We Could Be Enough - Lams

XI.

"Oh shit."

I step over the threshold of Alex's cabin just as I remember what Mr.Washington had told us earlier.

"Didn't he say he wanted to meet with him after lunch?" I bite my lip. Are they waiting for us? Is Mr.Washington going to get mad at us because we aren't there? Are we going to get in trouble?

Alex looks away from me. "Nah, there's no reason for us to be there anymore."

He coughs and sits down on the bottom bunk of his bed and starts taking off his shoes.

"Well, I mean, it was a kinda big deal last night." Hercules mentions. I kick off my shoes and stand near him, leaning on the sink.

"Yeah, well-"

"Guys, move, I have to take a shit," Lafayette says, pushing us both out of the way and slamming the bathroom door.

I glance around. Herc and Alex don't seem bothered by it. Must be a normal thing that happens around here, I guess.

Alex climbs up to the top bunk and goes on his phone. Herc shuffles around in the sink cabinets for a while, then pulls out a huge tin of licorice.

"Dude, what the fuck?" I say, pointing at what he just pulled from under there.

"It's been here since last year." He blows a sheet of dust off the top and right into my face. "I knew Alexander hadn't cleaned up the place yet."

I cough and wipe my face with my shirt sleeve. "But, like... that's so old." He shrugs, then takes out a piece and starts eating it.

"Oh my god..." My sentence slowly tapers off.

I scamper away from the cloud of dust and that absolute monster and sit on the bottom bunk, underneath Alex.

"Hey, nerd, whatcha doing?" I ask him. I tap the area where the mattress can be seen through the boards holding it up.

"Buzzfeed quiz."

"Which one?"

"Is Your Boyfriend Great or Just a Raccoon?"

I sit silently for a moment.

"What."

"I know I don't have a boyfriend but, like, it's such a stupid quiz I had to take it."

"Ha, ha, you're single." I teased him in a ridiculous voice with a stupid laugh.

"You are too, aren't you?" Hercules questioned me.

"Well, yeah, but I've come to terms with the fact that I'll be single for the rest of my time on Earth, and I shouldn't have to take this emotional abuse from a guy eating year-old licorice."

I hear Alex snort, then his face swings around so he can see me. He's only a bit farther than a foot away from me.

"You're upside down," I say. His face is too close. His hair is hanging around his face, framing it almost perfectly. I should stop looking.

"And you're a hypocrite."

"So are you, you...hypocrite..." I turn my head and look towards the door. "Shouldn't the girls be back by now? All they said they were doing was putting their bags away."

"I don't even know, man. They take forever." he shakes his head. "It's weird."

We hear the toilet flush, then Lafayette comes strolling back into the room.

"You are all now aware of your own breathing."

Hercules groans and hits him with a stick of licorice. "Why do you always do this to me!"