SIX

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-'✮'-

CALEB

Tuesday, August 27, 2024. 3:15 PM

After school, Ronnie gets a ride home with Finn and Silas. I drove Orion to his place, like we did yesterday, only I'm going to stay over today. We're here to study for physics, which I just know is going to be miserable.

He leads me inside through his front door, and, yup, you can really tell rich people live here. White walls and paintings and a goddamn chandelier.

"Fancy..." I mumble.

"Yeah, that was my first thought when I came here the first time. It's a lot..."

"What does your dad do for work?" I ask as he leads me upstairs to his room.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I never asked." He admits.

We go further down the hall and then he enters an open door. I can tell it's his room. Posters line the walls, lots of books on shelves. I don't know much about Orion, but I can tell this is his room.

My eyes are also drawn to the rainbow flag above his bed. I don't draw explicit attention to it, but it does make me feel good...

There are random little things scattered about his room but in a stylistic way. He has a bean bag in the corner, and his queen-sized bed is made neatly.

"Nice room," I say as he sets his backpack down beside his desk. I put mine down next to his. "I'm surprised you only just moved here... I'd believe it if you've been here you're whole life"

"Oh, yeah, my dad basically gave me free rein of decorating. He straight up just gave me his credit card and let me buy whatever I wanted." He admits.

"Damn... I can definitely tell it's your space. It just feels like you..." I give him a small smile.

Since he only has the one desk in his room, both of us are sitting on his carpeted floor. We get straight into studying, our notes scattered on the ground all around us. I'm resting on my stomach, scanning my notes. This is miserable, as I expected.

Orion takes it upon himself to go searching for some problems online.

"I literally hate this so much." Orion groans, falling backward from where he'd been sitting up.

"Mhm..." I agree unenthusiastically.

"The unit vectors i, j, k which are along the X, Y and Z axes respectively are: a) perpendicular to each other, b) parallel to each other, c) both a and b, or c) none of the above?" He asks.

"Uh..." I think for a moment, trying to visualize it clearly in my head. "Perpendicular to each other? A?"

He looks back at his laptop. "Yup."

We continue like this, quizzing each other back and forth for the next three hours. It is not fun.

-'✮'-

5:50 PM

We lay side-by-side on the ground, dying of boredom. I'm feeling more confident now, thankfully. Orion still seems to be stressing. He's been quiet the last ten minutes since we've been laying here, hugging a pillow over his torso.

I decide to break the silence, "You know, I had been a little worried this was going to be awkward," We're usually pretty quiet when we're together at school. It's usually more peaceful than awkward, but it does get a little much at times. "But, it's nice spending time with you like this."

He turns his head when I speak, his eyes meeting mine. "Yeah. Me too." He grins softly.

I smile in return. I really, really, like this... Being able to just relax like this with someone. Staring at the ceiling in our own heads, but it's better because we're together.

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