Through a strange series of encounters, a delinquent high schooler and upright university student find love. *****
No longer interested in clubbing, kissing girls, and committing petty crimes, 18-year-old Riley is trying to find meaning in his dull...
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It'd had been a couple of weeks since Riley had last seen Eran. Eran's prediction was right: his professor picked the most difficult project for them. The first week or so, Riley dutifully made Eran two meals almost every day. On the weekend, he again spent the night. It was getting easier to sleep in the same bed. After a while, Riley could see Eran's lethargy, and though he was happy to once have his crush's sleeping head on his shoulder, he was concerned for Eran's health. Eran started to get so busy that he slept in the lab some nights.
Riley had completed his midterms, taking a few opportunities to call Eran for unneeded help when studying. Final exams were coming next month, so his teachers were piling up the homework. Riley was at the point where he was too focused on being without Eran that he didn't bother to make anything less than near perfect scores. His teachers would expect more from him now, he thought with a sigh.
The weather had gotten too cold for Riley and his friends to eat lunch outside and the cafeteria was too crowded. Their current spot was a staircase at the back of the gym.
Jay nervously shook his foot from nicotine withdrawal. "You've been weird lately." He tapped Riley's shoulder with the pen he'd been chewing. "Oooh, don't tell me it's a girl."
Riley smiled and let out a small chuckle. It's a guy, but same idea.
"Oooh. You got a girlfriend?" Tony asked confidently.
"Uh-un." Riley shook his head 'no.' Nor a boyfriend.
Jay nodded. "Ahh. So you're just sleeping together."
"Nope." Riley frowned and sighed. Not even.
"Oh... no..." Jay suddenly frowned. "Unrequited love, huh?"
Riley felt a pang in his chest. Hearing it aloud for the first time gave it a sense of reality. He lamented aloud via cursing, closed his eyes, and hung his head.
Jay patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Forget it, man. When the guy falls first, it never works out."
Riley snorted then chuckled, holding his head in his hand.
Riley's response confused Tony. "What?"
He smiled wryly. "Nothing..."
Jay pumped his fist into the air. "Let's go pick up girls this weekend. We'll be serious and go to upper Midtown area. Plenty of girlfriend material there."
Tony bit the side of his tongue, looking concerned. "What if we see some girls from school? Or worse some teachers? This is technically 'lower' Uptown."
Riley thought about how Eran lived in upper Midtown. But Eran's place was closer to the centre of Midtown.
Was it far away enough, he wondered.
Jay assured Tony saying, "We'll be behaving, since we want to pick up decent quality girls."
Tony scoffed. "Jay, you can only attract the trashiest girls with those looks."
