After several baths and a good night’s sleep, Reve found himself at school standing in front of his locker searching for yet another notebook.
“So you gonna ask him today?” Steve leaned in and grabbed the geometry notebook for Reve, placing it in his stalled hand.
Reve looked over at his best friend and stared blankly for a moment. As if creatures of the netherworld weren’t bad enough, he still had to deal with the terror that was geometry and algebraic expressions and he really wasn’t feeling up to all that today. His mind was focused elsewhere. The most wonderful elsewhere. Smiling with all the foolish confidence of a kid in a candy shop, Reve replied, “Yeah, after school.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Plan?” Reve’s smile dropped. He hadn’t thought of a plan. Was he supposed to? His heart started to pound in his chest.
“Yeah, dude. What’re you gonna say? How’re you gonna approach him?”
“I was just planning on winging it. Is that not a good idea?” Reve closed up his locker and the two started walking towards class.
“What? No.”
“What’re we talking about?” Brittany caught up to them.
Steve leaned forward to talk to Brittany across Reve. “Reve has decided to ‘wing it’.”
Brittany let out a loud snort-laugh, which was very unbecoming for such a sweet girl and her blue eyes immediately looked a little embarrassed. Both of the boys stared at her with awkward surprise.
“Sorry. Yeah, don’t do that, Reve.”
“Great! Then what am I supposed to do?”
“What did Joey do when he asked you out, Brit?”
A light-hearted smile spread across Brittany’s face and Reve could swear that one of her freckles twinkled. “It was really sweet, actually. We were out at karaoke with a group of friends and he sang a song for me and then–”
“And that worked? I don’t have time to plan something like that.” Scenarios played out in his head at a rapid-fire pace and Reve thought his heart might actually break free of his chest.
“Don’t do that, either. Joey can get away with stuff like that. He’s way more confident than you are.”
“Dude!”
“What? You need something easier. Here’s my class. Catch you after! I’ll think of something good for you.” He ducked into his classroom with a quick wave and left Reve and Brittany standing in the hallway.
Brittany nudged Reve to keep moving and the two started walking again. “You sure I can’t just wing it?” Hope poured out of his eyes as he looked over to Brittany.
“Reve, remember the last time you ‘winged it’ in class?”
With a sudden inhale through clenched teeth, Reve winced. “Oo. Poor Mrs. Peters. She never saw it coming.” Brittany looked over and with a single raised eyebrow gave him the “my point exactly” look as they walked into geometry class. Dejectedly, Reve took his seat next to Rachael. “Hey Rach.”
“Hey Reve! So, you gonna do it today?” Her golden locks spilled over her shoulders as she leaned in eagerly, waiting to hear all the tea. The torturous angst was too much for Reve and he dropped his head onto the desk with a loud thunk, pulling the sides of his over-shirt around his head.
Brittany leaned over to whisper. “He was planning to ‘wing it’ and Steve told him not to.”
“Ah. Yeah, don’t do that, sweetie.” Rachael leaned back and gave Reve a slightly patronizing, slightly comforting pat on his back.
Muffled by the proximity of his face-to-desk, Reve whined aloud. “This sucks!”
* * *
Somewhat hidden in the little alcove between the exit and the student parking lot, Reve had secured a perfect view of the main sidewalk. He fidgeted with the buttons on his over-shirt to keep his mind distracted as he gazed down the sidewalk and beheld Orion “Rion” Rigel, the boy of his dreams. Reve’s heart raced as he eyed Rion’s white button down shirt that left just enough unbuttoned at the top to show off a little definition. Even with his newly dyed pink hair, Rion had the air of a natural born leader that Reve admired and he longed to be a part of Rion’s universe.
Reve stood there star-struck… like a weirdo.
Practically oblivious to everything else, Reve barely noticed that Steve and Rachael were standing next to him following his line of sight. Rion was just waving goodbye to some friends before starting to walk towards them.
“Dude, now’s your chance!”
Yeah! Now’s my chance! Great! I’m just gonna… Oh no! Reve suddenly grabbed Steve’s arm with a vice-like grip. Awash in a sea of swirling doubts, fears, anxiety, terror, and a little hunger, Reve looked into Steve’s eyes and begged, “Don’t leave me!”
Rion casually approached the group and smiled at them all. “Hey guys. Hey, Reve.”
Rachael smiled back. “Hey, Rion. See ya.”
Steve nodded to Rion and Reve managed to eek out an awkward smile in return.
As soon as Rion rounded the corner and was out of ear-shot, Reve released Steve’s arm and hung his head in shame.
“That was sad.”
“You told me not to say anything!”
“No, I just said not to wing it. Didn’t you come up with anything?” He hadn’t. Nothing sounded good enough in his head and improvisation was not his strong suit.
Rachael’s warm voice broke through the pounding in his head. “It’s ok, Reve. Just figure out what you want to say and try again tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I know.” Reve continued to stare at the ground. Why was he always so pathetic?
“You want a ride?”
“Huh? Nah. Think I’ll walk today.”
