Basil's Hope

Sunny

The week leading up to Sunny's return was boring and aggravating to Basil. He avoided Aubrey in the halls, Kel's annoying friends at lunch, and his phone in case Sunny texted. Which he didn't.

Kel made serious efforts to engage Basil. He offered to walk home with him, to study with him after school, and even invited him to join his friends on the basketball court. Basil refused, but appreciated the gesture.

"I get it," Kel admitted. "But you don't have to be lonely," he added.

Classes were boring, but there was one class Basil really enjoyed. Photography. The first few days were filled with basic discussions about the subject, which Basil already knew from years of practice. Finally on Friday the teacher decided to let her students try a hand at their new skills. She assigned everyone to submit one photo of something in their community.

"By Monday, I'd like to see something that resonates with you. Something that represents Faraway Town to you personally," the teacher instructed.

Basil's mind flashed with ideas. The park has some good places for a shot. Or the church, he thought. Briefly, an image of the graveyard behind it flickered within his memory, but he swept it aside hastily. He felt sweat line his forehead. Were his hands shaking?

"Basil? Are you alright?" he heard the teacher say, and shot his head up at her. Basil glanced around the room and realized they were the only ones left. "The bell rung, you can head to your next class."

Basil grabbed his book and his bag and raced out before she tried to talk to him further. Between classes, the hallways bustled with students. He found himself daydreaming about places to take his photo. Maybe I should submit a photo of my plants. That's about all in Faraway Town that I care about anymore.

After school, he politely declined walking Kel to his locker. "He's coming tonight," Basil reasoned. Kel shot him a thumbs up.

"I'll drop by your place tomorrow," he exclaimed. He dribbled his ball in the emptying classroom. "I'm bringing Aubrey." He added quickly, "no buts!" before Basil could complain. Goddamnit Kel, he thought. He could've sworn everybody wanted to make his life more difficult.

His walk home was short, probably because he practically ran the whole way home. His heart pounded as he thought about Sunny coming over. What will they do?

Where will he sleep? Basil remembered. He didn't give it much of a thought before. The only other bed in the house was occupied by Polly, who stayed in the room his grandma used to sleep in. Other than that, it was the couch. He felt bad for a moment.

Suddenly he remembered a bit about the night his grandma died. Kel's brother Hero told him while he was in the hospital that they all slept over in sleeping bags for him. It was a really sweet gesture. He had no memory of that night, he only knew what his friends told him. They supported him. I wonder if they would support me now that they know, he wondered.

He swung the door open to see no one was home. A cloud of dust lingered in the air. There was a note tapped to the couch in plain sight. It read:

Dear Basil, I went out to run some emergency errands. Hope you don't mind the mess, I made a little mistake in the kitchen. I'll clean up when I get back. See you tonight! With love, Polly.

Basil's eye twitched. Tonight of all nights. He could have sworn he groaned loud enough for the neighbours to hear. He took off his shoes and marched to his room. Everything went in their place. He put his bag under the bed where it belonged before dashing back to the kitchen to clean up.

He took a good look at the mess he had to clean before Sunny came. Polly must have spilt a bag of flour and knocked over a carton of eggs. He rolled his eyes intensely and grabbed cleaning supplies from the cupboard. He began to wipe up the mess.

Knock! Knock! Basil heard on the door several minutes later.

He's early, he thought to his horror. What a-

Knock!

"Okay I'm coming!" Basil shouted, putting his cloth on the counter and dusting off his shirt. To his dismay, it was covered in flour.

Knock!

Annoyed, Basil whipped open the door to see the tall young man on the other side. He had jet black hair, a little longer than what he remembered. His eyes were dark. Brown with a twinge of gold. Basil tried to look angry but couldn't help but smile. He's here.

A car behind Sunny rumbled off into the distance, which Basil assumed was his mom. Sunny gave a small smile and reached out his hand to gesture at Basil's shirt. Basil shook his head. "Flour. Cleaning up after Polly," he said.

"I thought it was supposed to be the other way around," Sunny said softly. Basil wanted to laugh but couldn't bring himself to.

"Yeah well, there's a big mess in the kitchen and I haven't had time to clean it." He gestured for Sunny to come inside. "You can wait on the couch."

Sunny shuffled into the room and nodded to the mess. "I can help," he said.

Surprisingly, the mess didn't take too long to clean when they worked together. Sunny was less methodological in his approach. He was less efficient with his cleaning but got it done quicker regardless. Basil however, swept his hand back and forth to clean up one neat strip at a time.

Neither boy had spoken a word, but they worked together like cogs in a machine, not nearing verbal communication. While Sunny went ahead and cleaned up a wide area, Basil would come along and wipe up behind him until the floor and counter were sparkling.

For a moment, things felt strangely normal. That was until Basil digested that Sunny was in front of him. The Sunny who ruined his life. Yet, he seemed different.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" Basil asked. For a moment, Sunny said nothing. He stared into space. Basil opened his mouth to speak again. "We-"

"We could go to the park," Sunny finished. Basil looked out the kitchen window. I guess it's not too late, he thought.

"The park it is."