Elliot

Thirty-Five

I was waiting for Alvin at the bus stop. Tobias sent me a text that he was on his way to the campus, Claude was driving him. He even sent me a selfie of him and his father which made me smile.

And then Alvin arrived. "Am I late or are you just early?"

"You're late."

"I'm never late." Alvin said.

"I would like to disagree with that."

"That's normal since you're a competitive person." He stared at me for a very long time-then he smiled. "You look different."

"Are you checking me out?"

"Shut the hell up, Elliot. I just gave you a compliment, a little gratitude would be nice."

"How is 'you look different' supposed to be a nice thing to say? It's like a double-edged sword kind of thing."

He sighed loudly, which I think was a way to dramatically express it. "What I mean is you look different in a good way. Like look at you!" He gestured all over me. "All smiley and stylish."

I was only wearing a hoodie and a denim jacket. "Do I not dress like this before?"

He shook his head. "You dress like a frat boy before."

Yeah, well, maybe Tobias did rub off on me.

It was finally over for summer but the sun still shone its own light through the world. The bus arrived a few minutes later and then we were on our way to the campus.

***

School was every weird thing you could combine. Teenagers. Young adults. Parties. Small groups. Friends. Clubs. Teachers. I mean it wouldn't be that boring if it weren't for those weird things.

I had to get on my class that was located on the other building. So I made the run for it. Alvin had a different schedule than mine so I was by myself.

My phone buzzed on my pocket but I didn't had the opportunity to look on it since I was running. To my luck, there were only a few students in the classroom so that marked that I wasn't late. I sat next to a guy who looked like he was very prepared. All the folders and organizers and a notebook. I think he's very motivated.

"Can you believe this?" he said. "We were supposed to start five minutes earlier."

"Maybe the professor is late."

"You think so?"

No, I fucking don't. "Yeah."

"That's just so unethical of him-or her? Whatever, they should be early just like the other students here. You're even earlier than the professor, but you're late in time."

"I might have noticed that."

Mr. Organized sighed dramatically and crossed his arms. Maybe it would be a good idea to not mess with this fella. He's tense.

While still waiting, I pulled out my phone and checked a message. It was from Tobias. He sent me another picture, this time he was sitting in his class with an iced coffee in his hand. There was also a follow up message saying, 'Goodluck with first day, darling ;)'

I smiled. Who would've thought that I would be smiling this much on the first day of school? It's fucking awesome.

I took a photo of myself too and sent it to him. It also came with a message: 'gluck to u too, sweetheart. dont miss me too much'

***

The rest of the day went by. Classes after classes. All the college shenanigans that I knew I would do again tomorrow.

Tobias had also changed his shift so he had a bit of time to at least rest first before working. Dad also had found a job on an another garage shop which made him happy since he still got to do what he loves. I applied on the diner that we went into a few days ago. There was no call from them yet but I was still hoping to have the position.

Alvin, Manta, and I were sitting on the coffee shop. They were doing things: Alvin was typing shits I probably have no idea on his laptop. Manta was reading a book she got thirty minutes ago from a street library. And I was busy sketching people.

There was also this one thing that I discovered from the world. People-they were the combination of an abstract art and literature. That made them a valuable thing that existed in the world.

Three coffees were placed on our table. It was Tobias who settled it.

Manta gave him a smile. "Merci, Tobias."

"Thanks, man." Alvin didn't look up from the screen of his laptop.

Tobias placed a hand on my shoulder. He crouched down to meet my eyes. "Hi."

"Hey."

We smiled at each other.

"You still good?"

"So far, yes," he said. "I'm still not exhausted even though my classes were a bit tough."

"I could say the same. It's a level up now compared to my last year's lessons. Though I do like learning from things I do want to learn passionately."

"That's such an artistic response."

"Or maybe you were just a very good influence when it comes to words."

He was still smiling. Then gave me a kiss on the cheek before going back to work.

"You look so much happier now." Manta said.

I sipped from my coffee. "I guess I am." I knew I had this smile on my face.