“Ok. See ya. Remember, we’ve got practice after school tomorrow. Your house!”
Reve nodded, lost in thought, as Steve and Rachael walked away. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and focus. Why can’t I just say “hello” like a normal person?
If only he could talk about who he really was and what he could do, then maybe he’d have something really great to talk about. Would that work? Perhaps he could talk about some of the things he’s done — no details obviously and change the names for their protection kinda thing — but maybe he could tell a fun story. Even a bad story. Just, not one about bugs. Reve shuddered.
With renewed confidence Reve turned and took his first steps forward. Doesn’t even have to be my story, maybe one of Oberon’s. Those are always interesting. Suddenly, Reve had a flashback to hearing one of Oberon’s gruesome blood-and-carnage stories from the old days and a terrifying reality crashed back down on him. Then again, maybe not.
He hung his head again. There was no way he could even attempt to share a story about his experiences. No one would believe him. “Demons” and “monsters” don’t exist, right?
“Just be direct and ask him out already — this is getting tiresome.”
And there it was. The familiar scent of shadows and smoke. “You saw that?” Of course he saw that. In a heartbeat, Reve’s mood shifted from self-loathing to annoyance as Oberon materialized out of a nearby shadow and stepped off the wall of the building, landing silently on the ground.
“Or I could put him in some sort of danger that you rescue him from. That always seems to work.”
“Oh my god, no! What?”
“What? Trust me, it’s very easy to put a human in danger. Remember that time we put you–”
“Just… stop. I’ll figure it out. And no putting anyone in danger!”
“Fine.” Oberon sounded a little too saddened by that.
The two started walking along in silence as Reve continued turning things over in his mind. He kept trying to find some solution, some topic of conversation, that would make Rion think he was cool and interesting enough to date. There had to be something. Maybe he could invite Rion out to somewhere like a park. Are there any decent parks around here? But then they’d have to talk about something and he still hadn’t figured out what to talk about. Maybe a movie? But the thought of being alone together in a darkened movie theater was a little too exciting and definitely too nerve-racking at the same time.
“Sir?” Oberon’s voice halted the derailing train of thought in Reve’s head.
“Hm?”
“It’s just, no one’s around right now. Are you really planning to walk all the way home?”
Reve stopped and looked at Oberon blankly. The entire dark movie theater anxiety-ridden scenario vanished into the void as a warm breeze blew past them. He could see a bead of sweat trickle down the side of Oberon’s face under his black hoodie.
“It’s really hot today.”
Stupid Shadow Demon. He grit his teeth slightly and exhaled. A strong breeze whipped up around them and suddenly the two figures disappeared.
* * *
Headphones plugged into the keyboard, Reve sat in his room, fingers caressing the hard plastic black and white keys in front of him. He could finally let his emotions play out and be resolved in the beauty of consonance and dissonance. Anxiety diminished. Fear abated. Melodies mixed and progressions changed. He swam in an endlessly freeing sea of color and articulation and energy. A calm, peaceful smile spread across his boyish face and he felt renewed.
Quietly from downstairs, he barely heard his mom shout, “I’m home!” His fingers paused.
A louder shout. “Reve?”
Reve exhaled and removed his headphones. In three steps he opened his bedroom door and leaned over the railing. “Hey, mom.”
In the foyer below, he saw the beautiful face of his mother staring up. “Is your father home, yet?”
“You mean, Alex? Not yet.”
“You know it wouldn’t kill you to be nicer to him.”
“Let’s not chance it.” Reve didn’t dislike his step-dad, but he was never that excited about him being in their lives. He preferred it when it was just the two of them and Oberon. Alex didn’t even know that Oberon wasn’t human. He was a nice enough guy, but Reve had decided to never get too close to him.
“How was school?”
Reve looked away not wanting to admit to her his failure. “Fine.”
A sly smile snuck out as she asked, “So, did you ask out that Rion yet? How’d it go?”
“Come on, mom.” In a huff, he started back towards his room.
“Oberon?”
Dammit. Oberon materialized near Reve, casually perched on the banister. Don’t ask him! Reve stared silently at him with pleading eyes hoping he wouldn’t sell him out.
Oberon stared directly back and smiled. “He froze.”
“You guys all suck!” Reve stormed back to his room and attempted to slam the door closed. His fingers slipped so it didn’t quite have the resounding slam sound he aimed. Why was everything he did just the worst? Throwing himself on the bed, he once again started obsessing over the afternoon’s failures. Stupid Oberon. One day I’m gonna take that pale excuse of a shadow and– OOF! Interrupting his thoughts, Reve’s cat, Gizmo, jumped up onto the bed and nonchalantly walked across his stomach with the weight of a thousand suns in each step.
“Geez! How is each foot this heavy?” Gizmo stopped in place, all four weighted paws on his stomach, and stared unblinkingly back at Reve with green eyes as wide as saucers. “You’re not gonna start asking me about how it went now, are you?” Gizmo stared for a few more moments before continuing to walk across him and sit in the window.
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