Skylar had gotten a small bowl of chili at the mall. It had come with a packet including a napkin, salt, pepper, and silverware (that wasn't silver, even in color).
Skylar had a spoon, but it was strange. Where the normally rounded tip was, there were three tiny points.
John sat down across from them, a slice of pizza and a pop on his tray. "Is it good?"
"I haven't tried it yet." Skylar waved the utensil. "This spoon must be a defect."
John snorted as he picked up his pizza. "That's how it’s supposed to look." Grinning back at Skylar's scrunched up nose he took a big bite of pizza.
Skylar waved the thing in front of him. "What do you mean this is how it’s supposed to look?"
"It's not a spoon. It's a spork. Part spoon, part fork."
"But..." They made a poking gesture at the table. "What can it pick up with these tiny tines? And liquid could drop through these tiny gaps." Hannah sat down next to John as Skylar blurted, "It's almost useless!"
Hannah chuckled. "Well, I guess I don’t have to ask you if you are team spork."
Skylar blinked and glanced at John. "It has a team? With people?" Hannah laughed harder.
"Yeah." Skylar felt a tap on their foot as John sent them a look. "Skylar is hilarious. We all better eat."
Skylar scooped up some chili and studied it a moment to asses the dripping. The dish was thick, filled with beans and a little meat, melted cheese hanging off the edge of the spork.
The pepper and garlic were mild, standing out in a sea of other muddled flavors. According to Skylar’s research, chili was supposed to be flavorful. A little disappointing, but it wasn’t disgusting, so Skylar ate. Hannah’s lettuce crunched with each stab of the fork. Grease dripped from John’s pizza every time he lifted it to his mouth.
There were many sounds filling the food court. But Skylar’s ears locked onto a sound much quieter. It was actually multiple of a similar sound, happening at different points, at different times. With their hearing heightened by their own abilities, they picked up on running water.
Every employee washing their hands, every gulp from people at water fountains, ever toilette being flushed, every pot being filled, every dish being washed. Every drop of liquid in the nearby area caught so much of Skylar’s attention the conversation between John and Hannah faded and blurred until they might as well have been lip syncing a conversation.
It was a reminder that Skylar hadn’t been to the bathroom in a really long time. Since they were so bad at the other internal cues, they had set this up as an unmistakable sign they needed to find the nearest bathroom, or even a bush if that was all that was handy.
“I got to use the restroom!” Skylar shouted and bolted without waiting for a reply.
Word count: 494
