Raphael /BoyxBoy/

||Six||

I took a step towards him without much thought. "Am I?"

"Yes." His eyes fell to my lips.

"Then why does it look like you want me?"

He tore his gaze away. "You need to get your eyes checked."

"Funny, I never heard someone say that about me before."

"I'm usually first at everything."

I raised my eyebrows.

Raphael didn't flush like I expected him to, instead he smiled wider and took a step away from me.

"I should get going," I said, taking my own step backwards.

He raised a hand. "Bye."

I watched as he turned away, walking the opposite direction, and smiled faintly to myself the rest of the way back to the dorms.

My room was empty when I got there, no trace of Dan in the connected bathroom either.

Relieved, I took advantage of the situation and lounged in my boxers.

--

I woke up the next morning and Dan was still not back from wherever he'd gone the previous day.

Checking my phone for any notifications, I remembered that I still hadn't replied to Nate's email.

I spent the next half an hour trying my best to sound normal, assure him in my own words that I was entirely unfazed by his email. I wrote vaguely, briefly, mentioning only what I had to and nothing more. I told him of finding a job with a positive attitude, with words like, "optimistic," "glad," "happy," "interesting," and "future". As if I had a clue.

I grabbed a quick breakfast, a granola bar from a vending machine and a styrofoam cup of coffee.

I relished in its bitter, heavy taste, wondering how Nate managed to live without it. How I'd managed to live without it at some point.

Without Raphael keeping me company, the walk to the antique store felt longer than it had the previous day. I passed many other buildings and landmarks that I had no idea existed. I noticed a park just a few minutes away, a bookstore, an art museum, an old man strumming a battered guitar.

Ben was standing behind the counter waiting for me. He had his ink black hair tied back in a short ponytail at the base of his neck, a pair of thin framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose while his hands held up more stacks of paper.

He merely glanced up at me when the bell chimed after me, and said, "Good, you're here."

He set the papers aside and walked around the counter, "I'll be back at eight."

"My shift doesn't end until eleven," I said.

"I know that," he said, grabbing a coat from a coat hanger by the door and shrugging it on.

"Okay."

"First day on the job, don't mess it up," he called over his shoulder before the door swung shut behind him with a small rattle.

I sighed and slid behind the counter and into the chair.

Ben had set up a few tasks for the day, and I scanned through them wearily, not knowing what to expect.

They didn't seem so bad after I went over them, finding that the most strenuous one was to rearrange some of the heavy furniture at the back. I started with that first.

There was a couch that someone was to pick up on Friday, so that had to be hauled out beneath all the other couches at the back and brought out for easy access when the customer arrived.