Home is With You

Seventeen

My heart races as my feet move down the long hall. Time seems to be so much slower than I remembered and my body feels much colder. I feel my body growing weak and my mind races faster and faster by the second. My hearing is muffled by the thoughts my mind is infiltrating my brain with. Any sort of loud, sudden noise makes me jump and flinch, almost in pain.

"Hey, Keith," A voice greets from next to me. I jump again and look at them.

"Hey, Lance," I croak out. I feel my stomach flutter and my hands get sweaty. My heart started to beat faster as well as my mind as if they're both having a race.

"So how have you been?" He smiles soothingly and brushes his hand against mine. I want to retreat but at the same time, I want to be with him.

"Okay." I lie. It wasn't visible, at least to Lance. He just looks at me in my eyes with his ocean blue ones. "How about you?" I linger.

"Better than ever." He sighs dreamily and looks forward. My face heats up and I grip the straps of my bag tighter. I look up at him and he glances down at me, biting his lip softly.

I take a deep breath and look around. "Can we speak?" I whisper softly to him.

"Speak as in...'speak'," Lance says using air quotes, "or actually speak." He finishes. His smile and happy mood changes to a slightly scared one.

"Mostly just regular speaking but if it goes well we can...um...'speak'." I use air quotes as well. His face lights up and he quickly drags me along somewhere. I don't have a clue as to where but I'm going to assume it's some sort of empty classroom or closet. "Where are we going?" I ask anyway.

"Out." He chuckles and drags me to the nearest exit. I stare at him, surprised.

"Lance I need to get to class-"

"Screw class come to hang out with me." He turns and pushes the door open with his back. The cold, snowy air hits my skin and blows my hair back slightly. I lick my lips and think for a moment. His eyes widen and his smile grows bigger with excitement.

"Fine." I groan. He cheers as I walk past him and out the school.

We go down the concrete steps and towards the student parking lot. Lance talks to all along the way about some weird things that happened today or some weird joke. This reminds me of why I fell in love with him in the first place. He's charming, comedic, and bubbly and happy.

We head to his car and we toss our bags in the back seats. I get into the passenger side door as Lance gets into the driver seat. He pulls out of the parking spot and drives away from the school.

Soft white flakes fall from the sky, hitting the windshield. Lance turns up the radio and soft music plays. I'm unable to hear the lyrics but I don't mind. I was focused on the snowy white surroundings around me. I was focused on the wind hitting my face through the slightly opened window. 

"What did you need to talk about?" Lance suddenly asks. I look at him. His eyes were fixed at the road.

"I-" I begin but I quickly stop. Lance glances at me with a confused face.

"You...?" He chuckles softly.

"I just feel like...like everyone knows," I say in a soft voice. No one else could possibly hear me even if I yell it out, but I was too afraid to speak up more than I already was. 

"Knows about what?" Lance furrows his eyebrows. It makes me contemplate for a moment whether Lance really knew or not or whether it was just another dream. 

Too afraid to continue, I shut my mouth and look out the window again. I let out a heavy breath and keep my focus on the snow falling from the sky.