Savior [Completed]

Savior: [Eleven]

Eleven – Max

“You make a valid point there,” I conceded, sitting back in my chair and then, as an afterthought, because he’d just mentioned that I could be consulted for girl problems he may have as much as he could for any boy problems I may have, “Do you have any issues with your girlfriend though? Do you even have a girlfriend right now?”

Tony’s laughter echoed through my speakers. “I don’t, actually.”

“I sense there could be more to this.”

He smiled in agreement. “But I’ve got someone in sight.”

Aha. It was silly, but I felt a small surge of pride at having been able to read him correctly. “Who is she?”

“I’m not sure if you know her, but she joined Letterman with us. Her name’s Karen. Tall chick…or she’s tall now, at least, with brown hair…who had an elder sister?”

I racked my brain for any memory of a Karen. “I’m afraid I have no idea.”

“I thought as much,” he shrugged, “because we weren’t really in the same social circle or anything. In fact, I only know her now because our groups got rearranged and we’re in the same Math class. She’s pretty cool.”

The level of casualness in his voice as he admitted everything to me had an effect, I have to say. It didn’t make sense, technically, but my thoughts were wandering while simultaneously being geared on what my friend was saying, and now they arrived upon a single question: How was it that he was so relaxed about this, like it wasn’t a big deal at all? He noticed the shift in my expression, probably, or maybe it was my silence, and raised the question.

“I’m really kinda wowed by how you’re able to be so open about all of this.” I answered him honestly. “You’re so chilled out and…I don’t know, aren’t you nervous?”

It was a silly question and I’d known both this fact and his answer even before asking it – Tony was one of the most relaxed people I knew – yet I was curious.

“We’re teenagers, Max,” he shrugged, knowing that a ‘no’ wasn’t necessary. “We’ll become adults in the real world and this will all pass, so there’s no point stressing over it, you know?”

“I know you’ve got a clear grasp of that,” I answered after mulling over his words for a bit “but yet. It’s just me, I think.” His expression told me to continue and elaborate. “I try to put myself in your shoes and all I can imagine is that I’d be really nervous about telling someone that I liked another someone, even though I knew I could trust them to keep it a secret.”

He smiled at the second thing I’d said. “You’ll learn, young grasshopper.”

“I’d like to. It sounds nice not to have to be worried about petty issues like this.”

This was a sort-of conclusion to this topic of discussion, and for a couple of moments we didn’t say anything. He’d told me he was also in the midst of a couple of Facebook conversations as well, and I let him pay attention to them while taking up a book myself.

“Right, back here. With another question that what you said made me think of.”

I looked up. “English, please.”

 There was no need for me to be clear; he understood. “You said something earlier, and that raised a question in my head.” He rephrased, not at all offended. “And it’s this: because you’re nervous of new dating prospects, or whatever you want to call it, does that mean that you wouldn’t want to admit to anyone if you were actually into someone?”