SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
Luke sat at his desk during break. He glanced out the window which was situated right beside him. The sunlight shone through it, hitting his face just right as he looked into the beyond.
Nick sighed as he watched the subject of his admiration. He glanced around the room to find several others watching Luke as well. There may not be anyone who pays attention to him as much as Nick does, but that didn't mean Luke had no secret admirers. His personality may suck, but he could do nothing about his looks. Not quite androgynous, but extremely cute nonetheless. He was a pretty boy whose looks would make you think of a puppy, but his personality would make you change his impression into a cat.
Someone blew into Nick's ear, startling him out of his reverie.
"Mierda!!" He swore. He stood up suddenly, knocking his chair to the floor and drawing everyone's attention to him. The culprit sat in the desk next to Nick's, laughing his head off at his friend's reaction.
"What's wrong with you!!! Why would you do that!" Nick whisper-yelled at his friend as he sat back down in his chair.
The only response was laughter, "Hahaha, Oh god, haha. Must breath. Hah!" He seemed to be struggling for air as he laughed.
After a minute, he finally quit. Then, he glanced at his victim, who was glaring at him and blushing from embarrassment at the same time. This enlisited an entire new round of laughter.
"Come on! Really. Did you have to do that, Jace*?" Nick reprimanded.
Jace wiped fake tears from his eyes as he calmed down. "Of course I did! How else would I get such a lovely reaction?"
"Never do that again unless you want a fist in your stomach."
"Ok, ok. Sorry, It'll never happen again."
"Like I haven't heard that before."
Jace laughed again. "Well, it's your fault for being so absorbed. I've been calling your name for like, 5 minutes, but you've been busy staring at that boy. Honestly, keep it up and your 'closet' will become open for everyone to see. Might as well just come out."
Nick glared at his friend who'd been nagging him to come out since he'd found out Nick was gay. "Easy for you to say. You came out when you were in elementary school. No one cared then, and by now they're used to it. Besides, you know my mom would kill me if she heard any rumours."
Jace pouted. "Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that. But, how bad can she actually be? I'll bet she's just an excuse so you don't have to come out of the closet. If you don't come out soon, I'll tell everyone anyways."
This time, it was Nick's turn to laugh. "You've been saying that since we were freshmen. We both know it'll never happen." Despite all of his talk, Jace would never out a friend. He was someone who cared deeply about loyalty, and he would never betray a friend's trust like that. That's why this entire conversation had been in whispers. Though, the room was full due to the rain outside, so no one would have heard that anyways.
Jace swung his arm around Nick's shoulders as the bell rang. "Off to first period, gym. Or as I like to call it, torture!" One had to ignore roughly half of what Jace said, as most of it was exaggerated. For example, gym was a breeze to Jace due to his being in track and field since seventh grade. "Do you think he even realizes that you have P.E. together? I mean, it'd be pretty hard not to, considering how you look at him in the locker room." He teased, nuging Nick in the ribs with his elbow.
"I do not 'watch' him in the locker room! I can barely see him since we're placed so far apart."
Jace snickered. "How would you know that unless you tried?"
Nick felt hear rise to his head and he looked at the ground. "Not like there's much to look at anyways," He murmured.
Jace laughed at his friend's shameless words. But it wasn't like it was a lie. Luke rarely worked out, so, while he wasn't overweight at all, he didn't have many muscles. Just the bare minimum that his workout for a flat belly would give him.
They reached the locker room. Here they finally parted ways, as their lockers lied on opposite sides of the large room. Jace gave a parting word, at last ending the barrage of talk that was his daily banter.
After dressing, Jace once again met up with Nick. They spoke for a bit before settling down in their role call seats to begin the class.
At the end of role call, the announcement was made for students to begin signing up for track and field. As the two friends started their warm up jog, Nick questioned the other.
"So, what'll you try out for this season?" He asked.
Jace panted, slightly out of breath as he jogged. "Actually, I'm not doing track this year."
Nick was astonished. "What!? How come? You always do track. What stop now?"
"Well, I need to focus on my studies this year. I don't want to fail any classes," Jace replied, "And besides, I'm not as fit as I usually am, so I don't want to have to go through the effort of training my body again. I'd rather just relax."
Nick watched as Jace gasped for air after speaking. It was true that he never had seen Jace have so much trouble before will a simple fourth of a mile jog. "Hmm. Ok."
