Smoke

28: Coming Over

Oliver arrived at my house an hour after I got home.
He knocked lightly at the door, his soft thumps going through the house.
"I'm getting homework help from a friend." I told mom before she could get up or even look at the door.

"Alright. It's good that you're making new friends." She smiled gently, and I nodded, turning away, going to answer the door.

I opened it, feeling the outside air pull into the house, smiling as we met eyes. "Hey, thanks for coming." I moved away from the door, letting him walk in.

"No problem. That class can seem pretty useless sometimes." He shrugged, looking around, coming inside the house.

I hadn't had someone come over since I was at my last school, I realized, as I watched him walk past me, as he stopped and turned back to me. My mind went blank for a second as we met eyes.
"Where to?" He asked, standing in place.

"Oh, uh," I didn't want him to see my room, didn't want mom to come in and make either of us uncomfortable. I looked around, spotting the living room, nearby but open. "The couch is fine." I decided, leading him to it, sitting down momentarily.
"Oh. Wait a second and I'll go grab my books." I nodded at him as he sat down, and he looked back at me.

"Ok." He responded and I turned away, walking quickly to my room, going and grabbing the books.
I could hear my footsteps, my breaths, as I walked. Looking around at my room, I took a nervous breath, just relaxing before I got too anxious. A thin strand of smoke rose out of my mouth, and I took another breath before grabbing the books and heading back. The house was probably messy, but I couldn't really tell, I had gotten used to it.

I walked back, seeing Oliver sitting quietly, frozen, on my couch.

"Sorry." I said, setting the books quietly down on the couch, sitting down so the books were between us. I glanced at him, seeing him blink, shake his head, going back to the present moment. "Are you alright?" I asked him quietly, watching him look around at the house again.

"Uh," he glanced at me, then away, "yeah. Just saw something." He said it quickly, his voice fading out as he talked.

"Ok." I said, not wanting to pry. I picked up a book, fiddling with it. The fire-breathing one was at the bottom of the stack, still, which was a relief. "So how does this work?"