Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 22 -

Well this ended up fluffier than I had first intended.

Virgil woke up early on Monday morning, thinking that he had to go to school. He jolted awake in that cold sweat of "I'm gonna be late" panic and ripped himself out of bed. After a couple of minutes, he finally realized that it was not a school day and he was not about to face running into a history class full of judgmental, non-tardy students.

However, by that point, there was no way Virgil was getting back to sleep. It was even better because he had stayed up until two thirty in the morning, taking Patton's advice and binging Steven Universe like an idiot. So on Virgil's third day of fall break, he was going to be walking around -- or laying around, rather -- with a mere four hours of sleep. It wasn't necessarily an unusual amount of sleep for him, but come on, it was break. He was used to feeling groggy all week long, but he shouldn't have to on his days off.

Virgil spent most of his day lounging about on his phone. He had nearly drifted off to sleep multiple times but had been unsuccessful; naps were hard for him. At about three in the afternoon, Virgil felt his phone vibrate.

Roman: I need to talk to someone. Can we meet somewhere?

Virgil paused, looking at the text. Is Roman in trouble? Did those bullies come back? Is he hurt? What happened? His mind started to race, as it did most of the time anything open-ended came up. He quickly typed out a reply:

Sure. Where?

Virgil eagerly awaited Roman's reply, curiosity eating him up. He felt like he had just been shot with caffeine, for his energy level finally rose above 'nearly dead.'

Roman: At the corner where we talked last time?

Virgil: sounds good. I'll be there soon.

Virgil sprung out of bed, pulled on his hoodie and his shoes, and shoved his phone into his pocket. He would have put on eyeshadow had he not felt like he was in such a rush -- plus he wasn't feeling too 'angsty' that day. Virgil pushed his feet to carry him quickly towards the kitchen door and out onto the sidewalk.

The fall day was surprisingly nice, but Virgil didn't focus on that. The sun streamed down from a barely-cloudy sky and dappled the sidewalk. It only took Virgil about five minutes to push himself up the two-or-so blocks and find the intersection with the large tree and bench. He had arrived before Roman and sat down, but he didn't have to wait long.

Upon seeing Roman walking up the street, Virgil's heart began to pound. It was illogical, really, to feel nervous about seeing the boy. They were friends now; he had nothing to be scared of. But that didn't really seem to be the reason -- maybe it was because they were friends and Virgil didn't want to let him down. That and, more likely, the flashback to their day at the fair was haunting him still -- as well as Virgil's previous realization. Somehow, not seeing Roman at all for one and a half days had only made Virgil feel more embarrassed about the event. Every time he thought about holding hands with Roman or laying his head on Roman's shoulder, Virgil would feel a burst of sickening butterflies erupt in his stomach and would lose his appetite for about an hour.

Get a grip already, Virgil! Virgil shook his head and pulled himself away from his anxiety-inducing thoughts. He saw Roman wave once the boy got a little closer and waved back.

Roman quickly made his way over to the bench and sat down. Virgil, who had anxiety very often himself, could easily spot it in others. So, as soon as Roman had gotten about three meters away from him, a lightbulb in Virgil's head went off.

"What's up?" Virgil immediately asked.

Roman gave him a jumpy look. He wordlessly reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled note. Only after reading it and giving Roman a confused look did the boy begin to explain. "It's from Cecelia," Roman breathed. "She wants to meet -- obviously --" he was talking very fast, "-- and I don't know what to do. You remember who she is, right? Normally I wouldn't freak out about this kind of thing, but Cecelia is different. I mean --"