Jaded Moxie

2. Coming Down

A couple days later, Keegan rolled out of bed reluctantly. He sat in class, music blaring in his ears, trying to ignore everything. Nate walked up to him, he took out an earbud to listen.

"Hey." Nate smiled. That smile was infectious and made of sunlight.

"Hi?" Keegan smiled at him confused.

"Want to be partners?" Nate asked. "We have a two person assignment." He said.

"Sure!" Keegan replied. "Sorry, I totally was not listening." He chuckled. He thanked the teacher in spirit for a group assignment, mostly so he could spend more time with this boy.

"I don't blame you." Nate chuckled. "What're you listening to?" He asked.

"Just an old metal song." He replied.

"Metal?!" Nate smiled widely. "I love metal." He said. "What song?" He asked.

"Here To Stay." Keegan smiled at him.

"I love Korn." Nate smiled. Keegan felt the heat rush to his cheeks, he brushed it off as powers but everyone knew it was not. Keegan looked at him, hearing his heartbeat rise.

"Um, what's this assignment supposed to be about?" Keegan asked. He genuinely paid little to no attention to class today, his head was in the clouds.

"Honestly, no idea." Nate chuckled. Keegan was thankful he wasn't the only one in the dark.

"Well, I guess we'll figure it out together." He smiled. They worked on the assignment together, getting to know more about each other during the process. Mostly music taste and special interests.

"What do you do in your free time?" Keegan asked.

"I draw, nothing fancy." Nate said. "Just some sketching here and there."

"That's so cool." Keegan smiled, he was amazed at every bit that came out of this boy.

"What about you?" Nate threw the question back at him.

"When I'm not helping my dad, I play video games." Keegan smiled. "Not great at them, but I like them."

"That's so cool." Nate smiled. Keegan could hear his heart beat once again. "Um, would you like to hang out sometime?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, I would." Keegan smiled. He'd never been able to answer a question so easily.

"There's a party tonight, would you like to come?" He asked.

"Um, I don't know about tonight. I think we have family dinner or something, but if I have the time.  I'll definitely try to make it." Keegan smiled at him.

"Cool." Nate smiled.

Keegan hoped that patrol would be done quickly, he really wanted to experience normal teenage hood. Especially with the boy that had been occupying his mind since they met.

"Ken." Keegan whispered, loud enough for her ears to hear.

"Keeg." She replied.

"Head conversation." He said.

She projected into his head. They took twin ESP very literally, they talked with one another in private like this all the time.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Nate said there's a party tonight, wanna go?" He asked.

"Dude, you think dad's gonna let us go to a party?" She sighed. "On a patrol night?"

"If we get patrol done early, we can make it." Keegan hoped to make it, he really wanted to show up for Nate.

"And you wanna go so bad why?" She said.