Four To Two [Elisop]

Chapter 2

Aesop was sitting in a café not far from his building, it was the place where he spent most of his time when he had a free moment during the day. He liked the calm and soothing atmosphere of the place. Across from him was Norton, a black coffee in his hands. Aesop had known Norton for several years and the latter had always been there if something went wrong.

"Hm... You've been hanging out with that boy a lot lately, Eli I believe ?" he asked.

"Eli ? We run into each other sometimes during class. He's not a bad guy..."

"I see..."

"Is there something wrong with him ?"

"You haven't noticed anything strange about him ?"

"No..."

"It's nothing in that case ~"

Norton sketched a slight amused smile as he took a sip of his drink. Aesop leaned against the back of his seat, wondering what was up with Eli. Did he do something wrong that got Norton's attention ? He didn't see any reason for that to be the case, though. The young man didn't really like to think too hard, he might as well ask the person concerned directly. 

In fact, he had a history class scheduled with him in about fifteen minutes. Aesop gathered his things and waved to Norton before leaving the café. The class was in the central building so it would take him at least ten minutes to get there. More and more leaves were appearing on the ground and the cold seemed to be getting colder by the day, winter would soon be here. Although it was only October now.

As he walked towards the huge building, he heard a voice behind him calling his name. It was a very familiar and yet foreign voice. Aesop turned to see Eli running up to him with a smile on his face. When he reached his level, he stopped to catch his breath.

"You didn't have to run like that..."

"Let's just say it's for a little exercise..." replied Eli with a chuckle.

Aesop smiled slightly, but it was hidden by the imposing collar of his sweater. So he started walking again, this time with Eli at his side who seemed strangely cheerful. Maybe he should ask him about Norton ? He wasn't sure if anything truly happened, but he'd rather know for sure.

"Tell me, do you know Norton well ?"

"He's your best friend right ? Hm, I think I have a class or two in common with him too but I don't know him that well... Why ?"

"Just to know..."

"Oh, okay."

Eventually they both arrived at their classroom. The hour passed quietly, with one student still managing to fall asleep. At the end of class, Eli called out to Aesop who was about to leave. The latter stopped, the blue-eyed boy seemed to be calling him quite a few times lately, or maybe it was just his imagination ?

"Do you have any plans for this weekend ?" asked Eli.

"Hm... No."

"In that case would you like to come with me somewhere ? I know someone who owns an art gallery not far from here and he gave me several tickets for friends, you can invite Norton too if you want !"

Aesop was a little shocked on the spot. He wasn't expecting such a sudden invitation. Nevertheless, he particularly liked art so the idea interested him. He accepted Eli's offer. They made an appointment to meet on Saturday at around 3 pm. They also took the opportunity to exchange phone numbers. Eli specified that two other friends of his were also going to come with him.

Aesop didn't particularly mind. He didn't like it when it was too crowded, but small art galleries weren't particularly crowded and plus Norton and Eli were with him. Nothing strange could happen... probably ?