short stories

masks

"Well, I don't know his name," she said, phone to her ear as she looked away. Elora laughed.

"Okay, ask him."

"Are you stupid?" She laughed again and Layla rolled her eyes. "He's like so fucking tall, holy-"

"Well, how are you gonna talk to him without knowing his name?" Layla smiled, shaking her head. "Lay, come on, there are no cute guys at our school." She sighed

"What do you want me to do- take a picture of him?" Elora laughed on her end.

"I mean if he's as good looking as you make him seem to be- fuck yes." Layla laughed. "Figure out his name at least, dude, we can stalk his Instagram."

"How- I just moved to this fricking school, I don't even have last year's yearbook to match his face with a name- what if he's a freshman?"

"How would I know, but you better figure it out." Layla sighed. "Well, keep him as your eye candy for now- we'll figure out his name eventually, yeah?"

Layla watched as the cute guy she'd been seeing around for a week now fixed his mask over his nose. She smiled. "We'll see."

And it only takes about a week for that to happen.

"Hey-" Layla looked up from drying her hands on her jeans. Her eyes widened a little and she was glad he couldn't see her jaw fall a little. The door to the bathroom fell closed behind her and she took a step forward.

"Hey?"

"You're new right?" She nodded slowly.

He was talking to her.

"Ye-yeah." He nodded as she stepped away as someone tried to enter the girl's bathroom past her. He'd used the bathroom too- she could tell from the way his hands looked wet.

He had really nice his hands.

"That's cool, I'm Terry." She nodded. Name: scored.

"I'm Layla." He nodded and she didnt know what to do as he pushed his hair back. Her eyes landed on his chains and dog tags.

Fuck.

"Well, it was cool meeting you- what are you listening to?" She smiled, pausing her music, just having realized it'd been playing.

"Um- the neighbourhood." He nodded and tilted his head towards the hallway. Layla smiled, following him.

"I know some of their songs- like sweater weather?"

"That's one of their most popular songs," she said nodding. "They're really cool- I'd suggest you listen to some more." He nodded, hands in his pockets.

"Definitely will- what  do you like?" She smiled. He was so easy to talk to.

"Uh, well- I love their album cant see the neighbourhood  ever-changing." He nodded. "But yeah, anything from there, really- scary love is really nice too."

"I'll give it a shot then." They kept walking together, maintaining a good enough distance for social distancing. "I really like classical music." Layla raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He chuckled and turned a corner.

"Yeah, I know I don't look like it but it's nice to paint to." Her eyebrows raised.

"You paint?" He nodded. "That's  nice- like acrylic?"

"Sure, but I like oil paints better." Layla hummed. This was insane. "That's the class I have right now, actually- art."

"Where's the room?" He pointed down the hall as the two of them came to a stop. "Oh, you can go to class-"

"I have a few minutes to spare." Layla watched as he pulled his mask down to scratch his nose and then pulled it backed up. "What do you have right now?"