Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 36 -

Virgil would not answer Roman's calls nor reciprocate his texts.

At first, it seemed as though the boy were perhaps sleeping in, but as the day progressed, Roman grew more perplexed. After the dance last night -- specifically the one that took place on the vacant football field -- Roman was left with the impression that all was fine and things were going up for him and Virgil. He thought the boy would jump at another opportunity to spend time together, but that was evidently not true, as it was now two in the afternoon and Virgil was still maintaining his radio silence.

Roman began to grow worried -- and not only worried, but self conscious. Did I do something wrong? he questioned. Did I read the signs wrong? After last night, I thought for sure he must like me.

And Roman began to analyze every detail of the previous night he could, replaying every response from his friend that he could recall -- every movement, every glance. But it didn't help. Virgil was so different than Roman that the boy couldn't tell uncomfortable from flustered, sad from tired, scared from excited. And Roman's difficulty only made him more confused.

He was itching to storm over to Virgil's house and confront him. So much so that he trudged out of the house, into the afternoon gray, and started towards the boy's home. But Roman struggled to pull himself away from Virgil's block, his feet carrying him down the street towards Corner Park. Roman knew that if Virgil needed space, he should get it. Roman didn't want to cause anymore damage -- and plus, part of him bitterly concluded that if Virgil didn't feel like talking then Roman wouldn't feel like talking either.

The park was nearly empty, for the temperature outside was cold and humid; Roman suspected that there would be more rain over winter break. The thought made Roman's mind instantly flash over to Virgil once again and the boy shook the image off sternly. He made made a couple of laps around the park, simply walking in the air, clearing his head and humming "I See The Light" from Tangled.

His mind drifted slowly to the conflict between Logan and Patton. The latter had sent Roman an uncomfortably chipper text earlier in the day and Roman hadn't been able to shake the feeling that it wasn't genuine. He knew Patton tended to be quite cheery and optimistic most of the time, but after watching him breakdown the night before, it was starkly obvious to Roman that Patton wasn't taking this whole Logan thing lightly.

Roman felt bad for the two, for he hated seeing his friends fight. He decided, after a couple of laps, that he should confront one of them -- perhaps Logan. Roman pulled out his phone and hesitated over the 'call' button for a moment, contemplating whether getting involved would assist the situation or not. But no matter how much he pondered, Roman simply couldn't resist.

"Logan?" he asked upon hearing an immediate sigh on the other end.

"This is about Patton, isn't it," Logan droned, sounding rather frustrated.

Roman paused and sucked in some air between his teeth. "Yes. I'd like to hear what happened. Patton hasn't exactly been much of a chatterbox since we found him outside of the gym." Even through the phone line, Roman could sense the tension between Logan and him -- as though both were trying not to say the wrong thing and offend the other.

Logan paused for a moment, clicking his tongue, annoyed -- or perhaps simply growing more frustrated. "I'm sorry that I left him in such a state but he has no business acting as though he is innocent. This was not a big ordeal; I simply left the dance after half an hour of being completely ignored by him and abandoned for that Andrew fellow."

Roman's felt a tight feeling in his chest. He couldn't even hear the kid's name without sensing trouble. "I understand that," Roman began, trying his best not to antagonize Logan -- he kept the image of Patton sobbing out of his mind for now, "but I doubt simply leaving would have left Patton in such a state."