The following day, Easton wasn’t at school. All Nash heard about it was the homeroom teacher casually saying, ‘Easton’s sick,’ while calling the roll.
The day was filled with Nash staring at that tiny, ticking, second-counting hand on the clock. When he wasn’t focused on the time, he pondered his life choices up to that point.
Meanwhile, Easton pondered the cause of his warm face. Was it just his cold? He lay in bed, images of his friend hiding behind his arms continuously burning itself into his mind before smouldering into dust. A minute or so after distracting himself with other thoughts, the images burst like fireworks into his mind again.
Nash, with his no-nonsense black crew cut that created enough space to show all the emotions on his face, even when Easton struggled to read them. Nash, with his soft brown and green eyes reminiscent of fresh muntrie fruits, shining like apples every time he talked about Commerce class. Nash, with his thin lips that disappeared on the rare chance he smiled. Those smiles were like hidden little trinkets to the sick boy currently lying in bed thinking about another boy’s appearance.
Easton may or may not have stayed up all night in bed, looking to the posters on his walls for guidance. By this point, his eyelids were heavy but he still couldn’t sleep. His sleepless state rendered him almost delirious but that wasn’t enough to convince him to close his eyes for more than a flicker of a second.
By the call of the school bell at day’s end, Nash knew what he had to do. He ran to the grocery store and picked up a get well soon card. He had a feeling the illness would be gone too quick to warrant the card, but he figured it was a nice gesture.
While waiting in line at the checkout, he spotted a heat bag in the shape of a puppy sitting on the clearance shelf nearby. He immediately grabbed it.
Using a pen from his pencil case after purchasing his items, he wrote:
Sorry for weirding you out. Get better soon so we can go back to normal.
Nash raced to Easton’s place, a small, rusty tin house on a large block of land. He knocked on the door, which was opened by the boy’s mother. She was a stout, frequently smiling lady with rosy cheeks.
‘Oh, Nash, nice to see you again. How are you?’
Even from outside, Nash could smell fresh cookies through the door. He held out the card and the puppy heat bag.
‘I’m good. Could you give these to Easton?’
‘Why don’t you come and see him?’
Nash had to come up with a quick excuse. ‘What if I get sick?’
‘He’s feeling a bit better now. So long as you don’t get too close to him, you should be fine.’
Nash laughed awkwardly. ‘Of course.’ If only she knew.
Easton’s room was covered in posters for crime movies, games and anime, mostly involving lawyers. Law books were squished together in no particular order on the bookshelf beside the bed. The books that couldn’t fit were stacked in a pile on the floor the height of a washing machine. The room smelled of sweat and that citrus and lavender body spray Easton always wore.
Easton was covered up to his neck with his blue wool bedspread. Initially staring at the ceiling in thought, He turned his flushed face towards Nash and tensed up, his knuckles white from gripping the bedspread.
‘Hey,’ he eventually said. His voice made him sound like he had something stuck in his throat.
‘Um, hi.’ Nash delicately placed the card and the heat bag on the bedside table. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Aw, you got that for me?’ All that apprehension disappeared from Easton’s voice, replaced with heartfelt earnestness.
Nash wondered if what he bought was too much but decided to just go with it.
‘It reminded me of you.’
‘What, like a dog?’
‘Like a cute, soft puppy.’
Easton’s eyes widened so much he looked similar to the anime and game characters on some of the posters. He looked away from Nash but the other boy could still see the blush on his face reddening further.
Following a sigh, Easton asked, ‘Um, I know this is a weird thing to ask, but can you act all embarrassed again, like you were when we were in detention?’
‘Why the hell do you-’
‘I want to test something.’ The puppy dog eyes returned. ‘Please?’
Nash couldn’t say no to that face. ‘How?’
‘You know, the thing with the arms.’
‘So…’ He tried to remember what he did. ‘...like this?’ Well, at least Nash already felt the emotion Easton requested from him. He just had to show it.
He kneeled by the bed and rested his arms on top of it, blushing already from the closeness to Easton. He dove into his own arms.
‘Well, I guess that settles it,’ Easton said. ‘You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.’
Nash looked up with a scowl. ‘Don’t tease me.’
‘I’m serious.’ Easton’s face matched his words. After a moment, he chuckled, the surprisingly deep sound resonating through Nash’s heart. ‘I never noticed before ‘cause I thought I was just seeing you as a friend.’ He laughed again as if that very notion was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.
Nash tried to tell his heart not to leap, but the damn thing wouldn’t listen. He turned around and sat against the bed.
‘So… what now?’
Easton went quiet for a moment. ‘I don’t know. Maybe we could try-’
‘I’m not kissing you.’
‘Aww, why not?’
‘Get better first.’
The chuckle came back. ‘Fair enough.’
On a morning a week later, Easton ran towards Nash with open arms. As he stopped next to Nash, he dropped his arms.
‘Uh, can I?’
Nash smiled and nodded. ‘Thanks for asking.’
Easton wrapped his arms around Nash’s shoulders and held him tight. Nash sheepishly placed his arms around the other boy’s waist. They stayed like that a few seconds longer than socially acceptable for friends.
As Colby passed them, he said, ‘Gay.’
Easton and Nash let go of each other and laughed like they had just talked behind someone’s back and saw that same person walk past them.
Colby raised an eyebrow before continuing his walk as if nothing happened.
During recess, Nash told Colby that he and Easton had to do something first but that they’d be right back.
What did they have to do? Kiss behind the gym, of course! Each time their lips touched, Nash’s lips tingled. He stroked Easton’s hair and basked in the satisfaction that he was right about it being soft. Easton’s citrus and lavender body spray was as pleasant as always. His racing heart felt like it was being pulled by a string closer and closer to Easton.
Following a few minutes of making out, Easton began standing up but Nash grabbed his arm.
‘Stay with me a little longer. Please.’
After realising how he sounded, Nash buried his head into Easton’s arm, his cheeks burning.
Easton sat back down, grinning at Nash’s red face. They sat there for a while, forgetting about everything around them until the bell rang.
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