HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 138

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Eight

It was the wind, I think, that I liked the most.

The way it roared in my face and over my ears, the way it pushed against every part of me, and mostly, the way it could carry a kaleidoscope of scents from miles and miles away which gave me ideas on what was happening and where.

Riding a bike was almost like flying for me.

Jun's grip on my shoulder was tight enough to crush as he stood on the bike's pegs behind me, hunched over and keeping himself stiff as a board while I pedaled, zipping down the gentle incline of the drive towards the campus. He was holding me with one arm and holding my crutches in the other, something I was grateful for since I hadn't thought about it.

I looked up at the trees with a faint smile.

If I was gonna be perfectly honest, I was genuinely enjoying myself the same way I'd been enjoying myself when I'd taken Echo for a spin on the fourth of July. Biking was calming in a way I couldn't describe with words, but with feeling? Yeah, I could detail a million senses.

The crisp, cold wind rushing through my hair and across my cheeks. The sun shining on my skin through the overcast grey sky, just enough to warm me the tiniest bit in the chilly autumnal air. The leaves blowing across the pavement only to be thrown out of whack and sent flying after us as we zoomed past, some of them even darting through the blurred tire spokes only to get indignantly puffed out to the side.

It was wonderful and good and a change.

Some students laughed when they saw us; there were a bunch of people walking along the drive's sidewalks in groups with books and backpacks and school stuff that we passed. I even spotted Erika and Kip about halfway to campus, and they spotted me, too, since Kip's face visibly lit up. He even waved at me as we zoomed closer.

"Yo! Horst! Second time I've seen you on a bike!" he whooped. "You having fun?"

"Yeah, man!" I hollered, giving a grin as we zipped past them. "Busy now! Talk later!"

"Haha! Yeah, alright, I'll swing by later tonight!" Kip laughed, but his voice was already fading behind us. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head, and pedaled harder, glancing to the right as the college campus came into view. My heart swelled and I blinked, because it looked to me like people were setting up stalls again for some reason, and a ton of people were milling around.

Guys and girls of every age, professors and students alike, parents.

"Hey, Jun?" I asked, knowing he would hear me over the wind. "Where's the campus store? This campus is the size of a whole freaking town and it has like a hundred buildings to explore."

He leaned down close to my ear and pointed past some trees in the direction of a three-mile long plaza with buildings lining it on every side. My breath caught when I saw enormous trees lining the gardens and I balked, realizing that they'd been planted the exact same way as the trees lining the mile-long drive to Sebastian's Manse. It was almost like looking at history.

A place lost in time.

"See the main building at at the very end of the field?" Jun asked, lips against my ear. "With all the pillars and the two huge staircases leading up to the VIctorian-style doors?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"That's the Reynolda Hall. The field itself is called the Manchester Plaza," Jun said in a dry tone, then pointed a little more upward, at a huge clocktower that was just visible behind it. "Behind the Reynolda Hall is another, smaller field called the Hearn Plaza, and beyond that is the Wait Chapel Spiritual Center. It's basically a church, but they offer guidance counseling, too."