《human》- hardzello

four

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to be quite honest, the first two periods flew by. he wrote down some notes but didn't take much in, as the boy who walked in earlier that day for some reason just couldn't leave joe's mind.

joe had questioned his sexuality before, sure, however didn't like to label himself. he could tell if a guy was attractive, sure, but he was almost certain he didn't feel that way about that boy. most definitely.

the bell rang out for lunch, snapping joe back into reality a little. he grabbed his belongings and followed the crowd to where he assumed the cafeteria was. thankfully, he got there a little early so he was able to avoid dreadful queues. that's one thing he had observed about the uk, they fucking loved their queues.

joe and his parents moved to england from brooklyn, new york when he was around seven or eight, he can't quite remember. his dad's job required him to be close to london, so that's where they went. at first, they could only afford a shitty apartment on the outskirts with way too many drunk neighbours and a bad reputation for burglaries. however once they earned enough money, joe's mum decided it probably wasn't the safest place for a child, so they moved a little inward to the city, settling down in a nice, cosy terraced house instead.

joe was an only child, which served as an excuse for his social awkwardness. he had no sibling to play imaginative games with growing up, no one to tell secrets with, or have a strong connection with. he was really quite introverted, which resulted in a lack of friends during his childhood. thankfully, in secondary school, he became close with a nice, sturdy group of people, only for them to all part their ways come university age, and unfortunately, none of them ended up going to the same school. so joe was on his own, once again.

he scanned his eyes over the cafeteria, searching for an empty spot. the best he could find was a table at the back of the hall with a girl sat on one end looking quite engrossed in a book. he placed his tray down and picked up his ham and cheese sandwich, which was actually better than he was expecting.

for the full hour he had free for lunch, he spent most of it sat at that same table just thinking. mainly about that boy, but also about other stuff. he wondered what class he took. he looked pretty fit, so he assumed some type of sport, although maybe he just went to the gym a lot.

a familiar face interrupted his focused thoughts; gwilym had sat down on the seat opposite him.

"hey, joe" he greeted with a warm smile. joe smiled back awkwardly.

"how's your day been so far?" the taller boy asked.

"eh, alright." joe shrugged. "nothing too interesting." he resisted the urge to smirk at that last comment.

"fair enough. hey, i was wondering, do you want to come to town with us? we were just planning on wondering around, really"

joe pondered this for a moment, before nodding his head. "sure," he replied. it'd probably do him some good to get out.

he followed gwilym to the town centre, where lucy also tagged along. once they arrived, the other two greeted a short, dark haired boy.

"oh, uh, joe! this is my friend, rami" lucy introduced, indicating the stranger next to her.

"hi," rami greeted, putting his hand out for joe to shake. he took it hesitantly and smiled. he noticed this boy had rather pretty eyes, to be honest.

they all discussed where to go and eventually decided on a small local coffee shop. the others all ordered some form of latte; joe shaking his head when offered one.

"no thanks, i'm more of a tea dude myself."

whilst the others went to order, joe absorbed in the surroundings. the place had a cosy feel, walls painted a dark brown that would have been quite ugly if it wasn't for the fairy lights that, quite literally, brightened up the place. a few hessian bags were hung up on the wall in an attempt to have an artsy aesthetic, although to be completely honest, the looked a little tacky. still though, cosy all the same.

the rest of the group soon returned with their hot beverages, lucy handing joe his tea with a smile before sitting next to rami. gwilym sat next to joe. they all started up a conversation, unintentionally leaving joe out of it, and joe couldn't help but notice the way lucy and rami interacted with each other — they looked so deeply and genuinely interested in one another. it made joe a little jealous, to be honest. although he wasn't sure why.

joe sipped his tea in silence, zoning in and out of the other's conversation, until rami mentioned his name.

"hey, joe, what do you study here again?"

"oh, uh, psychology" he replied, extremely close to spitting out his tea.

"oh cool! i was going to take that, but i went for graphic design instead. human brains are interesting, but not so much the work that goes behind it. i really can't be bothered with that, so kudos to you, sir!"

joe let out a small laugh. "that's cool," he answered. "did you know freddie mercury used to study graphic design too?"

rami left far too long a gap between joe asking that and when he answered, which left joe mentally cursing himself that he couldn't shut up about his interests for once. nobody cares, oh my god. rami was preoccupied with his phone, giggling at something. he looked back at joe.

"you know, i think i heard that somewhere before!" rami eventually replied. "i admire freddie so much, you know?" he said, glancing at his phone again shortly after.

"for fucks sake," gwilym cried. "are you two really texting each other while sitting next to each other again?"

"no, actually you're wrong." lucy answered in a serious tone. "we're sitting opposite each other"

joe's hand covered his mouth as he stifled a laugh.

"gwil, please, she sent me the most adorable cat video. here, let me show you-"

for a moment, it looked like the taller boy was about to protest, however he quickly came to the conclusion it would just be easier to surrender. everyone on the table leant over to rami's phone, all laughing in unison at the clip. it was in that moment that joe felt he could trust this group of people; he felt they were going to get along well.