MythOfHappiness - Short Story Collection - 4. Thought

“Conor Oberst looks like a Vampire.”
“So. How he looks doesn’t change the music. Also, who asked you?”
“God, you’re so weird. Why do you like this emo-ass music?”
“Hey, fuck you. Get out of my head if you don’t want to hear it.”
“You know I can’t do that. And I didn’t say I didn’t like the song. It’s just emo as fuck.”
“I know that. I don’t need to justify my musical tastes to you. Anyway, shouldn’t you be focusing on that test?”
“It’s just calculus. I know calculus.” As if to prove this, he turns his attention to the next question and complex numbers and symbols zip through his head so fast I can barely grasp what he’s doing. He knocks out three questions in six minutes before I tune him out. Numbers give me headaches.
I turn my own attention back to my drawing. Mr. Kinsley is having us practice still life drawing and shading. He has placed a number of geometric shapes made from folded paper on a table in the center of the room and placed a bright light on them, creating strong contrast between the white paper and black shadow. I’m working on accurately capturing a complexly folded dodecahedron shape that is casting a double shadow on a cylinder and a three sided pyramid. I can’t seem to correctly emulate the curve of the shadow on the cylinder and Leon’s constant critiquing of my musical inclinations is not helping. The song changes to a slow jam, Joshua Radin’s “I’d Rather Be With You” and it’s calming sway helps me focus and block out the blur of numbers coming from the other side of the link. I manage to keep this up for the rest of the period and I sense Leon scratching the last few digits onto the test sheet just as I put the finishing touch on the small pyramid.
“Think that’s all I can do today, my hand needs a break from all the shading anyway. You want to meet up at the caf and grab some food?”
“Sure. I’ll see you there.” He hands his test in to the professor, Dr. McClaren and she smiles at him as he does. I have her for chemistry and she never smiles at me like that, it’s pretty obvious that Leon is her favorite student. It might have something to do with the fact that he just handed in his test twenty minutes before any of the other students, or it could just be because his dark eyes and long, black hair make him look like an asian Harry Styles. By which I mean sexy in a nerd way.
“Hey. I heard that. And I’m very flattered. I happen to like Harry Styles.”
“Yeah. I know. I hear you singing along to “Girl Crush” in the shower every single morning.”
“It’s his gayest song!”
“It’s a Little Big Town cover.”
“I know that. Doesn’t make it any less gay.”
I’ve made it to the college cafeteria now. It’s a sprawling affair, all primary colors and bright lights with several lines leading to different culinary cultures. One line is for a make your own taco bar, another is for a “stir-fry of the day” grill. I line up for the stir fry.
“Hey, could you order for me? You know what I like.” The science and tech building is seventy feet further away from the caf than the Arts building, so he’s still on his way.
“Sure, no problem.” After I’ve collected my bowl (szechuan beef over noodles with mushrooms and snow peas) I go over to the barbeque section and order pulled pork nachos with extra sauce, Leon’s favorite (disgusting) meal.
“It’s not disgusting. It’s salty and sweet and meaty and delicious.”
“Gross. The barbeque sauce makes the chips all soggy.” He’s coming into the cafeteria now.
I head to our usual table near the big windows. It’s a gorgeous, if chilly day out. Late fall is always so beautiful up here. Leon sits across from me and snatches the brown and yellow mess, scarfing it down true to his namesake. I smile at him.
“You’re cute.”
He stops eating long enough to shoot me a meat-flected grin. “I love you” he says, aloud.
“I love you too.”
I slide my hand across the table and rest it comfortably on his and for a little while neither of us thinks about anything at all.