Meant to be Broken [boyxboy] [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter Six

Two days later, Ives decided he needed to escape the house. It was a Saturday afternoon, and his mom was filling the house with cigarette smoke. As he was trying to decide where to go, Kylle walked into his room unannounced. "I'm going to the mall. I'll be there all day if you want to come." Apparently she knew exactly how he felt.

"Yes," Ives replied immediately, jumping up from where he sat on his bed.

Kylle abandoned him as soon as they got to the mall in Madison, and Ives found himself wandering toward a hair salon just outside the food court he had been ditched in. His hair was getting out of control, and was becoming brown again, instead of black. So he checked his wallet to see how much cash he had to spare, then entered.

He was assaulted by the smell of shampoo and hairspray before he even made it across the threshold. The blond girl at the counter took his name and told him there would be a twenty-minute wait. Having nothing better to do, Ives thanked her and sat down in the waiting area.

Two seats away from him was a guy who instantly caught his attention. He was the only other person sitting there, and he looked bored with the magazine he was flipping through. His hair was chestnut with faded black highlights, and hung in his face so that he had to hold it back slightly in order to see the magazine in his lap. His hand had chipped black nail polish and a couple of silver rings. He wore battered jeans, black sneakers, and a plain black hoodie. He appeared to be about Ives' height, which Ives happily noted. When he pulled his hair back further, Ives could see five silver piercings in his ear.

He also spotted Ives staring at him then.

Ives nodded to him. "Hey. You're pretty cute."

Pale green eyes blinked with surprise. "Uh... thanks?" he replied, blushing slightly.

Normally, that was the best part of the game, seeing the other person's reaction, but this time he realized that he actually wanted someone to talk to. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a conversation with anyone except his sister and his teammates. "Okay, that's probably not a good conversation starter," he said by means of apology.

The other guy shrugged and flipped through his magazine some more. "It's a new one," he commented.

"I'm Ives," he offered.

"Tomi," was the reply, green eyes glancing up.

"'Toe-me'?" Ives pronounced it slowly and deliberately, finding it a very odd name.

"Pretty much." Tomi glanced at him again and noticed his Raynor archery hoodie. "You're on the archery team for Raynor?"

Ives nodded, deciding that the kid couldn't be from Raynor if they didn't recognize each other. "That's why I have the hoodie."

"You've probably seen some of my friends, then," the guy stated. He sounded excited.

"Your friends are on one of the teams?" Ives asked, slightly surprised.

Tomi nodded. "Madison."

Ives was even more curious. "Who are they?"

"One is Shauna Fabian," Tomi replied.

Ives thought a moment, then nodded. "She's okay."

"And Seth Salvador-Knight," Tomi offered next.

"Would that be S-K?” Ives asked, nodding. "He's pretty good."

"They're all better than I would be. What about Kiona Carson?" he went on.

Ives let out a surprised laugh. "You know Carson? Man, she is a fucking goddess of archery. She's probably one of the best in the league. Don't tell me you're friends with Kashmir, too."

Tomi smiled as he shrugged. "You mean Nelson? I sit with him and Seth at lunch a lot, so I'd say he's a friend."

Ives laughed again. "You think you could arrange for them to give me lessons?"

"Nelson and Kiona taught Seth how to shoot," Tomi replied, grinning. "But if they helped you they would be aiding the enemy, wouldn't they?"

"I would switch teams in a heartbeat just to have them give me lessons," Ives stated.

Tomi laughed. "I'm sure your team would miss you."

The conversation ended abruptly there, because the hairdresser came for Tomi, who set down his magazine. He waved to Ives as he followed the woman. "See ya."

Ives waved back and said goodbye. He was still smiling a few minutes later when another hairdresser called his name. Smiling was something he wasn't used to, at all, and he loved it.

He left the salon a while later, his hair now much shorter, dyed black, and highlighted with deep red. His cheerful feeling was beginning to fade, but when he saw Tomi sitting on the edge of a nearby fountain with a milkshake and his cell phone, he couldn't help but smile. Tomi had gotten a couple of inches off his hair, but it was still much longer than Ives', though it was now as black as Ives' hair and also had red ends.

"Nice hair," Ives told him, stopping near where Tomi sat.

Tomi looked up from his phone and laughed. "Great minds think alike, apparently."

"And I was actually thinking of getting a milkshake too," Ives added with a smile, nodding to Tomi's cup.

Tomi shrugged. "I have nothing to do, so I figured I would get something and find a place to sit while my mom finishes her shopping."

"Yeah, I'm going to be here all day waiting for my sister." Ives rolled his eyes. "I don't know why I didn't just drive myself."

"So you understand my misery." Tomi sucked down the last of his milkshake and tossed the cup at the closest trash can. It barely made it in from three feet away.

Ives motioned toward the rest of the mall around them. "Do you want a wandering companion?" he asked.

Tomi shrugged and hopped off the fountain. "Why not?" he replied.

They wandered the mall for hours, and Ives was shocked by how easily they could talk to each other. He learned that Tomi Miliani was a sophomore at Madison, was an only child, and had both a cat and a dog – though he'd had two dogs up until almost a year ago. Ives found himself opening up about his father's death and the troubled women he lived with. He left out details of his cutting and drinking, though. Tomi had rolled up the sleeves on his sweatshirt, and Ives could see that he wasn't a cutter himself, so he wasn't sure if he would understand. No use pushing a new, possible friend away already.

Before they left the mall they traded phone numbers and instantly started texting each other. And, for the first time in a long time, Ives actually felt happy.