Black and Blue

89 Days to Blizzard

Keith was hit with the overwhelming smell of coffee as he walked in. Machines whirred over the calming music as baristas frantically made drinks. At one table, a group of girls took pictures together; at another table, a couple drank coffee as they held hands. Every other table seemed to have some type of student with a thousand books working hard at their studies. At the back right corner, Lance sat nibbling on a yellow highlighter with crossed arms. He was staring at a book with a bewildered expression that made Keith smile. After ordering an americano, Keith claimed the chair to the right of Lance.

Lance jumped and looked up at Keith. He chuckled, "You scared me."

Keith almost smiled, but stopped himself, "Sorry about that."

Lance groaned and slid his paper to Keith's direction, "Alright I don't understand any of this."

"Shakespeare?" Keith noticed as he read the paper.

"Yeah, Ms. Jacobbs said this was wrong, but I don't know why." He scratched his hand with the highlighter in confused thought.

Keith read the question and Lance's answer, "Oh okay," he pointed to the page as he explained, "it's because 'wherefore' doesn't mean where, it means why. You've been interpreting it wrong."

Lance picked up the book to examine the passage, "Really?!"

Keith folded his arms on the table, "It's a common mistake."

Keith watched Lance as he read the passage again and again. His face sparked up, "Oh!" He leaned toward Keith as his finger followed what he read, "So she isn't saying 'Where are you Romeo?' she's saying 'Why are you Romeo?'"

Keith nodded, "Yeah, you've got it."

Lance took his paper back and uncapped a cheap blue pen with his teeth and corrected his answer. His dusky blue eyes twinkled with understanding as he worked out the questions. Keith found it strange but cute that Lance leaned down so close to his paper as he wrote. It was as if he was watching the ink weave its way into the threading of the paper. Has he always done that? Keith looked around out of curiosity to check if Lance was in fact the only one there that exhibited that behavior. He was.

Lance spoke with the pen cap still in his mouth, "What about this?"

Keith explained the next few questions for him. After a while, he tried to engage him in a deeper conversation, "So, do you always study in a coffee shop?"

Lance let his smile falter, "Yeah, I guess I do. What about you?"

"To be honest," he rubbed the back of his neck, "If I don't finish in class, I don't do it."

Lance looked up at him questioningly, "But you're like super smart."

Keith felt a slight blush pull from his skin, "Well, I would-wouldn't call myself super smart."

Lance motioned to the various papers and books scattered upon the table, "You understand all of this."

Keith let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah, I do."

"I would call that smart." Lance looked longingly at his work.

Keith leaned his head on his folded arms and looked up at Lance, "Tell me about yourself."

Lance smiled down at him, "Me?"

Keith nodded, "Yeah. I don't know anything about you."

Lance leaned back in his chair and looked to the ceiling in thought. "Well, I'm 17. My birthday is July 28th. My favorite food is garlic knots. I love the rain. I love school, too. But I also love hanging out and letting loose."