butterflies rising | ✓

4: a ride home

Roman set his alarm for thirty minutes earlier than usual so he'd be able to finish what he had left of The Great Gatsby. When the alarm goes off at 5:30 he dearly regrets it, but he wants today go a lot smoother than it did yesterday.

He finishes the book and takes a shower. He feels exhausted, his eyes and limbs heavy. Instead of a hot shower he turns the knob to cold, thinking it might wake him up a bit.

When he steps in he's bombarded by icy water and immediately reminded of that night and his mother. He whips the knob to hot and feels as the water quickly changes temperature.

When he finishes the shower he steps out onto the cold marble floors, wrapping a towel around his waist and flipping on the bathroom lights. He steps in front of the mirror and looks at his face. He can see his father's almost perfectly through his and knows that once he's his father's age he'll be the spitting image of him. He watches the water drip off his wet hair and into his face, down his cheeks and to his chin. He takes another towel and wipes his face, then dries his hair, leaving it in a mess on the top of his head.

Roman steps into his closet and decides on what to wear. He takes out a cream shirt and black jeans. With it he wears a little gold necklace gifted to him by his grandmother. At the end of the necklace is an eagle charm, as his grandmother always said he was wise and resilient.

He wakes his brother, who groans loudly when the lights of his bedroom are turned on. Roman tells him to be in the car in 20 minutes, enough time for Roman to get breakfast and for Gabriel to get ready too.

He takes his usual route to school with music blasting. When he arrives Gabriel hops right out of the car and Roman sees Temperance walking up to the building looking more tired that usual.

Temperance hadn't gotten any sleep the night prior. She spent the whole night in her dad's old sweatshirt, crying at the smell of her dad's cologne that was stuck to the collar. She'd texted a few of her friends from Portland to see how they were doing, to which she only got short responses. Her grandmother was out most of the night, leaving her alone in the creaky old house with only her grandmother's cats to keep her company. She took a line of heroin and got no other homework done. Instead she watched the old movies her and her dad would watch together, eventually passing out on the couch at around 11 o'clock.

In the morning she woke up still on the couch. Her grandmother was in the kitchen making breakfast and feeding the cats. Temperance went up to her bedroom and changed out of her dad's old sweatshirt and into a real outfit. She'd decided in a navy oversized t-shirt she'd bought from a thrift store back in Portland and a black turtleneck tee underneath. She wore a pair of short underneath as well, though you couldn't see them. She chose a pair of grey socks that were visible over her black converse, styling her hair and makeup the same way. She'd snorted her daily bit of heroin, now feeling quite relaxed and a bit drowsy.

Roman waited until he saw her get into the building to get out of his car. He steps into the bustling building and weaves through the crowd of students. He walks into Mr. Osman's english class just as the bell rings and finds his place next to Temperance.

"Today's a work day! Get those projects planned out and started!" Mr. Osman announces cheerfully. Temperance groans in response, her head resting in her arms on the table.

"I read the book last night." Roman says in an attempt to lighten her mood. Temperance gives him a soft smile and sits upright in her chair.

"Great, then we can start planning the poster out."

"You're in a better mood today." He notes.

"I guess I am." Temperance smiles.

They converse lightly over what they want the poster to look like, what information needs to go on it and what colors the letters will be. They decide on the layout of the poster and find pictures to add, which Temperance says she'll print out in the library.