Elio; Still awake.
I'm at school right now. I didn't ride my bike, I had my mom drive me and I waited in the parking lot until 7:15 before going into the school. Am I avoiding him? No, of course not. Well, I mean, maybe a little.
I walk into school right past his locker. He isn't even there. I slowly walk back to his locker and look around. Maybe he didn't even come to school. Nothing to worry about. Not that I was worried but-
"Elio?" Someone calls my name, shocking me. I quickly turn around and scream.
It's Riley. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He laughs. He looks different.. maybe a haircut. He's also wearing glasses.
"What? Oh, nah, you didn't scare me.. I was just.." I try thinking of an excuse as to why I was standing by his locker. "Cleaning."
What??
"Oh.. okay. Look, I'm sorry about.. what happened." He says. He definitely got a haircut.
"It's fine. You're fine." I smile.
"Okay, then.." He says with a pause and I realize I'm blocking the way to his locker so I move.
"I'm gonna go.." I say, then I leave before he can say anything back.
•
When it comes to lunch, I see Riley sitting and I start to go over to him, but I don't. I end up sitting at a random table with Freshman. I'm not avoiding him. I'm just taking some time.
"Hey!" The kid smiles at me. I feel bad because he's always sitting alone and now I'm only sitting with him because I'm not avoiding someone.
"I'm Tommy. What's your name?"
"Elio."
"Y'know.. nobody sits at this table because some kid threw up after eating a bunch of oranges." Tommy laughs. He has braces.
"That's.. nice." I fake smile and then push my food away. Not hungry anymore.
"Oranges are my favorite fruit. I wouldn't eat more than 5 a day though, because then it would ruin it for me." He says while peeling an orange. "I've been thinking... what color is an orange?"
I look at the kid with pity. He's small and has thin black hair. And for some reason, a slight hint of a mustache. He's the kid I would purposely avoid when I was a freshman.
"I think they might be orange. But, I'm not sure." I say.
"You're funny, Elio." Tommy laughs.
•
It's the end of the day now. That Tommy kid started following me around after lunch and now he follows me to the bathroom. I'm not mad at him though. The first year of high school can be scary. Especially with no friends. He's pretty cool anyway, once you get past the whole when-he-opens-his-mouth-and-talks thing.
When I get home, Julius is on the couch eating cookies.
"Lio! Mom made peanut butter cookies! She knows it's your favorite. Also, she asked if Riley was coming today? I miss him! He liked my lego collection."
The mention of Riley makes me think of me seeing him this morning.
"I don't think he's coming today, JJ." I say and rub his head.
"Aww. Well, he left his clothes here the other day. Mom washed them and left them in your room."
My eyes open wide when I remember. He did leave his clothes, I never gave them back. I run upstairs and go into my room. His clothes are sitting on my bed. I'm almost scared to touch them, but then I want to touch them. I grab them and smell them, not caring that it's probably really weird.
They still smell like him. Like apples, sweet apples.
I'll give them back to him. But, I don't know where he lives. Maybe he'd be at the tree? I hope he's at the tree.
I put the clothes in a bag and go downstairs. I tell Julius that I'll be back and then I open the door. I start to run to get my bike but I bump into something, well someone.
"Sorry!"
I look up to see Riley standing there. He came to my house.
"I came to give you back your clothes. I forgot, sorry. I washed them."
I look at him. He's still wearing those glasses. They're big and round but somehow they suit him.
"I was just going to go and give you yours back. Now that I think about it, I have no idea where you live." I awkwardly laugh and hold up the bag with his clothes in them. "I washed them."
"Thanks." He smiles and we trade bags.
"Did you get a haircut?" I ask him even though I'm pretty sure he did.
"Yeah. I cut it a little shorter, it was long overdue." He says. I knew it.
"It looks good on you." I smile.
"Thank you." He looks at me in that way. The way that makes me want to kiss him more than I want to breathe.
"Uh, Riley?"
"Yeah?"
"We're good, right?" I ask.
"The moon still has a reason, right?" He smiles.
"The same as the sun."
YOU ARE READING
We Both Live In The End
Romance[BoyxBoy][Complete] Elio Russo is lost. Despite his academic success and the admiration of his younger brother, he can't shake the constant headache of hopelessness that permeates his every thought. And, he's not alone: Riley Foley is going through...
