Different (bxb)

7. Same

"Why do you even hang out with me?" I ask out of the blue.

For a few seconds, he seems taken aback by my question. His eyes rise from his physics notes, looking at me as if I asked the weirdest question I possibly could have thought of. He turns his chair to face me as a few late winter sun rays peeping from the window dance in his light red hair.

"Why wouldn't I?" he replies with a little smirk on the side.

"I'm serious!" I exclaim. "I've never seen someone like you. You could hang out with anyone you want, yet you choose to spend your time locked in here with the little nerd no one usually wants to talk to."

He lets out a little laugh, the familiar sound echoing through my apartment. His expression slowly shifts to a more serious one, and his answer comes out so smoothly that the sound of the cold wind coming through my open window almost covers it.

"You don't expect me to be anyone I'm not. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm not trying to be someone else, like I'm not forced to smile even if I'm having a bad day. Do you know how much a day at school in Nicholas Breen's skin can be exhausting?"

He laughs a little, the tension in his shoulders easing up.

"With you, I finally found some place where I feel like I belong."

He lets a few seconds pass with a sigh. As if to diminish the seriousness of his words, he awkwardly adds:

"Sorry, that was quite cheesy, wasn't it?"

He then looks into my eyes in hope for an approval of his last affirmation, but I just can't bring myself to give it. I can't just brush it of and pretend nothing happened. Since when is it a bad thing to express human feelings?

He made me realize that I never knew how much the sun will always be one of the stars, no matter how bright it may be compared to others. Nicholas simply... shines. I never would have guessed he felt anything close to what I usually do. Never in the right place, as if the world happened through my eyes with me not exactly being part of it all. Like a movie is taking place and I'm just watching it from afar. Nick's the exact definition of the popular guy, yet he doesn't seem so out of reach anymore.

Nick seems to catch my change of mood, as he simply rises and pulls me in for a hesitant hug. His tense muscles relax as I finally wrap my arms around him. I synchronise my breath with his chest as it rises, letting a few involuntary tears escape from my shut eyes. The warmth of his body against mine is comforting, and I don't exactly know how long we stay like that, simply holding each other in some sort of understanding that is far beyond words.

He then let go of my frail body and ruffles his short hair before going back to the chair he previously was sitting on.

"What was that for?" I finally manage to ask as my cheeks burst in newfound colors.

"Just felt you needed that", he shrugs.

Silence then install itself, but in no way does it ever get uncomfortable. I'm hiding my smile behind some book, looking at his back, his attention now focused on his notes as if the last few minutes never happened.