Hexus

>10< Vision

[5:48PM, February 14, UTC +08:00]

Augustus flipped the page on the latest edition of TableAus and tried to laugh at the ‘Horoscopes’ segment but his thoughts were in disarray. It was in his nature to brood over past decisions, so he wasn’t exactly surprised at himself. He only wished he had figured out a way to ignore the urge to reexamine his thought processes after a decision had already been made. There was a knock on the door and he turned around.

“Josh is here,” his sister said, poking her head into the room. The annoyance in her voice was obvious, and Augustus tried not to laugh.

“Can you keep him busy?”

“Very funny,” she replied as she closed the door. He took in a deep breath and read the segment for Aries.

“Hey!” Joshua walked in without knocking. Augustus tried not to show his irritation and swiveled in the chair to face him. Joshua’s attire was a fitted t-shirt, showing off his athletic build, and loose cargo shorts. He was also wearing his strap-on glasses. Augustus guessed he was coming back from the sports field, but judging from the lack of sweat stains, he wondered whether Joshua had run at all. Joshua threw himself on the bed and spread his limbs apart for good measure. He then rolled onto his tummy and propped himself up on his elbows, sighing wistfully.

“What’s up?” Augustus asked, reaching back to retrieve his magazine.

“Nothing,” Joshua said. “Just bored. Agnes wouldn’t talk to me, as usual.”

“You should let it go,” Augustus laughed. “And, no, I’m still not ‘putting in a good word’ for you.”

“Come on! If I had a sister and you had a crush on her, I’d help you. That’s what best friends do.”

“So you admit it’s a crush.”

“No,” Joshua blushed, though his caramel skin didn’t show so Augustus almost missed it. “I didn’t mean ‘crush’. I meant…I kinda like her, that’s all.”

“I definitely remember hearing the word ‘crush’.”

“Ugh, you’ll never let it go now, would you?”

“No, never,” Augustus smiled. “How was track?”

Joshua frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The goggles,” he said, pointing to Joshua’s face. Joshua blinked, confused for a moment, before he realized what Augustus was referring to.

“Oh,” he sighed. “Broke my glasses after school. It fell off my face when I was running and I stepped on it. I only have these until Tuesday.”

“Sorry mate.”

Joshua looked around the room. There was little to hold his attention, except the planetary model hanging from the ceiling and a book case in the corner. He sighed again and rolled on his back, then looked at the table.

“What you reading?”

“TableAus,” Augustus replied.

Joshua scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You geeks and your secret club.”

“Mensa is not a secret club,” Augustus replied robotically. “It’s an international organization with its headquarters in England and branches in more than fifty countries. Its purpose is to form a global-”

“Aug! Jeez! Can’t you recognize a joke anymore?”

“-partnership focused on the celebration of…can’t you recognize when I’m jerking you around?”