Miscommunication (boyxboy)

Chapter Twelve

~ Adam ~

"Ugh, sorry I'm late."

A stack of books came crashing down on the table as Piper swooped in to kiss Adam on the cheek. She took a seat opposite him. "Class ran overtime and then my professor wanted to speak privately about an assessment. Did you order yet?"

Adam slid a yellow mug across the table toward her. It was a spiced chai with a dash of almond milk. Piper's favourite. "Just this."

"Oh, you are a blessing." Piper cradled the mug in her hands and took a grateful sip. "I've been figuratively dying since noon."

"I can see that."

The blue-haired girl pointed a finger at Adam, attempting to tame her wind-blown tangle of curls with the other hand. "Don't say a word."

Adam held up his hands in defence and snickered. Piper rolled her eyes but left it alone. She took another sip of her coffee before asking, "So, plans this weekend?"

Adam ticked each item off on his fingers. "Revision sheets for Physics, chapter notes for Calc, then work from two onwards. I should also probably hit the grocery store since I haven't been in two weeks. Oh, and Sunday I have to reorganise my binder because Leo borrowed notes from last class and put them back in the red folder despite knowing damn well they're meant to be in the blue from Chapter Six onwards. Why, what are you doing?"

Piper stared at him.

Adam stared back. "What?"

"Your weekend plans are to organise your notes into colour-coded folders?"

Adam cocked his head. "Well, if Leo hadn't put them back in the wrong section than I wouldn't have to spend two to three hours recategorising them."

Piper blinked at him over the rim of her mug. "How are you even human?"

Adam sunk down in his chair, crossing his arms. "It's perfectly normal to categorise your notes by colour, subdivide them by study unit and then order them using the Dewey Decimal System."

Judging from his best friend's heavy gaze on him, Adam began to consider that maybe organising one's work by mathematical categorisation wasn't as typical as was lead on. He then began to ponder the idea that maybe a website called ColouringtheCompulsion.com hadn't had normalcy in mind when it popped up on his Pinterest board in seventh grade.

"So," Adam sheepishly pulled himself up to his original height in the chair. "Your plans?"

"Okay, this is going to sound weird, but Cole Decker texted me."

"Cole?" Adam frowned, thoughts quickly bouncing back to meeting the dark-haired boy in the cafe a few weeks ago. His black-on-black aesthetic reminded Adam of the drummer in his favourite rock band.  "Your boyfriend's Siamese twin? What did he want?"

"James is not my boyfriend." Piper said pointedly. Then, "He wants to hang out I guess. James is driving up to Lake Forest this weekend for a charity function at his family's estate. Cole's not going with him."

"Why isn't Gatsby taking him with?"

Piper shrugged. "He didn't really get into the details but something tells me a boy with that many tattoos doesn't blend into the aristocracy very quietly."