stevie hopkins
- november 11, 2018 -

MUSIC POUNDED AGAINST MY EARDRUMS. Thankfully the wires weren't getting all tangled together this time. They liked to do that when I was running; especially if I was behind schedule. I needed to invest in a pair of those wireless ones. Maybe then I could get somewhere on time.

            Two years into this whole college thing and I still couldn't seem to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. It wasn't like Kensington was all that big or anything, but compared to Cottage Grove it was humongous. How people got from point A to point B without getting lost was beyond me.

            It was funny how something always seemed to go wrong for some people. Some people; including me. Either the alarm didn't go off, or I would take another wrong turn, or you know, it was something really ridiculous like it happened to be a Tuesday.

            And, that was the last thing I needed with Ethan waiting on me. He did that a lot; wait on me. He was most surely used to it by now, but I've been trying to get better. All I knew for sure at the moment was that Ethan would have my head this time and it wasn't going to be pretty.

            He wasn't the most patient guy in the world and I'm sure I've pushed his limits one too many times since we met in kindergarten. Maybe that will help me in the long run.

            He knew what he got himself into after a year or two of being friends we were working on twenty years now. Sure, we've had our fair share of arguments as any friends do, but we were solid. We were a team. It was us against the world.

            But people depended on you when you were part of a team; a duo. That meant something.

            Lately it just felt as if I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Everything had deadlines and expectations. I was trying to be everything to everyone and it was getting exhausting. And on top of all of that, I had to deal with my crazy family.

            It was more than any sane person could realistically handle. Let alone someone who dealt better with numbers and algorithms than they did with actual real-life people. It was different than dealing with how many apples Peter had left after giving two of them to Sally who shared half of those with John who started with eight. You know?

            But on the bright side, there were only two weeks left until winter break which meant we'd be heading back home for the holidays. A treat for him. Chaos for me. I could kiss my privacy and the rest of my sanity goodbye.

            The wind nipped at my chilled nose; the tip of it already a pale pink color. Winter lingered in the back of everyone's minds. They all couldn't stop talking about holidays and winter traditions. I had to fight back the jealousy that scratched at the base of my neck. Home for the holidays meant working, chores and more noise than you could possibly imagine.

            I looked up with barely enough time to register the body in front of me before it was too late and I crashed into them. I tried my best to find my footing again, but I caught only the edge of the sidewalk and I swore under my breath.

            Hands shot out to catch me, but I still plummeted to the ground. The landing didn't feel right. No fall on asphalt ever felt right, but this one felt different; it felt wrong. A sharp pain shot through my ankle traveling all the way up to my hip.

            A hand helped me into a sitting position. A whiff of lavender hit my nose and my eyes snapped up. I came face to face with a freckle covered girl. She had this wavy brown hair that sat tussled on the top of her head without a care in the world. She looked at me with concern.

            She scanned my face closely, "Are you okay?"

            I opened my mouth to reply, but my brain was on the fritz. I just ended up staring with my mouth agape. Her eyes were very intense and for some reason words were like lead weights attached to my tongue. I wished she would stop looking at me as if I had the Euler-Lagrange Equations written on my forehead then maybe I could stop making an absolute fool out of myself.

            A smile formed on her lips before it tilted. One front tooth slightly overlapped the other, "I'm really sorry about that."

            "Sorry, about..." I breathed.

            Panic rose like acid in my throat. I was going to throw up. I scrambled to my feet. Yelping, I stumbled onto my good leg. The one that didn't have the pinching sensation in the ankle.

            "Wow, slow down there, Speed Racer," she wrapped an arm around mine to keep me steady for the time being, "you might want to get someone to look at your foot. That was a nasty fall you just took."

            Shaking my head, my nose scrunched, "No time."

            "At the very least, let me help you get to wherever it is you're going in such a hurry."

            "No!" I gritted my teeth, "No. It's okay. I'm good. Thank you."

            "Please. It's the least I can do with everything that just happened."

            I waved her off, "My fault really."

