this ice-skating anime Mariam and I both love, and I don’t think now’s the right time to explain just how gay it can really get.
“Hold on.” I flip through the camera roll, trying to find something he might like. “Give me a second?”
“Sure, I’ll even turn around.” Nathan tucks his knees up near his chest and swivels around on his butt, which can’t be comfortable on these concrete steps.
“You didn’t have to do all that.”
“Now you tell me!” He doesn’t sound too offended though. “I gave myself a wedgie doing that.”
I could show him the drip painting, but that doesn’t seem too impressive. There is this small painting of a skull I did, partially a study in anatomy. It isn’t perfect. I messed up on some of the colors and the shading, but overall it isn’t terrible. I tap Nathan on the shoulder and he leans back without turning around, grabbing the phone.
Please don’t start going through my phone. Please don’t start going through my phone.
“Ominous. You aren’t, like, secretly some dark lord or anything, right?” He laughs.
“If I was some evil overlord, I’d like to think I’d have better things to do than go to school.” I reach for the phone, but Nathan pulls it away at the last second.
“Not done.” He eyes it closely, spreading his fingers to zoom in.
“I messed up on the shading at the back, and the eyes are way too dark for where the light is supposed to be coming from.”
“Ben, this is pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, I mean it. You need to give yourself more credit, dude.” He hands my phone back, and I feel that sting.
“Thanks.” I slide the phone back into my pocket. “So what are you doing here so early?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” He leans back, trying to turn around without getting another wedgie.
“I asked you first.”
“Choir practice.” He grins.
“No way.” I try my best not to laugh. “Really?”
“Ha!” Nathan tosses his head back. “How gullible are you?”
“Shut up.” I shove him.
“For real though, I’m here for student council.”
“Serious this time?”
“One hundred and ten percent. Our lovely president, Stephanie, has to work after school and wanted to go ahead and start planning Spring Fling stuff. It isn’t even for another few weeks, but there’s a lot to do.” Nathan tries to keep back a yawn but fails miserably, wiping at his eyes.
“Spring Fling?” I ask.
“You know how most schools are obsessed with football and homecoming?”
I nod. I’m all too familiar with Spirit Week, and the pep rallies, and the football game, and dances.
“Well, here at good ol’ North Wake High we’re more of a baseball crowd, but that season doesn’t start until the spring, so we have Spring Fling. Just take everything you’d normally do during homecoming but crammed into March instead of November. There’s even a dance.”
“What’s the theme?”
“A Night Under the Stars!” He accentuates every word by sticking his hand in the air. “It’s going to be about as fun as you’d imagine.”
“Sounds like it.” I haven’t been to any dances since middle school, and those were pretty sad excuses to corral students in the gym for an hour and listen to “clean” versions of popular songs.
“My vote was for Godzilla Attack, but that was shelved pretty fast.”
“They turned that down?” I pause. “Can’t believe it.”
“My, my, someone took his smartass pills this morning.” Nathan bumps into me with his shoulder. “So spill. What are you doing here?”
“Thomas wanted to come in early to grade some papers. Figured I’d get some peace and quiet while I was here.”
“Oh.” Nathan glances around. “I can leave if you want me to, then.” He makes like he’s going to stand up.
“No,” I say, before I even know I’ve opened my mouth. “I mean, you don’t have to.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“You know,” he starts to say, relaxing back into his spot, “I sort of thought you might be mad at me for something. If I did something to make you uncomfortable, I’m really sorry.”
“No, it’s not you.” I sigh, wishing it was as simple as telling him the truth. “I’ve, um … just been going through some personal things.”
“Oh.” He spreads out his long legs. Really, how is it even possible for someone to have legs that long? “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Okay. So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Don’t know, you got anything on your mind?” I ask.
“Not really? Maybe collapsing in on myself at the idea of dealing with all these school events, and homework, and college letters