Dirt Lifter | Craig of the Creek High School AU

Punching Bag

The sign on the building read Macy Pilgrims. It was relatively small, on the street that was crowded with flashier buildings, which was why it took Craig ten minutes to find the place. His parents had dropped him off up the street, because that's where their turn was to go to the art museum nearby. He wasn't going with them. He came to Baltimore for a different reason.

The building was brick and blank, save for the sign. It looked unassuming, but J.P. said it served the best pancakes in the city, so Craig had to try it when he finally visited.

Today was that day.

It had been months since Craig had last seen him. They had caught up somewhat over the months with texts and calls, but worry still gnawed him over how the distance had changed both of them. Maybe J.P. would be completely different than when they last saw each other. Maybe he wasn't quippy and quirky anymore. Maybe he'd hate Craig for being even more of a overthinking complainer than before. Maybe he had grown a beard. At this point, anything was possible.

Craig swallowed his worries, and walked into the restaurant.

On the left side of Macy Pilgrim's was J.P., in a booth and on his phone. He looked up as soon as Craig walked in. "Heyo!" He called out from across the room.

He had not grown a beard, and Craig's shoulders dropped with relief. "Hey, J.P.," he said, sitting down in the seat across from him.

He put his phone down. "Did you get here okay?"

"Yeah, there was barely any traffic."

"Lucky. Usually it's terrible, accidents freakin' everywhere. Anyway, I ordered us some waters, but you can order whatever now that you're here."

"Maybe some coffee. It's still pretty early," Craig reasoned. "You want one?"

"God no. I need a caffeine detox. Drank too many Red Bulls in exam week."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." He paused. "How were your exams? Did you passed everything?"

"I think I did okay. Had the accommodations and stuff for it, so that helped. A lot of late nights, though. Hence the Red Bulls. Me and Felix, dude, we were on the grind." J.P. slammed the table with his fist at the word. "Do you even know the electronegativity values of alkali metals?"

"No, I don't take chem. That's chem, right?"

"Yep. They're low, but they increase up the periodic table, which is so counterintuitive. Felix drilled that into my brain." He pointed at his temple. "Funny enough, it was the first question on the test."

"Felix... Your roommate, right?"

"Yep. Don't know any others."

Neither did Craig, even though he didn't technically know Felix. The way J.P. couldn't stop talking about him made up for that fact. "Is he a chemistry major? That's why he was helping you out?"

"Nah. He's on that undecided track stuff. We just work good as a team."

A waitress came up to them with their waters on a platter, and Craig ordered his coffee and the pancakes.

"Thanks, Grace," J.P. said as he nodded at her.

"You're welcome, John-Paul," the waitress replied.

When she walked away, Craig asked "Do you know her?"

"Oh, yeah. We take statistics together."

"Oh."

"So, how's it back in the Ton of Herk?"