Top and Tail [boyxboy] [slash]

Chapter 10: She'll Be Okay

Friday was always fish and chips day. I don't know why, but just about every school in Glasgow served fish and chips on a Friday. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe it was an elaborate scheme set up by the council... and maybe I didn't care. All I wanted was to run down to the green block for those delicious, greasy chips.

As it happened though, me and Jay were sitting in physics, pouring over an enormous cosmology book waiting for the lunch bell to finally ring.

Well, Jay was reading the book with rapt attention while I was staring at the clock, willing the last five minutes to tick by. After a few moments of epic concentration trying to 'use the force' to speed up time, I realised my effort was fruitless and turned back to Jay and I's desk in a deflated sort of way. My eyes flicked down to the book.

"What's the Local Group?" I asked curiously, leaning over Jay's shoulder to get a better view. He sighed.

"Did you zone out that entire lesson?" he laughed, pointing to the whiteboard where the words 'Local Group' were scrawled across the middle, surrounded by related thoughts and phrases.

"Oh... I mean, of course I didn't. I was just testing you!"

Jay nodded sarcastically. "Uh huh... So how big is the Local Group then?"

I pursed my lips, and then guessed hopefully, "Uh... five million light-years across?"

He snorted. "Not even close. Just less than ten million."

"Psh, I was only, what, five million off?" I cried indignantly. "That's less than the distance to the chippie and back!"

Jay laughed and smacked a palm to his forehead. "Um, yeah, if you happen to be talking about that chippie in another galaxy then sure. Less than the distance to the chippie and back."

I scowled and folded my arms. Sarcasm was my defence; I wasn't used to having it thrown back in my face. Although a little bit of banter could be fun...

"I liked you better when you didn't talk," I announced, snapping the book shut.

That was a complete and utter lie. Over the course of the past week, albeit with the help of yours truly and a side helping or sarcasm, Jay had opened up, little by little. It was really a fascinating process. Sometimes when I provided some clumsy, unintentional comic relief, Jay would tease me bit. Or make a light sarcastic comment before helping me up. It almost seemed like the whole shy guy exterior was just some façade to lull people into a false sense of security before he revealed his true teasing personality.

Well, that was the general idea anyway.

Jay tilted his head to one side.

"I actually wasn't sarcastic before I met you," he murmured, placing the book back on the table behind us. Now it was my turn to snort.

"Yeah, and I was the star fucking athlete. Dream on sunshine, dream on."

"You use 'sunshine' as though it's an insult," he laughed. I opened my mouth to respond but a shrill robotic ringing cut me off.

"Hell yeah! Lunch time!"

I immediately began stuffing all my stationary and jotters into my schoolbag, not even waiting for the teacher to announce the end of the lesson. Mr Rhys was a pretty laid back teacher anyway, content to sit and sip some coffee while the class chattered away, as long as there was some learning getting done. He mostly let us do our own thing like choose what books to read, what papers to study, and then he'd test us all with a big group discussion followed by a write-up in our lab books. And seeing as my class was full of science-lovers in the first place, these things just got done.