AUGUST IS A FEVER

14

"Did I interrupt something?" You asked as you saw the two boys looking as if they were just about to get started in a heated argument. "Is everything alright?" You pressed on, voice laced with concern as your grip on your backpack straps tightened.

"Yeah," Clay began, he stood up and walked over to you until he was right next to you closely, maybe a little too close to be completely platonic. "Everything's okay."

His gloved hands slowly but surely found yours that were still gripped onto your backpack straps. The skin of your knuckles felt tight and the pigment of them went white with it. Your head looked down, a bit intimidated by the boy in front of you who was a little over six foot.

"Hey," Clay said softly. He knew how stressful all of this was. Your escaping, being undercover, meeting new people, it all was a lot. And for your case as a Red, your emotions and abilities seemed to be linked. Having a stressed Red wasn't any good, Clay knew he had to be gentle with you. If you got angry, things would get destroyed. "It's okay." He attempted to comfort you.

"Please don't stop being friends over me." You told him. You did hear the last bit of what they were saying before you stepped in. You were worried.

"What?" Clay said softly. "No, no, no. We won't. George just doesn't see the potential that I see in you just yet. I'm helping him see it."

"Okay." You replied, subconsciously mimicking his tone without realizing it.

You thought that it would be better if you got this conversation out of the way and over with. There was no point when you already knew and always knew from the moment you met him, that George had a somewhat strong disliking towards you.

You turned to George to try and change the subject from the previous one that thickened the air and created tension. Maybe you can bond over music. Everybody loves music.

"Hey, pipsqueak! You a Beatles fan? Got Abbey Road in here." You said, shaking your backpack a little to gesture at it.

"Not really." George replied.

"What are you doing?" Clay asked to you in a hushed voice.

You simply looked up to the blonde and said "He doesn't trust me. I should try and win that trust, right?" and walked over and sat at the foot of his mattress to show him your music before Clay could tell you otherwise.

"Um, what're you doing?" George asked, sitting up completely as he sat on his mattress almost defensively. "Uh -"

"What music do you like then?" You asked him, opening the backpack to show him what options you had brought with you.

"I'm - I'm not really in the mood for, uh, music listening." George said, looking off to the side.

"Alright," You replied. You weren't going to force him if he didn't want to, but asking was worth a shot. "Clay how 'bout you?"

"Huh?" The blonde asked as you stood up and walked over to him.

"Wanna listen to my music?" You asked as you went searching in your bag for the CD Walkman. When you finally found the Walkman, Clay answered at last.

"Uh, sure." Clay agreed. You looked up at him and smiled.

"Yay." You softly cheered half-jokingly, and grabbed his hand and brought him to his mattress for him to sit as you sat on yours.

When you went to turn on the Walkman only for it not to, you slumped on your mattress. You kept trying over and over but it didn't seem to turn on. You began to feel a small disappointed pit in your stomach. You were so excited the whole time, anticipating the sweet sound of the music you had gathered only for your Walkman to appear to be broken.

Clay's eyebrows furrowed when he saw your struggle. "Lemme see." Said the blonde.

Looking up and away from the Walkman, you saw Clay extending his gloved hand out for the device. You hesitated for a moment before complying, handing it to him.

The boy placed the device beside him so he could free his hand of it's yellow rubber glove. His bare hand then brushed against the grey plastic of the Walkman's outer shell. White sparks of electricity began to emit from his fingers. Clay transferred his energy to the Walkman like how he did the lighting system of the bookstore. The device started to work which caused a smile to spread across your face, you lighting up.

"Now what do we say?" Asked Clay jokingly. You huffed a laugh.

"Thank you, Clay." You replied sarcastically as you went to fish for Hozier's Hozier CD in your backpack.

"No problem." Clay said through a chuckle as he slipped his glove back on and handed the now-working Walkman to you.

"God, you guys are gross." George said, holding in a fake gag, but the two of you ignored the brunette with a laugh. "Get a room." He added on.

You took the Walkman and placed the CD into it and placed one earbud into your ear. When you went to hand Clay the second earbud, it wouldn't reach between the two of you. The distance was too far. You would have to sit next to him for the earbuds to be accessible to the both of you.

"Oh, hold up." You told him as you stood up and sat next to the sixteen year old, your hand brushing on his shoulder as you sat down. "Here." You said as you handed him the other earbud.

"Mm." He softly hummed subconsciously as he took it from your hand. After he placed the earbud in his ear, you pressed play. Once you heard the into of "Take Me to Church" play, Clay sighed. "Oh, I remember this song."

"Yeah." You said as the nostalgia of the music hit you ten times harder than it hit the blonde next to you. "Me too." It was your last favorite song you remembered having.

Looking back, you remembered being young, around nine or ten when you first heard this song on the radio on the way to school. You smiled, recalling how as soon as you arrived home, you went to the family computer and listening to it over and over. The sight of two men kissing in the music video was something you hadn't seen before, you didn't even know that was allowed. You softly huffed a laugh at the memory.

"What's funny?" Clay asked. You laid back on his mattress, Clay chasing after you so his earbud wouldn't be yanked out from your sudden movement, laying beside you.

You turned to the blonde and smiled. "Just remembering." You told him.

The both of your eyes began to feel heavy. Your body felt tired from everything that happened. Who could blame you when you hadn't slept all day in two days and you spent most of the time you were awake on the run. As soon as you allowed your aching back to lay down on the mattress, you felt your exhaustion finally catch up with you. You initially intended to rest your eyes for just a moment, but were surprised to find yourself opening them up again a few hours later.