When Hands Touch

6. paper boats

CHAPTER SIX

PAPER BOATS

—

"So if you use a partner, you can work on it together, and the assignment will automatically become easier!"

A partner?

"Of course, you're not obliged to use a partner, you can work on your own too," Ms. Garcia added, fixing her glasses. "But it's always better to bounce ideas off each other."

The only person Milo knew in his English class was Xen. And he was certain that Xen wouldn't want to work with him. Or with anyone, for that matter.

Still, he turned his body around to look at Xen, who was sitting diagonally from him and chewing on his pen cap, a bored expression on his face as he gazed out the window.

Milo quickly looked away when Xen moved slightly, so that he wouldn't catch him staring. Returning his gaze to his desk, he sighed. I can't believe I have only two friends in this entire school. How fucking pathetic.

Suddenly, Milo felt a vibration in the pocket of his jeans, and he took his phone out, only to find a message from an unknown number. He was a hundred percent sure it was an automated message telling him to pay his phone bill, but he checked it anyway.

xxx-xxx-xx42 -
I could literally feel your eyes on me. What do you want?

Milo's first thought was, Oh shit, it's Xen. He turned around so quickly that he nearly cricked his neck, watching as Xen just raised a single eyebrow at him, the corner of his lip turning up into a smile, before typing something on his phone.

Well, fuck. What am I supposed to do now?

Before he could type out a reply, he received another message from Xen.

xxx-xxx-xx42 -
You're turning red, calm the fuck down.

Milo🐁🖕🏼 -
um😳

xen🐀 -
Wait.

Before Milo could even process what the fuck that message meant, Xen was sitting in the chair beside him, hands crossed on the desk.

"How are you?"

The fuck? "What kind of question is that?"

Xen gave him an impassive look, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground. "Last time I saw you, you were practically crying because of how much pain you were in. So I'm asking you how you're feeling."

Milo grimaced at the thought. It really, really wasn't a fun time. "Felt pretty shit for a while. I'm fine now though! My migraines only last for like, ten hours or so. After that, it's chill. The hangover can be pretty shit, but I'm good."

Brown eyes widening, Xen glanced at Milo."The hangover? The fuck did you do after I left?"

Oh, right. Sometimes, he tended to forget that people genuinely didn't really know anything about migraines, not enough for them to understand him when he said shit like 'The Hangover'.

"Migraine hangover," Milo corrected, tossing his pen from hand to hand. "Basically, like a normal hangover, minus the alcohol," he explained, even though he didn't know shit about normal hangovers.

Alcohol just... Didn't sit well with Milo, and to be honest, he just didn't see the appeal that most people his age did. It was the same case with weed- he'd tried it once because people kept saying that it helped with migraines, but the smell just made everything so much worse.