All Things Considered [🗸]

12. song goes hard

SO, IT HAPPENED.

Dion Reyes and Cayden McCarthy broke up. It was almost as though the break melted into the break up, and suddenly, there was no more Dion and Cayden. There's Dion, and there's Cayden. But they're no longer a single unit.

"This is so fucking weird," Adair says from my side as we pass by the lockers, their backpack swinging behind them. 

My eyes follow where their eyes are resting, and sure enough, it's Dion walking down the hallway with his friends. In the opposite direction, Cayden walks by Devin Simmons' side. The two don't even glance at each other. Not one look.

It's strange as fuck but maybe for the best. Dion's shoulders aren't hunched but eased. There's a half smile that paints his lips in shades of sunlight as Ainsley says something to elicit a laugh out of him.

Another observation is Cayden McCarthy and Devin Simmons. They're not outwardly together, per se, but Cayden's seemed to have gravitated completely toward him. I'm certain that must bother Dion, if just slightly. Them being together is almost an assertion that Cayden can move on quickly and easily.

Dion's never struck me as that type of person. He doesn't seem to be someone that would move on to someone new or imply he has. He seems like the type of person that might just avoid dating altogether because of a break-up.

"It is weird," Kieran says after a few beats, his eyes catching onto Adair's. "I mean, two years. Someone could date, like, what? Seven people during that time?"

Adair snorts, "depends on the person." They scuff their shoes across the flooring, humming. "But yeah, it is a hella long time for a high school relationship to last. Generally."

They pause, pursing their lips. "We have Calc after this, right?"

Kieran nods to himself before he comes to a dead halt in the middle of the hallway. He simply freezes. A stricken look flies across his face.

"Fuck," he says.

"What?" I ask, falling back to him as Adair mirrors my question with their eyes. 

"The homework," Kieran says, eyes still widened. "The packet."

"Ah, shit." Adair says. "I pulled an all-nighter to finish it last night because she sprung it on us that morning." Their eyes drop to their watch. "We have five minutes. I was stuck on one question, anyway."

They turn to Kieran. "I'll show you mine in the library so that Ms. Graham doesn't screw us over. Again."

"Y'all need any help?" I ask, as Adair grabs onto Kieran's wrist and tugs him toward the library entrance. Kieran still looks as though he's in a state of paralysis. It's really just like Ms. Graham to spring an assignment the day before it's due. And a packet, no less.