P.E progressed much as it normally did, until it came time to pair up for a group activity. Two on two badminton. Nick sat by Jace as the gym teacher reviewed rules and tips, as usual. But then, Jace broke the film of normality with just a few words.
"Hey, bro?" He said.
"Yeah?" Nick responded.
"I can't be your partner." Jace broke the bad news to him bluntly.
Nick tore his gaze away from the teacher's demonstration and looked at Jace curiously. "Why?"
Jace grinned, "I got a note. I am dismissed from any 'strenuous' activity. Yay for me!! No more P.E.!! ...See what I did there? I rhymed 'me' with 'P.E.' Don't you love happy accidents?"
"Ok," Nick said, only half listening. He had learned long ago not to pay full attention to Jace. He was constantly speaking, and most of it was completely irrelevant. Utter nonesence. Nick had been friends with him long enough to be able to filter anything useless. "Guess I'll have to find a temporary partner then. Until tomorrow."
Jace's smile widened. "No, no, no. You don't get it. I don't have to do P.E. again, ever. You'll have to find a new permanent~ partner."
Nick frowned. "What. Why?"
"It's not just any note I have," He explained, "It's a doctor's note!"
Nick turned to him, surprised. "Why? Is everything alright?"
"Yup! I just hurt my ankle. Something happened to it, and I'll have to wait a bit until it's completely healed. It's not serious enough that it bothers me. Not at all, but it IS enough to let me avoid gym this year. I won't have to do anything except for the warm up jog for a long time."
Nick rolled his eyes. Of course Jace, of all people, would hurt his foot. Why not? It's not like he was the only friend Nick had in his P.E. class. No~, of course not. (Sarcasm)
"Do you have any idea who I could partner up with then?" Nick asked. It would be extremely embarrassing to have to wait until only a few loners were left, and get paired up with one of them by the teachers. Or even worse, get paired up with a teacher because there was an uneven amount of students.
Jace's smile widened even more, if that was even possible. "Just so happens, I know a certain someone who is always the last one to choose a partner. And I have a hunch you'll like him. A lot."
"Who?"
"Luke."
Nick, who was sadly contemplating what it was going to be like to be paired up with a social reject, suddenly snapped out of his pit of depression and stared at Jace. "No. No way. That would be THE most embarrassing thing I would ever do. I can't even imagine how I would react to being that close to him. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do to make me pair up with him."
Jace laughed. "Suuuure. So, you mean that you two being the last ones wouldn't force you to be his partner?"
"Well, yeah but."
" 'Cause, the only two people I see without partners right now is you and him."
Nick looked around only to find that Jace was correct. Everybody else had already paired up while Jace and he were talking. "Crap."
Jace turned and walked away while Nick was busy freaking out. "Welp, my work here is done."
Nick finally calmed down. He looked to his side and found that Jace had left, causing him to loose his cool once more. "Jace, you little. I'll get you for this!!!!!"
Meanwhile, Luke had reached Nick and was watching, slightly amused, as the latter had a mental breakdown. "Might I suggest not~ tearing your hair out? Frankly, it's quite rude considering the cause of this is standing right in front of you."
Nick jumped at the sound of Luke's voice. He saw Luke and froze for a moment, his mind going completely blank, his hands still stuck in his hair. Then, his mind finally caught up to the present and Nick blushed furiously. "N-No. It wasn't because of you- I mean it was, but. Erm. I mean," He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. "Sorry if you thought I was being rude. I'm a bit awkward around strangers, and my friend just bailed on being my partner. It is in no way your fault, and I'll happily be your partner." Nick spoke quickly, flustered beyond reason.
"Dude, chill. I was just joking with you." Luke smiled, his first in quite a while. He couldn't help it. Nick reminded him all too much of his brother Mike. Unfortunately, Luke's mood quickly soured at the thought of Mike.
Feeling the slight change in atmosphere, Nick correctly chose to stay silent. They passed most of the period like that, except for a couple bits of small talk. One of which went like:
Luke: Hey, what was your name again? I don't believe you told me. Sorry if you already did.
Nick: You don't remember my name? We are in the same science class!
Luke: ...
Nick: I sit next to you in homeroom!
Luke: ... Number Three?
Nick: What?
Luke: Nevermind.
Nick: Okaaaaay. Anyways, my name is Nick. Remember it this time.
Luke: Will do.