Flightless Grounding (Gay)

Tenth Flight

I woke up to Shane's violent shaking.

"Damn, Deviin - what, can you sleep through earthquakes too?"

"Actually, yeah. Quite a few." Shane looked annoyed and pushed, without really trying, on my shoulder to get me to up.

"You should get ready. A lady named Lierra harassed me this morning on my cell. Something about making sure you get to school. I don't even know how your mom got my number."

"Although she'd probably be smiling right now if she were here to hear you say that, she's not my mom. She's my aunt. And it doesn't really surprise me. She has her ways," I grinned.

"So she's like a secret ninja agent, right?" Shane grinned back.

Ninja jokes always went straight over my head. I never got why the word "ninja" was suppose to be so cool, or funny or whatever. "Uh, sure dude."

"Dude," he replied, mimicking my voice, "you didn't get that? You're such a jock."

I scoffed. "Whatever. You're just not good at telling jokes," I paused, "that are actually funny."

"Whatever," he said, accompanied by throwing a pillow at my face. We both laughed. "Meet me back here?"

"Sure."

I walked down the stairs quickly and saw Miranda sitting at a bare table, scribbling cursive on to blank worksheets. "Can I get a Procrastinator?"

"Shut up," she mumbled back, looking from her textbook to her papers, all her concentration on her homework.

When I closed the distance from Shane's house to mine, I noticed that the door was open. I walked in slowly, looking from left to right. I admit, I kinda' balled up my fist, just in-case.

"Hey, there you are Deviin."

"Holy fuck!" I jumped, shoving my fist in no real one direction. "Don't do that," I gasped, trying to control my breathing.

Lierra frowned. Whether at my choice of words or my unexpected reaction, I don't know. "Do what? My car's parked outside and only I have the keys." Well, it didn't exactly help that the most obvious of details tend to slip my attention in the mornings.

"So..." I trailed off. I already knew the answer but I wanted to hear it from her. "Why back so early?"

She sighed. "His family. They were definitely - quite a card." She gave an awkward chuckle.

"You mean a buncha' weirdos." It wasn't a question. Just a statement of fact. Boy do you know how to pick 'em Lierra. You should be a match-maker. I inwardly chuckled.

I expected her to correct me with something a lot less...blunt. But she didn't. "Exactly," she agreed, drawing out the first half of the word. "'Weirdo' doesn't even begin to describe those - those," it took her a moment to get the word out, "freaks." Sometimes I think she's too nice for her own good. She was only reaffirming my theory.

"I just want to be happy," Lierra finally sighed, brushing her hair out of her face.

I nodded and made my way to my room. On my bed were freshly washed clothes. Yes! Thank you Lierra. I showered and changed, brushed my teeth, and pulled my school bag from its place in the corner of my room. I slipped into my Nikes, put my phone in my jacket pocket and waved a quick goodbye to Lierra.

When I got outside, the cold air hit me like a wall. It practically begged for me to go back inside and fall asleep. But seeing Miranda and Shane waiting nulled any ideas I might've had of sleeping in.

"Hey guys."

"Hey." Miranda said noncommittedly, obviously not a morning person as well.

"Aye." Thankfully the swelling had fully gone down in Shane's eye. His hair was slightly mussed, like he barely ran a brush through it, but it still managed to look like the style was done intentionally.