            How could I have been so reckless? Careless. I was better than that. I tried to plan everything. From turn to turn. I even planned it down to every minute I knew I'd probably be late.

            I repositioned my bag on my shoulder and pushed weight onto my bad foot. Immediately having to bite the inside of my cheek to stop any involuntary noises from escaping. At least the pain was just bearable. I'd been through worse at home.

            I forced a smile even though I felt like screaming, "Thanks for saving my life and everything, but I have to get going. I'm already late as it is."

            Taking off down the street in a full sprint, I left behind those tired green eyes. Where did she even come from? One minutes she wasn't there and the bam; literally. And yet, how have I never seen her before? It's not like this place was huge, but then again maybe it was just big enough.

            I looked over my shoulder and shot her a wave. She pointed frantically at me, "Watch where you're going!"

            Turning, I clipped shoulders with a guy and a blonde girl. With a quick sidestep, another disaster was averted. I cried out a short apology, but kept going; not even bothering to look back that time. I couldn't risk it. That would have pulled me back and God knows I didn't have time for that.

            I had absolutely no time at all for pretty, straight girls. That was just a heartache waiting to happen. I needed to stay focused. I had the Dean's List to worry about. I wanted to graduate top of my class. I wanted to do my Doctorate at Harvard or maybe Cambridge like my brother.

            At a safe distance from the girl; mainly once I was out of her sight, I slowed down to a walk with a slight limp. Tony's Coffee was still farther away, but I'd be dead on my feet if I ran the entire way there in my conditions.

            The shop was on the main stretch of road through town. This tiny little place with worn out pain and permanent coffee stains on some of the tiles. But let me tell you, they had the best damn coffee in all of Kensington.

            I rounded the corner to the door and found Ethan sitting on the bench outside. His head hung back towards the sun as if he was some kind of lengthy flower. That wasn't good. He looked far too calm for the situation. His calm terrified me. He had a storm brewing, I knew it.

            He didn't even take the time to open his eyes when I walked up and plopped down next to him with a groan. He didn't turn his head or even huff. He simply frowned, "Do I even want to know?"

            I smiled, knowing he couldn't see it and sighed. I kept picturing those piercing eyes, "Depends... Which do you want first? The bad news or the really bad news?"

            He peaked over at me for only a second, raising his brow, "What did you do?"

            I glanced at my throbbing foot, "Who? Me? Nothing..."

            A laugh burst through him, "Yeah, right. What happened?"

            "Okay, okay. I may have... You know... Hurt my foot a little. It's no big deal, but I don't know if it's a good idea for me to go home for the holidays. You know how my mom can be."

            Ethan's eyes snapped up and he looked at my foot, "You did what now?"

            "I may have injured my foot on the way here. Just a little though. It's not even that bad. I can't really use it, but what my mom doesn't know won't hurt her, right?"

            He ran a hand down his long face, "If you can't really use it that means it's more than just a little bad, Stevie! We'll get it checked out. You'll heal right up and then we should be fine to go home."

            "Maybe I shouldn't have told you," I grumbled, plopping my chin into my palm.

            "Yeah right," he shook his head, "and have your mom kill me when she finds out. No. Absolutely not. No way."

            "She's not going to find out, now is she Ethan."

            "I can't lie to your mom." His brows knitted together, "Please don't make me lie to your mom. She kind of terrifies me a little."

            I shoved him with a laugh, "Everyone terrifies you a little."

            "Not true," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes.

            "You were scared of the kid that sat next to you in your senior math class in high school," I deadpanned.

            He turned to me quickly, "He stabbed someone with a pencil! Everyone was cautious of him."

            I laughed, "Cautious, not scared. There's a big difference there, Buddy."

            He couldn't hide the smile forming on his lips, "I fucking hate you."

            I bumped shoulders with him, "Don't worry about it. I love you too, Longbottom."

            "Stop it." His head dropped into his hands as he whined, "I'm nothing like him."

            Patting him on the shoulder, I chuckled, "You keep telling yourself that."