Cold and Charisma (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Forty-Seven [Mature]

Archer's Perspective

My eyes scanned my to-do list: get his favorite candy, extra clothes, towels... and a small Russian flag I could stick into the potted plant by my window, just so he'd feel a little more at home.

While Riley was gone for the afternoon, I went out to every store I could think of to make sure he had everything he might need for the next three weeks.

I'd written everything down, and I'd managed to get through most of it.

I should've been at my student council meeting, planning grad night or senior sunrise, but instead I was doing this.

If he was going to stay for the rest of the semester, I wanted the next few weeks to feel as good as they possibly could.

He'd be going to Stanford, and I'd be going somewhere far from California. An ivy league institution. I'd already gotten accepted into a few, but I hadn't really told anyone yet.

I was waiting on one specific acceptance. I'd been rejected the first time, so I reapplied, and now it was just a matter of waiting.

That was when it hit me, suddenly and without warning: after these three weeks, we wouldn't really have this anymore. And I wasn't sure when I'd see him again.

Riley had told me that if he got into Stanford, he'd spend the summer at a camp for incoming soccer players and then move into his dorms.

Me, I'd just be... here. Waiting. Without him.

That was why I kept adding things to the list that probably didn't make sense to anyone else—a new hair dryer, a stuffed bear, random little things that I thought might make the room feel less empty when he was in it.

I'd always liked having things planned out. My life had always felt like it was moving in a straight line, predictable in a way that made it easy to breathe.

Now, I wasn't so sure.

Because for the first time, I had something to actually lose. Something I couldn't really imagine my life without anymore.

Leaving home for college was supposed to feel like progress. Something inevitable. Something everyone went through.

I used to be excited about it. I used to map out classes from the course catalog, sign up for summer programs months in advance, plan everything down to the smallest detail.

None of that felt important anymore.

Not this summer.

A sigh I didn't realize I was holding escaped my mouth as my hands worked to fold Riley's clothes. I tucked them into a drawer I had started using just for him, then sat down on my bed.

As I stared at the floor, thoughts of a future I couldn't seem to stop kept slipping in, uninvited and persistent.

A light knock came from behind my door, and it slowly creaked open. It was my mom.

Her brunette hair peeked through the doorway before she stepped in fully, smiling gently. "Hi sweetheart, I baked a pie downstairs if you're hungry."

"No, it's okay, Mom." I smiled lightly, though it didn't quite reach my eyes.

She didn't leave right away. Instead, she walked over and sat beside me on the bed.

Her gaze drifted around the room, landing on the bags scattered across the floor—everything I had bought for Riley.

Then she noticed the small flag sitting in my flower pot.

"It seems like you two are getting close," she said softly. "I've never seen you like this with Drew or Carter before. He seems like a good kid. He definitely balances you out." She gave a small laugh, resting a hand on my shoulder.