I'll Share With You My Heartbeat

eighteen

Lennon hadn't gotten the chance to look at her properly until now. Dyed purple streaks in her hair and an angular face.

"I'm Lennon."

"Well, Lennon," Sara said, tucking her books under her arm, "I don't know about you but I have a next class to get to." She nudged her thumb towards the classroom door. "See you around."

"See you," the chestnut boy echoed, waving her goodbye. He lowered his hand slowly after she had left, gaze fixed on the door.

She looked... oddly familiar.

He kept that thought all the way home, wondering if he had seen a similar face on a magazine or a newspaper as he opened his notebook and started copying the notes Sara had provided him with.

He had decided the day before to tidy up his studio and make it his study room as well, tearing the black tarp off the windows and replacing them with heavy linen curtains so sunlight could enter the room and add to the warmer atmosphere.

That warmth was disturbed when a chill pricked at the bottom of his spine. Lennon smiled openly— he knew what that meant.

To his surprise, however, the doorbell rang, and he answered by hollering at the top of his lungs. "Ghostie?" When he received no response, Lennon pulled himself out of his wheely chair and went to open his front door. "Hi."

There he was— his favorite ghost in a dark turtleneck. The only ghost he knew. In a dark turtleneck.

"You really just used the doorbell." Lennon grinned, stepping aside to let the ravenhead in. "I was just joking, you know."

But Kieran didn't make any move to enter. His posture was slick with tension and his fingers dug into the sides of his thighs, causing him to stand rather awkwardly.

Lennon reached out to him, worry branching across his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"Hi," Kieran managed as if his brain just registered the boy's first greeting a moment ago.

"Do you want to come in?"

Kieran watched the chestnut boy lean outside the door frame to check for neighbors in case they saw him talking to himself.

"Kieran?"

"Yeah okay."

The ravenhead ushered himself in and his nervous movements only prompted more concern on Lennon's end.

"What are you up to?" Kieran asked.

"Schoolwork," the boy put simply, "Not much homework on my first day so that's nice." He led Kieran to his studio. "I'm copying notes."

Lennon's phone was still turned on, the screen facing up and the picture zoomed in. Kieran peered down at it, eyes widening slightly.

"The handwriting looks... familiar," he noted aloud.

Lennon inhaled sharply. "Familiar?" he repeated, "Do you think—"

"Len, I need to ask something of you," Kieran cut him off, chin held higher than usual like he was afraid to show how vulnerable he felt in the moment, "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm just a little— on edge, right now. Um—"