asked, "So what? You never said it was my birthday soon?"

"Soon? Dude," Crystal said. "Your birthday's tomorrow! And I have the whole day planned out!"