Anatomy Lesson

The bell rang loud across the school's halls, signalling the class has ended.

"Alright everyone, I will be coming across to collect today's worksheet!" the teacher, Ms. Kuchynski, shouts over the ruckus.

When she approaches the desk of 𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓼 𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓸𝓫's desk, she taps quietly to gain his attention away from his book. She leans the balls of her hands onto the edge of the rectangular desk,

"Jacob, I would like to ask you to stay after school today. A student is struggling and I thought since you have such a high mark in my class that you'd be a suitable peer tutor. Thoughts?"

"Oh sure, I'd be glad to help Ms! Who-"

"Great! The librarian has agreed to let the two of you stay late, thank you for your help!"

After quickly sweeping up Jacob's booklet, she moves on to collecting the other student's work.

"She didn't even tell me who it is," he thinks, "Oh well, I guess I'll find out soon enough."

As per usual, he's the last person to leave the classroom, taking his sweet time packing his bag while humming a song. He swings one strap over his shoulder and shoves his free hand into the front pocket of his jeans before walking out of the room.

Halfway down the hall to his next class, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, pinning him to the lockers lining the hallway.

He takes a deep breath while staring into the assailant's eyes.

"Hi Jacob," the boy sings.

"Ryan, what do you want?" he asks in a monotone voice.

"Oh come on, what happened to hello?" he smiles.

"Get out of my face before I wipe that stupid smile off your face."

Pushing himself off, he throws his hands up to signal innocence,

"Woah there, big guy! No need to get all feisty! It's only 10 in the morning!" he laughs.

"Like I said, what do you want Ryan?"

"I want you to eat lunch with me today," he states.

"Hell no! Look Ryan, bug off," he shouts getting closer, hands curling at his sides.

"Or what? Is the class president going to hit an innocent student?" He teases, only succeeding in frustrating Jacob more.

At this comment, Jacob realizes the position he's in. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, he silently thanks Ryan for keeping him in check. He can't risk losing his reputation because of Ryan, of all people! No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Jacob sighs once more, relaxing his muscles. Not saying another word, he takes off down the rest of the hall to where he's supposed to be.

"See you later Jacob!" Ryan shouts after him.

Jacob doesn't even have to look to know that Ryan's got that stupid conniving look on his face.

☆★☆

"Alright Jacob, the student should be here in about 5 more minutes. The key to the door is in the top right drawer of my desk, for when you lock up. Don't forget to please clean up when you're done." the librarian smiles as they let him into the room, way past closing.

"Don't worry Enya, I'll make sure it looks exactly as it does now when I leave!" he reassures them.

"Thank you! Have a good night!" they shout as the door shuts on their way out.

Waving back, he walks over to the booth at the other end of the library. An adorably cozy spot up against two walls, stuffed in the corner. Large windows line the wall to his left, showing off the snow-covered ground down below in all its glory. The radiator is slyly popped up in between the seat and the wall, a little too tall to be fully hidden.

He shrugs his backpack off of his shoulders and haphazardly plops it on the ground somewhere under the table, he couldn't care less in all honesty, he just wants to get home ASAP.

He slides the zipper of his purple computer bag open and swiftly fishes out the laptop inside.

As he logs in and opens all the necessary tabs, the entrance doors of the library creak open.

"Hey Jacob!" the figure shouts.

His voice is all too familiar. Jacob snaps his head up to see that it is indeed... Ryan. In all his 1.86 m glory.

"What are you doing here?" Jacob sneers.

"I told you I'd see you later!" Ryan winks.

"Do you know how to answer a question? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my extra help, Mr. Woods," he sings, sliding down the seat to the point the two boys are only a centimetre apart.

"You're the student I'm helping?" he yells.

"That right baby boy, you're stuck with me, alone, for the next two hours!"

"Kill me now," Jacob mutters as he slouches down in his seat.

"I mean... I could tell Ms. Kuchynski you bailed on me-"

"No, no! Stay, stay."

"Stay?"

"Yes, Yes! Now, come sit down!"

"Okay!" he beams before jumping back into the booth and taking Jacob's right arm into a tight hug.

Jacob's eyes grow wide at the sudden show of affection.

"O-okay, let's get this over with. T-take out your booklet," he stutters.

"I'm having trouble remembering all these complicated names! Why couldn't we just give them names like large blood tube, medium blood tube, small blood tube?" Ryan whines.

"Ryan, how hard could it be to memorize artery, vein, and capillary?"

"It's very, very, very hard Jacob," he pouts.

"Whatever. How do you think I should help you?"

"You could show me!" he smiles.

"Okay... let's start with the muscular system. As you can see in the diagram on page 62 of the textbook, there are three different types of muscles: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscles."

"So," Ryan starts as he scooches impossibly closer to the other, "what's the difference between them all?"

"W-well, cardiac muscles obviously relate to the heart, smooth muscles is what in your digestive tract — helping push food and waste through the body, a-and skeletal muscles are... uh... stuff like these," he fumbles before shutting his mouth and grabbing onto Ryan's bicep.

"Stuff like these," he repeats lowly as he slowly lets his grasp fall down Ryan's arm, landing at his wrist.

Silence floods the room as the two boys make eye contact. Staring holes into each other, the tension only grows stronger the longer Jacob's hand stays gripping the younger's wrist.

Ryan's the first one to catch onto what happening, and so, he sees his opportunity and takes it!

He leans forward, closing the already minuscule distance between them. His soft lips greeting Jacob's.

Jacob's body reacts before his mind does. Blood rushes to his cheeks, tinting them a fiery cinnamon satin colour and his grip on Ryan's wrist tightening from the surprise.

Ryan slowly pulls away after a few seconds, rendering Jacob completely stunned. His mouth agape, eyes even wider than before — his eyebrows joining in on the action, knitting together upwards.

Ryan smirks and places his free hand on the older's strong grip.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," he whispers.

The End