See You in the Storm

14

Wednesdays with Dick might be the best few hours of my week. Today, Wally joins us. His partner hasn't done shit and Wally is way behind. 

Dick and I are way ahead of schedule, so we promised to help.

In fact, I'll do anything to hold onto a few more Wednesdays.

I'm laying on the floor of Dick's room, Alfred the cat is purring on my chest when Wally walks in. He scares Alfred with his giant box and the cat scrambles under the bed with a hiss. 

"Lina." Wally nods, setting the box down beside me.

I sit up and tilt my head. "What is it?"

"It's my presentation board for the rocket."

What it is is a cardboard box.

I stifle a laugh at his overwhelmed expression. He empties the box out onto the floor, revealing glue sticks, scissors, and markers. 

"Here, we can decorate it," he explains.

I get started on cutting the box, nearly slicing my fingers off with the shitty scissors. 

Wally leaves to print out his notes and find tape. 

The shower water switches off and a few minutes later Dick emerges in a cloud of steam. His hands are shoved into his hoodie pockets, shivering at the cold. The windows in his room are wide open, the breeze rustling a stack of papers on his desk.

"Hey." I smile.

He smiles back. "Hey." It's a soft hello. Like settling into bed after a long day. Like coming home from the cold.  "Want anything? You cold?"

I shake my head, having already changed into the spare sweatpants and hoodie I leave in his closet. It's a domestic thing to do, leaving your clothes in someone else's home. I fiddle with the drawstring of my jacket and try not to blush. 

He sifts through Wally's supplies and chuckles. "He's gonna need a lot of help."

"Yeah, he is." I grin.

There's a gust of wind outside in the hallway, I hear it go by and Wally appears like a tornado in the doorway. I blink and the noise is gone, Wally waltzing past with a handful of papers. He settles down next to us on the floor and stares blankly at the sorry excuse of a poster.

"Thanks for agreeing to help guys."

We both shrug. "No problem."

We start gluing down papers, coloring in bubble letters, and worrying about the final product. If this poster somehow turns out okay by the time we're done, Wally might just get a C on the project. Not that he seems to care much about grades, or anything regarding school besides lunch. 

"Your friend has that band thing next Friday right?" Wally asks. "Cause I want to go."

Dick nods for me. "Yeah, Louis."

I'm surprised Dick remembered his name. They've only met once and the gesture makes me warm. "He'd love it if you guys could go, I mean, I'd love it too."

"I'm going," Dick replies.

"If you're going, I'm going," Wally chirps, tossing a freckled arm over his best friend's shoulder. 

Dick laughs and hangs his head low, curls shadowing his forehead. He stretches out on the floor, pushing his arms further behind him until the muscles in his shoulders are deliciously tense. 

I curl my fingers into the sides of my legs and look away with a frown. 

God.

This is hard. All of it. The friends and the double life and him.