Superposition (Starting Position Sequel)

Chapter 17

Ian and I were inside our bedroom that evening. Ian was studying while splayed over his bed with a series of crumpled papers and an open textbook surrounding him – it looked like a bomb had exploded – and I was seated at my desk beneath the window, as I grew uncomfortable quickly while studying without the support of a chair.

The snapping of a textbook accompanied by a groan, and I found Ian rolling onto his back, his hands shielding his eyes as if to block the sight of the mountain of work around him. "Why did I take creative writing as an elective?" he grumbled. "I should have taken art or ceramics or something – not a class that requires me to write stories in my spare time."

I placed my pencil down. "You know, I'm curious, what is it you write about in that class?"

Ian's hands pressed deeper into his face, but he slowly removed one to expose an eye. "Currently, we're supposed to come up with a short story."

"And what is your short story about?"

Ian mumbled, "A unicorn whose horn shrinks the more he denies his feelings about another unicorn."

"What?" I asked.

Ian groaned again and covered both eyes once more. "It's dumb – I know that, but the professor said to make it geared towards kids, and I loved unicorns as a kid."

Laughing, I asked, "How did you come up with that?"

"I told you – I liked unicorns," he admitted feebly. "It was the first thing I thought of when she assigned it."

"And so, what? The unicorn in your story eventually loses his horn if he doesn't admit his feelings?" I clarified.

"Kinda, yeah." Ian propped himself up. "I was – okay, don't make fun of me – I was inspired by Samara." He glanced to his lap and added, "You know, she says she likes me, but we can't be together, and so" – he sighed – "You know, the losing of the horn is kind of like the loss of us."

I didn't laugh this time. "Okay, I see what you're doing now."

Ian nodded. "Yeah."

"How are you doing with that, anyway – with Samara?"

He rolled onto his back again and cradled his neck with his hands, almost like he was in a therapy session. "Fine, I guess. It just sucks. I mean, we really do get along – that time we met up that Elliot had arranged went well. She was easy to talk to – I like her – and then she surprised me by asking me out the next weekend." He closed his eyes. "And then we go out and have a great time and everything seems headed in the right direction, but then she lays a bomb and says she can't date me anymore."

"Because of her religion," I added.

"Yeah, she's Jewish. I get it. Trust me." He sighed again. "I told her that. And then I told her we could date in secret if she was worried about her parents finding out – God knows I was worried about mine finding out – but she said she couldn't and left."

I watched Ian as he lay still on the bed with his eyes attached to the ceiling. He looked miserable, and he had been in the days following Samara's rejection. I felt bad for him. Ian was the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, which was brave – it was more susceptible to pain that way. While I honestly did think Samara liked Ian, I also believed her reasoning for turning him down was sound. If both sets of parents were going to have issues with them dating the other, maybe it was wise they didn't start anything in order to avoid a mess later.

"I'm sorry, Ian," I said. "The whole thing sucks."

"Yeah." He lifted himself again. "So now I'm writing this dumbass story because I can't get her out of my head."